tion, while, in a low voice, she
said--

"Is Jasper Derry, then, your intimate friend?"

"That is he--a very intimate friend indeed. But you appear to know
him."

"Yes, I--I know him--I have seen him. I hope he is well," said Marie;
and she listened with a beating heart for the answer, though she still
turned her face away.

"Oh! he's well enough," said Jasper; "sickness don't often trouble
_him_. He's going to be married."

Had a bullet struck the girl's heart she could not have turned more
deadly pale than she did on hearing this. She half rose from the tree
stump, and would have fallen to the ground insensible, had not Jasper
caught her in his arms.

"My own Marie," said he fervently, "forgive me, dearest; forgive my
folly, my wickedness, in deceiving you in this fashion. Oh, what a fool
I am!" he added, as the poor girl still hung heavily in his
grasp--"speak to me Marie, my own darling."

Whether it was the earnestness of his voice, or the kiss which he
printed on her forehead, or the coolness of the evening air, I know not,
but certain it is that Marie recovered in the course of a few minutes,
and, on being convinced that Jasper really was her old lover, she
resigned herself, wisely, to her fate, and held such an uncommonly long
conversation with the bold hunter, that the moon was up and the stars
were out before they turned their steps towards the Fort.

"Why, Jasper Derry," cried Mr Pemberton, as the hunter entered the hall
of Fort Erie, "where _have_ you been. I've been expecting you every
moment for the last two hours."

"Well, you see, Mr Pemberton, I just went down the river a short bit to
see an old friend and I was kep' longer than I expected," said Jasper,
with a cool, grave face, as he grasped and shook the hand which was held
out to him.

"Ah! I see, you hunters are more like brothers than friends. No doubt
you went to smoke a pipe with Hawkeye, or to have a chat with the
Muskrat about old times," said the fur-trader, mentioning the names of
two Indians who were celebrated as being the best hunters in the
neighbourhood, and who had been bosom friends of Jasper when he resided
there two years before.

"No, I've not yet smoked a pipe with Hawkeye, neither have I seen
Muskrat, but I certainly have had a pretty long chat with one o' my old
friends," answered Jasper, while a quiet smile played on his face.

"Well, come along and have a pipe and a chat with _me_. I hope you
count me