"Oui, Monsieur," returned Paul, "Monsieur Stephens is a very great
favourite with our family. We are under an obligation to him that it
will be difficult ever to repay."

"Whence comes this benefactor," queried M. Riel, with an ugly sneer,
"and how has he placed you under such an obligation?" Then,
reflecting that he was showing a bitterness respecting the young man
which he could neither explain nor justify, he said:

'"Mais, pardonnez-moi. Think me not rude for asking these questions.
When pretty eyes are employed to see, and pretty lips to tell of,
game for one sportsman in preference to another, the neglected one
might be excused for seeking to know in what way fortune has been
kind with his rival."

"Shall I tell the whole story, Annette" enquired Paul, or will you
do so?"

"O, I know that you will not leave anything out that can show the
bravery of Mr. Stephens," replied the girl.

"Well, last spring, Annette was spending some days with her aunt, a
few miles up Red River. It was the flood time, and as you remember,
the river was swollen to a point higher than it had ever reached
within the memory of any body in the settlement. Annette is
venturesome, and since a child has shown a keen delight in going upon
boats, or paddling a canoe; so, one day, during the visit which I
have mentioned, she went into a birch that swung in a little pond,
formed behind her uncle's premises by the over-flowing of the
stream's channel. Untying the canoe, she seized the blade and began