gesture.

"The truth is," she went on, "the young man is very fond of you, much
to my surprise. It is a strange fancy," she mused; "there is no
accounting for it. I believe you could prevail on him to leave his
friends and go with you to the South; that is why I am keeping him away
from you."

"I have had few friends," I said, "and if you could add the young man
to the list and place him above all the rest, I should be happy. But as
for persuading him to desert his principles, I should never think of
it; and I should think ill of him if he could be persuaded."

"He really thinks that you are one of the finest men he ever met,"
pursued Jane Ryder. "He says that a young woman would be as safe from
insult with you as she would be with her mother."

"And why not?" I inquired. "I thank your friend for his good opinion of
me; but it is no great compliment to me to say that I should protect a
woman with my life, if need be. Back yonder there are gathered three or
four thousand men, and out of that four thousand you will not find ten
who would not do the same and think it nothing to boast of."

"I wouldn't trust them," she declared.

"Would you trust me?" I asked. The words were out of my mouth before I
could recall them. They meant more than she would think or than she
would care for them to mean.

"I certainly would," she said, clenching her hands in a strange little
gesture.

"I thank you for saying that much," I declared. "The time may come--not
soon, perhaps--when I shall have to ask you to trust me."

"Soon or late," she replied, "my answer will be the same."

I never was more shaken with the excitement of temptation than at that
moment. She must have known it; they say women are quick at reading the
thoughts of a man, but, instead of drawing away from me, she drew
nearer. In another instant I should have seized her in my arms, the
pale and lonely creature, but just then the sound of footsteps came
along the hall, and I heard the happy laughter of Katherine Bledsoe. I
had raised my arms, but now I lowered them and she had seized my hand.

"Good-by!" she said, and as soon as she could tear her hand from mine
she was gone--gone by another door, and Harry and her companion came
plump upon me standing in the hallway, gazing at the door through which
Jane Ryder had disappeared. Then I turned and gazed at them, first at
one and then at the other.

"What have you done with her?" inquired Kate, with just a shade of