feeling,
it is loath to part with it."

"You will forget it all, when you come seriously to recollect that I am
altogether unsuited to be your wife."

"So I told the Sergeant; but he would have it otherwise. I knew you
was too young and beautiful for one of middle age, like myself, and who
never was comely to look at even in youth; and then your ways have not
been my ways; nor would a hunter's cabin be a fitting place for one who
was edicated among chiefs, as it were. If I were younger and comelier
though, like Jasper Eau-douce--"

"Never mind Jasper Eau-douce," interrupted Mabel impatiently; "we can
talk of something else."

"Jasper is a worthy lad, Mabel; ay, and a comely," returned the
guileless guide, looking earnestly at the girl, as if he distrusted her
judgment in speaking slightingly of his friend. "Were I only half as
comely as Jasper Western, my misgivings in this affair would not have
been so great, and they might not have been so true."

"We will not talk of Jasper Western," repeated Mabel, the color mounting
to her temples; "he may be good enough in a gale, or on the lake, but he
is not good enough to talk of here."

"I fear me, Mabel, he is better than the man who is likely to be your
husband, though the Sergeant says that never can take place. But the
Sergeant was wrong once, and he may be wrong twice."

"And who is likely to be my husband, Pathfinder! This is scarcely less
strange than what has just passed between us."

"I know it is nat'ral for like to seek like, and for them that have
consorted much with officers' ladies to wish to be officers' ladies
themselves. But, Mabel; I may speak plainly to you, I know; and I hope
my words will not give you pain; for, now I understand what it is to
be disappointed in such feelings, I wouldn't wish to cause even a
Mingo sorrow on this head. But happiness is not always to be found in a
marquee, any more than in a tent; and though the officers' quarters may
look more tempting than the rest of the barracks, there is often great
misery between husband and wife inside of their doors."

"I do not doubt it in the least, Pathfinder; and, did it rest with me to
decide, I would sooner follow you to some cabin in the woods, and share
your fortune, whether it might be better or worse, than go inside the
door of any officer I know, with an intention of remaining there as its
master's wife."

"Mabel, this is not what Lundie hopes, or Lundie thinks."

"And what ca