“We were going to set out on a search for you,” Wawataysee began. “In some unexpected manner we lost sight of you last night. How did you fare?”
“Oh, not badly,” with a cheerful smile. “I knew you would go to friends who would be overjoyed to see you, and I wandered down a street, trying to find an inn, for I was not sure I would be allowed to stop in the street all night. So in my inquiry I met some one who knew my uncle, Pierre Valbonais, who, it seems, is at work in your great mill, and who lives beyond the court-house, in the Rue des Grainges. My faith, but you are a very hospitable folk,” and his eyes shone with a joyous light. “This M. Pion would give me some supper and a bed, and we talked over my adventures smoking our pipes.”
“I am glad you found a friend. It was our desire to take you in. And your relative?” with a slight hesitation.
“I found my way to the mill, and the uncle greeted me cordially. There is an aunt and some cousins, it seems, and I am to make my home with them for the present. Moreover, I find there is plenty of work to do and I shall be happy. Where is the little maid?”
Wawataysee explained Renée’s grief at finding her uncle had not returned from his search. Then M. Marchand took him through to the shop, and was so earnest in his gratitude that it touched Valbonais deeply.
Renée came out of her garden corner as he was going away. Her pretty eyes were swollen with weeping.
“Oh, little one, you were so brave on the journey, amid all the hardships, that you must not lose heart now! And I hear your uncle has made many trips with the traders, so he knows about the Indians and is not likely to let them take him unawares. He will return, surely.”
She cast her eyes down and made no reply. She would not be comforted even by him.
The Renauds came over in the afternoon, and though the girls followed her to the garden, she would not be amused with their chatter. What did she care about a new frock or a tea-drinking on the green by the fort, or games and plays?
“She is very disagreeable and cold,” said Elise to Sophie as they were walking home. “I suppose because she has a ‘de’ before her name she thinks she can put on any airs. But I am older and shall have a lover first. Of course, M. Denys will return. He always has before.”