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Murfree, Mary Noailles, 1850-1922

"The Frontiersmen"

"If yez weren't Frinch ye'd be a beautiful
Englishman; but I hev got the advantage of ye in that, an' faix I'll
kape it."
He was evidently of a breeding inferior to that of his companion, but he
had so sturdy and swinging a gait, so stalwart and goodly a build, so
engaging a manner, and so florid a smile, that the very sight of him was
disarming, despite the patent crafty deceit in his face. It seemed as if
it could not be very deep or guileful, it was so frankly expressed. It
was suggestive of the roguish machinations of a child. He had twinkling
brown eyes, and reddish hair, plaited in a club and tied with a thong of
leather. His features were blunt, but his red, well-shaped lips parted
in a ready, reassuring smile, and showed teeth as even and white as the
early corn. Both men were arrayed in the buckskin shirt and leggings
generally worn by the frontiersmen, but the face of the other had a
certain incongruity with his friend's, and was more difficult to
decipher. It looked good,--not kind, but true. It had severe pragmatic
lines about the mouth, and the lips were thin and somewhat fixedly set.


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