man forgot entirely, for a time, the interview and the proposal which
had been made him. But it was recalled to his memory some months after,
when Four-Legs made his appearance, bringing with him a squaw of mature
age, and a very Hecate for ugliness. She carried on her shoulders an
immense pack of furs, which, approaching with her awkward _criss-cross_
gait, she threw at his feet, thus marking, by an Indian custom, her
sense of the relation that existed between them.

The conversation with her father now flashed across his mind, and he
began to be sensible that he had got into a position that it would
require some skill to extricate himself from.

He bade one of the young clerks take up the pack and carry it into the
magazine where the furs were stored; then he coolly went on talking with
the chief about indifferent matters.

_Miss Four-Legs_ sat awhile with a sulky, discontented air; at length
she broke out,--

"Humph! he seems to take no more notice of me than if I was nobody!"

He again turned to the clerk.--"Give her a calico shirt and half a dozen
bread-tickets."

This did not dissipate the gloom on her countenance. Finding that he
must commence the subject, the father says,--

"Well, I have brought you my daughter, according to our agreement. How
do you like her?"