"No, not that. You see, I looked forward so long to meeting them that I used to dream about it by night, and think about it by day. Then it came slowly to me that they were dead. At first I put away the thought, but it grew stronger and stronger the older I became. And then I was afraid to know the truth, because the old hope of meeting them some day had taken such a hold upon me. Now I want to know all."
"I did it for the best, Nance," Martin replied. "When you were little I knew that it would give you much sorrow if I told you all. Then as you grew older I found it difficult to tell you, and as you did not speak to me about them I thought that perhaps you had forgotten. I did it for the best. Now I know that I should have told you."
"I know you did; I am sure of it," and Nance turned her eyes up to Martin's. "You always do everything for the best. You are so good."
At these words a slight mistiness rose before Martin's eyes. If she only knew, he said to himself, how differently she would think. But to Nance he only said:
"Yes, I shall tell you all now, for you are a woman, and can understand such things."
Then Martin unfolded to Nance the sad scene which had taken place on the great Mackenzie River years before. He told her about the accident which had deprived her of father and mother, and left her to the mercy of the Indians. He related simply the part that he himself had performed in caring for her, and carrying her off into the wilderness.
To all this Nance listened with fast-beating heart Her cheeks were flushed, caused not by the heat of the fire, but from the vehemence of her emotion. When Martin spoke about her mother lying so white and still in the Indian lodge her eyes grew moist. But when he mentioned the grave upon the hill-top tears streamed down her cheeks, and her form trembled violently.
"There, there, little one," Martin soothed, laying his hand affectionately upon her head, "I didn't mean to make you feel so badly."
"I know you didn't, daddy," Nance sobbed. "But I cannot help it. My poor father and mother! And only think what would have become of me if you had not been there! I might have lived the rest of my life among the Indians just like one of them. It makes me shudder when I think about it. How much I owe to you."
"You have done more for me, Nance, than I have ever done for you."