“No; yet I did not connect that fact with the other. I supposed it a mere oversight, or that he believed the mention of your name would not greatly interest me. Surely, Captain Wayne, you are not keeping open this unhappy wound?”
“On my word, no; but I regret to confess it is very far from being closed.”
“He—Major Brennan does not know, then, that you are here now with me?” She evidently hesitated to ask this question.
“Certainly not,” in surprise at her apparent innocence. “You cannot have supposed I had been sent here by him to talk with you?”
“I—I did not know. I do not think I realized,” she stammered, vainly seeking for words with which to make clear her bewilderment. “I imagined you might have come at his suggestion to see that we were amply protected. This is all so very strange. He does not even know you are here with us?”
“No,” I admitted reluctantly. “Perhaps I have no excuse even for being here at all. My duty as a soldier is certainly elsewhere, but I could not rest content until I knew you were in a position of safety. Believe me, Mrs. Brennan, I have intended no indiscretion, but I was informed by a soldier that you were being held here under fire. It would have been useless for me to appeal to the Major for information, and I felt I must know the truth. If I have erred in this I can only plead the deep interest I have always had in your welfare.”
Her hand touched mine impulsively, and it was warm and throbbing.
“I can merely thank you with all my heart, Captain Wayne, and assure you I both understand and appreciate your purpose. But truly I do not wish any trouble to occur again—you will go back to your post, will you not? You can serve me best in that way, and retain the gratitude and admiration I have ever felt for you.”
There was a pathetic pleading in her voice, low as she spoke, impossible to resist. It made me feel thoroughly ashamed of my impulsive, ill-considered action.
“At once, Mrs. Brennan,” I returned earnestly. “I realize I have done wrong in ever coming here as I have. It is my first act of disobedience to orders in all my military life. But tell me first that I have forfeited neither your confidence nor your friendship?”