And then the face of Lord Starling came before me. "You have changed from the woman of the wilderness. You changed when you put on this gown. You were different even three days ago. Some influence has worked on you here."
She understood me. "Yes, my cousin has talked to me. Yet I think that I am not echoing him, monsieur. If I have hardened in the last few days, it is because I have come to see the inevitableness of what I am saying now. I have grasped the terrible significance of what is happening. May I ask you some questions?"
"Yes, Mary."
"Oh, you must not—— The Seneca messengers, you will let them go back and rejoin their camp?"
"We can do nothing else."
"And you will follow them, and attack them at La Baye?"
"So we plan."
"But the Senecas trust you."
"Not for a moment. They think we fear their power over the Hurons,—as we do,—so they are reckless. They are undoubtedly carrying peace belts from our Hurons to the Iroquois and the English. We must intercept them."
She tried to ward my words, and all that they stood for, away. "You see! You see!" she cried, "we must part. We must part while we can. Monsieur, say no more. I beg you, monsieur." And she dropped in a chair by the table and laid her head in her arms.