“The sun,” he murmured, “is killing me by its rays; can not you carry me into the shade?”

“I can procure assistance, and have you taken to the hospital.”

“No, do not, my sands of life are most out.  An hour hence, I shall be a dead man.  Carry me into the shade of the mill, and then, if you have time to spare, listen to my dying words, and, if you are fortunate enough to return to the United States, bear me back a message to my home, and to anoth—­” he paused, and motioned me to carry him into the shade.  I did so, and the cold wind which swept along the spot appeared to revive him, and he continued: 

“You, sir, are a total stranger to me, and, from your uniform belong to another corps, and yet I must confide this, the great secret of all my recent actions, and the cause of my being here, to you.  Would to God that I had reflected upon the fatal steps I had taken, and I should now have been at my home, enjoying the society of kind friends, instead of dying upon the gory field, and in a foreign land.  My father was a wealthy man, in the town of G——­h, in the state of Virginia, and moved in the best society of the place.  I had received an excellent education, had studied law and was admitted, in the twenty-fourth year of my age, to practice at the bar.  I had early seen and admired a young lady of the place, a daughter of an intimate friend of father’s, and fortunately the feeling was reciprocated, and we were engaged to be married.  The war in Mexico had been in existence some twelve months, and many flocked to the standard of their country.  It so happened, that about this time, a recruiting office had been opened in the town, and several of my young friends had enlisted to go and try their fortunes on the plains of Mexico.  One night there was a grand party in the place, in honor of those who were about to depart for the seat of war, and both myself and Eveline were at the hall.  Among those who were assembled at that evening was Augustus P., a talented young man, and accomplished scholar, gay and lively in his manners, free and cheerful in his disposition, and a universal favorite with the fair sex.  He had been for some time paying his addresses to Eveline, as I deemed, in rather too pointed a manner.  As the party had assembled in the long hall, and the dance was about to commence, I asked for her hand for the first set.”

‘It is engaged,’ she replied, as I thought, rather tartly.

‘To whom, if I may be so bold as to inquire?’ I demanded.

‘To Augustus P.,’ was the immediate reply.

I smothered my rising indignation the best I could, and proudly returned the smile of malignant joy my rival gave me.

‘Perhaps I can engage it for a second set,’ I calmly replied.

‘Mr. P. has engaged it for the entire evening,’ she pettishly replied, and rising and taking his hand they took their station upon the floor.

I remained thunderstruck and rooted to the spot, until I saw the eyes of my hated rival fixed upon me, and, throwing off the spell that bound me, I assumed a proud, cold look.  As I swept by the dancers, Eveline paused for a moment when just beside me, and, bending close to her ear, I whispered, ‘Eveline, farewell forever.’