So he set to work gathering the nuts while she secretly took off her moccasin in a vain attempt to discover the disquieting bur-needles. He returned presently and deposited a hatful of nuts in her lap. Then he went back to his seat from where he watched her calmly as she munched the starchy meat. It gradually dawned on him that the situation was absurd; and he permitted a furtive smile to soften his firm lips. But furtive as it was, she saw it, and colored, her quick intuition translating the smile.
"It is absurd; truthfully, it is." She swept the nuts to the ground.
"But supposing I change all this into something more than absurd?
Supposing I should suddenly take you in my arms? There is no one in sight. I am strong. Supposing, then, I kissed you, taking a t.i.the of your promises?"
She looked at him uneasily. Starting a fire was all very well, but the touch of it!
"Supposing that I took you away somewhere, alone, with me, to a place where no one would find us? I do not speak, you say; but I am thinking, thinking, and every thought means danger to you, to myself, to the past and the future. How do these suppositions appeal to you, Madame?"
Had he moved, madame would have been frightened; but as he remained in the same easy att.i.tude, her fear had no depths.
"But I shall do none of these things because . . . because it would be hardly worth while. I tried to win your love honestly; but as I failed, let us say no more about it. I shall make no inquiries into your peculiar purpose; since you have accomplished it, there is nothing more to be said, save that you are not honest."
"Let us be going," she said, standing. "It will be twilight ere we reach the settlement."
"Very well;" and he halloed for Victor.
The way back to the fort was one of unbroken silence. Neither madame nor the Chevalier spoke again.
The Chevalier had some tasks to perform that evening which employed his time far beyond the meal hour. When he entered the mess-room it was deserted save for the presence of Corporal Fremin, one of the dissatisfied colonists. Several times he had been found unduly under the influence of apricot brandy. Du Puys had placed him in the guardhouse at three different periods for this misdemeanor. Where he got the brandy none could tell, and the corporal would not confess to the Jesuit Fathers, nor to his brother, who was a priest.
Unfortunately, he had been drinking again to-day. He sat opposite the Chevalier, smoking moodily, his little eyes blinking, blinking.
"Corporal," said the Chevalier, "will you pa.s.s me the corn?"
"Reach for it yourself," replied the corporal, insolently. He went on smoking.
The Chevalier sat back in his chair, dumfounded. "Pa.s.s me that corn!"
peremptorily.
The intoxicated soldier saw nothing in the flashing eyes; so he shrugged. "I am not your lackey."
The Chevalier was up in an instant. Pa.s.sing quickly around the table he inserted his fingers between the corporal"s collar and his neck, twisting him out of his chair and literally lifting him to his feet.
"What do you mean by this insolence? Pah!" scenting the brandy; "you have been drinking."
"What"s that to you? You are not my superior officer. Let go of my collar."
"I am an officer in the king"s army, and there is an unwritten law that all non-commissioned officers are my inferiors, here or elsewhere, and must obey me. You shall go to the guardhouse. I asked nothing of you but a common courtesy, and you became insolent. To the guardhouse you shall go."
"My superior, eh?" tugging uselessly at the hand of iron gripping his collar. "I know one thing, and it is something you, fine gentleman that you are, do not know. I know who my mother was . . ."
The corporal lay upon his back, his eyes bulging, his face purple, his breaths coming in agonizing gasps.
"Who told you to say that? Quick, or you shall this instant stand in judgment before the G.o.d who made you! Quick!"
There was death in the Chevalier"s eyes, and the corporal saw it. He struggled.
"Quick!"
"Monsieur d"Herouville! . . . You are killing me!"
The Chevalier released the man"s throat.
"Get up," contemptuously.
The corporal crawled to his knees and staggered to his feet. "By G.o.d, Monsieur! . . ." adjusting his collar.
"Not a word. How much did he pay you to act thus basely?"
"Pay me?"
"Answer!" taking a step forward.
"Ten livres," sullenly.
The Chevalier"s hands opened and closed, convulsively. "Give me those livres," he commanded.
"To you?" The corporal"s jaw fell. "What do you . . . ?"
"Be quick about it, man, if you love your worthless life!"
There was no gainsaying the devil in the Chevalier"s eyes.
Scowling blackly, the corporal emptied his pockets. Immediately the Chevalier scooped up the coin in his hand.
"When did D"Herouville give these to you?"
"This afternoon."
"You lie, wretch!"
Both the corporal and the Chevalier turned. D"Herouville"s form stood, framed in the doorway.
"Leave the room!" pointing toward the door.
D"Herouville stepped aside, and the corporal slunk out.
The two men faced each other.
"He lies. If I have applied epithets to you, it has been done openly and frankly. I have not touched you over some one"s shoulder, as in the De Leviston case. I entertain for you the greatest hatred. It will be a pleasure some day to kill you."
The Chevalier looked at the coin in his hand, at D"Herouville, then back at the coin.
"Believe me or not, Monsieur. I overheard what took place, and in justice to myself I had to speak." D"Herouville touched his hat and departed.
The Chevalier stood alone, staring with blurred eyes at the sinister contents of his hand.