“Jessie,” said the doctor, “here is a little case containing a curiously fashioned and exquisitely worked ring, and a large gold cross and chain, that I found while searching among the ruins of the nunnery at Louisburg. I have no doubt they belonged to the superior of the convent. These baubles answered her purpose by withdrawing the eyes of the profane from her care-worn and cold features; they will serve mine also, by showing how little you require the aid of art to adorn a person nature has made so lovely.”
“Hallo!” sais I to myself, “well done, Doctor, if that don’t beat cock-fighting, then there ain’t no snakes in Varginny, I vow. Oh! you ain’t so soft as you look to be after all; you may be a child of nature, but that has its own secrets, and if you hain’t found out its mysteries, it’s a pity.”
“They have neither suffered,” he continued, “from the corrosion of time nor the asceticism of a devotee, who vainly thought she was serving God by voluntarily withdrawing from a world into which he himself had sent her, and by foregoing duties which he had expressly ordained she should fulfil. Don’t start at the sight of the cross; it is the emblem of Christianity, and not of a sect, who claim it exclusively, as if He who suffered on it died for them only. This one has hitherto been used in the negation of all human affections, may it shed a blessing on the exercise of yours.”
I could hardly believe my ears; I didn’t expect this of him. I knew he was romantic, and all that; but I did not think there was such a depth and strength of feeling in him.
“I wish,” I said, “Jehu Judd could a heard you, Doctor, he would have seen the difference between the clear grit of the genuine thing and a counterfeit, that might have made him open his eyes and wink.”
“Oh! Slick,” said he, “come now, that’s a good fellow, don’t make me laugh, or I shall upset these glass cases;” and before Jessie could either accept or decline this act of gallantry, he managed to lead the way to the lake. The girls and I embarked in the canoe, and the rest of the party in the boat, but before I stepped into the bark, I hid the pipes of Peter behind the body of the moose, very much to the amusement of Jessie and the doctor, who both seemed to agree with me in giving a preference to the bugle.
I never saw so lovely a spot in this country as the one we had chosen for our repast, but it was not my intention to land until the preparations for our meal were all fully completed; so as soon as Jane leaped ashore, I took her place and asked Jessie to take another look at the lake with me. Desiring Jackson to recall us with his bugle when required, we coasted up the west side of the lake for about half a mile, to a place where I had observed two enormous birches bend over the water, into which they were ultimately doomed to fall, as the current had washed away the land where they stood, so as to leave them only a temporary resting-place. Into this arched and quiet retreat we impelled our canoe, and paused for awhile to enjoy its cool and refreshing shade.
“Jessie,” said I, “this time to-morrow I shall be on the sea again.”
“So soon?” she replied.
“Yes, dear; business calls us away, and life is not all like a day on the lake.”