"No."
I took her hands in mine.
"You are sorry I am going?"
"Yes."
I kissed her for the second time in my life.
The day had come for me to leave Fort Defiance. The great snow had gone. The whole Confederate army, its commander at its head, accompanied me as a guard of honor to the end of the valley. Crothers would guide me across the mountains. When the time came for the others to turn back, Colonel Hetherill shook my hand again.
"You are a gallant and honest enemy," he said, paying me the highest compliment he knew.
Grace walked a little farther. Then I took both her hands in mine and kissed her for the third but not the last time in my life.
The trumpet sounded the recall from the walls of Fort Defiance.