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Melisse was not to be taken out and rolled in the snow; so she brought in the snow and rolled it over Melisse! When Jan discovered this, his tongue twisted itself into sounds so terrible, and his face writhed so fiercely, that Maballa began to comprehend that thereafter no snow at all, either out doors or in, was to be used in the physical development of the little Melisse.
"A letter!" she cried, holding out her two hands filled with the pages. "A letter to me, Jan, all the way from Fort Churchill!" "Who in the world " he began, smiling at her; and stopped. "It's from Mr. Dixon," she said, the flush deepening in her cheeks. "He's going to spend part of the winter with us." "I'm glad of that, Melisse," said Jan quietly. "I like him, and would like to know him better.
Melisse, tightening her arms around his neck, made his promise sacred by offering her little rosebud of a mouth for him to kiss. Later, the restless spirit slumbering within his breast urged him to speak to Cummins. "When Melisse is a little older, should we not go with her into the South?" he said. "She must not live for ever in a place like this."
At last, swiftly and despairingly, he ended with half a dozen lines. What he said came from his heart, in French: "I have brought him back to you, my Melisse, and pray that the good God may give you happiness. I leave you the old violin, and always when you play, it will tell you of the love of Jan Thoreau." He folded the page and sealed it in one of the company's envelopes.
"A woman!" sez I. "Yes, an' she had the kindest voice," sez Barbie. "Ain't she here now? I want to talk to her. I've missed ol' Melisse something fierce but I never let on to Daddy. Where is Daddy, Happy?" "You ask more questions'n an almanac, Barbie," sez I, tryin' to speak easy.
Cummins fancied that he already began to see signs of the transformation in Melisse. She was passionately fond of the gaudy things Maballa gave her, which was a sign of savagery. She was charmed by confinement in the papoose-sling, which was another sign of it; and she had not died in the snow-wallows which was still another.
It was a joy to see Melisse springing from rock to rock and darting across the thin openings close ahead of him, her hair loosening and sweeping out in the sun, her slender figure fleeing with the lightness of the pale sun-shadows that ran up and down the mountain. He would not have overtaken her of his own choosing, but at the foot of the ridge Melisse gave up.
"I reckon they'll burn the house down," sez Jabez; "but I'd rather they destroyed the whole blame outfit than to have anything happen to the little lass." "Where's Melisse?" sez I. "She left," sez Jabez; an' I hadn't time to learn particulars. By this time we had everything barricaded, an' gettin' Barbie we made a run for the dug-out.
But suddenly the woman quivered, and Cummins heard a thrilling sound. "It is the music!" she panted. "John, John, it is the music of my people!" The man straightened himself, his face turned to the open door. He heard it now! Was it the blessed angels coming for his Melisse? He rose, a sobbing note in his throat, and went, his arms stretched out, to meet them.
She took the apron from about his shoulders, and held it so that he could see the result of her work. He looked up, smiling. "Thank you, Melisse. Do you remember when you last cut my hair?" "Yes it was over on the mountain. We had taken the scissors along for cutting bakneesh, and you looked so like a wild Indian that I made you sit on a rock and let me trim it."
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