“The father Pierre is married. Dost guess he married our Angèle?” tempted the little boy, whose ideas of the extent of intermarriage surpassed even the generous views of his elders in the côte. “No! Antonio Brunette married our Angèle. Four people are married. It made me laugh. The widow of Jean Ba’ti’ Morin, she wedded Father Pierre, and you must tell La Mouche. Are you also married to La Mouche, Massawippa?”
Her aquiline face blazed with instant wrath, and Pierre’s little boy fell back from her as if scorched. Her hiss followed him.
“I do not myself speak to La Mouche!”
La Mouche’s mother was naturally the most interested witness of this falcon-like stoop of Massawippa’s, and as a mother she experienced deeper sense of injury.
VIII.
THE HURON.
A LIGHT rain was blistering the river and thickening an already dark landscape when Dollier de Casson, followed by his man carrying what might be called his religious tool-chest, crossed the clearing with Massawippa.