"I hope so, but—but I fear not."
His face was gray with trouble. "Helm is determined to fight, and that means—"
"Good!" she interrupted with spirit. "I am so glad of that. I wish I could go to help him! If I were a man I'd love to fight! I think it's just delightful."
"But it is reckless bravado; it is worse than foolishness," said Beverley, not feeling her mood. "What can two or three men do against an army?"
"Fight and die like men," she replied, her whole countenance lighting up. "Be heroic!"
"We will do that, of course; we—I do not fear death; but you—you—" His voice choked him.
A gun shot rang out clear in the distance, and he did not finish speaking.
"That's probably the beginning," he added in a moment, extending both hands to her. "Good bye. I must hurry to the fort. Good bye."
She drew a quick breath and turned so white that her look struck him like a sudden and hard blow. He stood for a second, his arms at full reach, then:
"My God, Alice, I cannot, cannot leave you!" he cried, his voice again breaking huskily.