"
"You mean to say that I have done you wrong, in taking the lady from
her father's house, and leading her so far against her will into these
wild districts," returned the unmoved squatter, who manifested as
little resentment as he betrayed compunction at the charge. "I shall
not put the lie on the back of an evil deed, and deny your words.
Since things have come to this pass between us, I have found time to
think the matter over at my leisure, and though none of your swift
thinkers, who can see, or who pretend to see, into the nature of all
things, by a turn of the eye, yet am I a man open to reason, and give
me my time, one who is not given to deny the truth. Therefore have I
mainly concluded, that it was a mistake to take a child from its
parent, and the lady shall be returned whence she has been brought, as
tenderly and as safely as man can do it."
"Ay, ay," added Esther, "the man is right. Poverty and labour bore
hard upon him, especially as county officers were getting troublesome,
and in a weak moment he did the wicked act; but he has listened to my
words, and his mind has got round again into its honest corner.
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