The Deerslayer (Barnes & Noble Classics) - James Fenimore Cooper [306]
“You do not love me—cannot find it in your heart, perhaps, to esteem me, Deerslayer!”
“Everything in the way of fri‘ndship, Judith—everything, even to sarvices and life itself Yes, I’d risk as much for you, at this moment, as I would risk in behalf of Hist; and that is sayin’ as much as I can say of any darter of woman. I do not think I feel towards either—mind I say either, Judith—as if I wished to quit father and mother—if father and mother was livin’; which, however, neither is—but if both was livin‘, I do not feel towards any woman as if I wish’d to quit ’em in order to cleave unto her.”
“This is enough!” answered Judith, in a rebuked and smothered voice; “I understand all that you mean. Marry you cannot, without loving ; and that love you do not feel for me. Make no answer if I am right, for I shall understand your silence. That will be painful enough of itself.”
Deerslayer obeyed her, and he made no reply. For more than a minute the girl riveted her bright eyes on him as if to read his soul; while he sat playing with the water, like a corrected schoolboy. Then Judith herself dropped the end of her paddle, and urged the canoe away from the spot, with a movement as reluctant as the feelings which controlled it. Deerslayer quietly aided the effort, however, and they were soon on the trackless line taken by the Delaware.
In their way to the point, not another syllable was exchanged between Deerslayer and his fair companion. As Judith sat in the bow of the canoe, her back was turned towards him, else it is probable the expression of her countenance might have induced him to venture some soothing terms of friendship and regard. Contrary to what would have been expected, resentment was still absent, though the color frequently changed from the deep flush of mortification to the paleness of disappointment. Sorrow, deep, heartfelt sorrow, however, was the predominant emotion, and this was betrayed in a manner not to be mistaken.
As neither labored hard at the paddle, the ark had already arrived, and the soldiers had disembarked before the canoe of the two loiterers reached the point. Chingachgook had preceded it, and was already some distance in the wood, at a spot where the two trails, that to the garrison, and that to the villages of the Delawares, separated. The soldiers, too, had taken up their line of march; first setting the ark adrift again, with a reckless disregard of its fate. All this Judith saw, but she heeded it not. The Glimmerglass had no longer any charms for her; and when she put her foot on the strand, she immediately proceeded on the trail of the soldiers, without casting a single glance behind her. Even Hist was passed unnoticed; that modest young creature shrinking from the averted face of Judith, as if guilty herself of some wrongdoing.
“Wait you here, Sarpent,” said Deerslayer, as he followed in the footsteps of the dejected beauty, while passing his friend. “I will just see Judith among her party, and come and j’ine you.”
A hundred yards had hid the couple from those in front, as well as those in the rear, when Judith turned and spoke.
“This will do, Deerslayer,” she said, sadly. “I understand your kindness, but shall not need it. In a few minutes I shall reach the soldiers. As you cannot go with me on the journey of life, I do not wish you to go farther on this. But stop; before we part I would ask you a single question. And I require of you as you fear God, and reverence the truth, not to deceive me in your answer. I know you do not love another; and I can see but one reason why you cannot, will not love me. Tell me, then, Deerslayer—” The girl paused, the words she was about to utter, seeming to choke her. Then rallying all her resolution, with a face that flushed and paled at every breath she drew, she continued : “Tell me, then, Deerslayer, if anything light of me, that Henry March has said, may not have influenced your feelings?”
Truth was the Deerslayer’s polar star. He ever kept it in view; and it was nearly impossible for him to avoid uttering it, even when