darling Marie; but I am consoled with the thought that
when the turmoil is ended, when this land of tumult and
tyranny has become a region of peace and fruitful industry,
I will be able to bring my darling back to her dear old
home; and in a little wed her there, and then take her
to my arms for ever."

This was very sweet tidings to the desolate girl. She
read the letter over and over till she could repeat every
word of the eight large pages which it contained. When
she began to grow stronger she would keep it in her lap
all day, and touch it tenderly as a young mother would
her sleeping babe. Before blowing out her lamp in the
night she would kiss the letter, and put it under her
pillow. When she opened her large bright eyes in the
morning she would take it, kiss it, and read it once
again.

During all this time the fire of Riel's two-fold passion
was not burning lower:--nay, it was growing stronger.
His aim now was to make himself such a ruler and master
in the settlement that every word of his should be as
law, and that no man, not all the people, might disobey
his command or censure his action.

"So Thomas Scott is to marry her, when the strife ends,"
he would speculate. "Ah, Monsieur Scott, if to that time
you defer your nuptials, they shall take place in heaven
--or in hell." For the furtherance of his diabolical
personal aims he now began to assume a benignant, fatherly