k with the knees
drawn up, or face downward, with the arms outstretched, or rolled on the
side as though they were in bed, Vickerson was rising on his hands and
dragging himself forward. It was one of Ashley's most vivid
recollections that Vickerson's movements were like a seal's. They had
the drollery of a bit of infernal mimicry. It was also a vivid
recollection that when he ran out to the soldier's aid he had his first
sensation of fear. The bullets whizzed so thick about him that he ran
back again. It was an involuntary running back, as involuntary as
snatching his fingers out of a fire. He could remember standing under
the rock, and, as Vickerson did not move, half hoping he were dead. That
would put an end to any further attempts to save him. But the soldier
stirred again, propping himself with both hands and pulling his body
onward for a few inches more. Again Ashley ran out into a tempest of
iron and fire and over ground slippery with blood. He could still feel
himself hopping back, as a barefooted boy who has ventured into a
snow-storm hops back into the house. A third time he ran out, and a
fourth. At the fourth he distinctly worded the thought which had been at
the back of his mind from the beginning, "I shall get the V.C. for
this." He tried to banish the unworthy suggestion, but it was too strong
for him. Over the cliffs, and out of the clouds, and from beyond the
horizon, he felt the unseen eyes of England upon him, inciting him to
such a valor that at the fifth attempt he dragged in his man.

He came out of this reverie, which, after all, was brief, to find the
gentle tones in which Olivia had made her astounding revelations still
in his ears; while she herself sat expectant, and resigned. He knew she
was expectant and resigned and that she had braced her courage for the
worst. With many men, with most men, to do so would have been needful.
In the confusion of his rapid summaries and calculations it was a
pleasurable thought that she should learn from him, and through him and
in him, that it was not so with all. The silence which at first was
inadvertent now became deliberate as--while he noted with satisfaction
that he had not overstated to himself the exquisite, restrained beauty
of her features, her eyes, her hair, her hands, and of the very texture
and fashion of her clothing--he prolonged the suspense which was to be
the prelude to his justifying once again the dowager countess's good
opinion. It was