Gilbert Parker

“ The silver-fox skin is the prize of the north, and this one was of the boy's own harvesting. While his father was away he saw the fox creeping by the hut. The joy of the hunter seized him, and guided his eye over the sights of his father's rifle as he rested the barrel on the windowsill, and the animal was his! Now his finger ran into the hole made by the bullet, and he gave a little laugh of modest triumph. Minutes passed as they studied, felt, and admired the skin, the hunter proud of his son, the son alive with a primitive passion, which inflicts suffering to get the beautiful thing. ”

“ The priest appeared not to hear the question. Turning for a moment toward the boy, who now was in a deep sleep, he looked at him intently. Presently he spoke.
"Ever since I married you and Lucette Barbond you have stood in the way of her duty, Bagot. How well I remember that first day when you knelt before me! Was ever so sweet and good a girl—with her golden eyes and the look of summer in her face, and her heart all pure! Nothing had spoiled her—you cannot spoil such women—God is in their hearts. But you, what have you cared? ”

“ You did not love her."
"By the Heaven above, yes!" said Bagot, half starting to his feet.
"Ah, 'by the Heaven above,' no! nor the child. For true love is unselfish and patient, and where it is the stronger, it cares for the weaker; but it was your wife who was unselfish, patient, and cared for you. Every time she said an ave she thought of you, and her every thanks to God had you therein. They know you well in heaven, Bagot—through your wife. Did you ever pray—ever since I married you to her?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"An hour or so ago."
Once again the priest's eyes glanced towards the lighted candles. ”

“ On the ranches they let their cattle loose upon the plains in winter, knowing not where they go, yet looking for them to return in the spring. But a woman—a woman and a wife—is different.... Bagot, you have been a rough, hard man, and you have been a stranger to your God, but I thought you loved your wife and child!"
The hunter's hands clenched, and a wicked light flashed up into his eyes; but the calm, benignant gaze of the other cooled the tempest in his veins. The priest sat down on the couch where the child lay, and took the fevered hand in his own. ”

“ His life had been spent in the wastes, with rough deeds and rugged habits, and a youth of hardship, danger, and almost savage endurance had given him a half-barbarian temperament, which could strike an angry blow at one moment and fondle to death at the next. ”

“ The mother came to her husband's arms, laughing and weeping, and an instant afterwards was pouring out her love and anxiety over her child.
Father Corraine now faced the man, and with a soft exaltation of voice and manner said:
"John Bagot, in the name of Christ, I demand twenty years of your life—of love and obedience of God. I broke my vow; I perjured my soul; I bought your wife with ten kegs of rum."
The tall hunter dropped again to his knees, and caught the priest's hand to kiss it.
"No, no—this!" the priest said, and laid his iron crucifix against the other's lips. ”

“ The veins were beating like live cords in the man's throat and at his temples.
"'Twas just the same as Father Corraine bein' here, when mother had Sunday, wasn't it?"
The man made no reply; but a gloom drew down his forehead, and his lips doubled in as though he endured physical pain. He got to his feet and paced the floor. For weeks he had listened to the same kind of talk from this wounded, and, as he thought, dying son, and he was getting less and less able to bear it. The boy at nine years of age was, in manner of speech, the merest child, but his thoughts were sometimes large and wise. ”

“ He said to me. 'What does a priest want of a woman?' I said that I wished to give her back to her husband. He said that he had found her, and she was his, and that he would marry her when they reached the great camp of the tribe. I was patient. It would not do to make him angry. I wrote down on a piece of bark the things that I would give him for her: an order on the Company at Fort o' Sin for shot, blankets and beads. He said no."
The priest paused. Bagot's face was all swimming with sweat, his body was rigid, but the veins of his neck knotted and twisted. ”

“ But she—with all a woman suffers, how can she bear life—and man—without God? No, it is not possible. And you thought you and your few superstitions were enough for her.—Ah, poor fool! She should worship you! So selfish, so small, for a man who knows in his heart how great God is. ”

“ Don't you hear it—don't you hear it, daddy?"
"No, Dominique, it's only the kettle singing."
"A kettle isn't a voice. Daddy—" He paused a little, then went on, hesitatingly: "I saw a white swan fly through the door over your shoulder when you came in to-night." ”

“ He had ever had that touch of mystical imagination inseparable from the far north, yet he had none of that religious belief which swallowed up natural awe and turned it to the refining of life, and to the advantage of a man's soul. ”

“ Outside, two figures were approaching the hut—a man and a woman; yet at first glance the man might easily have been taken for a woman, because of his clean-shaven face, of the long black robe which he wore, and because his hair fell loose on his shoulders. ”

“ The man softly, yet awkwardly, lifted the robe, folded it back, and slowly uncovered the knee. The leg was worn away almost to skin and bone, but the knee itself was swollen with inflammation. He bathed it with some water, mixed with vinegar and herbs, then drew down the deer-skin shirt, and did the same with the child's shoulder. Both shoulder and knee bore the marks of teeth,—where a huge wildcat had made havoc—and the body had long red scratches. ”