Hist, howsever, must go back to the Hurons,
for, when she left there in the night, she carried away by mistake,
that which doesn't belong to her"
"That can't be true!" said Hetty earnestly. "Hist is no such girl,
but one that gives every body his due -"
How much more she would have said in remonstrance cannot be known,
inasmuch as Hist, partly laughing and partly hiding her face in
shame, passed her own hand across the speaker's mouth in a way to
check the words.
"You don't understand Mingo messages, poor Hetty -" resumed
Deerslayer, "which seldom mean what lies exactly uppermost. Hist
has brought away with her the inclinations of a young Huron, and
they want her back again, that the poor young man may find them
where he last saw them! The Sarpent they say is too promising
a young warrior not to find as many wives as he wants, but this
one he cannot have. That's their meaning, and nothing else, as I
understand it."
"They are very obliging and thoughtful, in supposing a young woman
can forget all her own inclinations in order to let this unhappy
youth find his!" said Judith, ironically; though her manner became
more bitter as she proceeded. "I suppose a woman is a woman,
let her colour be white, or red, and your chiefs know little of a
woman's heart, Deerslayer, if they think it can ever forgive when
wronged, or ever forget when it fairly loves.
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