"'The beating of our own hearts
Was all the sound we heard.'
"Yes,"--she put away gaiety--"your orders are plain; and they're as
cruel as they are plain!"
"Cruel to you?" I took her hand from my arm and held it.
"Oh! cruel to you, Richard, dear; to you! And--yes!--yes!--I'll
confess. I'll confess--if only you'll do as I beg! Yes, ah yes, cruel to
me! But don't ask how, and we'll see if you are man enough to keep a
real woman's real secret! And first, promise me not to put up at that
house which the General and Lieutenant Ferry--"
"Lieutenant Ferry is not sending me to any house."
"Pardon me, I know better. This is his scheme." She laid her free hand
on our two. "Tell me you will not go to that house!"
I attempted an evasion. "Oh--a blanket on the ground--face covered up in
it from the mosquitos--is really--"
"Right!" She laughed. "I wish a woman could choose that way. Oh! if
you'll do that I'll go with you and stand guard over you!"
Dolt that I was, I would have drawn her close, but she put me off with
an outstretched arm and forbidden smile. "No!--No! this is a matter of
life and death."