Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 2).djvu/75

 " 'Tis nothing," she answered, gently refusing his offered support, with feminine reserve. "That I cannot see the sunny side of the picture of life, like this artless but ardent enthusiast," she added, laying her hand lightly, but affectionately, on the arm of her anxious sister, "is the penalty of experience, and, perhaps, the misfortune of my nature. See," she continued, with an effort, as if determined to shake off every infirmity, in a sense of duty; "look around you, Major Heyward, and tell me what a prospect is this, for the daughter of a soldier, whose greatest happiness is his honour and his military renown!"

"Neither ought nor shall be tarnished by circumstances, over which he has had no control," Duncan warmly replied. "But your words recall me to my own duty. I go now to your gallant father, to hear his determination in matters of the last moment to our defence. God bless you in every fortune, noble—Cora—I may, and must call you." She frankly gave him her hand, though her lips quivered, and her cheeks gradually became of an ashy pale-