"’A keen—spirited woman,’" translated Nathaniel.

"Aye, that she was, my girl," murmured Hawkeye.

Elizabeth was flustered and gratified, but most of all she felt very much out of her depth, and was almost glad to have Julian interrupt, as he relieved her of the responsibility of a response.

"What brings you to these parts?" asked Julian, disrupting this easy exchange. He had found his pipe and puffed at it furiously.

"I come to be with my son and his people." The old man spoke quietly, but he addressed Julian without hesitation or a hint of apology.

"Chingachgook is always welcome in Paradise," said the judge.

"When I was a boy, these were Kahnyen’keháka lands," said Chingachgook thoughtfully. He paused, and looked directly at Elizabeth. "Kahnyen’keháka—the Mohawk—were a fierce people. They feared no tribe, they did not know hunger. But most of the Kahnyen’keháka are gone." Chingachgook gestured to the northwest. "They fought with the British against the new government, and there is no place for them now in their homeland. Only a few of them are left here in the land of the Wolf, but those are very dear to us." He glanced at Hannah. "We must learn to live more closely together, we who are left behind."

"So you plan to take up residence in Paradise?" asked Julian in a deceptively even tone of voice. Elizabeth kept her eyes on her plate, and wished desperately that she had some way of removing her brother from this room.

The judge stepped into the conversation; there was a warning tone in his words that Elizabeth noted quite clearly, but that she feared Julian would miss. "Some years ago I incurred a great debt to Chingachgook," said the judge. "He and his people are free to live on my lands, for as long as they remain in my family's holdings."

All the men tensed at this formulation.

"’His people' is very loosely framed, Father," Julian said.

The judge rose from his place. "Julian, I would speak with you in my study."

With a sigh, the younger man followed his father from the room. There was silence for a moment, as if a great storm had suddenly passed by without touching them. Elizabeth suspected that this tension which had grown in the room would return with her father. There was some unfinished business between the men, that was certain.

Chingachgook spoke to Elizabeth. "We have not always been dependent on the goodwill of friends. Once my people hunted to the east. There was game for everyone.

"Unfortunately, that's not the case anymore," said Richard Todd, who sat to Elizabeth's left. He had followed the conversation with close attention to this point.

"Well, that's true enough," said Hawkeye, with sudden great emotion; his anger sparked in his voice. "The legislature has been up to tricks," he explained to Chingachgook. "Those who never had to take a gun in hand to feed a family are forbidding woodsmen to hunt. As if they could keep track of the likes of us in the forest. You ask the judge, he'll tell you about how the rich men sit together and think up laws to vex common folk."

"Surely, Dan'l, but surely," said Reverend Witherspoon. "Surely you agree that we need laws to restrict the amount of timber that can be taken in a season, and to protect the spawning grounds in the rivers"

"You don't get my point. Of course I can't deny that fools like Billy Kirby don't know when to stop and put down the axe. He would take down the whole forest if he could, and every animal in it. But a good hunter never shoots a doe with a fawn beside her, and he don't need laws written down to tell him so. Common sense is enough of a law, for those who don't let greed rule them."

"Common sense can't be legislated," said Elizabeth, and the men turned to her. Richard Todd raised an eyebrow in surprise, but the others did not seem surprised at the way she joined in the conversation.

"That is true," said Chingachgook. "And well spoken."

"It is true," said Richard, addressing Hawkeye rather than Elizabeth. "But Billy Kirby is a fact. There are too many like him. From that it follows that we need some greater authority to stop men who won't stop themselves. The citizens of Paradise will enforce the laws passed by the legislature. You know they will take pleasure in doing so."

"Aye, you're right." Disgusted, Hawkeye shook his head.

"There is a shortage of game," said Nathaniel, taking up the conversation. "We were out every day this week and didn't get any venison till yesterday."

Elizabeth looked down when she felt a hand on her own: the child Hannah, who sat to her right, was looking up at her with a shy smile. Elizabeth thought of bringing up the subject of school, when the door opened and her father came back in, without Julian.

"I apologize for my son," he said without preamble. "He has much to learn." He took his seat next to Chingachgook and clasped him firmly by the forearm.

"It is certainly good to see you here. It has been too long. You'll have to tell me about things down Genesee Valley way." The judge sought out Elizabeth and then smiled at her. "This man saved my life a total of three times, daughter. Twice during the wars, and once soon after, when I was traveling the Mohawk. I had every gold and silver coin to my name in the canoe, on my way to the auction where I bought the second patent, this very land."

The judge was a good storyteller, and most of his audience was attentive as he told of that last journey, of the run—in with thieves on the road, and how Hawkeye and Chingachgook had intervened when he believed all was lost. While he was telling this story, Elizabeth watched Nathaniel from the corner of her eye, seeing that he was distracted and that his attention wandered between herself and his adoptive grandfather.