Adventure and adventurers > Away in the wilderness, or, Life among the red Indians and fur-traders of North America

80
AWAY IN THE WILDERNESS.
Marie was seated on the stump of a fallen tree
when the hunter came up. She was a fair, beautiful
woman of about five-and-twenty, with an air of
modesty about her which attracted love, yet re¬
pelled familiarity. Many a good-looking and well¬
doing young fellow had attempted to gain the
heart of Marie during the last two years, but
without success—for this good reason, that her
heart had been gained already.
She was somewhat startled when a man appeared
thus suddenly before her. Jasper stood in silence
for a few moments, with his arms crossed upon his
breast, and gazed earnestly into her face.
As he did not speak, she said—“ You appear
to be a stranger here. Have you arrived lately i”
Jasper was for a moment astonished that she
did not at once recognise him, and yet he had no
reason to be surprised. Besides the alteration
that two years sometimes makes in a man, Jasper
had made a considerable alteration on himself.
When Marie last saw him, he had been in the
habit of practising the foolish and unnatural cus¬
tom of shaving; and he had carried it to such an
extreme that he shaved off everything—whiskers,
beard, and moustache. But within a year he had
been induced by a wise friend to change his
opinion on this subject. That friend had suggested,
that as Providence had caused hair to grow on
his cheeks, lips, and chin, it was intended to be