"He was hiding in the woods near
Churchill, and left for Fort o' God on that same day. I did not
tell Jeanne--until after what happened, and I came up with you on
the river. Thorpe was waiting for us at Fort o' God. It was he
whom Jeanne saw that night beside the rock, but I could not tell
you the truth--then. He came often after that--two, three times a
week. He tortured Jeanne. My God! he taunted her, M'sieur, and
made her let him kiss her, because he was her father. We gave him
money--all that we could get; we promised him more, if he would
leave--five thousand dollars--in three years. He agreed to go--
after he had finished his work here. And that work--M'sieur--was
to destroy you. He told Jeanne, because it made her fear him more.
He compelled her to come to his cabin. He thought she was his
slave, that she would do anything to be free of him. He told her
of his plot--how he had fooled you in the sham fight with one of
his men--how those men were going to attack you a little later,
and how he had intercepted your letter from Churchill and sent in
its place the other letter which made your camp defenseless. He
was not afraid of her. She was in his power, and he laughed at her
horror, and tortured her as a cat will a bird.
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