The White Chief of the Ottawa

by Bertha Carr-Harris

"Well," continued Rug, "I want you to come down to the Chaudiere to perform a ceremony for me."

"Mon alive," he exclaimed, "would you be askin' such a thing? Dinna ye ken that my gude wife an my bairnies 'ud perish? Na! na! na!"

"But," said Rug, "I shall pay you for loss of time, and it will be to your profit. I'll give you £10 for your trouble."

"Na! na!" he said. "Ten gouden sovereigns would na pay me for my trouble."

After a long and tedious discussion it was finally decided that the Scotchman should return with them in consideration of "the young mon's importunity," and that the fee be raised to £14.

Rug and the Scotchman reached the White House just as the members of the Chief's family were gathering round the supper table, and the devoted young lover was not slow in observing Hannah in the group.

"We have bad news for you, Rug," said his father. "We have just ascertained that marriages are not valid in Lower Canada unless performed by a minister or priest."

For a moment Rug was speechless—partly from disappointment and partly from displeasure. As he stood before them he looked a model of muscular strength and manliness, though little more than a boy. He looked fondly at Hannah, and as she met his gaze her cheeks grew crimson and her eyes dropped shyly under their long lashes. The devotion of her lover filled her with an indescribable ecstasy which thrilled her innermost soul, making it responsive to his. In her opinion Rug was all that was good and true and noble. He was her ideal, and she was determined to love, honor and obey him, humbly, tenderly, completely, submissively.

"Is an outward ceremony necessary?" he said, "to complete a union of heart and soul which was made in heaven months ago?"

"I have a plan," said the Chief, "which you will be perfectly justified in adopting under the circumstances. Let us drive down on the ice to-morrow, and halt on the other side of the border line between the two provinces, and have our Scottish friend perform the ceremony in Upper Canada, which he is entitled to do by law."