Bidiane caught him and kissed him. "In the spring we will have great fun, thou and I. We will go back to the woods, and with a sharp knife tear the bark from young spruces, and eat the juicy bobillon inside. Then we will also find candy. Canst thou dig up the fern roots and peel them until thou findest the tender morsel at the bottom?"
"Oui," laughed the child, and Bidiane, after pushing him towards Rose, for an embrace from her, conducted him to the gate.
"Is there any use in asking Rose to go with us this evening?" she said, coming back to Agapit, and speaking in an undertone.
"No, I think not."
"Why is it that she avoids all junketing, and sits only with sick people?"
He murmured an uneasy, unintelligible response, and Bidiane again directed her attention to Rose. "What are you staring at so intently, ma chère?"
"That beautiful stranger," said Rose, nodding towards the Bay. "It is a new sail."
"Every woman on the Bay knows the ships but me," said Bidiane, discontentedly. "I have got out of it from being so long away."
"And why do the girls know the ships?" asked Agapit.
Bidiane discreetly refused to answer him.