“Not another word, Maud,” said the wounded major, sternly. “He did his duty, and I am not the one to blame him for it.”
“I hope you will do yours, major, if the circumstances ever place you in the same situation.”
“I should; and Captain Somers would not blame me for it.”
“Certainly not,” replied Somers.
“He saved your life and mine, Maud; and we will not quarrel now.”
The proud beauty was silent and sullen, while Somers gazed in wonder from one Major Riggleston to the other Major Riggleston.
“You understand it now, Captain Somers?” said the loyal major.
“I do; it is all very plain now. You must acknowledge that I made a very natural mistake.”
“It is not the first time I have been taken for my brother. He is two years older than I am; but we look very much alike.”
When they were together, several points of difference could be observed; and the resemblance was not now so great as it had been before the battle of Antietam, for the rebel major had grown thinner and paler under the suffering induced by his wound. At the time Somers had met them, the similarity in form and features, in voice and manner, was so great, that a person of ordinary perception, meeting them at different times, could not have told one from the other. The rebel major had changed so much during his illness that the difference was now more perceptible.