Yet it quickened hopes which had long been
dormant. Ruth never urged any request that might involve serious hazard to
her husband, and for many months the latter had even ceased to speak on
the subject. Still, nature was working powerfully within him. His eyes, at
all times reflecting and calm, grew more thoughtful; deeper lines of care
gathered about his brow; and at length, melancholy took possession of a
countenance which was usually so placid.
It was at this precise period, that Eben Dudley chose to urge the suit, he
had always pressed after his own desultory fashion, on the decision of
Faith. One of those well-ordered accidents, which, from time to time, had
brought the girl and the young borderer in private conversation, enabled
him to effect his design with sufficient clearness. Faith heard him
without betraying any of her ordinary waywardness, and answered with as
little prevarication as the subject seemed to demand.
"This is well, Eben Dudley," she said, "and it is no more than an honest
girl hath a right to hear, from one who hath taken as many means as thou
to get into her favor.
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