horses. The general departed before dark, and took his
bodyguard with him."

She had no reason to deceive me, and her sincerity was beyond question.
This was better than I had dared hope, and instantly a new plan leaped
into my mind, the very audacity of which made me gasp. Yet it might
work, carried out with sufficient boldness, although only to be resorted
to as a last desperate necessity. As I stood there, revolving this new
thought swiftly through my mind, the old fear seemed to return to her.

"Did--did you hear--everything?" she asked again.

"I am afraid I did," I confessed humbly, "but I am going to forget."

"No, that is not necessary. I am not sure I am altogether sorry that you
overheard."

"But I am--at least, a part of what I overheard struck me rather hard."

"What was that?"

"Your reference to me. Billie, I had been dreaming dreams."

Her eyes dropped, the long lashes shading them.

"But I had previously warned you," she said at last, very soberly. "You
knew how impossible such a thought was; you were aware of my
engagement."

"Yes, and I also knew Le Gaire. All I hoped for was time, sufficient
time for you to discover his character. He is no bug-a-boo to me any
longer, nor shall any tie between you keep me from speaking. As I have
told you I did not come here expecting to meet you--not even knowing
this was your home--yet you have been in my mind all through the night,
and what has occurred yonder between you and that fellow has set me
free. Do you know what I mean to do?"

"No, of course not; only--"

"Only I must believe what you said about me to him; only I must continue
to respect an agreement which has been wrung out of you by threat. I
refuse to be bound. I know now the one thing I wanted most to know,
Billie--that you do not love him. Oh, you can never make me think
that again--"

"Stop!" and she was looking straight at me again. "I shall listen to you
no longer, Lieutenant Galesworth. I cannot deny the truth of much which
you have said, but it is not generous of you to thus take advantage of
what was overheard. It was merely a quarrel, and not to be taken
seriously. He is coming back, and--and I am going to marry him."

There was a little catch in her voice, yet she finished the sentence
bravely enough, flinging the words at me in open defiance.

"When? To-night?"

"Yes, immediately, as soon as Captain Le Gaire can confer with my
father."

I smiled, not wholly at ease, yet