he not?" she asked,
glancing up at him. "Kenneth"--and her manner was delightfully
appealing as she spoke his name in a shy little whisper, "Kenneth,
there may be some horrible mistake. Your friend--that was--may be
innocent."

"Scarcely a chance of it, sweetheart," and he removed her other glove
and kissed her fingers, glancing around first, to see that no one was
in sight.

She laughed at his little picture of nervousness, but returned to the
subject.

"But if it were so?" she persisted; "surely you will not counsel haste
in deciding so serious a matter?"

"At any rate, I mean to put aside so serious a subject of conversation
on our wedding morning," he answered, and she smiled back at him as
she said:

"On our wedding morning, sir, you should be mercifully disposed
towards all men."

"We never class traitors as men," and his fine face grew stern for an
instant, "they are vampires, birds of prey. A detail has been sent for
to take him to court-martial; there is little doubt what the result
will be, and--"

"Suppose," and she glanced up at him with a pretty appeal in her eyes,
"that your wife, sir, should ask as a first favor on her wedding day
that you be merciful, as the rules of war allow you to be, to this
poor fellow who danced with us last night? Even supposing he is most
horribly wicked, yet he really did dance with us--danced very well,
and was very amusing. So, why not grant him another day of grace? No?"
as he shook his head. "Well, Monsieur, I have a fancy ill luck must
come if you celebrate our wedding day by hastening a man to meet his
death. Let him remain here under guard until tomorrow?"

He shook his head, smilingly.

"No, Judithe."

"Not even for me?"

"Anything else, sweetheart, but not that. It is really out of my power
to delay, now, even if I wished. The guard will come for him some time
this evening. I, myself, shall leave at dawn tomorrow; so, you
see!--"

She glanced at him in playful reproach, a gay irresponsible specimen
of femininity, who would ignore a man's treason because he chanced to
be a charming partner in the dance.

"My very first request! So, Monsieur, this is how you mean to love,
honor and obey me?"

He laughed and caught the uplifted forefinger with which she
admonished him.

"I shall be madly jealous in another minute," he declared, with mock
ferocity; "you have been my wife two full hours and half of that
precious time you have wasted pleading the cause