“Nor I,” said Leila.  Then there was one of those long silences dear to lovers.

“What are you thinking of, Jack?”

“Uncle Jim told me last night the story of the early life of Mark Rivers.”

“Tell it to me.”

He told it—­“But,” he continued, “that was not all of him.  I have heard Mr. Rivers hold at the closest attention a great crowd of soldiers with that far-carrying voice; and then to hear as he led them singing the old familiar hymns—­perhaps a thousand men—­oh, it was a thing to remember!  And they loved him, Leila, because behind the battle line he was coolly, serviceably brave; and in the hospital wards—­well, as tender as—­well, as you would have been.  I wondered, Leila, why he did not marry again.  The first was a mistake, but I suppose he knew that for him to marry would have been wrong, with that sad family history.  Probably life never offered him the temptation.”

“Perhaps not,” said Leila, and they rode out of the woods and over the meadows.  “Let us talk of something less sad.”

“Well, Leila, a pleasant thing to discuss is Tom McGregor.  I suspect him of a fortunate love affair with the daughter of the General at Fortress Monroe.”

“Indeed—­but what else?  Oh, our own great debt to him!”

“Uncle Jim is considering that.  We may trust him to be more than generous.  Yes, surely.  Now for a run over this grass.  Can you take that fence?”

“Can I, indeed!  Follow me, Jack.”

“Anywhere.  Everywhere, Leila!”

THE END

Books by

Dr. S. Weir Mitchell

Fiction

HUGH WYNNE.

CONSTANCE TRESCOT.

THE YOUTH OF WASHINGTON.

CIRCUMSTANCE.

THE ADVENTURES OF FRANCOIS.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A QUACK.

DR. NORTH AND HIS FRIENDS.

IN WAR TIME.

ROLAND BLAKE.

FAR IN THE FOREST.

CHARACTERISTICS.

WHEN ALL THE WOODS ARE GREEN.

A MADEIRA PARTY.

THE RED CITY.

HEPHZIBAH GUINNESS.

A COMEDY OF CONSCIENCE.

A DIPLOMATIC ADVENTURE.

THE GUILLOTINE CLUB.

JOHN SHERWOOD, IRONMASTER.

WESTWAYS.

Essays.

DOCTOR AND PATIENT.

WEAR AND TEAR.—­HINTS FOR THE OVERWORKED.

Poems.

COLLECTED POEMS.

THE WAGER, AND OTHER POEMS.

THE COMFORT OF THE HILLS.