His thoughts then dwelt upon the Knight, and upon his connection with the savage.  Who was this man, who, in the flower of his age, and with all the accomplishments of a gentleman, chose to retire from the world, and with his sad companion, immure himself in the woods?  He was no sour anchorite, who regarded with displeasure the innocent enjoyments of life, nor did he appear to be an unprincipled adventurer, who had fled from restraint in the old world, in order to give license to his passions in the new.  He was evidently a man of consideration in the colony.  He was treated with attention by all, courted by the whites, and held in high estimation by the Indians.  That such a man as Sir Christopher Gardiner should adopt that wild life of seclusion, did not indeed strike the mind of Arundel with the degree of surprise wherewith our own are affected, for it was a time of adventure and romance; the poetry of life was not bound up principally in books, but was acted out in deeds; and the occurrence of daily wonders, while it destroyed their singularity, abated curiosity on their account.  Hence men expressed no astonishment at the course of life of the Knight; hence, when Arundel became acquainted with him, he felt none, and it was only upon more intimate acquaintance—­after Sir Christopher began to take an interest in him; after he had noted the influence exercised by the Knight over the ambassadors; and after he had discovered, as he supposed, a community of aims betwixt the Knight and Sassacus, that his curiosity awoke.  To judge from the communication of the Indian chief, it would seem as if the Knight were a sort of missionary among the natives, to teach them the arts and practices of civilized life; but nothing that Arundel himself had noticed, justified any such suspicion.  All he knew of Sir Christopher was, that he was passionately fond of the chase, which frequently led him deep into the forest, and had been known in some instances to detain him several days away from home.

As for the pale lady who, always clothed in black, appeared to be devoured by some secret sorrow, and whom the Knight called his cousin, it did not seem at all strange that she should love retirement, to indulge the sad luxury of grief.  A bruised heart loves darkness and silence.

The conclusion to which Arundel came was, that it was partly affection for his fair cousin, and partly a love of adventure, which had brought Sir Christopher for a season to America, and that his kindness to the Indians, and familiarity with them, had induced Sassacus, and perhaps others, to indulge hopes as wild and improbable of execution, as their ignorance was boundless.  Pursuing these meditations, he proceeded on to the settlement, and arrived at the wharf, whither he was attracted by the little crowd a short time after the departure of the Taranteens, who were still in sight.

It was at the moment when the Knight was about to part from the deputy Governor, that the young man came up.  He remarked the disturbed countenance of the latter; but that of the former, whatever he felt, betrayed no emotion.