ers following her with a sort of awe, as of one they fancied
in a superhuman state. In fact, there was no great danger in traversing
the bridge with its lofty parapet on either side; and her mind was too
much exalted and moved to be sensible of anything but a certain exulting
awe of the battle sounds. There was, however, a kind of lull in the
assault which had raged so fiercely ever since the fall of the officer,
and the arrival of the reinforcements. Either the enemy had paused to
take food, or were devising some fresh mode of attack; and as the
line of women advanced, there started forth from under the arch a
broad-shouldered, white-faced, golden-bearded personage, who cried
joyously, 'My dearest, my bravest! this for me!' and lifted the pitcher
from her head as he grasped her hand with a flesh and blood clasp
indeed, but the bright-cheeked, wavy-haired lad of her dream withered
away with a shock of disappointment, and she only looked up with wistful
puzzled earnestness instead of uttering the dear name that she had so
long been whispering to herself. 'Dearest,' he said, 'this is precious
indeed to me, that you should let me feast my eyes once more on you. But
you may not tarry; the rogues may renew the attack at any moment.'

She had thought of herself as insisting on standing beside him and
sharing his peril. Had he been himself she must have don so, but this
was a stranger, whose claiming her made her shrink apart till she could
feel the identity which, though she believed, she could not realize.
Her hand lay cold and tremulous within his warm pressure, but he was too
much wrought up and too full of joy and haste to be sensible of anything
but of the brave affection that had dared all to come to him; and he
was perfectly happy, even as a trumpet-call among the foe warned him to
press her fingers to his lips and say, as his bright blue eye kindled,
'God grant that we may meet and thank Him tonight! Farewell, my lost and
found! I fight as one who has something to fight for.'

He might not leave his post, but he watched her with eyes that could not
be satiated, as she recrossed the bridge; and, verily, his superabundant
ecstasy, and the energy that was born of it, were all needed to sustain
the spirits of his garrison through that terrible afternoon. The enemy
seemed to be determined to carry the place before it could be relieved,
and renewed the storm again and again with increasing violence; while
the defenders, dis