unt Daphne, with
Jereboam, the major's body-servant. Aunt Daphne, her apron thrown over
her face was rocking to and fro silently, and old Jereboam's head was
bowed on his breast. Valiant went quickly to the rear of the hall. A
painful embarrassment had come to him--a curious confusion mingling
with a fastidious sense of shrinking. How should he meet this woman who
recoiled from the very sight of his face? In the swiftness of the tragic
event he had forgotten this. From the background he saw Judge Chalmers
lift down the frail form, and suddenly his heart leaped. There were two
feminine figures; Shirley was with her mother.

The doctor stood just inside the library door and Mrs. Dandridge went
hastily toward him, her light cane tapping through the stricken silence.
Jereboam lifted his head and looked at her piteously.

"Reck'n Mars' Monty cyan' see ole Jerry now," he quavered, "but yo'-all
gib him mah love, Mis' Judith, and tell him--" His voice broke.

"Yes, yes, Jerry. I will."

The doctor closed the door upon her and came to where Shirley waited.
"Come, my dear," he said, and dropped his arm about her. "Let us go out
to the garden."

As they passed Valiant, she held out her hand to him. There was no word
between them, but as his hand swallowed hers, his heart said to her, "I
love you, I love you! No matter what is between us, I shall always love
you!"

It was wordless, a heart-whisper that only love itself could hear, and
he could read no answer in the deep pools of her eyes, heavy now with
unshed tears. But in some subtle way this voiceless greeting comforted
and lightened by a little the weight of dumb impotence that he had
borne.

* * * * *

In the library, lighted so brightly by the sunlight, yet grave with the
hush of that solemn presence, the major looked into the face of the
woman for whose coming he had waited so anxiously.

"It's all--up, Judith," he said faintly. "I've come to the jumping-off
place."

She looked at him whitely. "Monty, Monty!" she cried. "Don't leave me
this way! I always thought--"

He guessed what she would have said. "Heaven knows you're needed more
than me, Judith. After all, I reckon when my time had to come I'd have
chosen the quick way." His voice trailed out and he struggled for
breath.

"Jerry's in the hall, Monty. He asked me to give you his love."

"Poor old nigger! He--used to tote me on his back when I was a little
shaver." There w