h
me?"

"No," he answered while he kissed her. "No, Harriet. However such
things may appear to you, for me there is but one course: I must
return. But come with us."

"I cannot, Clifford. I must go back to father."

"Then I must leave you, because we have been long, too long away from
camp. And now good-bye!"

"Something may yet come up to save him, Harriet," whispered Peggy as
Harriet followed them weeping to the piazza.

"No," she said disconsolately. "This was the only hope, Peggy.
Everything hath been done that can be done. I shall never see him
again."

There was no one about. Long afterward Peggy found that this state of
things had been prearranged in order that the inmates of the inn might
not be held responsible when Clifford's flight should be discovered.
Clifford himself brought their horses from the stables. Silently they
mounted, then turned for a last word with Harriet. But she had sunk
upon the steps of the porch, and with her face buried in her hands,
was sobbing in heart-breaking accents:

"Clifford! Clifford! Clifford!"

CHAPTER XXVIII

"HOW COULD SHE KNOW?"

"To-morrow! O, that's sudden! Spare him, spare him!"

--"_Measure for Measure._"

Colonel Dayton met them as they reentered the camp. His brow was
wrinkled with anxiety, but it cleared as if by magic at sight of them.

"Odds life, captain!" he cried. "I feared lest something had befallen
you. It is long past your usual hour for returning."

"Something did befall, sir," answered Clifford, who had expected
questioning. "I crave pardon for the delay. We were like not to have
come back at all, but through no fault of ours. In fact, sir, we were
set upon by a party of miscreants in the glen beyond the five knob
tree, and captured. At the place to which we were conducted was a
person through whom----" He hesitated unwilling that Harriet should
be connected with the affair. "In short, Colonel Dayton," he said
frankly, "I would prefer that you do not question me concerning the
manner of our release. As soon as possible we came back."

"Say no more, sir," exclaimed Colonel Dayton. "That you did come back
proves you an honorable gentleman. I might have had to mourn a
prisoner, but once more hath martial faith received justification. It
will give me great pleasure to report your conduct to the
commander-in-chief."

Much relieved that the matter was to be probed no further the cousins
dismounted, and were pre