the shots, and yet when it came I did not know it.
I may even have laughed and talked and eaten a stupid dinner while you were
suffering. Now I shall never smile again until I have you safe."

"But if I were dying I should want to see you smiling. Nobody ever smiled
before you, Betty."

"If you are wounded, you will send for me. Promise me; I beg you on my
knees. You will send for me; say it or I shall be always wretched. Do you
want to kill me, Dan? Promise."

"I shall send for you. There, will that do? It would be almost worth dying
to have you come to me. Would you kiss me then, I wonder?"

"Then and now," she answered passionately. "Oh, I sometimes think that wars
are fought to torture women! Hold me in your arms again or my heart will
break. I have missed Virginia so--never a day passes that I do not see her
coming through the rooms and hear her laugh--such a baby laugh, do you
remember it?"

"I remember everything that was near to you, beloved."

"If you could have seen her on her wedding day, when she came down in her
pink crepe shawl and white bonnet that I had trimmed, and looked back,
smiling at us for the last time. I have almost died with wanting her
again--and now papa--papa! They loved life so, and yet both are dead, and
life goes on without them."

"My poor love, poor Betty."

"But not so poor as if I had lost you, too," she answered; "and if you are
wounded even a little remember that you have promised, and I shall come to
you. Prince Rupert and I will pass the lines together. Do you know that I
have Prince Rupert, Dan?"

"Keep him, dear, don't let him get into the army."

"He lives in the woods night and day, and when he comes to pasture I go
after him while Uncle Shadrach watches the turnpike. When the soldiers come
by, blue or gray, we hide him behind the willows in the brook. They may
take the chickens--and they do--but I should kill the man who touched
Prince Rupert's bridle."

"You should have been a soldier, Betty."

She shook her head. "Oh, I couldn't shoot any one in cold blood--as you
do--that's different. I'd have to hate him as much--as much as I love you."

"How much is that?"

"A whole world full and brimming over; is that enough?"

"Only a little world?" he answered. "Is that all?"

"If I told you truly, you would not believe me," she said earnestly. "You
would shake your head and say: 'Poor silly Betty, has she gone moon mad?'"

Catching her in his arms again, he kiss