that caused her sister to wonder. »He is true. There is no lie about Deerslayer.
You, Hetty, may not know what a merit it is in a man to have truth, but when you
get - no - I hope you will never know it. Why should one like you, be ever made
to learn the hard lesson to distrust and hate!«
    Judith bowed her face, dark as it was, and unseen as she must have been, by
any eye but that of omniscience, between her hands, and groaned. This sudden
paroxysm of feeling, however, lasted but for a moment, and she continued more
calmly, still speaking frankly to her sister, whose intelligence, and whose
discretion in any thing that related to herself, she did not in the least
distrust. Her voice, however, was low and husky, instead of having its former
clearness and animation.
    »It is a hard thing to fear truth, Hetty,« she said, »and yet do I more
dread Deerslayer's truth, than any enemy! One cannot tamper with such truth - so
much honesty - such obstinate uprightness! But we are not altogether unequal,
sister - Deerslayer and I? He is not altogether my superior?«
    It was not usual for Judith so far to demean herself, as to appeal to
Hetty's judgment. Nor did she often address her by the title of sister, a
distinction that is commonly given by the junior to the senior, even where there
is perfect equality in all other respects. As trifling departures from habitual
deportment oftener strike the imagination than more important changes, Hetty
perceived the circumstances, and wondered at them in her own simple way.
    Her ambition was a little quickened, and the answer was as much out of the
usual course of things, as the question, the poor girl attempting to refine
beyond her strength.
    »Superior, Judith!« she repeated with pride. »In what can Deerslayer be your
superior? - Are you not mother's child, and does he know how to read, and was
n't mother before any woman in all this part of the world? I should think so far
from supposing himself your superior, he would hardly believe himself mine. You
are handsome and he is ugly« -
    »No, not ugly, Hetty -« interrupted Judith - »Only plain. But his honest
face has a look in it, that is far better than beauty. In my eyes Deerslayer is
handsomer than Hurry Harry.«
    »Judith Hutter! You frighten me. Hurry is the