ild man you
saw me first, clothed in the skins of the wild beasts of the forest."

She gazed intently; could it be? and clasping her hands she bowed her
head and was silent.

"We have met again," he continued; "I had not forgotten you, but I
dared not hope we should ever meet any more. It was a painful thought;
but I must not tell that--" and there was silence.

Days went by, and the invalid was growing in strength and health. They
only met at the table at the family meals, but they were near each
other. It was at dinner when a ride on horseback was proposed for the
evening's recreation. They rode in company, and through the forest
where the winding road circled the hills, and the great magnolias threw
their dark shade and deliciously cooled the vesper breeze.

"Is it romance, or are you the young gentleman with flowing hair and
black, curling beard I met, and who shot the arrow into the cotton bale
for my amusement? O! how often have I seen you in my dreams; but I
shall never see you as I saw you then. What a study you were to me! How
could your words be so soft and gentle in the wild costume of the
murderous savage? Had you uttered the war-whoop and strode away with
the stride and pride of the savage warrior, there would have been
euphony in it, and I should have felt and known you were a savage--and
you would have passed from my mind. But, ah! look how beautifully
bounds away the startled doe we have aroused from her lair in the cave
here."

"She seems scarcely more startled than did you when I came so
unexpectedly upon you in the store at Bayou Sara. Were you not
surprised to see that I could write?"

"You must not question me now. Why have you cut your hair and beard?
why doffed the prairie chieftain's robes of state and come forth a
plain man? You have dispelled my romance. I have tried to paint you as
I saw and remembered you, and made charcoal sketches for the
gratification of friends to whom I would describe you. I would so like
to see you as you were! O! you were a wonder to me, a very Orson--now,
you are simply a--"

"Miserable creature in plain clothes, and by no means a lady's fancy.
Why did you not let me die, since all that was to be fancied about
me--my hair, my beard, and my buckskin coat, pants, and moccasins are
gone and destroyed?"

The maiden laughed wildly; it was not the laugh of mirth or mischief,
there was a madness in it that thrilled and awed.

"Do you know you are on the graves of