ween us. We have met only once before to-night, but that meeting was
of such a character that we were instantly acquainted. To be sure we
were working at cross-purposes, and you outwitted me, but later you
squared all that by saving me from capture."

"Why go over that unfortunate occurrence?" she interrupted. "Do you not
suppose I regret that enough already?"

"I doubt if you regret it at all."

"But I do--I haven't had a moment's peace since."

"Indeed! Why?" and I bent lower, eager to read her eyes. "Because even
in that little time you had learned to care for me?"

"Your words are insolent," rising to her feet, proudly, but I remained
directly in her path.

"No, Miss Willifred," earnestly, "they are not, because they come from
the heart. You are a woman, and therefore you understand. You cannot be
angry with me, no matter how hard you try. You are endeavoring to
deceive yourself, but the effort is useless. You do care for me--that
was why you waited for me to get safely across the river; that was why
you have come to me now. Ever since I left you in the grape arbor I have
been in your thoughts."

"And why I was also about to marry Captain Le Gaire, I suppose," she
interposed defiantly, but with eyes unable to meet mine.

"I can comprehend that easily enough, helped by what I overheard. You
cannot tell me you desired to marry Captain Le Gaire--can you?"

"No," for I stopped, and thus compelled an answer. "It would be useless
to deny that."

"I was so sure of this that I acted, took the one course open to me to
prevent your doing this wrong. I deliberately determined to risk your
displeasure rather than permit the sacrifice. You were marrying him
merely because you had promised, because you could not explain to your
father why your feelings had changed--you were afraid to confess that
you loved a Yankee."

"But I didn't--it was not that!"

"Then what was it?"

She remained silent, but now I was fully aroused.

"Billie," my voice low, and barely reaching her ear. "When I rode away
that night I knew I loved you. I was a Yankee soldier, but I had been
captured by a Rebel. I scarcely possessed a hope then of meeting you
again, but I did believe you already realized what kind of a man Le
Gaire was. I could not conceive that you would marry him, and I swore to
myself to seek you out at the earliest moment possible. Don't draw back
from me, dear, but listen--you must listen. This means as much to you
as to