“Oh, mother, he has come; I shall see him this very hour—he loves me, he loves me—and will take me with him now.”
Catharine listened in pale silence. Was nothing on earth to be left for her? Must she be utterly deserted and alone with her sorrow?
Tahmeroo’s better nature arose at once.
“But my mother; how can I leave you, so ill, so sorrowful? Tahmeroo will not forsake her mother.”
“You will start to-night!” said Queen Esther, abruptly entering the lodge.
“It is sudden—I am not prepared to part with Tahmeroo at an hour’s warning,” said Catharine.
“You go to-night,” repeated Esther, addressing Tahmeroo as if her mother were not in the room.
Tahmeroo’s proud spirit revolted at this tyranny, and she replied with flashing eyes:
“Tahmeroo is the chief’s daughter. Queen Esther has no power to drive her out of her father’s tribe; she will not go if Catharine Montour wishes her to remain.”
“Traitor, and child of a traitor,” muttered Esther; but Tahmeroo turned to her mother.