bestowed on the Aphrodite for England. This was the first act in his
tragic comedy.




CHAPTER II

A DIFFICULT SITUATION

When Mrs. Frank Armour arrived at Montreal she still wore her Indian
costume of clean, well-broidered buckskin, moccasins, and leggings, all
surmounted by a blanket. It was not a distinguished costume, but it
seemed suitable to its wearer. Mr. Armour's agent was in a quandary.
He had received no instructions regarding her dress. He felt, of course,
that, as Mrs. Frank Armour, she should put off these garments, and dress,
so far as was possible, in accordance with her new position. But when he
spoke about it to Mackenzie, the elderly maid and companion, he found
that Mr. Armour had said that his wife was to arrive in England dressed
as she was. He saw something ulterior in the matter, but it was not his
province to interfere. And so Mrs. Frank Armour was a passenger by the
Aphrodite in her buckskin garments.

What she thought of it all is not quite easy to say. It is possible that
at first she only considered that she was the wife of a white man,--
a thing to be desired, and that the man she loved was hers for ever--
a matter of indefinable joy to her. That he was sending her to England
did not fret her, because it was his will, and he knew what was best.
Busy with her contented and yet somewhat dazed thoughts of him,--she
was too happy to be very active mentally, even if it had been the