"No, you must not leave me!" she as earnestly answered.
"Do you wish to keep me here longer, to mortify me?"
"I have something more to say to you."
"Say it quickly, then."
"In the first place, look straight into my eyes, as you did a few minutes ago."
The hunter did as requested, although it was a harder task than he suspected.
"Now," said Edith, "in the first place, I love you; and, in the second place, I love him (pointing to Sego); but (here a pause) I do not feel the same toward each of you."
"I shouldn't think you did, the way things looked in the clearing!"
Edith laughed outright, and then said:
"Lewis, let me tell you something. The man sitting there, whom you know as Ferdinand Sego, is my own father!"