Can you - do you think, Deerslayer,
that you could be happy with such a wife as a woman like myself
would make?"
"A woman like you, Judith! But where's the sense in trifling
about such a thing? A woman like you, that is handsome enough to
be a captain's lady, and fine enough, and so far as I know edicated
enough, would be little apt to think of becoming my wife. I suppose
young gals that feel themselves to be smart, and know themselves
to be handsome, find a sartain satisfaction in passing their jokes
ag'in them that's neither, like a poor Delaware hunter."
This was said good naturedly, but not without a betrayal of feeling
which showed that something like mortified sensibility was blended
with the reply. Nothing could have occurred more likely to awaken
all Judith's generous regrets, or to aid her in her purpose, by
adding the stimulant of a disinterested desire to atone to her other
impulses, and cloaking all under a guise so winning and natural, as
greatly to lessen the unpleasant feature of a forwardness unbecoming
the sex.
"You do me injustice if you suppose I have any such thought, or
wish," she answered, earnestly. "Never was I more serious in my
life, or more willing to abide by any agreement that we may make
to-night.
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