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Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851

"Oak Openings"

How it happened that this Indian
had come to a conclusion so much safer than that of Peter's, a man
of twice his capacity, is more than we can explain; though it was
probably owing to the accidental circumstances of his more intimate
associations with the whites.
The bee-hunter was by nature a man of observation, a faculty that
his habits had both increased and stimulated. Had it not been for
the manner in which he was submitting to the influence of Margery,
he would long before have seen that in the deportment of the
Chippewa which would have awakened his distrust; not that Margery in
any way endeavored to blind him to what was passing before his face,
but that he was fast getting to have eyes only for her. By this time
she filled not only his waking, but many of his sleeping thoughts;
and when she was not actually before him, charming him with her
beauty, enlivening him with her artless gayety, and inspiring him
with her innocent humor, he fancied she was there, imagination,
perhaps, heightening all those advantages which we have enumerated.
When a man is thoroughly in love, he is quite apt to be fit for very
little else but to urge his suit.


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