Then it was M'sieu' came and put
a hand on my shoulder--he came so quietly that I did not hear him till he
touched me. He said he knew why I cried, and it saddened his soul."
"His soul--the jackal!" growled the old man in his beard.
The woman nodded wearily and went on. "For all of ten days I had been
alone, except for the cattlemen camping a mile away and an old Indian
helper who slept in his tepee within call. Loneliness makes you weak when
there's something tearing at the heart. So I let M'sieu' Marchand talk to
me. At last he told me that there was a woman at Yargo--that Dennis did
not go there for business, but to her. Everyone knew it except me, he
said. He told me to ask old Throw Hard, the Indian helper, if he had
spoken the truth. I was shamed, and angry and crazy, too, I think, so I
went to old Throw Hard and asked him. He said he could not tell the
truth, and that he would not lie to me. So I knew it was all true.
"How do I know what was in my mind? Is a woman not mad at such a time!
There I was, tossed aside for a flyaway, who was for any man that would
come her way. Yes, I think I was mad. The pride in me was hurt--as only a
woman can understand." She paused and looked at the two women who
listened to her.
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