I
observed that she was very pale. I thought it was cold, and said so.

"The wind is certainly chilly," she replied, and then, moved by
embarrassment, or stirred by the motherly instinct that constitutes
more than half the charm of womanhood, she leaned over and tucked the
lap-robe about my knees, and then fell back in her place, laughing
gleefully, as a child might have laughed. Indeed, for a woman grown,
this little lady had more of the cunning tricks of childhood than
anyone I had ever seen--the cute little ways that endear children to
those who love them. At the time, this fact did not add to my
happiness, for, what with her womanliness and her childishness, she
presented a problem that puzzled and dazzled me, for my mind was
wofully lacking in the nimbleness necessary to follow the swift changes
of her moods.

She had turned the buggy into the woods, and was driving along with no
road to guide her. I had not the remotest idea whither she was carrying
me, but by way of saying something I protested against the way she was
pushing her horse. "You will need him after to-day," I explained.

"I have reason to be in a hurry," she said. "Horses are cheap enough
with us. They are furnished by the Government."

"Still, he is a fairly good horse," I remarked, "and he deserves some
consideration on his own account."

"Do you think so?" she cried. "I am sure you are very kind--to horses.
If I am driving him too hard you have yourself to thank. You have upset
all my plans, and I am not very happy. Don't you think a woman deserves
as much consideration as a horse?"

"They are to be treated according to their deserts," I answered,
gravely. "They know what duty is. Private O'Halloran says that you are
no woman, and I say that you are no man. Where does consideration fall
in your case?"

"I ask for no more consideration than you would accord to a human
being. Mr. O'Halloran has never seen me in my proper dress before, and
he knows only how I appear at night when I am working for the cause of
the Union. But who are you that you should judge of the deserts of men
and women? You are nothing but a boy, and you'll not be different when
you are a man. Instead of marching with your comrades, here you are
riding in a buggy with a woman--and for what? In the name of heaven,
tell me for what?"

She seemed to be overcome by quite a little flurry of passion, and her
manner irritated me. "You know why as well as I do," I replied, sober