Once,
indeed, she laid the packet down, bowed her head to her knees, and
seemed nearly convulsed. All this time Deerslayer sat a silent
but attentive observer of every thing that passed. As Judith read
a letter she put it into his hands to hold until she could peruse
the next; but this served in no degree to enlighten her companion,
as he was totally unable to read. Nevertheless he was not entirely
at fault in discovering the passions that were contending in the
bosom of the fair creature by his side, and, as occasional sentences
escaped her in murmurs, he was nearer the truth, in his divinations,
or conjectures, than the girl would have been pleased at discovering.
Judith had commenced with the earliest letters, luckily for a
ready comprehension of the tale they told, for they were carefully
arranged in chronological order, and to any one who would take the
trouble to peruse them, would have revealed a sad history of gratified
passion, coldness, and finally of aversion. As she obtained the
clue to their import, her impatience would not admit of delay,
and she soon got to glancing her eyes over a page by way of coming
at the truth in the briefest manner possible.
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