r having got the better of this arrogant and
vengeful young creature. Even had she been otherwise, and had his life
depended on tricking her with a pretence of love, he would have valued
his life far above her feelings, and would not have hesitated to
practise on her a falsehood that many a gentleman has practised on
many a maid for no higher purpose than for the sport or for the
testing of his powers, and often for no other purpose than the maid's
undoing in more than her feelings. How much less, then, need he
consider her feelings when he regarded her as an enemy in war, of whom
it was his right to take all possible advantage for the saving of his
own or any other American soldier's life! These thoughts came only at
those moments when it occurred to him that his act might need
justification. But if he thought he was entitled to avail himself of
these excuses, he deceived himself, for no such considerations had
been in his mind before or during his act. He had proceeded on the
impulse of self-preservation alone, with no further thought as to the
effect on her feelings than the hope that her feelings would be moved
in his behalf. He had been totally selfish in the matter, and yet,
while it is true he had not stopped to reason whether the act was
morally justifiable or not, he had _felt_ that her attitude warranted
his deception, or, rather, he had not felt that the deception was a
discreditable act, as he might have felt had her attitude been
kindlier. Even had he possessed any previous scruples about that act,
he would have overcome them. As it was, the scruples came only when he
thought of that new, chastened, subdued look on her face. Only then
did he feel that his trick might be debatable, as to whether it became
a gentleman. Only then did he take the trouble to seek justifiable
circumstances. Only then did he have a dim sense of what might be the
feelings of a girl suddenly stormed into love. He had never been
sufficiently in love to know how serious a feeling--serious in its
tremendous potency for joy or pain--love is. In Virginia, in London,
and in Ireland, he had indulged himself in such little flirtations,
such amours of an hour, as helped make up a young gentleman's
amusements. But he had long been, as he was now, heart-free, and,
though it occurred to him that, in this girl, so great a change of
mien must arise from a pronounced change of heart, he had no thought
that her new mood could have deep root or long