“I know what he meant,” said I.  “I know now.”

A word to a brother who may have come under the spell of the unquiet Lady Neurasthenia.

The formula was true.  Even though gropingly at times, the physicians of the walled cities had put their fingers upon the specific medicament.

And so for the exercise one is referred to good Doctor Tatum on Black Oak Mountain—­take the road to your right at the Methodist meeting house in the pine-grove.

Absolute rest and exercise!

What rest more remedial than to sit with Amaryllis in the shade, and, with a sixth sense, read the wordless Theocritan idyl of the gold-bannered blue mountains marching orderly into the dormitories of the night?

XV

OCTOBER AND JUNE

The Captain gazed gloomily at his sword that hung upon the wall.  In the closet near by was stored his faded uniform, stained and worn by weather and service.  What a long, long time it seemed since those old days of war’s alarms!

And now, veteran that he was of his country’s strenuous times, he had been reduced to abject surrender by a woman’s soft eyes and smiling lips.  As he sat in his quiet room he held in his hand the letter he had just received from her—­the letter that had caused him to wear that look of gloom.  He re-read the fatal paragraph that had destroyed his hope.

In declining the honour you have done me in asking me to be your wife, I feel that I ought to speak frankly.  The reason I have for so doing is the great difference between our ages.  I like you very, very much, but I am sure that our marriage would not be a happy one.  I am sorry to have to refer to this, but I believe that you will appreciate my honesty in giving you the true reason.

The Captain sighed, and leaned his head upon his hand.  Yes, there were many years between their ages.  But he was strong and rugged, he had position and wealth.  Would not his love, his tender care, and the advantages he could bestow upon her make her forget the question of age?  Besides, he was almost sure that she cared for him.

The Captain was a man of prompt action.  In the field he had been distinguished for his decisiveness and energy.  He would see her and plead his cause again in person.  Age!—­what was it to come between him and the one he loved?

In two hours he stood ready, in light marching order, for his greatest battle.  He took the train for the old Southern town in Tennessee where she lived.

Theodora Deming was on the steps of the handsome, porticoed old mansion, enjoying the summer twilight, when the Captain entered the gate and came up the gravelled walk.  She met him with a smile that was free from embarrassment.  As the Captain stood on the step below her, the difference in their ages did not appear so great.  He was tall and straight and clear-eyed and browned.  She was in the bloom of lovely womanhood.