“I have broken my oath, my father!” continued Fabian; “I had promised never to love any other but you. Pardon! pardon!”
“Child, who implores pardon, when it is I who should ask it?” said Bois-Rose; “you were more generous than I, Fabian. Never did a lioness snatch her cub from the hands of the hunters, and carry it to her den, with a more savage love than I dragged you from the habitations of men to hide you in the desert. I was happy, because all my affections were centred in you; and I believed that you might also be so. You did not murmur; you sacrificed, unhesitatingly, all the treasures of your youth—a thousand times more precious than those of the Golden Valley. I did not intend it should be so, and it is I who have been selfish, and not generous, for if you had died of grief, I should have died also.”
“What do you mean?” cried Fabian.
“What I say, child. Who watched over your slumbers during long nights, to hear from your lips the secret wishes of your heart? It was I, who determined to accompany to this spot, Gayferos, whom at your intercession I saved from the hands of the Apaches. Who sent him to seek this beautiful and gracious lady, and learn if in her heart, she still treasured your memory? It was I still, my child, for your happiness is a thousand times more precious than mine. Who persuaded you to make this last trial? It was still I, my child, who knew that you must succumb to it. To-morrow I had said to you, I will accept your sacrifice; but Gayferos had even then read the most secret pages of this lady’s heart. Why do you ask my pardon, when I tell you it is I, who should ask yours?”
The Canadian, as he finished these words, opened his arms to Fabian, who eagerly rushed into his embrace.
“Oh, my father,” cried he, “so much happiness frightens me, for never was man happier than I.”
“Grief will come when God wills it,” said the Canadian, solemnly.
“But you, what will become of you?” asked Fabian, anxiously. “Your loss will be to me the only bitterness in my full cup of joy.”
“As God wills, my child,” answered the Canadian. “It is true, I cannot live in cities, but this dwelling, which will be yours, is on the borders of the desert. Does not infinity surround me here? I shall build with Pepé—Ho, Pepé,” said the hunter in a loud voice, “come and ratify my promise.”
Pepé and Gayferos came forward at the hunter’s summons.