; while she, poor thing, I believe
forgot all about my presence; and, as a sentry--a machine almost--placed
there, what right had I to speak?

"Will you leave him?" said Miss Ross again. "Will you not try to save
him?"

Lieutenant Leigh did not answer for a bit, for he was making his plans,
and I felt quite staggered as I saw through them.

"You see how he is placed: what can I do?" said Lieutenant Leigh. "If I
go, it is the signal for firing. You see the gunners waiting. And why
should I risk the lives of my men, and my own, to save him?--He is a
soldier, and it is the fortune of war: he must die."

"Are you a man, or a coward?" said Miss Ross angrily.

"No coward," he said fiercely; "but a poor slighted man, whom you have
wronged, jilted, and ill-used; and now you come to me to save your
lover's life--to give mine for it. You have robbed me of all that is
pleasant between you; and now you ask more. Is it just?"

"Lieutenant Leigh, you are speaking madly. How can you be so unjust?"
she cried, holding tightly by his arm, for he was turning away, while I
felt mad with him for torturing the poor girl, when it was decided that
the attempt was to be made.

"I am not unjust," he said. "The hazard is too great; and what should I
gain if I succeeded? Pshaw! Why, if he were saved, it would be at the
expense of my own life."

"I would die to save him!" she said hoarsely.

"I know it, Elsie; but you would not give a loving word to save me. You
would send me out to my death without compunction--without a care; and
yet you know how I have loved you."

"You--you loved me; and yet stand and see my heart torn--see me suffer
like this?" cried Miss Ross, and there was something half-wild in her
looks as she spoke.

"Love you!" he cried; "yes, you know how I have loved you--"

His voice sank here; but he was talking in her ear excitedly, saying
words that made her shrink from him up to the wall, and look at him as
if he were some object of the greatest disgust.

"You can choose," he said bitterly, as he saw her action; and he turned
away from her.

The next moment she was bending down before him, holding up her hands as
if in prayer.

"Promise me," he said, "and I will do it."

"Oh, some other way--some other way!" she cried piteously, her face all
drawn the while.

"As you will," he said coldly.

"But think--oh, think! You cannot expect it of me. Have mercy! Oh,
what am I saying?"

"Saying!" he cr