But one person had neither hidden nor been killed:
While the body of the Reverend Philip Hale, D.D., was found in the burnt wreckage of his house, his daughter, Miss Nancy Hale, has not been found. It is feared Miss Hale may have been kidnapped by the Indians. Both the church and the house Reverend Hale built on the prairie were burned down.
As Raoul read aloud the list of the dead, he thought of Nancy and then of his sister Helene. Did they do that to Nancy? The red devils! Probably did. Horrible!
He saw the naked, slashed, violated body lying on the prairie. Nancy Hale's body. Just like Helene's.
But it could be, too, she was alive. And if he kept after Black Hawk, he might be the one to rescue her. There was comfort in that.
A little comfort.
And then a black bile of hatred for himself trickled up into his throat.
Great God in Heaven, this man he was sitting with—he'd had this man's daughter in his bed for six years. And now she was murdered. And already he was figuring how to replace her.
Maybe I am as bad a man as Papa said I was.
That's what Nicole meant by "All happens as God ordains." This was to punish me.