Theodore Goodridge Roberts

“ Then he grabbed Noel by the arm and accused him of killing Balenger. His eyes were wild. But old Noel kept cool. Old Noel said that he knew nothing of the shooting, that neither of them had done the thing and that the woods were wide open. Sherwood didn't care who had pulled the trigger. It was all up with him, whoever the murderer was! His only chance was to run and run quick. Every one knew what was between him and Louis Balenger and he would be hanged for a murderer if he was caught. And what would become of Marion then? ”

“ Noel and Sherwood trapped fur together; but Sherwood never went very far afield. His mind and nerves went “jumpy” when ever he got mere than a few miles away from his wife and child. As the years passed he seemed normal enough when with them, more nearly a sound man each year; but once out of sight of them his eyes showed fear.
Noel often tried to argue him out of his fear. When a young man and a soldier he had not been afraid of hurts or life or death, so why be a coward now? Noel argued. His old enemy Balenger was gone, so what was he afraid of? ”

“ There was gold in the east now but the shadows were deep under the wooded banks. Fish rose, breaking the surface of the water into flowing circles that widened and vanished. Birds chirped in the trees. ”

“ Noel was a lonely man. He had been a widower for close upon thirty years. His children had grown up and gone to the settlements a lifetime ago. But he had refused to go to any settlement. He had left his old trapping and hunting grounds on the Tobigue and come onto French River about ten years ago. He found Sherwood and Julie and their baby on the river in the big log house that had been Louis Balenger's. They were the only regular settlers on the stream but there was a big camp belonging to a fishing club five miles farther up. ”

“ What could he do in towns or cities now, he who clung to an old Indian and a little girl for courage to live from day to day?
Strangers? He would not dare look a stranger in the face!
But Marion might sicken suddenly as her mother had and die for the need of a doctor! ”