George Tracy Marsh

“ If Hunter had enlightened the priest, then Colin Gillies was no judge of men, for he had always admired the Oblat.
The first week in February Julie Breton was sitting up, and Mr. Hunter bade good-by to the stanch friends he had made at Whale River. Not always are the relations between Oblat or Jesuit and Protestant missionaries unduly cordial in the land of their labors, but when the Reverend Hunter left the mission house at Whale River there remained in the hearts of Père Breton, his sister, and Jean Marcel, a love for the doctor, clergyman, and man, which the years did not dim. ”

“ Don’t think of Jean Marcel.”
“But it is of Jean Marcel of the great heart that I must think—have been thinking, for days and days.” She was sitting erect, tense; her pale face drawn with emotion.
“I tell you I know it all,” she cried, “how they—he—feared to start in the storm—and waited—ordered you to wait. But no wind or snow could hold Jean Marcel, and in spite of them he brought Doctor Hunter to Whale River—and saved Julie Breton.” ”

“ For a week Wallace remained at Whale River and then, assured by Doctor Hunter of Julie’s safety, left, to return later. When he met Marcel in the trade house and attempted to thank him, the cold glitter in the eyes of the Frenchman as he listened with impassive face to the halting words of the great man of the coast filled Colin Gillies with inward delight. ”