Pathfinder now led the young man apart; and, squeezing his hand, with
the tears in his own eyes, he continued:

"You know me, Eau-douce, and I know you," said he, "and this news has
not changed my opinion of you in any manner. I never believed their
tales, though it looked solemn at one minute, I will own; yes, it did
look solemn, and it made me feel solemn too. I never suspected you for
a minute, for I know your gifts don't lie that-a-way; but, I must own, I
didn't suspect the Quartermaster neither."

"And he holding his Majesty's commission, Pathfinder!"

"It isn't so much that, Jasper Western, it isn't so much that. He held
a commission from God to act right, and to deal fairly with his
fellow-creaturs, and he has failed awfully in his duty."

"To think of his pretending love for one like Mabel, too, when he felt
none."

"That was bad, sartainly; the fellow must have had Mingo blood in his
veins. The man that deals unfairly by a woman can be but a mongrel, lad;
for the Lord has made them helpless on purpose that we may gain their
love by kindness and sarvices. Here is the Sergeant, poor man, on his
dying bed; he has given me his daughter for a wife, and Mabel, dear
girl, she has consented to it; and it makes me feel that I have two
welfares to look after, two natur's to care for, and two hearts to
gladden. Ah's me, Jasper! I sometimes feel that I'm not good enough for
that sweet child!"

Eau-douce had nearly gasped for breath when he first heard this
intelligence; and, though he succeeded in suppressing any other outward
signs of agitation, his cheek was blanched nearly to the paleness of
death. Still he found means to answer not only with firmness, but with
energy,--

"Say not so, Pathfinder; you are good enough for a queen."

"Ay, ay, boy, according to your idees of my goodness; that is to say, I
can kill a deer, or even a Mingo at need, with any man on the lines; or
I can follow a forest-path with as true an eye, or read the stars,
when others do not understand them. No doubt, no doubt, Mabel will have
venison enough, and fish enough, and pigeons enough; but will she
have knowledge enough, and will she have idees enough, and pleasant
conversation enough, when life comes to drag a little, and each of us
begins to pass for our true value?"

"If you pass for your value, Pathfinder, the greatest lady in the
land would be happy with you. On that head you have no reason to feel
afraid."

"Now, Jasper, I