him. I had been analyzing my own heart, and discovered Captain Le Gaire
was not what I had believed him to be. The very fact that both he and my
father so took everything for granted, arranged all details without
consulting my wishes, made me rebellious. But your dictation is even
worse than theirs. They had some right, while you have none, absolutely
none, Lieutenant Galesworth--have you?"

"I--I hardly know," confused by this direct question, and the flash of
her eyes. "I supposed I had."

"Yet with nothing but imagination to build upon. Have I ever told you I
did not care for Captain Le Gaire, or that I loved you?"

"No," I admitted, feeling myself driven relentlessly to the wall.

"I am not angry at you, for I understand how all this has occurred. I
believe you have been inspired by the highest motives, and a desire to
serve me. If I am angry at any one, it is myself. I have permitted you
to go too far, to assume too much. Now it ends, for I am going to marry
Captain Le Gaire."

She stood up straight before me, her head poised proudly, her cheeks
flushed, her eyes bright with excitement. Never before had she appeared
more attractive, and the love that swelled up into my heart seemed to
choke all utterance. Could I have mistaken everything? Could I have
deceived myself so completely? Did these hard words represent her true
purpose, or were they merely wrung out of her by stress of circumstance?
I could not determine, but I knew this--I could not turn about now and
retreat. If I did that I would certainly lose, while if I fought it out
there was still hope. No woman--at least no woman like Willifred
Hardy--ever loved a coward, or a quitter, and I was determined she
should not catalogue me in either class. All this came to me rather in
instinct than thought, yet I was ready enough when she began
questioning.

"Now you will go away, won't you?"

"Go away?"

"Yes, back to your own people, and leave us alone. There is no reason
why you should stay here longer. You are not serving me, nor your cause.
Release your prisoners, and get away safely before you yourself are
captured."

"Did Le Gaire tell you to make this proposition?"

"Certainly not," indignantly, "I have not spoken to Captain Le Gaire."

"Well, Miss Billie," soberly, "I accept your words just as they are
spoken, and will trouble you no longer with my attentions. But this has
become a military matter now. It is too late for us to attempt getting
ba