"
"No child!" exclaimed the Baron with a sickening flash of realization.
"My poor Ronador!"
"My kindness to her," said Mic-co, "was at first a discipline. Her
mother deserted her and the old chief granted me half her life. I
could not bear the touch of her hands or the look in her eyes for many
months, but through her, Tregar, at last I learned peace and
forgiveness and forbearance, as men should. I built the lodge for her
and me. I taught her the ways of her white father. I made myself
proficient in the English tongue that those traders and hunters and
naturalists who stray here might guess nothing of my origin. I shall
never again leave the peace and quiet of this island home. And you and
I, Tregar, must quiet that Voice forever!"
"Is that possible?" choked Tregar.
"I think so," said Mic-co. "I think we may some day send him home with
the Voice quieted forever and the remorse and suffering healed. Had I
thought he was strong enough to bear it, I would have told him
to-night."
"Let me tell you," said Tregar with strong emotion, "how I found him in
the forest, when years back I came to know this secret I have tried so
hard to keep for him. I had been hunting with the King and lost my way
in the forests of Grimwald.
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