Did you ever see her, father--Marie La Corne, over at the
post on Split Lake?"
Severn dropped his head to cough, but Weyman say the sudden look of
horror that leaped into the little priest's face.
"Marie La Corne!"
"Yes, at Split Lake."
Severn looked up again. He had missed what Weyman had seen.
"Yes, I've seen her."
Bucky Severn's eyes lit up with pleasure.
"She's--she's beautiful, ain't she?" he cried in hoarse whisper. "Ain't
it a wonder, father? I come up there with a canoe full of supplies, last
spring about this time, an'--an' at first I hardly dast to look at her;
but it came out all right. When I told her I was coming over here to
build us a home, she wanted me to bring her along to help; but I
wouldn't. I knew it was goin' to be hard this winter, and she's never
goin' to work--never so long as I live. I ain't had much to do with
women, but I've seen 'em and I've watched 'em an' she's never goin' to
drudge like the rest. If she'll let me, I'm even goin' to do the cookin'
an' the dish-washing and scrub the floors! I've done it for twenty-five
years, an' I'm tough. She ain't goin' to do nothin' but sew for the kids
when they come, an' sing, an' be happy. When it comes to the work that
there ain't no fun in, I'll do it. I've planned it all out. We're goin'
to have half an arpent square of flowers, an' she'll love to work among
'em. I've got the ground cleared--out there--you kin see it by twisting
your head through the door.
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