Standing upon tiptoe and pulling him down, she fondly kissed him and answered:
“This is a fit reward for your pretty speech. But Tenskwatawa will be here presently; your father has gone for him. Do not let him see the ring. He has lost much of his power; and it is better so. He and Tecumseh have deceived their people and led them astray. I see it all now. The wisest of them are but ignorant savages. And the English—my own people—have made tools of them——”
She stopped speaking and hastily withdrew from her lover’s embrace. He turned to discover the cause of her action, and observed Tenskwatawa entering the door.
Not deigning to notice the young man, the Prophet walked up to La Violette and, laying his hands upon her shoulders, murmured gutturally:
“My daughter, Scar Face has told me that you mean to leave the tribe—your father, forever. Is it so?”
“Tenskwatawa, my father, it is true.”
“Has Fleet Foot stolen your heart, my daughter?”
“He has, my father,” she replied in a voice hardly audible.
“And La Violette will accompany him to his lodge and dwell there?”