Part 13 (1/2)
”No, four e is a e,” replied Katherine
”Why, do you deliver goods so far out? With no coht have , for he knew very hat kind of as involved in a portage, and it did not seeirl
”But there is cohed Katherine ”There is Peter M'Crawney, with all the great Hudson's Bay Company behind him That is our most formidable rival, while up on Marble Island there has been started a sort of United States General Stores and Canned Food Depot Of course, that is eight hundred erous, but it ht suppose”
”Well, it isn't round the corner of the next block at any rate,” Jervis replied, laughing to think that trade could suffer from a rival establish one, you see,” she answered, and they all laughed , it is so easy to be gay, even though griht that you and M'Craere rather in the position of business partners than trade rivals,” Jervis said, as, passing the last bend of the river, he swung the boat along the stretch of straight water to the store
”In a sense we are partners; that is, we agree to work together, and to supply each other's shortages in stores so far as we can But the rivalry is there all the same Peter M'Crawney knows he would sell three times the stuff that he does now if it were not for us; while of course our hands would be freer but for him, only we are tied to him, because half of our customers are able to pay us only in skins, and then Peter M'Crawney is our Bank of Exchange”
Katherine could not forbear a grimace as she spoke, for peltry can be a very odorous currency, and she had to exa what it orth in flour, bacon, or tobacco, because the redthe white man, when it co skins for stores is not a good one, and the ht not to be the one who sells the sugar and tea,” Jervis rehed at hi whatever about the red est cash dealings
”Still it will come, and the red es,” Jervis maintained, with the quiet obstinacy that Katherine had sometimes noticed in him before
”I hope I shall be out of the trade before that ti place ”As soon as Miles is able to take control of the store I shall return to -that is, always providing there are children to be taught”
'Duke Radford sat in a cushi+oned chair at a sun-shi+nyof the kitchen He looked up with a shter entered the room, and when she bent over him to kiss him he ly; then he turned with the pleased eagerness of a child to greet Jervis, whoood friend indeed
Katherine sighed as she went back to help with the unlading of the boat It was a great co either in body or mind, but soone to his which perplexed her soto be thankful for that his burden of apprehension was lifted so cohing, bringing the sht be hard, but while there was hope in it, it could not be unbearable
CHAPTER XIII
Mary
”Are you ready, Mary?”
”In one s, a valise, a hold-all, a port sack, a case of books, and a handbag Oh dear, what a collection of things to look after! Hoe were like the dogs, dear creatures, which grow their own clothes and have only their tails to hold up, or to wag in sign of ah she had one of those quiet reserved faces which render difficult a correct guessing of the age She was standing in the porch of the Bellevue Hotel, Teh travel, in coat and skirt of heather-brown cloth, faced with brown leather, with a brown hat on her head, and brown boots on her feet which reached well above the ankle Indeed her attire was so trih work, that everyone at the first glance decided she lish
”I fancy you would not care to wear the sahed her father, a genial-looking h travel, and was just now intent on hurrying his daughter to the lake boat, which was getting up steam at a little distance
”Like it or not, I expect it is what I shall be reduced to by the end of the sus and bundles being piled on to a barrow by the hotel porter
”Well, look your last on civilization and coer,” said Mr Selincourt, adding with a laugh: ”unless indeed you are beginning to repent, in which case it is not too late to change your o back to Miss Griffith”
”Thank you! I never change my mind unless it is about the weather, and I wouldn't turn back on this journey on any account whatever”
”Not if I turned back myself?” he enquired, as they went on board the boat
”No; unless, of course, you were ill, in which case, I suppose, eme, with both hands, as near to the North Pole as a wo of her breath which showed soitation behind
”But James Bay isn't the North Pole,” objected Mr Selincourt
”It is nearer though than this, I suppose And this is better than Montreal,” she answered, then turned to talk to a gentleman who had co ca is thirtyBut, as Mr Selincourt hadhotel until the next ht in the wilds was a very co everyone was astir Three river boats were landed; these were ht carrying With theed at a point farther down the lake, who had undertaken to work the boats up the Abbitibbi River to Hannah Bay The h there were plenty of thee which had to be unladen fro of the portages, and the nus, bales, bundles, and boxes would have to be carried over ood, quite that they could have earned in any other direction, and as they were too wise to quarrel with their daily bread, which in this case was only biscuit, they accepted the burdens in silence