one," I began, "romantic enough to form a
basis for fiction."
Her glance shifted to my face.
"Do you think so? I merely find it extremely embarrassing."
"Then I will withdraw at once," I insisted, hurt by the indifference of
her voice. "I had supposed you wished me to remain until now--surely
your words implied this."
"Oh, yes! I did, and you are in no way to blame. It was an impulse, and
I failed to realize that it would involve deceit to an old friend.
Perhaps I am too easily hurt, but I am afraid Judge Moran half suspects
the truth. Anyway you must go immediately."
"We shall part as friends?"
She hesitated, as though considering the full intent of my request.
"Hardly that, Lieutenant Galesworth. The word 'friend' should mean much,
and we are merely chance acquaintances--politically enemies."
"I had hoped that difference--merely the accident of war--might have
been swept aside. It has no personal weight with me, and I supposed you
were of broader mind."
"I am," she responded earnestly. "Some of my best friends are
Northerners, wearing that uniform, but, as it chances, we have met in
war, playing at cross-purposes. You are a Federal scout whom I have
unwittingly helped through the Confederate lines. Surely I have done
enough already to help you--perhaps to injure the cause I love--without
being asked for more. Under other conditions we might continue friends,
but not as matters stand."
"Yet later--when the war ends?"
"It is useless to discuss what may occur then. There is little
likelihood we shall ever meet after to-day. Indeed, I have no wish that
we should."
It was a dismissal so clearly expressed I could only bow, wondering what
it was I saw in the depths of her eyes which seemed almost to contradict
the utterance of the lips.
"You leave me no choice."
"There is none. I have no desire to be considered an enemy, and there is
no possibility for us to become friends. We are but the acquaintances of
a chance meeting." She held out her hand across the table, the impulsive
movement robbing her words of their sting. "You understand this is not
indifference, but necessity."
I clasped closely the white fingers extended toward me, my heart
throbbing, but my lips held prisoners by her eyes.
"Yes, I understand perfectly, but I make no promise."
"No promise! What do you mean?"
"Only that to my mind this is no mere chance acquaintance, nor is it
destined to end here. Sometime I am going
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