Something of the
accents of the voice that crooned to her then was in the woman's tones
now.
"He offered it like a lump of sugar to a bird--I know. He didn't know
that you have great blood--yes, but it is true. My man's grandfather, he
was of the blood of the kings of England. My man had the proof. And for a
thousand years my people have been chiefs. There is no blood in all the
West like yours. My heart was heavy, and dark thoughts came to me,
because my man is gone, and the life is not my life, and I am only an
Indian woman from the Warais, and my heart goes out there always now. But
some great Medicine has been poured into my heart. As I stood at the door
and saw you lying there, I called to the Sun. 'O great Spirit,' I said,
'help me to understand; for this girl is bone of my bone and flesh of my
flesh, and Evil has come between us!' And the Sun Spirit poured the
Medicine into my spirit, and there is no cloud between us now. It has
passed away, and I see. Little white one, the white life is the only
life, and I will live it with you till a white man comes and gives you a
white man's home. But not John Alloway--shall the crow nest with the
oriole?"
As the woman spoke with slow, measured voice, full of the cadences of a
heart revealing itself, the girl's breath at first seemed to stop, so
still she lay; then, as the true understanding of the words came to her,
she panted with excitement, her breast heaved, and the blood flushed her
face.
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