“I do the best I can for you, under the circumstances.”
“And I behave as well as I can, ‘under the circumstances.’”
“Of what do you complain?”
“That I am kept here against my will.”
“Not by me. But let us return to our mutton. This boy, Elfie. Too delicate for rough military work, the colonel placed him about me as a sort of page. I declare in five days the gentle boy quite won my heart. But now——”
—“How would the Free Sword like the idea of the pretty page winning his lady’s heart?” jeered Elfie, maliciously.
“Girl! I am deeply and thoroughly ashamed of you! My interest in the lonely boy is sisterly, motherly—what you will. And Colonel Corsoni knows that the woman who gladly gave up earth and heaven for his love, is his own soul and body for time and eternity. He knows that I am fond of the boy; but he knows also that I would cast that boy into a burning fire if it were to please him—Corsoni!”
“Well, but what about the blessed boy. Is it he that you are watching and listening for?”
“Yes, yes, yes! He has disappeared. The men say that he was a spy. Some say that he is no boy, but a disguised girl. Others deny that and pretend to recognize him, now that it is too late, as an orderly whom they had seen in attendance upon Major Rosenthal.”
“Whe-ew!” exclaimed Elfie under her breath, as a light broke slowly over her face.