Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-12-18
BOOK III.-ARRlvINc.

rather than madness. She had not the ex-
preston OF insane people. the shifty eyes,
the cunning and perverseness, the animal
and torpid presence.
II I called her Madame de Terrier in
! stead of my Cloud Mother, a strained and
puzzled look replaced her usual satisfac-
ton I did not often use the name. nor
| did try to make her repeat my own. 1t
was my daily effort TO fall in with her
happiness, for II she saw any anxiety
she was quick to plead
Don't you. like me any more, Paul?
Are you tired of me, because I am a
| Cloud-Mother?"
NO" / would answer. 'Lazarre WIN
never be tired of you"
do you think ] am growing smallerE
Will you love me II l shrink to baby?'
II viii love YOU"
II used to love you when you were so
tiny, Paul. before you knew how to love
me back If / forget how"-she clutched
the lapels of my coat-"will you leave me
then"
Eagle. say this: Lazarre cannot leave
me-"
'Lazarre cannot leave me-
! / heard her repeating this at her sew
| ing. She boosted to Marie Grignon-"La-
zarre cannot leave me!-Paul taught me
! that"
Nv Cloud-Mother asked me to tell her
forgotten them.
II am the child now" she would say.
"Tell me the stories"
I / repeated mythical tribe legends, gath
/ cred from Skenedonk on our long rides,
making them as eloquent as could. She
listened, holding her breath, or signing
/ with contentment.
| II any one I'm the household smiled when
she led me about by the hand, there was
i q tear behind the SMILE
She kept herself in perfection, bestowing
unceasing care upon her dress, which was
/ always gray,
II have to wear gray; am in q cloud"
| she had said to the family.
1--WE have used fine gray stuff brought
/ from Holland. and woods that Mother
/ Ursule got from Montreal" Katrina told
me. 1.-THE Pawnees dye with vegetable
colors But they cannot make the pale
| gray she loves"
| Eagle watched me with maternal care.
II hair dropped on my collar she brush
ed 1t away. and smoothed and settled my
| crayat The touch OF my Cloud-Mother,
familiar and tender. like the touch OF
wife charged through me with torture,
because she was herself so unconscious
| of it.
Before had been in the house week
/ she made a little pair of trousers a span
/ long and gave them to me. Marie and
Katrina turned their faces to laugh. My
| Cloud Mother held the garment up for
their inspection. and was not at all sensi-
tive to the giggles it provoked.
IT made over an old pair OF his fath-
er's" she said
| The discarded breeches used by the
| pouched turkey had been devoted to her
whim Every stitch was neatly set. l
praised her beautiful needlework, and she
said she would make me a coat.
Skenedonk was not often in the house.
/ He took to the winter hunting and snow
shoeing with vigor Whenever he came
indoors used to see him watching Mad
anne de Ferrier with saturnine wistfulness.
! She paid no attention to him. He would
stand gazing at her while she sewed; be-
| ing privileged as an educated Indian and
my attendant, to enter the family room
| where the Pawnees came only to serve.
/ They had the ample kitchen and its log
\ fire to themselves wondered what was
working in skenedonks mind, and II he
repented calling one so buffeted, a sorcer-
ess.
Kindly ridicule excited by the incon-
| gruous things she did, passed over with
| out touching her. She was enveloped In a
cloud, Iaick case guarding overtaxed
| mind and body. and shutting them in it's
peIlucid chrystals. The Almighty arms
were resting her on a mountain Of vision.
She had forgot how TO weep. ~Ae was
| remembering how to laugh,
The more . thought about it the less
endurable il became to have her depend
ent upon the Grignons. My business at
! fairs with Pierre ~.rignon made 1t posi-
l bic to transfer her obligations to my ac-
count The hospitable man and his Vine
objected, but when they saw how l took
il TO heart. gave me my way. l told them
I wished Der to be regarded as my wife,
for | should never have anotheri and
while II might remain impossible for her
to marry me, on my part ! was bound
to her.
You are young. M,s'r Williams. said
| Madame Urscle. "You have q long life be-
/ fore YOU man wants comfort in his
house And II he makes wealth. he needs
a hand that knows how to distribute and
how TO save She could never go to your
home as she is.
Il know It. madame
You will change your mind about a
wife.
Madame. have not changed my mind
since first wanted her. 1t is not a mind
that changes"
~ ell, that's unusual Young men are
often tickle You never made proposals
for herr
oied."
'But she was stin a wife-,4e wife Of
an old man--in the Pigeon Roost settle
meat"
"Her father married her to a cousin
nearly as ola as himself. when she was
a child. Her husband was reported dead
while he was IN hIdlng. She herself
thought. and so lid her friends. that he
was dead
p see. Eli ,aese girls married to old
menl Madame Jordan told me ---eine' S
husband was very fretful. ne kept HIM
self ike silk. and scarcely let the wind
blow upon him for fear of injuring his
health When other men were out toiling
at the clearings, he sat I'm his house to
avoid chslls and fever in the sun. IL was
well for her that she had a faithful SER
want Madeleine and the servant kept
the family with their garden and corn
field. They never tasted wild meat unless
the other settlers brought them venison.
Madame Jordan said they always return
ed a present Of herbs and vegetables from
their garden. It grew for them better
than any garden in the settlement. Once
the old man did go out wit a hunung
party, and got lost. The men searched
for him for .lree days, and found him
eurled up in hollow tree, waiting to be
brought in. They carried him home on a
litter an. he popped his mead into the
door and said: Here / am cid! on
can't XII. me.
what did Madame de Terrier say?'
Nothing She made a child of him.
as If he were her son. He was In his
second childhood. no doubt. And Madame