there was between them!«
    »Such things do happen, howsever; - yes, they do happen; though why
providence lets them come to pass, is more than I understand. I've knew the
f'ercest warriors with the gentlest wives of any in the tribe, and awful scolds
fall to the lot of Injins fit to be missionaries.«
    »That was not it, Deerslayer; that was not it. Oh! if it should prove that -
no; I can not wish she should not have been his wife at all. That no daughter
can wish for her own mother! Go on, now, and let us see what the square looking
bundle holds.«
    Deerslayer complied, and he found that it contained a small trunk of pretty
workmanship, but fastened. The next point was to find a key; but, search proving
ineffectual, it was determined to force the lock. This Deerslayer soon effected
by the aid of an iron instrument, and it was found that the interior was nearly
filled with papers. Many were letters; some fragments of manuscripts,
memorandums, accounts, and other similar documents. The hawk does not pounce
upon the chicken with a more sudden swoop, than Judith sprang forward to seize
this mine of hitherto concealed knowledge. Her education, as the reader will
have perceived, was far superior to her situation in life, and her eye glanced
over page after page of the letters, with a readiness that her schooling
supplied, and with an avidity that found its origin in her feelings. At first,
it was evident that the girl was gratified; and we may add with reason, for the
letters written by females, in innocence and affection, were of a character to
cause her to feel proud of those with whom she had every reason to think she was
closely connected by the ties of blood. It does not come within the scope of our
plan to give more of these epistles, however, than a general idea of their
contents, and this will best be done by describing the effect they produced on
the manner, appearance, and feeling of her who was so eagerly perusing them.
    It has been said, already, that Judith was much gratified with the letters
that first met her eye. They contained the correspondence of an affectionate and
intelligent mother, to an absent daughter, with such allusions to the answers,
as served, in a great measure, to fill up the vacuum left by the replies. They
were not without admonitions and warnings, however, and Judith felt the blood
mounting to her temples, and a cold shudder