did not visit him in person, for such a visit
might involve an allusion to their last previous interview, and he did
not know in what manner he should make or treat such allusion. He felt
it would be an awkward matter to get out of the situation of pretended
adorer, and he was for putting that awkward matter off till the last
possible moment.

It was necessary for him to think of his return to the army. Duty and
inclination required he should make that return as soon as could be.
His first impulse had been to send word of his whereabouts and
condition. But as Elizabeth had not offered a messenger, he was loath
to ask for one. Moreover, the messenger might be intercepted by the
enemy's patrols and induced by fear to betray the message. Then, too,
even if the messenger should reach the American lines uncaught, a
consequent attempt to convey a wounded man from the manor hall to the
camp might attract the attention of the vigilant patrols, and risk not
only Harry's own recapture, but also the loss of other men. Decidedly,
the best course was to await the healing of his wound, and then to
make his way alone, under cover of night, to the army. He knew that,
whatever might occur, it was now Elizabeth's interest to protect him,
for should she give him up, the disclosure that she had formerly
shielded him would render her liable to suspicion and ridicule. He
felt, too, from the manifestations he had seen of her will and of her
ingenuity, that she was quite able to protect him. So he rested in
security in the quiet old chamber, dreading only the task of taking
back his love-making. Of that task, the difficulty would depend on
Elizabeth's own conduct, which he could not foresee, and that in turn
on her state of heart, which he did not exactly divine. He knew only
that she had, in that critical moment of the troops' arrival, felt for
him a tenderness that betokened love. Whether that feeling had
flourished or declined, he could not, during the five days when they
did not meet, be aware.

It had not declined. She had gone on idealizing the confident rebel
captain all the while. The fact that he was of the enemy added
piquancy to the sentiments his image aroused. It lent, too, an
additional poetic interest to the idea of their love. Was not Romeo of
the enemies of Juliet's house? The fact of her being now his
protector, by its oppositeness to the conventional situation, gave to
their relation the charm of novelty, and also gratifie