This he did
sparingly at first, and as a part of a system of profound deception;
but day by day, and hour after hour, most especially with Margery,
did his manner become sensibly less distant, and more natural. The
artlessness, the gentle qualities, blended with feminine spirit as
they were, and the innocent gayety of the girl, appeared to win on
this nearly remorseless savage, in spite of his efforts to resist
her influence. Perhaps the beauty of Margery contributed its share
in exciting these novel emotions in the breast of one so stern. We
do not mean that Peter yielded to feelings akin-to love; of this, he
was in a manner incapable; but a man can submit to a gentle regard
for woman that shall be totally free from passion. This sort of
regard Peter certainly began to entertain for Margery; and like
begetting like, as money produces money, it is not surprising that
the confidence of the girl herself, as well as her sympathies,
should continue to increase in the favor of this terrible Indian.
But the changes of feeling, and the various little incidents to
which we have alluded, did not occur in a single moment of time. Day
passed after day, and still the canoes were working their way up the
winding channels of the Kalamazoo, placing at each setting sun
longer and longer reaches of its sinuous stream between the
travellers and the broad sheet of Michigan.
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