"Lay me on the grass, brother; I am dying," said the cuirassier faintly. "Alas! my bride will wait in vain!"
The surgeons examined the wound, and pronounced it mortal; he had but a few moments to live.
"Tell my bride," said the young man, in scarcely audible accents, "that my last thought was of her—and bury me where she may come and"—
The young hussar sobbed bitterly beside his dying friend. "Alas! that we must part—that one of us must die!"
"God bless you, brother—be happy!" murmured Laszlo, convulsively grasping Gejza's hand; "poor Aniko!" and his head sank on his comrade's breast.
The sun's last rays had set, and the pale moon rose, shedding her quiet beams on the closed eyes and silent lips!
The long-looked-for day had come and gone; that day so full of hope and fear for the young sisters.
It had brought grief and joy; but the joy was not for the hopeful, nor the tear for the trembling heart, though one stood at the altar, and the other at the lonely grave; and one indeed wore the white and the other the black dress, but neither wore that which she had prepared.