ny part of his face during the last
three weeks, there was little of it visible except his eyes, forehead,
and cheek-bones. All the rest was more or less covered with black hair.

No wonder, then, that Marie, who believed him to be two thousand miles
away at that moment, did not recognise him in the increasing darkness of
evening. The lover at once understood this, and he resolved to play the
part of a stranger. He happened to have the power of changing his
voice--a power possessed by many people--and, trusting to the increasing
gloom to conceal him, and to the fact that he was the last person in the
world whom Marie might expect to see there, he addressed her as
follows:--

"I am indeed a stranger here; at least I have not been at the post for a
very long time. I have just reached the end of a long voyage."

"Indeed," said the girl, interested by the stranger's grave manner.
"May I ask where you have come from?"

"I have come all the way from Canada, young woman, and I count myself
lucky in meeting with such a pleasant face at the end of my journey."

"From Canada!" exclaimed Marie, becoming still more interested in the
stranger, and blushing deeply as she asked--"You have friends there, no
doubt?"

"Ay, a few," said Jasper.

"And what has brought you such a long way into this wild wilderness?"
asked Marie, sighing as she thought of the hundreds of miles that lay
between Fort Erie and Canada.

"I have come here to get me a wife," replied Jasper.

"That is strange," said the girl, smiling, "for there are few but Indian
women here. A stout hunter like you might find one nearer home, I
should think."

Here Marie paused, for she felt that on such a subject she ought not to
converse with a stranger. Yet she could not help adding, "But perhaps,
as you say, you have been in this part of the world before, you may have
some one in your mind?"

"I am engaged," said Jasper abruptly.

On hearing this Marie felt more at her ease, and, being of a very
sympathetic nature, she at once courted the confidence of the stranger.

"May I venture to ask her name?" said Marie, with an arch smile.

"I may not tell," replied Jasper; "I have a comrade who is entitled to
know this secret before any one else. Perhaps you may have heard of
him, for he was up in these parts two years agone. His name is Jasper
Derry."

The blood rushed to Marie's temples on hearing the name, and she turned
her face away to conceal her agita