maiden shame, from adding what she wished so earnestly to
say. Rallying her courage, however, and determined to know all as
soon and as plainly as possible, after a moment's hesitation, she
continued,--"I mean, Pathfinder, that you do not wish me to understand
that you seriously think of me as a wife?"

"I do, Mabel; that's it, that's just it; and you have put the matter
in a much better point of view than I with my forest gifts and frontier
ways would ever be able to do. The Sergeant and I have concluded on
the matter, if it is agreeable to you, as he thinks is likely to be the
case; though I doubt my own power to please one who deserves the best
husband America can produce."

Mabel's countenance changed from uneasiness to surprise; and then, by a
transition still quicker, from surprise to pain.

"My father!" she exclaimed,--"my dear father has thought of my becoming
your wife, Pathfinder?"

"Yes, he has, Mabel, he has, indeed. He has even thought such a thing
might be agreeable to you, and has almost encouraged me to fancy it
might be true."

"But you yourself,--you certainly can care nothing whether this singular
expectation shall ever be realized or not?"

"Anan?"

"I mean, Pathfinder, that you have talked of this match more to oblige
my father than anything else; that your feelings are no way concerned,
let my answer be what it may?"

The scout looked earnestly into the beautiful face of Mabel, which had
flushed with the ardor and novelty of her sensations, and it was not
possible to mistake the intense admiration that betrayed itself in every
lineament of his ingenuous countenance.

"I have often thought myself happy, Mabel, when ranging the woods on a
successful hunt, breathing the pure air of the hills, and filled with
vigor and health; but I now know that it has all been idleness and
vanity compared with the delight it would give me to know that you
thought better of me than you think of most others."

"Better of you!--I do, indeed, think better of you, Pathfinder, than of
most others: I am not certain that I do not think better of you than of
any other; for your truth, honesty, simplicity, justice, and courage are
scarcely equalled by any of earth."

"Ah, Mabel, these are sweet and encouraging words from you! and the
Sergeant, after all, was not so near wrong as I feared."

"Nay, Pathfinder, in the name of all that is sacred and just, do not let
us misunderstand each other in a matter of so much