preparations for his going back. He was standing in the Barracks Square,
when a horseman rode in and made inquiry of a sergeant standing near, if
Lepage had arrived at the fort. A few words brought out the fact that
Rose Lepage was nearing the fort from the south. The trooper had been
sent on ahead the day before, but his horse having met with a slight
accident, he had been delayed. He had seen the party, however, a long
distance back in the early morning. He must now ride away and meet Mrs.
Lepage, he said. He was furnished with a fresh horse, and he left,
bearing a message from Lepage.

Hume decided to leave Fort Edmonton at once, and to take all the White
Guard back with him; and gave orders to that effect. Entering the room
where Lepage sat alone, he said: "Lepage, the time has come for good-bye.
I am starting for Fort Providence."

But the other replied: "You will wait until my wife comes. You must."
There was trouble in his voice. "I must not."

Lepage braced himself for a heavy task and said: "Hume, if the time has
come to say good-bye, it has also come when we should speak together for
once openly: to settle, in so far as can be done, a long account. You
have not let my wife know who saved me. That appears from her letters.
She asks the name of my rescuer. I have not yet told her. But she will
know that to-day when I tell her all."

"When you tell her all?"

"When I tell her all."

"But you shall not do that."