The Going of the White Swan | Page 7

I said, 'She is white, and the white people will never rest till they have killed you all, if you do this thing. The Company will track you down.' Then he said, 'The whites must catch me and fight me before they kill me.'... What was there to do?"
Bagot came near to the priest, bending over him savagely:
"You let her stay with them--you, with hands like a man!"
"Hush," was the calm, reproving answer. "I was one man, they were twenty."
"Where was your God to help you, then?"
"Her God and mine was with me."
Bagot's eyes blazed. "Why didn't you offer rum--rum? They'd have done it for that--one--five--ten kegs of rum!"
He swayed to and fro in his excitement, yet their voices hardly rose above a hoarse whisper all the time.
"You forget," answered the priest, "that it is against the law, and that as a priest of my order I am vowed to give no rum to an Indian."
"A vow! A vow! Son of God! what is a vow beside a woman--my wife?"
His misery and his rage were pitiful to see.
"Perjure my soul! Offer rum! Break my vow in the face of the enemies of God's Church! What have you done for me that I should do this for you, John Bagot?"
"Coward!" was the man's despairing cry, with a sudden threatening movement. "Christ himself would have broke a vow to save her."
The grave, kind eyes of the priest met the other's fierce gaze, and quieted the wild storm that was about to break.
"Who am I that I should teach my Master?" he said, solemnly. "What would you give Christ, Bagot, if He had saved her to you?"
The man shook with grief, and tears rushed from his eyes, so suddenly and fully had a new emotion passed through him.
"Give--give!" he cried, "I would give twenty years of my life!"
The figure of the priest stretched up with gentle grandeur. Holding out the iron crucifix, he said: "On your knees and swear it, John Bagot!"
There was something inspiring, commanding, in the voice and manner, and Bagot, with a new hope rushing through his veins, knelt and repeated his words.
The priest turned to the door, and called, "Madame Lucette!"
The boy, hearing, waked, and sat up in bed suddenly.
"Mother! mother!" he cried, as the door flew open.
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.
[Illustration]

[Illustration]
VII
Dominique's voice came clearly through the room:
"Mother, I saw the white swan fly away through the door when you came in."
"My dear, my dear," she said, "there was no white swan." But she clasped the boy to her breast protectingly, and whispered an ave.
"Peace be to this house," said the voice of the priest.
And there was peace--for the child lived, and the man has loved, and has kept his vow, even unto this day.
For the visions of the boy, who can know the divers ways in which God speaks to the children of men!
THE END

NOVELS BY SIR GILBERT PARKER
The Going of the White Swan The Seats of the Mighty The Trail of the Sword The Trespasser The Translation of a Savage Mrs. Falchion
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK

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