“I know—I know, brother. But I—I love him! I am willing to give my life to save him!”
She reeled to and fro as if she would fall.
“This is weak in you, Mara,” he said, folding her to his breast. “Come, put him from your mind; and in the morning you must return home. Grandfather—hark! there is the bugle-call. We have had marching orders. I must go. Our brigade is ordered to Buzzard’s Gap.”
Pressing a hurried kiss upon her brow, he gently put her from him.
“It is hard to leave you, but I must. Stay here to-night and start for home in the morning,” he said. “You will be careful of yourself, Mara, won’t you?”
“Yes, yes, Harry. Oh, this is dreadful.”
“Be brave—ha! I mustn’t tarry longer. Good-bye.”
Another kiss and he was gone.
Mara Morland pressed her hands to her temples in a dazed, bewildered state of mind.
Then she suddenly started up.