aim none of that exemption from the
penalties of captivity that was so cheerfully accorded to her feebler
minded sister, he was equally astonished at the guise in which she came.
All her ordinary forest attire, neat and becoming as this usually was,
had been laid aside for the brocade that has been already mentioned,
and which had once before wrought so great and magical an effect in
her appearance. Nor was this all. Accustomed to see the ladies of the
garrison in the formal, gala attire of the day, and familiar with
the more critical niceties of these matters, the girl had managed to
complete her dress in a way to leave nothing strikingly defective in its
details, or even to betray an incongruity that would have been detected
by one practised in the mysteries of the toilet. Head, feet, arms,
hands, bust, and drapery, were all in harmony, as female attire was
then deemed attractive and harmonious, and the end she aimed at, that of
imposing on the uninstructed senses of the savages, by causing them to
believe their guest was a woman of rank and importance, might well
have succeeded with those whose habits had taught them to discriminate
between persons. Judith, in addition to her rare native beauty, had a
singular grace of person, and her mother had imparted enough of her own
deportment to prevent any striking or offensive vulgarity of manner; so
that, sooth to say, the gorgeous dress might have been worse bestowed in
nearly every particular. Had it been displayed in a capital, a thousand
might have worn it, before one could have been found to do more credit
to its gay colours, glossy satins, and rich laces, than the beautiful
creature whose person it now aided to adorn. The effect of such an
apparition had not been miscalculated. The instant Judith found herself
within the circle, she was, in a degree, compensated for the fearful
personal risk she ran, by the unequivocal sensation of surprise and
admiration produced by her appearance. The grim old warriors uttered
their favorite exclamation "hugh!" The younger men were still more
sensibly overcome, and even the women were not backward in letting
open manifestations of pleasure escape them. It was seldom that these
untutored children of the forest had ever seen any white female above
the commonest sort, and, as to dress, never before had so much splendor
shone before their eyes. The gayest uniforms of both French and English
seemed dull compared with the lustre of the broc