"She is pretty," laughed Melisse, "and I have just learned that is why
men like to--like them, I mean."
Jean strutted before her like a peacock.
"Am I pretty, Melisse?"
"No-o-o-o."
"Then why"--he shrugged his shoulders suggestively--"in the cabin--"
"Because you were brave, Jean. I love brave men!"
"You were glad that I pummeled the stranger, then?"
Melisse did not answer, but he caught a laughing sparkle in the corner
of her eye as she left him.
"Come home, Jan Thoreau," he hummed softly, as he went to the store.
"Come home, come home, come home, for the little Melisse has grown
into a woman, and is learning to use her eyes!"
Among the first of the trappers to come in with his furs was MacVeigh.
He brought word that Jan had gone south, to spend the annual holiday
at Nelson House, and Cummings told Melisse whence the message came. He
did not observe the slight change that came into her face, and went
on:
"I don't understand this in Jan. He is needed here for the carnival.
Did you know that he was going to Nelson House?"
Melisse shook her head.
"MacVeigh says they have made him an offer to go down there as chief
man," continued the factor. "It is strange that he has sent no
explanation to me!"
It was a week after the big caribou roast before Jan returned to Lac
Bain.
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