I speak of this matter altogether as a fanciful
thing, since it's not very likely that you, at least, would be apt
to treat it as a matter that can ever come to pass."
Judith fastened her deep blue eyes on the open, frank countenance
of her companion, as if she would read his soul. Nothing there
betrayed any covert meaning, and she was obliged to admit to herself,
that he regarded the conversation as argumentative, rather than
positive, and that he was still without any active suspicion that
her feelings were seriously involved in the issue. At first, she
felt offended; then she saw the injustice of making the self-abasement
and modesty of the hunter a charge against him, and this novel
difficulty gave a piquancy to the state of affairs that rather
increased her interest in the young man. At that critical instant,
a change of plan flashed on her mind, and with a readiness of
invention that is peculiar to the quick-witted and ingenious, she
adopted a scheme by which she hoped effectually to bind him to her
person. This scheme partook equally of her fertility of invention,
and of the decision and boldness of her character. That the
conversation might not terminate too abruptly, however, or any
suspicion of her design exist, she answered the last remark of
Deerslayer, as earnestly and as truly as if her original intention
remained unaltered.
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