[Moria-CVS] dropped and divers things were said, unti

[Leddy <li...@mu...>]

Een their diverse natures was for a moment lifted, and they understood
each other better than they ever had before. While his look imposed
silence and sealed her lips as with a spoken command, there was a gleam
of tenderness in it that said, "I understand, I too remember; but it
must not be spoken." There came to her a sense of getting closer to her
father's heart, even while his eyes held her back and bade her be
silent. At length the chief spoke, this time very gently. "Now I shall
talk to you not as to a girl but as to a woman. You are Multnomah's only
child. When he dies there will be no one but you to take his place. Are
your shoulders strong enough to bear the weight of power, the weight
that crushes men? Can you break down revolt and read the hearts of
plotters,--yes, and detect conspiracy when it is but a whisper in the
air? Can you sway council and battle to your will as the warrior bends
his bow? No; it takes men, men strong of heart, to rule the races of the
Wauna. Therefore there is but one way left me whereby the line of
Multnomah may still be head of the confederacy when he is gone. I must
wed you to a great warrior who can take my place when I am dead and
shelter you with his strength. Then the name and the power of Multnomah
will still live among the tribes, though Multnomah himself be crumbled
into dust." She made no reply, but sat looking confused and pained, by
no means elated at the future he had described. "Have you never thought
of this,--that some time I must give you to a warrior?" Her head drooped
lower and her cheek faintly flushed. "Sometimes." "But you have chosen
no one?" "I do not know," s