“Ay; they were to have been married according to their laws.”
“But how did you learn this?”
“From Rube: he heard it while he was a prisoner at the town.”
“And did she love him, do you think?”
“No. It appears not. She had been adopted as the daughter of the medicine chief, and Dacoma claimed her for a wife. On certain conditions she was to have been given to him; but she feared, not loved him, as her words now testify. Poor child! a wayward fate has been hers.”
“In two journeys more her sufferings will be over. She will be restored to her home, to her mother.”
“Ah! if she should remain thus it will break the heart of my poor Adèle.”
“Fear not, my friend. Time will restore her memory. I think I have heard of a parallel circumstance among the frontier settlements of the Mississippi.”
“Oh! true, there have been many. We will hope for the best.”
“Once in her home the objects that surrounded her in her younger days may strike a chord in her recollection. She may yet remember all. May she not?”