“She has her mother's lightness and activity, my friend, with somewhat of her father's force,” said he. “Her mother was not quite so handsome, I think myself; but the Dunhams were always thought comely, whether men or women. Well, Pathfinder, I take it for granted you've not overlooked the opportunity, but have spoken plainly to the girl? women like frankness in matters of this sort.”
“I believe Mabel and I understand each other at last, Sergeant,” returned the other, looking another way to avoid the soldier's face.
“So much the better. Some people fancy that a little doubt and uncertainty makes love all the livelier; but I am one of those who think the plainer the tongue speaks the easier the mind will comprehend. Was Mabel surprised?”
“I fear she was, Sergeant; I fear she was taken quite by surprise—yes, I do.”
“Well, well, surprises in love are like an ambush in war, and quite as lawful; though it is not so easy to tell when a woman is surprised, as to tell when it happens to an enemy. Mabel did not run away, my worthy friend, did she?”
“No, Sergeant, Mabel did not try to escape; that I can say with a clear conscience.”
“I hope the girl was too willing, neither! Her mother was shy and coy for a month, at least; but frankness, after all, is a recommendation in a man or woman.”
“That it is, that it is; and judgment, too.”
“You are not to look for too much judgment in a young creature of twenty, Pathfinder, but it will come with experience. A mistake in you or me, for instance, might not be so easily overlooked; but in a girl of Mabel's years, one is not to strain at a gnat lest they swallow a camel.”
The reader will remember that Sergeant Dunham was not a Hebrew scholar.