seemed unimportant. What is hunger and court
favor beside a broken heart and a desolate life?
But that of course is the attitude of an ignorant
girl." She raised her eyes. They were soft, and
her voice was softer. "I beg that you will forgive
me, senor. And be sure that I take an even deeper
interest in your great mission than yesterday. I
have thought much about it, and while I have told
my mother nothing, I have expressed certain peev-
ish hopes that a ship would not come all the way
from Sitka without taking a hint more than one
Boston skipper must have given, and brought us
many things we need. She is quite excited over
the prospect of a new shawl for herself, and of send-
ing several as presents to the south; besides many
other things: cotton, shoes, kitchen utensils. Have
you any of these things, Excellency?"

Rezanov stared at her face, barely tinted with
color, dully wondering why it should be so different
from the one roguish, pathetically innocent, that
had haunted him all day. He asked abruptly:

"Which is the friend whose little ones you envy?
You have made me wish to see them and her?"

"That is Elena--beside Gervasio." She indicated
a young woman with soft, patient, brown eyes, the
dignity of her race and the sweetness of young
motherhood, who would have looked little older