"
"This is enough!" answered Judith, in a rebuked and smothered voice.
"I understand all that you mean. Marry you cannot with loving, and
that love you do not feel for me. Make no answer, if I am right,
for I shall understand your silence. That will be painful enough
of itself."
Deerslayer obeyed her, and he made no reply. For more than a
minute, the girl riveted her bright eyes on him as if to read his
soul, while he was playing with the water like a corrected school
boy. Then Judith, herself, dropped the end of her paddle, and urged
the canoe away from the spot, with a movement as reluctant as the
feelings which controlled it. Deerslayer quietly aided the effort,
however, and they were soon on the trackless line taken by the
Delaware.
In their way to the point, not another syllable was exchanged between
Deerslayer and his fair companion. As Judith sat in the bow of
the canoe, her back was turned towards him, else it is probable
the expression of her countenance might have induced him to venture
some soothing terms of friendship and regard. Contrary to what
would have been expected, resentment was still absent, though the
colour frequently changed from the deep flush of mortification to
the paleness of disappointment.
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