“What doth such a thing usually mean, Peggy?”
“Not, not that, John,” she cried piteously. “Thee can’t mean what that uniform says. Thee can’t mean that, John?”
“Just that,” he answered tersely.
With a low cry she shrank from him, her eyes wide with horror.
“A deserter! Thou?” she breathed.
All the color left her face. She swayed as though about to fall, but when Drayton put forth his arm to support her she waved him back. For a long time Peggy stood so overwhelmed that she could not speak. Then she murmured brokenly:
“But why? Why?”
“I will answer you as I did his lordship,” replied the youth clearly. “When he asked that same question, I said: ‘My lord, I have served from the beginning of this war. While my commander was an American it was all right, but when I was sent here to be under a Frenchman I thought it time to quit the service.’”
“And is that all thy reason?”