y show that he was aware that she had fled
from him.

"How much better is the warm glow of love?" he said again, contenting
himself with looking into her face with all his eyes. He had hoped
that he would have been able to press her hand by this time.

"The warm, glow of love, Captain Bellfield, if you have ever felt
it--"

"If I have ever felt it! Do I not feel it now, Mrs Greenow? There can
be no longer any mask kept upon my feelings. I never could restrain
the yearnings of my heart when they have been strong."

"Have they often been strong, Captain Bellfield?"

"Yes; often;--in various scenes of life; on the field of battle--"

"I did not know that you had seen active service."

"What!--not on the plains of Zuzuland, when with fifty picked men I
kept five hundred Caffres at bay for seven weeks;--never knew the
comfort of a bed, or a pillow to my head, for seven long weeks!"

"Not for seven weeks?" said Mrs Greenow.

"No. Did I not see active service at Essiquebo, on the burning coast
of Guiana, when all the wild Africans from the woods rose up to
destroy the colony; or again at the mouth of the Kitchyhomy River,
when I made good the capture of a slaver by my own hand and my own
sword!"

"I really hadn't heard," said Mrs Greenow.

"Ah, I understand. I know. Cheesy is the best fellow in the world in
some respects, but he cannot bring himself to speak well of a fellow
behind his back. I know who has belittled me. Who was the first to
storm the heights of Inkerman?" demanded the Captain, thinking in the
heat of the moment that he might as well be hung for a sheep as a
lamb.

"But when you spoke of yearnings, I thought you meant yearnings of a
softer kind."

"So I did. So I did. I don't know why I have been led away to speak
of deeds that are very seldom mentioned, at any rate by myself. But I
cannot bear that a slanderous backbiting tongue should make you think
that I have seen no service. I have served her Majesty in the four
quarters of the globe, Mrs Greenow; and now I am ready to serve you
in any way in which you will allow me to make my service acceptable."
Whereupon he took one stride over to the sofa, and went down upon his
knees before her.

"But, Captain Bellfield, I don't want any services. Pray get up now;
the girl will come in."

"I care nothing for any girl. I am planted here till some answer
shall have been made to me; till some word shall have been said
that may give me a little hope."