Old Hutter, if not equally affected, was moody and silent at this
allusion to his wife. He continued smoking, without appearing disposed
to make any answer, until his simple-minded daughter repeated her
remark, in a way to show that she felt uneasiness lest he might be
inclined to deny her assertion. Then he knocked the ashes out of
his pipe, and laying his hand in a sort of rough kindness on the
girl's head, he made a reply.
"Thy mother was too good for this world," he said; "though others
might not think so. Her good looks did not befriend her; and you
have no occasion to mourn that you are not as much like her as
your sister. Think less of beauty, child, and more of your duty,
and you'll be as happy on this lake as you could be in the king's
palace."
"I know it, father; but Hurry says beauty is everything in a young
woman."
Hutter made an ejaculation expressive of dissatisfaction, and went
forward, passing through the house in order to do so. Hetty's simple
betrayal of her weakness in behalf of March gave him uneasiness
on a subject concerning which he had never felt before, and he
determined to come to an explanation at once with his visitor; for
directness of speech and decision in conduct were two of the best
qualities of this rude being, in whom the seeds of a better education
seemed to be constantly struggling upwards, to be choked by the
fruits of a life in which his hard struggles for subsistence and
security had steeled his feelings and indurated his nature.
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