But the child--that gave her
pause. Towards morning she fell asleep, and slept far on into the day,
a thing that had not occurred for a long time.
At noon a letter arrived for her. It came into General Armour's hands,
and he, seeing that it bore the stamp of the Hudson's Bay Company, with
the legend, From Fort St. Charles, concluded that it was news of Lali's
father. Then came the question whether the letter should be given to
her. The general was for doing so, and he prevailed. If it were bad
news, he said, it might raise her out of her present apathy and by
changing the play of her emotions do her good in the end.
The letter was given to her in the afternoon. She took it apathetically,
but presently, seeing where it was from, she opened it hurriedly with a
little cry which was very like a moan too. There were two letters inside
one from the factor at Fort Charles in English, and one from her father
in the Indian language. She read her father's letter first, the other
fluttered to her feet from her lap.
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