“No, I do not forget, but that was nothing—­nothing to do with you.  It was merely the result of a mood, a whim, a lovers’ quarrel.  No, don’t speak, don’t stop me.  I am not going to lie.  It was not a mood, nor a whim.  I had been analyzing my own heart, and discovered Captain Le Gaire was not what I had believed him to be.  The very fact that both he and my father so took everything for granted, arranged all details without consulting my wishes, made me rebellious.  But your dictation is even worse than theirs.  They had some right, while you have none, absolutely none, Lieutenant Galesworth—­have you?”

“I—­I hardly know,” confused by this direct question, and the flash of her eyes.  “I supposed I had.”

“Yet with nothing but imagination to build upon.  Have I ever told you I did not care for Captain Le Gaire, or that I loved you?”

“No,” I admitted, feeling myself driven relentlessly to the wall.

“I am not angry at you, for I understand how all this has occurred.  I believe you have been inspired by the highest motives, and a desire to serve me.  If I am angry at any one, it is myself.  I have permitted you to go too far, to assume too much.  Now it ends, for I am going to marry Captain Le Gaire.”

She stood up straight before me, her head poised proudly, her cheeks flushed, her eyes bright with excitement.  Never before had she appeared more attractive, and the love that swelled up into my heart seemed to choke all utterance.  Could I have mistaken everything?  Could I have deceived myself so completely?  Did these hard words represent her true purpose, or were they merely wrung out of her by stress of circumstance?  I could not determine, but I knew this—­I could not turn about now and retreat.  If I did that I would certainly lose, while if I fought it out there was still hope.  No woman—­at least no woman like Willifred Hardy—­ever loved a coward, or a quitter, and I was determined she should not catalogue me in either class.  All this came to me rather in instinct than thought, yet I was ready enough when she began questioning.

“Now you will go away, won’t you?”

“Go away?”

“Yes, back to your own people, and leave us alone.  There is no reason why you should stay here longer.  You are not serving me, nor your cause.  Release your prisoners, and get away safely before you yourself are captured.”

“Did Le Gaire tell you to make this proposition?”

“Certainly not,” indignantly, “I have not spoken to Captain Le Gaire.”

“Well, Miss Billie,” soberly, “I accept your words just as they are spoken, and will trouble you no longer with my attentions.  But this has become a military matter now.  It is too late for us to attempt getting back, but I have sent a man for reinforcements, and we shall hold this house until they come.  I do not propose to release a single prisoner, or permit a rumor of what has occurred here to reach Confederate headquarters.  You are also a prisoner, although I will accept your parole.”