d,
she said, with heartfelt warmth, after struggling to suppress an emotion
that nearly choked her--

"God bless you, sweet lady! I hope you will forget and forgive the
wrongs you have received from my uncle--"

The humbled and sorrowful girl could say no more, her voice becoming
entirely inaudible in an ungovernable burst of grief.

"How is this?" cried Middleton; "did you not say, Inez, that this
excellent young woman was to accompany us, and to live with us for the
remainder of her life; or, at least, until she found some more agreeable
residence for herself?"

"I did; and I still hope it. She has always given me reason to believe,
that after having shown so much commiseration and friendship in my
misery, she would not desert me, should happier times return."

"I cannot--I ought not," continued Ellen, getting the better of her
momentary weakness. "It has pleased God to cast my lot among these
people, and I ought not to quit them. It would be adding the appearance
of treachery to what will already seem bad enough, with one of his
opinions. He has been kind to me, an orphan, after his rough customs,
and I cannot steal from him at such a moment."

"She is just as much a relation of skirting Ishmael as I am a bishop!"
said Paul, with a loud hem, as if his throat wanted clearing. "If the
old fellow has done the honest thing by her, in giving her a morsel of
venison now and then, or a spoon around his homminy dish, hasn't she
pay'd him in teaching the young devils to read their Bible, or in
helping old Esther to put her finery in shape and fashion. Tell me that
a drone has a sting, and I'll believe you as easily as I will that this
young woman is a debtor to any of the tribe of Bush!"

"It is but little matter who owes me, or where I am in debt. There are
none to care for a girl who is fatherless and motherless, and whose
nearest kin are the offcasts of all honest people. No, no; go, lady, and
Heaven for ever bless you! I am better here, in this desert, where there
are none to know my shame."

"Now, old trapper," retorted Paul, "this is what I call knowing which
way the wind blows! You ar' a man that has seen life, and you know
something of fashions; I put it to your judgment, plainly, isn't it
in the nature of things for the hive to swarm when the young get their
growth, and if children will quit their parents, ought one who is of no
kith or kin--"

"Hist!" interrupted the man he addressed, "Hector is disconten