And
whatever way I cast my eyes I beheld the sun. But your heart was ever
cold, Charley, and there was no room.'
"And I said: 'It is so. It was cold, and there was no room. But that is
past. Now my heart is like the snowfall in the spring, when the sun has
come back. There is a great thaw and a bending, a sound of running
waters, and a budding and sprouting of green things. And there is
drumming of partridges, and songs of robins, and great music, for the
winter is broken, Passuk, and I have learned the love of woman.'
"She smiled and moved for me to draw her closer. And she said, 'I am
glad.' After that she lay quiet for a long time, breathing softly, her
head upon my breast. Then she whispered: 'The trail ends here, and I am
tired. But first I would speak of other things. In the long ago, when I
was a girl on the Chilcat, I played alone among the skin bales of my
father's lodge; for the men were away on the hunt, and the women and boys
were dragging in the meat. It was in the spring, and I was alone. A
great brown bear, just awake from his winter's sleep, hungry, his fur
hanging to the bones in flaps of leanness, shoved his head within the
lodge and said, "Oof!" My brother came running back with the first sled
of meat.
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