"Perhaps you are right," laughed Philip, "but I swear that I don't
know what you mean. I suppose you picked that lingo up among the
Indians."
He caught the faintest gleam of Jeanne's white teeth again as she
bent her head.
"I have a tutor at home," she explained, softly. "You shall meet
him when we reach Fort o' God. He is the most wonderful man in the
world."
Her words sent a strange chill through Philip. They were filled
with an exquisite tenderness, a pride that sent her eyes back to
his, glowing. The questions that he had meant to ask died and
faded away. He thought of her words of a few minutes before, when
he had asked about Fort o' God. She had said, "My father, Pierre,
and I, WITH ONE OTHER, live there alone." The OTHER was the tutor,
the man who had come from civilization to teach this beautiful
girl those things which had amazed him, and this man was THE MOST
WONDERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD. He had no excuse for the feelings
which were aroused in him. Only he knew, as he rose to his feet,
that a part of his old burden seemed suddenly to have returned to
his shoulders, and the old loneliness was beating at the door of
his heart. He rearranged the pack in silence, and the strength and
joy of life were gone from his arms when he helped Jeanne back to
her place among the bear-skins.
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