"For you love him."

"O madame! I did not show that I loved him? No. It would be horrible for
me to love him."

"What has he done? And it is plain he has come to court you."

"He has long courted me, madame."

"And you met him as a stranger and fled from him as a wolf!--this
Hollandais gentleman who hath saved our French people--even
priests--from the savages!"

"All New Amsterdam and Fort Orange hold him in esteem," said Antonia,
betraying pride. "I have heard he can do more with the Iroquois tribes
than any other man of the New World." She uselessly wiped her eyes. She
was weak from long crying.

"Then why do you run from him?"

"Because he hath too witching a power on me, madame. I cannot spin or
knit or sew when he is by; I must needs watch every motion of his if he
once fastens my eyes."

"I have noticed he draws one's heart," laughed Marie.

"He does. It is like witchcraft. He sets me afloat so that I lose my
feet and have scarce any will of my own. I never was so disturbed by my
husband Jonas Bronck," complained Antonia.