'Dead! dead!' exclaimed Christine, in a voice faint and trembling from agitation.
'Yes! He fell at the very moment that he ordered us to return to our boats, when the Englishmen had set fire to the corvette. I did all I could to save him, dear Christine; I posted myself at his side, and defended him to the last. But it was all in vain; it was impossible to rescue him from death.'
'Why did you not go with him at first?' asked Christine abruptly.
'Because he insisted that I should not. He knew all that we, too, have felt and thought; he desired me to remain behind, and carry a message to you, but I was not to deliver it until to-morrow.'
'It will be needless,' said Christine. 'To-morrow I shall be gone to my aunt at Kjærup.'
She stretched out both her hands to him, and struggling with her tears, she added, in a tone of deep emotion.
'God be with you, Kjeld! my dear, my only friend!'
'You are not going away, Christine?' exclaimed Kjeld.
'Yes,' she replied. 'I made a vow to the Almighty that I would do so when I offered up my prayers to Him to bring you back unhurt.'
'But still why must you go away?' he asked, in a voice of alarm and anxiety.