dress.

"Well, just take a glance at this, will you?" and she showed him a
little leather bound volume, much cracked along the hinges of the
back.

It was Manon Lescaut, that dreadful romance by the famous Abbe
Prevost.

Pere Beret frowned and went his way shaking his head; but before
he reached his little hut near the church he was laughing in spite
of himself.

"She's not so bad, not so bad," he thought aloud, "it's only her
young, independent spirit taking the bit for a wild run. In her
sweet soul she is as good as she is pure."





CHAPTER II

A LETTER FROM AFAR


Although Father Beret was for many years a missionary on the
Wabash, most of the time at Vincennes, the fact that no mention of
him can be found in the records is not stranger than many other
things connected with the old town's history. He was, like nearly