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Show 40 THE LILY AND TilE TOTEM. RiB mind was contracted and full of bitter prejudices; and, as is the case commonly with very small persons, he 'vas al· ways tenacious, to tho very letter, of the nicest observances of etiquette After a little while, and when he no longer had reason to question the fidelity of the red men, he began to exhibit some share of dislike towards Guernache; and to withhold the privileges which he had hitherto permitted him to enjoy. He had become jealous of the degree of favor in which his musician was held muong the savages, and botra.yed this change in his temper, by instances of occasional severity and denial, the secret of which tho companions of Guernachc divined muc~ sooner than himself. Though not prepared, absolutely, to withhold his consent, when king Audusta entreated that the fiddler might be spared Li.m, he yet accorded it ungraciously; and Gucrnache wa.s made to suffer, in some way, for these concessions, n.s if they had been so many favors granted to himself. They were, indeed, favors tQ tho musician, thougiJ, to what c:r.tcnt, Albert entertained no suspicion. It so happened tho.t among his other conquests, Guernache had made that of a very lovely dark-eyed damsel, a niece of Audust:l., nnd a resident of the king's own village. After tho infonnal fashion of the country, into which our Frenchmen were apt readily tQ fall, he had made tho damsel his wife. She was a beautiful creature, scarcely more than si:r.tecn; tall and slender, and so natmally agile and graceful, that it needed but a moderate degree of instruction to .make her a dancer whoso airy movements would not greatly have misbesccmcd tho most courtly theatres of Paris. Monalctta,-for such was the sweet name of tl1e Indian damsel,-was an apt pupil, because she was a loving one. She heartily responded t<l that sentiment of wonder-common among the savages-that the THE LEGEND OF GUERN ACitE. 41 Frenchmen should place themselves under the command of a. chief, so mean of person as Albert, t~.nd so inferior in gifts, when they had among them a fellow of such noble presence as Guernachc, whose qualities were so it·resistible. 'fhc opinions of her head were but echoes from the feelings in her heart. Her preference for our musician was soon apparent and avowed; but, in taking her to wife, Gucrnache kept his secret from his best friend. No one in Fort Charles ever suspected tlmt he had been wived in the depth of the great fore sts, through pagan ceremonies, by an Indian Iawa,• to the lovely l\Ionalctt a. Whateyer may have been Lis motive for keeping the secret, whether he feared the ridicule of hi.<i comrades, or tho hostility of his superior, or apprehended a. difficulty with rivals among the red men, by a discovery of the faot, it is yet very certain that he succeeded in persuading ~1ona.lctta1 herself, and those who were present at his wild betrothal, to keep the secret also. It did not lessen, perhaps, the pleasure of his visits to tho settlements of A udusta, that the peculiar joys which he desired had all the relish of a-stolen fruit. It was now, only in this manner that Monal cw~ could be seen. Captain Albert, with a rigid austerity, which contributed also to his evil odor among his people, had interdicted the visits of all Indian women at the fort. This interdict wa.s one, however, which gave little annoyance to Guernachc. A peculiar, but not unnatural jealousy, had already prompted him repeatedly to deny this privilege to :Monalctta. The simple savage had frequently expressed her desire to sec tho fortress of tho white man, to behold his foreign curiosities, and, in particular, to hearken to the roar of that • Jawa wllS the title of the priest or prophet of the Floridilln. The word is thus written by Laudonniere in llakluyt. It is probably a misprint only which, in Charlevoix, writes it" Iona." |
