Her voice fell into silence, but she did not remove her hands from his shoulders. And he remained for a few seconds motionless, looking at her without speaking. The appeal in her eyes and in her voice was irresistible; it was as an appeal to his manhood from some one pathetically weak and conscious of her weakness; and the better side of his nature responded to it. But it cost him more than she could ever know to relinquish his dreams at her bidding.
He put his hands over hers and stood up. And so they remained for a while close together, looking into each other’s eyes.
“You are everything to me,” he said at last, breaking the silence unexpectedly. “I’ve thought of you so much—thought of you always as belonging to me. It doesn’t seem possible to rid myself of that idea. I’ve no interest in life outside it.”
“I know,” she said. “I know. It is not going to be easy for me either.”
They came upon another pause.
“At least you have a cause to fight for,” she said presently.
He shook his head.
“All that doesn’t count, somehow. But I shall be glad to go now. I shall never come back. Prudence.”
“Ah, don’t!” she cried, with a sob in her voice. “Don’t say that. I shall pray for your safety every day of my life.”
“Pray rather for a swift and merciful bullet,” he said. Then, seeing the pain in her eyes, he took her face between his hands and kissed it. “Don’t cry, little love. There are worse things to face than the long sleep. Alive or dead, you will live in my heart always. Keep my place green in your memory, dear.”