74 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



Church was in full sway. The atmosphere was and 

 still is French. In the centre of the lake shore amid 

 many trees and sunflowers, was the only church, and 

 close at hand the clergy-house of the Mission. 

 Further on there was a convent school for the higher 

 education of girls ; also there were two good stores, 

 the post office, and a boarding-house, but no hotel ; 

 and the little village under the cross seemed to have 

 the peace and restfulness of a quiet hive of industry. 



Passing out from the school buildings, we drove 

 towards the sunset and Fort Qu'Appelle around 

 that winding, silent shore trail which we prophesied 

 would become a great pleasure-ground of the North- 

 West. At the Fort we halted to collect our mail, and 

 directly they scented the home trail the horses 

 flew on their way. 



" Would you think it was going to rain ? " 

 inquired our neighbour, as we came within sight 

 of the cottage. 



We scanned the horizon. Across the valley the 

 prairie might have been the deep blue sea itself on 

 an incoming tide, but the sky was of clear pale rose, 

 flushed here and there with the hectic glow of 

 geranium. 



" No indeed ! " said Hilaria. 



" We shall have rain to-morrow," he prophesied. 

 And on the morrow it rained, and the next day and 

 the next ; and when we drove again into the valley 

 the glorious phase of the fall had fled, and even 

 though the intense heat of the sun of the Indian 

 summer forbade us to dream that winter was near, 

 we knew that our sweet day had been drawn into 

 the quiet chapel of memory only just in time, and 

 that the Canadian summer had fled. 



