The Translation of a Savage | Page 5

elements of tragedy. Perhaps, however, he would have hesitated to
carry his purposes to immediate conclusions, were it not that the very
gods seemed to play his game with him. For, while he stood there,
looking out into the yard of the fort, a Protestant missionary passed the
window. The Protestant missionary, as he is found at such places as
Fort Charles, is not a strictly superior person. A Jesuit might have been
of advantage to Frank Armour at that moment. The Protestant
missionary is not above comfortable assurances of gold. So that when
Armour summoned this one in, and told him what was required of him,
and slipped a generous gift of the Queen's coin into his hand, he smiled
vaguely and was willing to do what he was bidden. Had he been a
Jesuit, who is sworn to poverty, and more often than not a man of birth
and education, he might have influenced Frank Armour and prevented
the notable mishap and scandal. As it was, Armour took more brandy.
Then he went down to Eye-of-the-Moon's lodge. A few hours
afterwards the missionary met him there. The next morning Lali, the
daughter of Eye-of- the-Moon, and the chieftainess of a portion of her
father's tribe, whose grandfather had been a white man, was introduced
to the Hudson's Bay country as Mrs. Frank Armour. But that was not
all. Indeed, as it stood, it was very little. He had only made his comedy
possible as yet; now the play itself was to come. He had carried his
scheme through boldly so far. He would not flinch in carrying it out to
the last letter. He brought his wife down to the Great Lakes
immediately, scarcely resting day or night. There he engaged an
ordinary but reliable woman, to whom he gave instructions, and sent
the pair to the coast. He instructed his solicitor at Montreal to procure
passages for Mrs. Francis Armour and maid for Liverpool. Then, by
letters, he instructed his solicitor in London to meet Mrs. Francis
Armour and maid at Liverpool and take them to Greyhope in
Hertfordshire--that is, if General Armour and Mrs. Armour, or some

representative of the family, did not meet them when they landed from
the steamship.
Presently he sat down and wrote to his father and mother, and asked
them to meet his wife and her maid when they arrived by the steamer
Aphrodite. He did not explain to them in precise detail his feelings on
Miss Julia Sherwood's marriage, nor did he go into full particulars as to
the personality of Mrs. Frank Armour; but he did say that, because he
knew they were anxious that he should marry "acceptably," he had
married into the aristocracy, the oldest aristocracy of America; and
because he also knew they wished him to marry wealth, he sent them a
wife rich in virtues--native, unspoiled virtues. He hoped that they
would take her to their hearts and cherish her. He knew their firm
principles of honour, and that he could trust them to be kind to his wife
until he returned to share the affection which he was sure would be
given to her. It was not his intention to return to England for some time
yet. He had work to do in connection with his proposed colony; and a
wife--even a native wife-- could not well be a companion in the
circumstances. Besides, Lali--his wife's name was Lali!--would be
better occupied in learning the peculiarities of the life in which her
future would be cast. It was possible they would find her an apt pupil.
Of this they could not complain, that she was untravelled; for she had
ridden a horse, bareback, half across the continent. They could not cavil
at her education, for she knew several languages--aboriginal
languages--of the North. She had merely to learn the dialect of English
society, and how to carry with acceptable form the costumes of the race
to which she was going. Her own costume was picturesque, but it might
appear unusual in London society. Still, they could use their own
judgment about that.
Then, when she was gone beyond recall, he chanced one day to put on
the coat he wore when the letters and paper declaring his misfortune
came to him. He found his brother's letter; he opened it and read it. It
was the letter of a man who knew how to appreciate at their proper
value the misfortunes, as the fortunes, of life. While Frank Armour read
he came to feel for the first time that his brother Richard had suffered,
maybe, from some such misery as had come to him through Julia

Sherwood. It was a dispassionate, manly letter, relieved by gentle wit,
and hinting with careful kindness that a sudden blow was better