"Now, Miss Hepworth, I am really going to confide in you. There is one way, and only one, to save the position."
"What is that, Major Strause?"
"Your sister Mollie must marry me."
"O Major Strause!"
"Yes; I love her madly. I love her with the most pure, self-sacrificing passion. I would do anything on earth for her. She must become my wife here, in Ladysmith, and thus you are saved. Captain Keith is not the man to love her after she is my wife."
"But if Mollie doesn't love you?" said Kitty, trembling very much, and fixing her eyes full on the major's flushed face.
"She shall love me; and you must bring it about. I am determined to win her. If she won't have me after you have spoken, I have another lever to bring to bear. It will be her mission to save you and to save Captain Keith; for if she doesn't, as there is a God in heaven, you go under, and he goes under. Now I have spoken; now I think you understand."
As the major spoke he rose to his feet.
"But I don't understand," said Kitty.
"That is all you are to understand to-night. Go to the hospital to-morrow. I have spoken the truth. The way to save the situation is to get your sister Mollie to marry me."