Ian's truce was also based on a belief that Gaston would make skittles of things.

A little while afterwards Gaston sat in his room, turning over events in his mind.

Time and again his thoughts returned to the one thing--marriage.

That marriage with his Esquimaux wife had been in one sense none at all, for the end was sure from the beginning.

It was in keeping with his youth, the circumstances, the life, it had no responsibilities.