It was the same thing that had changed for her the face of the waters
and the wood. She had learned in that moment to read a man better than
she had read aught in her life beside the sign of leaf and wind.
"Oh, M'sieu!" she cried out sharply; "God forbid!"
The youth came forward and took the sticks from her, dropping them on
the ground and holding both her hands in a trembling clasp.
"Forbid?" he said and his voice quivered; "Ma'amselle, I love you.
Though my heart is full of dread, I am at your feet. By the voice of my
own soul I hear the cry of yours. We are both past help, it seems,
Ma'amselle,-yet am I that stone to your foot which we pledged yonder by
the stockade wall. You will let me go the long trail with you? You will
give me to be your stay in this? You will let me do all a man can do to
help you take the factor from the Nakonkirhirinons?"
The infinite sadness in Dupre's voice was as a wind across a harp of
gold, and it struck to Maren's heart with unbearable pain.
Her eyes, looking straight into his, filled slowly with tears, and his
white face danced grotesquely before her vision.
"M'sieu," she said quite simply, "I would to God it had been given me
to love you.
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