"
"It's my notion, old Tom, that you, and your huts, and your traps,
and your whole possessions, hereaway, are in desperate jippardy,"
returned the matter-of-fact Hurry, who saw no use in concealment.
"Accordin' to my idees of valie, they're altogether not worth half
as much today as they was yesterday, nor would I give more for 'em,
taking the pay in skins."
"Then I've children!" continued the father, making the allusion
in a way that it might have puzzled even an indifferent observer
to say was intended as a bait, or as an exclamation of paternal
concern, "daughters, as you know, Hurry, and good girls too, I may
say, though I am their father."
"A man may say anything, Master Hutter, particularly when pressed
by time and circumstances. You've darters, as you say, and one
of them hasn't her equal on the frontiers for good looks, whatever
she may have for good behavior. As for poor Hetty, she's Hetty
Hutter, and that's as much as one can say about the poor thing.
Give me Jude, if her conduct was only equal to her looks!"
"I see, Harry March, I can only count on you as a fair-weather
friend; and I suppose that your companion will be of the same way
of thinking," returned the other, with a slight show of pride,
that was not altogether without dignity; "well, I must depend on
Providence, which will not turn a deaf ear, perhaps, to a father's
prayers.
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