"
She moved quickly away to the fire, and presently returned with
an earthenware dish of roasted pumpkin and sweet potatoes and,
kneeling at my side, fed me deftly with a small wooden spoon. I
did not feel grieved at the absence of meat and the stinging
condiments the Indians love, nor did I even remark that there was
no salt in the vegetables, so much was I taken up with watching
her beautiful delicate face while she ministered to me. The
exquisite fragrance of her breath was more to me than the most
delicious viands could have been; and it was a delight each time
she raised the spoon to my mouth to catch a momentary glimpse of
her eyes, which now looked dark as wine when we lift the glass to
see the ruby gleam of light within the purple. But she never for
a moment laid aside the silent, meek, constrained manner; and
when I remembered her bursting out in her brilliant wrath on me,
pouring forth that torrent of stinging invective in her
mysterious language, I was lost in wonder and admiration at the
change in her, and at her double personality. Having satisfied
my wants, she moved quietly away and, raising a straw mat,
disappeared behind it into her own sleeping-apartment, which was
divided off by a partition from the room I was in.
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