"What is it amuses thee so, little one?" asked the Indian woman.
"I am not old enough to have a lover, Pani, am I?" and she looked out of her furry wrap.
"No, child, no. What folly! Marie's wedding has set thee astray."
"And Pierre is a slow, stupid fellow."
"Pierre would be no match for thee, and I doubt if the De Bers would countenance such a thing if he were older. That is nonsense."
"Pierre asked me to be his wife. He said twice that he wanted to marry me—at the raising of the flag, when we were on the water, and one Sunday in the autumn. I am not as old as Rose De Ber, even, so Marie need not feel set upon a pinnacle because Tony Beeson marries her when she is barely fifteen."
"Jeanne!" Pani's tone was horror stricken. "And it will make no end of trouble. Madame De Ber is none too pleasant now."
"It will make no trouble. I said 'no' and 'no' and 'no,' until it was like this mighty wind rushing through the forest, and he was very angry. So I should not go to the De Bers any more. And, Pani, if I had a father who would make me marry him when I was older, I should go and throw myself into the Strait."
"His father sends him up in the fur country in the spring."
"What makes people run crazy when weddings are talked of? But if I wanted to hold my head high and boast—"