He did not
know enough of the racial characteristics to understand.
But, if Carey thought his relationship with Tannis was that of
friendship merely, he was the only one at the Flats who did think
so. All the half-breeds and quarter-breeds and any-fractional
breeds there believed that he meant to marry Tannis. There would
have been nothing surprising to them in that. They did not know
that Carey's second cousin was a baronet, and they would not have
understood that it need make any difference, if they had. They
thought that rich old Auguste's heiress, who had been to school
for four years in Prince Albert, was a catch for anybody.
Old Auguste himself shrugged his shoulders over it and was
well-pleased enough. An Englishman was a prize by way of a
husband for a half-breed girl, even if he were only a telegraph
operator. Young Paul Dumont worshipped Carey, and the
half-Scotch mother, who might have understood, was dead. In all
the Flats there were but two people who disapproved of the match
they thought an assured thing. One of these was the little
priest, Father Gabriel. He liked Tannis, and he liked Carey; but
he shook his head dubiously when he heard the gossip of the
shacks and teepees. Religions might mingle, but the different
bloods--ah, it was not the right thing! Tannis was a good girl,
and a beautiful one; but she was no fit mate for the fair,
thorough-bred Englishman.
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