m it. And what's the use of getting away from
it, even if we could? Let's settle down, and be respectable. We've had
quarrels enough, and I've got tired of 'em. Toby, why don't you bring
that bootjack?"

Lysander swung his chair around towards Salina. She turned hers away
from him, still knitting her brows and gnawing that disdainful lip.

"Now what's the use, Sal? Since the way is opened for us to live
together again, why can't you make up your mind to it, let bygones be
bygones, and begin life over again? When I was a poor devil, dodging the
officers, and never daring to see you except in the dark, I couldn't
blame you for feeling cross with me; for it was a cursed miserable state
of things. But you're a captain's wife now. You'll be a general's wife
by and by. I shall be off fighting the battles of my country, and you'll
be proud to hear of my exploits."

Salina was touched. Weary of the life she led, morbidly eager for
change, she was a secessionist from the first, and had welcomed the war.
Moreover, strange as it may seem, she loved this worthless Lysander. She
hated him for the misery he had caused her; she was exceedingly bitter
against him; yet love lurked under all. She was secretly proud to see
him a captain. It was hard to forgive him for all the wrongs she had
suffered; but her heart was lonely, and it yearned for reconciliation.
Her scornful lip quivered, and there was a convulsive movement in her
throat.

"Go away!" she exclaimed, violently, as he approached to caress her. "I
am as unhappy as I can be! O, if I had never seen you! Why do you come
to torture me now?"

This passion pleased Lysander: it was a sign that her spirit was
breaking. He caught her in his arms, called her pet names, laughed, and
kissed her. And this woman, after all, loved to be called pet names, and
kissed.

"Toby! you devil!" roared Lysander, "why don't you bring that bootjack?"

The old negro stood behind the door, with the bootjack in his hand,
furious, ready to hurl it at the captain's head. He hesitated a moment,
then turned, discreetly, and flung it out of the kitchen window.

"Ain't a bootjack nowars in de house, sar!"

"Then come here yourself!"

And the gay captain made a bootjack of the old negro.

"Now shut up the house and go to bed!" he said, dismissing him with a
kick.

After Toby had retired, and Salina had wiped her eyes, and Lysander had
got his feet comfortably installed in the old clergyman's slipper