"Strange that the villain should form such an unaccountable dislike for you, when you never injured him in the least."
"I think his bad nature was excited, and his ill-will increased, by a few words of merited rebuke I was forced, by his unmanliness, to pronounce against him, the last time he was at our house in Virginia."
"And you have heard nothing from him since the day he obtruded himself upon your notice here in the woods?"
"Nothing direct or definite, though I think he made an attempt to capture me, with the aid of some Indians, soon afterward, but failed in his object from some cause. But notwithstanding I have heard no direct tidings from him, I feel a constant dread of evil, as though some impending calamity was hanging over me."
"Such fears had better be banished at once from your mind."
"I know it, and have tried to get rid of them, but they will, despite my efforts to the contrary, come into my mind. I do not and will not yield to them, though I find it impossible at all times to shake them off."
"Singular, truly; I pray God, they presage no harm."
"Oh, I so much wish you could always be near me; I dread nothing in your presence."
"I hope the time is not far distant when this dearest wish of both our hearts will be realized."
The conversation took a tender cast at this point; and as matters of the heart are secrets between lovers, which they dislike for third parties to look into, we will take ourselves away, and leave them to enjoy their hour of happiness in undisturbed quiet.