"He will be killed! He will be killed!" she cried piteously, "and—Admiral Vernon!"
"What is the Yankee admiral to you, to any of us?" Lacy asked, curiously interested to know the meaning of her remark.
"Why do you tell me of all this?" she asked, failing to notice his question in her anxiety and alarm.
"Because I want you to know Sempland as the hero he is, and because—forgive my frankness—I believe that you love him. So I want him to hear you say it before he goes out. It will double his chances of escape if he has your love to think of. You will inspire him to come back. As it is now, I am afraid he does not especially care to. He's too good a man to lose, if we—if you—can save him, Miss Fanny."
"And this man abused you to me this afternoon!" murmured the girl.
"He said what was true. I honor him for it. I love you, Miss Fanny. I am proving it to you now as I proved it to him when I gave him my place at his earnest entreaty. The detail was mine."
"Why did you do it?"
"For his sake, for yours. It's his solitary chance. I've had so many, you know."
"And he is going to blow up the Wabash, the admiral's ship, did you say?"
"Yes, if he can."