“Can it be that Seth has fallen into the snare?” asked Graham in anxious tones.
“No, sir; such a thing can’t be. He isn’t such a fool as that amounts to. He is making himself generally useful; you can make your mind to that. He is a smart chap, for all he is the most awkward, long-legged, gawky person I ever came across.”
“I am puzzled to know who he is. It seems to me that he is only playing a part. Several times in conversing with him, he has used language such as none but a scholar and polished gentleman would use. At others and most of the time, he uses that ungainly mode of expression, which in itself, is laughable. At any rate, whoever he may be, he is a friend, and the interest which he takes in the safety of Haverland and his family is as efficient as it is singular.”
“Maybe the interest is in Ina,” said Haldidge with a sly look.
“I understand you, but you are mistaken. He has assured me as much. No; there seems nothing of that feeling at all in him. He loves her as he would a child, but no more.”
“How was it that he made that awkward tumble into the Indians hands, when they gave you such a hard run for it?”
“That was all through my own blundering. He was cautious enough, but I became so impatient and careless that I precipitated him into the danger which would have been fatal to any one else. It was no fault of his.”
“I am glad to hear it, for it seemed odd to me.”
This conversation which we have recorded, it must not be supposed, was not carried on in an ordinary tone, and with that earnestness which would have lessened their habitual caution. It was in whispers, and hardly once during its progress did the two look at each other. Sometimes they would not speak for several minutes, and then exchange but a single question and answer.