Still he hesitated.

As he sat there thinking, Eye-of-the-Moon, his father-in-law, opened the door quietly and entered.
He had avoided the chief ever since he had come back to Fort Charles, and practically had not spoken to him for a year.

Armour flushed slightly with annoyance.

But presently, with a touch of his old humour, he rose, held out his hand, and said ironically: "Well, father-in-law, it's about time we had a big talk, isn't it?
We're not very intimate for such close relatives." The old Indian did not fully understand the meaning or the tone of Armour's speech, but he said "How!" and, reaching out his hand for the pipe offered him, lighted it, and sat down, smoking in silence.

Armour waited; but, seeing that the other was not yet moved to talk, he turned to his letter again.