The voice in the canoe behind me ceased. The rain let up. The _slish_,
_slish_ of the paddle stopped. The canoe swung sideways to the breeze.
I heard the rap, rap, rap of a pipe on the gunwale, and the scratch of
a match on the under side of the thwart.
"What are you doing, Ferdinand?"
"I go to light the pipe, M'sieu'."
"Is the story finished?"
"But yes—but no—I know not, M'sieu'. As you will."
"But what did old Girard say when his daughter broke her engagement and
married a man whose eyes were spoiled?"
"He said that Leclère could see well enough to work with him in the store."
"And what did Vaillantcœur say when he lost his girl?"
"He said it was a cursed shame that one could not fight a blind man."
"And what did 'Toinette say?"
"She said she had chosen the bravest man in Abbéville."
"And Prosper—what did he say?"
"M'sieu', I know not. He spoke only to 'Toinette."
[Illustration]
"THE PLAY'S THE THING"