'
'Stay over, my dear sir,' I urged. 'I too shall leave in another day.
We may not meet again.'
'Not on earth; but in another world we may,' answered the priest
rising as he spoke.
'Father, your blessing,' said the little hostess in a low tone, after
a quick glance toward the many windows through which the bulwarks of
Protestantism might be gazing. But all was dark, both without and
within, and the Father gave his blessing to both of us, fervently, but
with an apostolic simplicity. Then he left us, and I watched his tall
form, crowned with silvery hair, as he passed down the cherry-tree
avenue. Later in the evening the moon came out, and I saw a Mackinac
boat skimming by the house, its white sails swelling full in the fresh
breeze.
'That is Father Piret's boat,' said my hostess. 'The wind is fair; he
will reach the Chenaux before midnight.'
A day later, and I too sailed away. As the steamer bore me southward,
I looked back toward the island with a sigh. Half hidden in its wild
green garden I saw the old Agency; first I could distinguish its whole
rambling length; then I lost the roofless piazza, then the
dormer-windows, and finally I could only discern the white chimneys,
with their crumbling crooked tops.
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