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Another bough fell upon Pani and his bearer, and buried them in the earth beneath its bulk, so that they were never seen again. As it chanced the most of the worshippers were beyond the reach of the falling branches, but some of these that were torn loose in the fall, or shattered by the lightning, the wind caught and hurled among them, slaying several and wounding others.
But now she let it fall with a piercing shriek, and lifted her skirts so high that you could see her gay-coloured, striped stockings, and her neat feet encased in shiny leather slippers. "Where are the rats?" The maid laughed and showed all her big white teeth. "I can't see any rats. There are none here, Pani," and she looked at her mistress with a half stupid, half cunning leer on her face.
When it came to that, Louis Marsac was not a person to be lightly treated. His father had much influence with the Indian tribes and was a rich man. So the notary laid the matter before Pani and his ward, when the funeral was over, though he would rather have pleaded for his nephew. It was a most excellent proffer.
Tiralla did not notice the smile that made the big mouth under the snub nose still bigger, nor the cunning, lurking gleam that flashed in the small, deep-set eyes. "Ha-ha!" laughed the maid to herself, "did the Pani really think she was so stupid? The Pani wished rats to be here; the Pani tried to make-believe that rats were here.
In a few days clearing began and tents and shanties were erected for temporary use. But poverty stared the brave citizens in the face. Fortunes had been consumed as well. Business was ruined for a time. Jeanne remained with Wenonah. Pani improved, but she had been feeble a long while and the shock proved too much for her.
So it might justly be called old this afternoon, as almost two centuries had elapsed since the French had built their huts and made a point for the fur trade, that Jeanne Angelot sat outside the palisade, leaning against the Pani woman who for years had been a slave, from where she did not know herself, except that she had been a child up in the fur country.
Alive they were with the song of birds, the chirp of insects, the murmuring wind. Back of her was a rivulet fretting its way over pebbles down a hillside, making an irregular music. She kept time to it, then she changed to the bird song, and the rustle among the pines. "It is so lovely, Pani. I seem to be drinking in a strange draught that goes to my very finger tips.
They entered the adjoining cottage. There were but two rooms and overhead a great loft with a peaked roof where the children slept. Philippe lay on the floor, his face ghastly and contorted. There were some hemlock cushions under him, and his poor wife knelt chafing his hands. "It is of no use," said the doctor. "Did some one summon the priest?" "Immediately," returned Pani.
Pani rose and made an obeisance, and brought forward a chair. "Or would Monsieur rather go in doors?" she inquired. "O no. Little one " he held out his hand. "I thought you had forgotten. It is late," she said plaintively. "I am a busy man, my child. I could wish for a little of the freedom that you rejoice in so exuberantly, though I dare say I shall have enough on my journey."
For if I do not get a big lot of berries mother will send Rose next time, she threatened." "You can have some of mine. Pani will not care; for she never scolds at such a thing." "Pani is very good to you. Mother complains that she spoils you and that you are being brought up like a rich girl." Jeanne laughed. "Pani never struck me in my life.
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