"Maid," replied McElroy; "by name Maren Le Moyne, one of a party of
venturers who came but a short while back from Rainy River, and who
have cast in their lot with us for the matter of a year."

The woman and the child passed on their way, disappearing again behind
the next cabin, unconscious of observation, still lost in their play of
the tossing ship at sea, and the two men entered the great trading-room
of Fort de Seviere, where Edmonton Ridgar, chief trader and accountant,
came forward to meet the stranger.

The young factor went in search of Jack de Lancy and word of the meal
he had ordered, and for some reason there was within him a vague
vexation which had to do with the look he had seen in the merry eyes of
Alfred de Courtenay,

He found the great kettles boiling over the fires and a ten-gallon pot
of coffee Venting the evening air.

As he gave word for the feast to be spread on strips of cloth laid on
the hard-beaten ground before the factory that many might sit round at
once and partake, there came from the direction of the gate the voices
of De Courtenay's men. The stranger and himself, with young Ivrey and
Ridgar should be served in the little room off to the west where were
the small table, the chairs, and the row of books.

Not often did Fort de Seviere have so illustrious a guest as must be
this young adventurer.