in my eyes. Vain you are not, as is seen by
the kind manner in which you listen to all my idle tales about scoutings
and trails; and as for experience, that will come with years. Besides,
Mabel, I fear men think little of these matters when they are about to
take wives: I do."

"Pathfinder, your words,--your looks:--surely all this is meant in
trifling; you speak in pleasantry?"

"To me it is always agreeable to be near you, Mabel; and I should sleep
sounder this blessed night than I have done for a week past, could I
think that you find such discourse as pleasant as I do."

We shall not say that Mabel Dunham had not believed herself a favorite
with the guide. This her quick feminine sagacity had early discovered;
and perhaps she had occasionally thought there had mingled with his
regard and friendship some of that manly tenderness which the ruder sex
must be coarse, indeed, not to show on occasions to the gentler; but the
idea that he seriously sought her for his wife had never before crossed
the mind of the spirited and ingenuous girl. Now, however, a gleam of
something like the truth broke in upon her imagination, less induced
by the words of her companion, perhaps, than by his manner. Looking
earnestly into the rugged, honest countenance of the scout, Mabel's own
features became concerned and grave; and when she spoke again, it
was with a gentleness of manner that attracted him to her even more
powerfully than the words themselves were calculated to repel.

"You and I should understand each other, Pathfinder," said she with an
earnest sincerity; "nor should there be any cloud between us. You are
too upright and frank to meet with anything but sincerity and frankness
in return. Surely, surely, all this means nothing,--has no other
connection with your feelings than such a friendship as one of your
wisdom and character would naturally feel for a girl like me?"

"I believe it's all nat'ral, Mabel, yes; I do: the Sergeant tells me
he had such feelings towards your own mother, and I think I've seen
something like it in the young people I have from time to time guided
through the wilderness. Yes, yes, I daresay it's all nat'ral enough, and
that makes it come so easy, and is a great comfort to me."

"Pathfinder, your words make me uneasy. Speak plainer, or change the
subject for ever. You do not, cannot mean that--you cannot wish me to
understand"--even the tongue of the spirited Mabel faltered, and she
shrank, with