"
"What would you do?"
"I would shoot him. He has duels."
"But my father might punish me for that."
"Very well, chicken-heart. Let Mademoiselle Saucier go, then. But I will
tell you this: there is no one else in Kaskaskia that I will have for a
second mother."
"Yes, we have all chosen her," owned Pierre, "but it seems to me papa
ought to make the marriage."
"But she would not know we children were willing to have her. If you did
something to stop Monsieur Zhone's courtship, she would then know."
"Why do you not go out on the gallery now and tell her we want her?"
exclaimed Pierre. "The colonel says it is best to be straightforward in
any matter of business."
"Pierre, it is plain to be seen that you do not know how to deal with
young ladies. They like best to be fought over. It is not proper to
_tell_ her we are willing to have her. The way to do is to drive off the
other suitors."
"But there are so many. Tante Isidore says all the young men in
Kaskaskia and the officers left at Fort Chartres are her suitors.
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