dge of rocks far up the hill, where, beneath
the softly-whispering pines nodding above their heads, Bell gathered the
light brown cones, and said to him the words he had so thirsted to hear:

"I love you, Robert Reynolds."

Much of Bell's time was passed with Katy at the farmhouse, and here
Lieutenant Reynolds found her, accepting readily of Uncle Ephraim's
hearty invitation to remain; and spending his entire vacation there,
with the exception of three days given to his family. Perfectly charmed
with quaint Aunt Betsy, whom he remembered so well, he flattered and
courted her almost as much as he did Bell, but did not take her with him
in his long rambles over the hills, or sit with her at night alone in
the parlor until the clock struck twelve--a habit which Aunt Betsy
greatly disapproved, but overlooked for this once, seeing, as she said,
that:

"The young leftenant was none of her kin, and Isabel only a little."

Those were halcyon days which Robert passed at Silverton, but one stood
out prominently before him, whether sitting by his camp-fire or plunging
into the battle, and that the one when, casting aside all pride and
foolish theories, Bell Cameron freely acknowledged her love for the man
to whom she had been so long engaged, and paid him back the kisses she
had before refused to give.

"I shall be a better soldier for this," Robert had said, as he guided
her down the steep of rocks, and with her hand in his, walked slowly
back to the farmhouse, which, on the morrow, he left to take again his
place in the army.

There were no more furloughs for him after that, and the winter passed
away, bringing the spring again, when came that battle in the
Wilderness, and like a hero he fought until, becoming separated from his
comrades, he fell into the enemy's hands, and two days after there sped
along the telegraphic wires to New York:

"Lieutenant Robert Reynolds captured the first day of the battle."

Afterward there came news that Andersonville was his destination,
together with many others made prisoners that day.

"It is better than being shot, and a great deal better than being
burned, as some of the poor wretches were," Juno said, trying to comfort
Bell, who doubted a little her sister's word.

True, there was now the shadow of a hope that he might survive the
horrors, the mere recital of which made the strongest heart shiver with
dread; but the probabilities were all against it, and Bell's face grew
almos