"Do not speak of that; I shall be sufficiently recompensed if I see you persevere in your repentance."
"Oh, father, believe that I detest and hold in horror my past life."
"I trust that it may ever be so. This jacal, to which I will take you so soon as you please, is situated in a position which renders it almost impossible to discover. I have supplied it with the articles requisite for your life; you will find there food to last several days, arms and gunpowder to defend you, if attacked by wild beasts, and to go hunting with; I have added nets, beaver traps—in a word, everything required by a hunter and trapper."
"Oh, how kind you are, father," Ellen said with tears of joy in her eyes.
"Nonsense, say nothing about that," the missionary remarked, gaily; "I have only done my duty. As a further security, and to avoid any possible indiscretion, I have not told the secret of your retreat to any one: the jacal was built by my own hands, without the assistance of a stranger. You can, therefore, feel certain that no one will trouble you in the hermitage."
"And when can I go to it, father?"
"Whenever you please; all is ready."
"Ah, if I did not fear appearing ungrateful, I would say I will go at once."
"Do you think you are strong enough to undertake a journey of fifteen leagues?"
"I feel extraordinarily strong at this moment, father."