“Not one.”
“Ah, Charlie,” begged Mrs. Loring, “just a single word of forgiveness.”
Without a sign to show he heard her, Jack went to Janice and took her hand. “Don’t forget my pledge. Save you I can, if you will but let me.” He stooped his head slightly and hesitated for a moment, his eyes fixed on her lips, then he kissed her hand.
And as he did so, Mrs. Loring burst into tears. “You are killing me by your cruelty,” she cried.
“Ah, Colonel Brereton, say something kind to her!” begged the girl, impulsively.
Wheeling about, Jack strode forward, till he stood beside the woman. “This scoundrel,” he began, indicating Clowes with a contemptuous gesture, “is seeking to force Miss Meredith into a marriage: save her from that, and the wrong you did me is atoned.”
“I will; I will!” replied Mrs. Loring, lifting her head eagerly. “I’ll—Ah, Charlie, one kiss—just one to show that I am forgiven—No, not for that,” she hurriedly added, as the aide drew back—“to show—for what I will do for her. Everything I can I will—Just one.”
For an instant Brereton hesitated, then bent his head; and the woman, with a cry of joy, threw her arms about his neck, and kissed him not once, but five or six times, and would have continued but for his removing her hands and stepping backward.
“Come, sir,”, said Loring, irritably, “if the whole army is not to have wind of this, follow me. Daybreak is not far away, and you should be in the saddle.”
The aide once more went to Janice, and would have again taken her hand; but the girl shrank away, and turned her back upon him.