At
last Jan spoke.
"I'm glad to see you again, Melisse. It has seemed like a very long
time!"
He lifted his eyes. Before them the girl involuntarily shrank back,
and Jan freed her hands. In them she saw none of the old love-glow,
nothing of their old comradeship. Inscrutable, reflecting no visible
emotion, they passed from her to the violin hanging on the wall.
"I have not played in so long," he said, turning from her, "that I
believe I have forgotten."
He took down the instrument, and his fingers traveled clumsily over
the strings. His teeth gleamed at her from out his half-inch growth of
beard, as he said:
"Ah, you must play for me now, Melisse! It has surely gone from Jan
Thoreau."
He held out the violin to her.
"Not now, Jan," she said tremulously. "I will play for you to-night."
She went to the door of her room, hesitating for a moment, with her
back to him. "You will come to supper, Jan?"
"Surely, Melisse, if you are prepared."
He hung up the violin as she closed the door, and went from the cabin.
Jean de Gravois and Iowaka were watching for him, and Jean hurried
across the open to meet him.
"I am coming to offer you the loan of my razor," he cried gaily.
"Iowaka says that you will be taken for a bear if the trappers see
you.
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