y
dreams, his feelings with my feelings, and his wishes with my wishes,
I fear we think too much alike consarning you for both of us to be very
happy."

"Pathfinder, you forget; you should remember that we are betrothed!"
said Mabel hastily, and in a voice so low that it required acute
attention in the listeners to catch the syllables. Indeed the last word
was not quite intelligible to the guide, and he confessed his ignorance
by the usual,--

"Anan?"

"You forget that we are to be married; and such allusions are improper
as well as painful."

"Everything is proper that is right, Mabel; and everything is right that
leads to justice and fair dealing; though it _is painful_ enough, as you
say, as I find on trial, I do. Now, Mabel, had you known that Eau-douce
thinks of you in this way, maybe you never would have consented to be
married to one as old and as uncomely as I am."

"Why this cruel trial, Pathfinder? To what can all this lead? Jasper
Western thinks no such thing: he says nothing, he feels nothing."

"Mabel!" burst from out of the young man's lips, in a way to betray the
uncontrollable nature of his emotions, though he uttered not another
syllable.

Mabel buried her face in both her hands; and the two sat like a pair of
guilty beings, suddenly detected in the commission of some crime which
involved the happiness of a common patron. At that instant, perhaps,
Jasper himself was inclined to deny his passion, through an extreme
unwillingness to grieve his friend; while Mabel, on whom this positive
announcement of a fact that she had rather unconsciously hoped than
believed, came so unexpectedly, felt her mind momentarily bewildered;
and she scarcely knew whether to weep or to rejoice. Still she was
the first to speak; since Eau-douce could utter naught that would be
disingenuous, or that would pain his friend.

"Pathfinder," said she, "you talk wildly. Why mention this at all?"

"Well, Mabel, if I talk wildly, I _am_ half wild, you know, by natur',
I fear, as well as by habit." As he said this, he endeavored to laugh
in his usual noiseless way, but the effect produced a strange and
discordant sound; and it appeared nearly to choke him. "Yes, I _must_ be
wild; I'll not attempt to deny it."

"Dearest Pathfinder! my best, almost my only friend! You _cannot, do
not_ think I intended to say that!" interrupted Mabel, almost breathless
in her haste to relieve his mortification. "If courage, truth, nobleness
of