g day to some
of us."

Deerslayer arose as he spoke, and Judith had no choice but to comply.
The chest was closed and secured, and they parted in silence, she to
take her place by the side of Hist and Hetty, and he to seek a blanket
on the floor of the cabin he was in. It was not five minutes ere the
young man was in a deep sleep, but the girl continued awake for a long
time. She scarce knew whether to lament, or to rejoice, at having
failed in making herself understood. On the one hand were her womanly
sensibilities spared; on the other was the disappointment of defeated,
or at least of delayed expectations, and the uncertainty of a future
that looked so dark. Then came the new resolution, and the bold project
for the morrow, and when drowsiness finally shut her eyes, they closed
on a scene of success and happiness, that was pictured by the fancy,
under the influence of a sanguine temperament, and a happy invention.

Chapter XXV

"But, mother, now a shade has past,
Athwart my brightest visions here,
A cloud of darkest gloom has wrapt,
The remnant of my brief career!
No song, no echo can I win,
The sparkling fount has died within."

Margaret Davidson, "To my Mother," 11. 7-12.

Hist and Hetty arose with the return of light, leaving Judith still
buried in sleep. It took but a minute for the first to complete her
toilet. Her long coal-black hair was soon adjusted in a simple knot,
the calico dress belted tight to her slender waist, and her little feet
concealed in their gaudily ornamented moccasins. When attired, she left
her companion employed in household affairs, and went herself on
the platform to breathe the pure air of the morning. Here she found
Chingachgook studying the shores of the lake, the mountains and the
heavens, with the sagacity of a man of the woods, and the gravity of an
Indian.

The meeting between the two lovers was simple, but affectionate. The
chief showed a manly kindness, equally removed from boyish weakness and
haste, while the girl betrayed, in her smile and half averted looks, the
bashful tenderness of her sex. Neither spoke, unless it were with the
eyes, though each understood the other as fully as if a vocabulary of
words and protestations had been poured out. Hist seldom appeared
to more advantage than at that moment, for just from her rest and
ablutions, there was a freshness about her youthful form and face that
the toils of the wood do not alwa