e more than I do you. Do you love this man?"

"Why not? He has his failings, his weaknesses, but he fights against
them, he tries to overcome them. The whole South knows him, loves him
for his deeds, pities him for his failings. And I--"

"Yes? You what?"

"You shall see. Meanwhile before you depreciate a brother soldier, why
don't you do something yourself? You are not in the same class."

"I wouldn't say that, Miss Glen, if I were you," exclaimed Major Lacy,
quietly entering the room through one of the long windows opening on
the veranda. "Ah, Sempland, have you told your little tale?"

[Illustration: "'Ah, Sempland, have you told your little tale?'"]

"Yes."

"Exposed me to this young lady?"

"I have."

"And condemned me as an utter scoundrel, a blackguard?"

"Not quite. I told the truth," returned Sempland, calmly, "just as I
said to you I would, and for that I am ready to answer in any way to
please you. We can settle the matter when the war is over."

"Very well. What did you say, Miss Glen?" continued Lacy, turning to
that young woman.

"I told him it wasn't true!" burst out the girl, impetuously.

"Ah, but it is," said Lacy, softly. "I am all that he says, and more,
too."

"But look at what you have done."

"But little, after all. I heard you reproaching Sempland for what he
had not done when I came in. That isn't fair. No braver man lives than
Rhett Sempland. Why, did it not take courage to defy me, to tell me to
my face that I was a scoundrel, a blackguard? And it took more courage
to defy custom, convention, propriety, to come here and tell you the
same things. No, Miss Glen, Sempland only lacks opportunity. Fortune
has not been kind to him. In that settlement after the war there will
be a struggle I'll warrant you."

"See! He can speak nobly of you," cried Fanny Glen, turning
reproachfully to Sempland.

"I never said he was not a gentleman, could not be a gentleman, that
is, when he was--when he wished to be one, that is, as well as a brave
man. He has good blood in him, but that doesn't alter the case. He
isn't a fit match for you, or for any woman. I am not speaking for
myself. I know my case is hopeless--"

"Gad!" laughed Lacy, "you have tried then and lost? It's my turn then.
Miss Glen, you have heard the worst of me this afternoon. I have been a
drunkard, a scoundrel. I have fallen low, very low. But sometimes I am
a gentleman. Perhaps in your presence I might always be. I can't t