Matters were getting decidedly dangerous. There sat the sullen hunter, his head bent, his lips closed, and his eyes fixed resolutely upon the toe of his moccasin. Right before these eyes, so directly before them that the view of his foot was almost hid, was the beaming, laughing, radiant face of Edith, looking right up in his own, her eyes sparkling, and her countenance a thousand times more lovely than ever. Several times Dernor felt like catching her to his bosom, and kissing her lips again and again; but, as he was on the very point of doing so, he remembered that Sego was in the room, and felt more angered than ever, and gazed harder than ever at his moccasin.
"Won't you even look at me?" asked Edith, putting her open hand over his eyes, as if to pull his gaze down. He instantly looked her steadily in the face, without changing a muscle of his countenance, while she, folding her hands, returned the gaze with equal steadiness. Her lips, too, were resolutely closed, but her eyes fairly scintillated with mischief, and she seemed just able to prevent herself from laughing outright. How long this oculistic contest would have continued we can not pretend to say, but it was ended by Edith asking:
"What makes you look so troubled, Lewis?"
"Because I am," he replied, curtly.
"Tell me the cause, and I will do all I can to help it."
"It's you that have done it!" He spoke with deep feeling.
"I that have done it!" repeated the girl, in consternation. "Why, how did I do it?"
"Edith!" His words were ringingly clear. They were winged with reproof. "Do you want me to tell you?"
"Of course I do."
"When we were alone, you led me to believe that you loved me. As soon as you saw Sego you went right into his arms, and I was forgotten."