fiercely, which ended
in a faltering quaver.

All this time the old slave stood anxiously outside of the door; in the
pauses they could hear his feet shuffling as he waited for the decision
of his superiors. The keeper rose and threw open the blinds of the
window that looked out on the distant parade-ground. "Bringing you
here," he repeated--"_here_; that is my offense, is it? There they lie,
fourteen thousand brave men and true. Could they come back to earth they
would be the first to pity and aid you, now that you are down. So would
it be with you if the case were reversed; for a soldier is generous to a
soldier. It was not your own heart that spoke then; it was the small
venom of a woman, that here, as everywhere through the South, is playing
its rancorous part."

The sick man gazed out through the window, seeing for the first time the
far-spreading ranks of the dead. He was very weak, and the keeper's
words had touched him; his eyes were suffused with tears. But Miss Ward
rose with a flashing glance. She turned her back full upon the keeper
and ignored his very existence. "I will take you home immediately,
Ward--this very evening," she said.

"A nice, comfortable place for a sick man," commented the keeper,
scornfully. "I am going out now, De Rosset, to prepare your supper; you
had better have one good meal before you go."

He disappeared, but as he went he heard the sick man say, deprecatingly:
"It isn't very comfortable over at the old house now, indeed it isn't,
Betty; I suffered"--and the girl's passionate outburst in reply. Then he
closed his door and set to work.

When he returned, half an hour later. Ward was lying back exhausted on
the pillows, and his cousin sat leaning her head upon her hand; she had
been weeping, and she looked very desolate, he noticed, sitting there in
what was to her an enemy's country. Hunger is a strong master, however,
especially when allied to weakness; and the sick man ate with
eagerness.

"I must go back," said the girl, rising. "A wagon will be sent out for
you, Ward; Pomp will help you."

But Ward had gained a little strength as well as obstinacy with the
nourishing food. "Not to-night," he said.

"Yes, to-night."

"But I can not go to-night; you are unreasonable, Bettina. To-morrow
will do as well, if go I must."

"If go you must! You do not want to go, then--to go to our own home--and
with me"--Her voice broke; she turned toward the door.

The keeper stepped fo