The Vaster Wilds

The girl moves on in the morning. She finds a squirrel’s nest and kills the baby squirrels, taking their store of nuts and the nest’s warm fibers. She roasts the baby squirrels over a fire and drinks a cup of melted snow as the mist begins to abate. The girl knows she needs to find a place to rest and light a fire. She dreams of a savior in the form of a Frenchman from the north and remembers the Frenchmen who used to visit her mistress’s house in London. They were scented with perfume and treated her like a pet, fondling her, giving her sweets, and teaching her French phrases. She laughs at herself for thinking that any Frenchmen she meets here would be like them, for she knows that the Frenchmen she seeks will be just as greedy and rough as the Englishmen she left behind.

She remembers the minister’s initial desire to travel to the colony and her mistress’s resulting anger. Her mistress knew the minister’s desire was born of greed, but her jealousy compelled her to join him rather than letting him go to the colony alone. The girl reflects that no one asked her whether she wanted to go; she didn’t even ask the question of herself.