-Tom. He took it to the war with
him. Where"--A sob leaped into her throat and stopped her.

"On my journey," said the old man quickly, "I heard somethin' of
Cap'n Tom. You must prepare yo'se'f for good news."

Her heart jumped and the blood surged back again, and she grew weak,
but the old man laughed his cheery laugh, and, pretending to clap her
playfully on the shoulder, he held her firmly with his great iron
hand, as he saw the blood go out of her cheeks, leaving them as white
as white roses:

"Down there," he added, "I'll tell you all. But God is good--God is
good."

Bewildered, pale, and with throbbing heart, she let him take her
basket and lead her down the well-beaten path. She could not speak,
for something, somehow, said to her that Captain Tom Travis was alive
and that she would see him--next week perhaps--next month or year--it
mattered not so that she would see him. And yet--and yet--O all these
years--all these years! She kept saying over the words of the old
Bishop, as one numbed, and unable to think, keeps repeating the last
thing that enters the mind. Trembling, white, her knees weak beneath
her, she followed saying:

"God is good--oh, Bishop--tell me--why--why--why--"

"Because Cap'n Tom is not dead, Miss Alice, he is alive and well."

They had reached the large oak which shadowed the little cabin. She
stopped suddenly in the agony of happiness, and the strong old man,
who had been watching her, turned and caught her with a firm grasp,
while the stars danced frantically above her. And half-unconscious
she felt another one come to his aid, one who took her in his arms
and kissed her lips and her eyes ... and carried her into the bright
fire-lighted cabin, ... carried her in strength and happiness that
made her lay her cheek against his, ... and there were tears on it,
and somehow she lay as if she were a child in his arms, ... a child
again and she was happy, ... and there were silence and sweet dreams
and the long-dead smell of the crepe-myrtle.... She did not remember
again until she sat up on the cot in the clean little cabin, and Tom
Travis, tall and in the splendor of manhood, sat holding her hands
and stroking her hair and whispering: "_Alice, my darling--it is all
well--and I have come back for you, at last!_"

And the old servants stood around smiling and happy, but so silent
and composed that she knew that they had been schooled to it, and a
big man, who seemed to watch Captain Tom as