heart, entreat her again to pour forth all the melody of
that confession in his enraptured ear. Artless and
unaffected as she was generous and impassioned, the fond
and noble girl never hesitated to gratify him whom alone
she loved; and deep and fervent was the joy of the soldier,
when he found that each passionate entreaty, far from
being met with caprice, only drew from the lips of his
cousin warmer and more affectionate expressions of her
attachment. Such expressions, coming from any woman,
must have been rapturous and soothing in the extreme;
but, when they flowed from a voice whose very sound was
melody, they acted on the heart of Captain de Haldimar
with a potency that was as irresistible as the love itself
which she inspired.

Such was the position of things just before the commencement
of the Indian war. Madeline de Haldimar had been for some
time on a visit to Detroit, and her marriage with her
cousin was to have taken place within a few days. The
unexpected arrival of intelligence from Michilimackinac
that her father was dangerously ill, however, retarded
the ceremony; and, up to the present period, their
intercourse had been completely suspended. If Madeline
de Haldimar was capable of strong attachment to her lover,
the powerful ties of nature were no less deeply rooted
in her heart, and commiseration and anxiety for her father
now engrossed every faculty of her mind. She entreated
her cousin to defer the solemnisation of their nuptials
until her parent should be pronounced out of danger, and,
having obtained his consent to the delay, instantly set