day he may be your brother--if not something nearer."

"That can't be, father," returned the girl, after a considerable pause;
"Hurry has had one father, and one mother; and people never have two."

"So much for your weak mind, Hetty. When Jude marries, her husband's
father will be her father, and her husband's sister her sister. If she
should marry Hurry, then he will be your brother."

"Judith will never have Hurry," returned the girl mildly, but
positively; "Judith don't like Hurry."

"That's more than you can know, Hetty. Harry March is the handsomest,
and the strongest, and the boldest young man that ever visits the lake;
and, as Jude is the greatest beauty, I don't see why they shouldn't come
together. He has as much as promised that he will enter into this job
with me, on condition that I'll consent."

Hetty began to move her body back and forth, and other-wise to express
mental agitation; but she made no answer for more than a minute. Her
father, accustomed to her manner, and suspecting no immediate cause of
concern, continued to smoke with the apparent phlegm which would seem to
belong to that particular species of enjoyment.

"Hurry is handsome, father," said Hetty, with a simple emphasis, that
she might have hesitated about using, had her mind been more alive to
the inferences of others.

"I told you so, child," muttered old Hutter, without removing the pipe
from between his teeth; "he's the likeliest youth in these parts; and
Jude is the likeliest young woman I've met with since her poor mother
was in her best days."

"Is it wicked to be ugly, father?'"

"One might be guilty of worse things--but you're by no means ugly;
though not so comely as Jude."

"Is Judith any happier for being so handsome?"

"She may be, child, and she may not be. But talk of other matters now,
for you hardly understand these, poor Hetty. How do you like our new
acquaintance, Deerslayer?"

"He isn't handsome, father. Hurry is far handsomer than Deerslayer."

"That's true; but they say he is a noted hunter! His fame had reached
me before I ever saw him; and I did hope he would prove to be as stout
a warrior as he is dexterous with the deer. All men are not alike,
howsever, child; and it takes time, as I know by experience, to give a
man a true wilderness heart."

"Have I got a wilderness heart, father--and Hurry, is his heart true
wilderness?"

"You sometimes ask queer questions, Hetty! Your heart is good, child,
and