They made Carey feel like a scoundrel . All at once he realized how impossible it would be to explain matters to Tannis , and that he would make a still bigger fool of himself , if he tried . `` I am very sorry , '' he stammered , like a whipped schoolboy . `` It is no matter , '' interrupted Tannis violently . `` What difference does it make about me -- a half-breed girl ? We breed girls are only born to amuse the white men . That is so -- is it not ? Then , when they are tired of us , they push us aside and go back to their own kind . Oh , it is very well . But I will not forget -- my father and brother will not forget . They will make you sorry to some purpose ! '' She turned , and stalked away to her canoe . He waited under the pines until she crossed the river ; then he , too , went miserably home . What a mess he had contrived to make of things ! Poor Tannis ! How handsome she had looked in her fury -- and how much like a squaw ! The racial marks always come out plainly under the stress of emotion , as Tom noted later . Her threat did not disturb him . If young Paul and old Auguste made things unpleasant for him , he thought himself more than a match for them . It was the thought of the suffering he had brought upon Tannis that worried him .
He had not , XXXXX be sure , been a villain ; but he had been a fool , and that is almost as bad , under some circumstances .
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