“This very day. I may never see you again.”
“And you would coolly run away and leave me without even going into the house!”
“But my duty, Sue!”
“You will be in time for your duty.”
“I may be arrested as a deserter.”
“Nonsense! You have a pass in your pocket.”
“In spite of the pass, if your father had not happened to see me, I should have been arrested, and might have spent a day or two in the guardhouse before the case could have been explained.”
“No more argument, Allan,” said the persevering girl. “Here is the house; you shall go in and look at mother, if you don’t stop but a minute. Besides, I want to see your photograph while you are present; for I am sure you don’t look any more like the picture than the picture does like you.”
“Probably not,” replied Somers, as the resolute maiden dragged him into the house; where, without stopping to breathe, she presented him to her mother, with the astounding declaration, that he was Allan Garland.
Mrs. Raynes gave him a cordial Virginia welcome; and, while he was endeavoring to make himself as agreeable as possible to the old lady, Sue rushed up-stairs to procure the faithless photograph. She returned in a moment with the picture in her hand, and proceeded at once to institute a comparison between the shadow and the substance.