It was Pierrot who stood in his way.
Pierrot's father, according to those notes, had been a full-blooded Frenchman.

Therefore Pierrot was half French, and Nepeese was quarter French--though she was so beautiful he could have sworn there was not more than a drop or two of Indian blood in her veins.

If they had been all Indian--Chipewyan, Cree, Ojibway, Dog Rib--anything--there would have been no trouble at all in the matter.

He would have bent them to his power, and Nepeese would have come to his cabin, as Marie had come six months ago.

But there was the accursed French of it! Pierrot and Nepeese were different.