"Well—I've something to tell you—"
She paused and the man bent low.
"What?"
"I've made a vow to God—" the voice stopped with a sob—"that if He will only send you safely back to me this time—I'll wait no longer on my father's whim—I am yours—"
The lover clasped her trembling form to his heart.
"Good-by, dearest," he said at last. "I wish to go with that promise ringing in my soul."
Ten days after he reached Lexington, the cholera broke out, and hundreds fled. He stood by his men, watched their diet, nursed the sick, and buried the dead. He helped the carpenter make the coffins and reverently bore the victims to their graves. No fear was in his soul. Love was chanting the anthem of Life.
A strange new light was burning in the eyes of the woman he loved on the day he returned in safety.
She seized his hand and spoke with decision:
"Come with me."