“Took it off and fired it while he was trying to shoot me?”

“Yes.”

He seized both her hands and asked, “What will you take for that shoe?”

“What a Yankee you are to ask such a question!  It wasn’t a shoe; it was a slipper.”  “Have you it on now?”

“Yes.  What should you want of it?”

“I want to wear it next my heart.  Which one was it?  Let me see it.”

“No; it’s old.  I haven’t any other, and I shall wear it on my right foot as long as it lasts.”

“Please let me see it and take it in my hands just a moment.  I may never have a chance to ask another favor of you.”

“Oh, yes, you will.  You are coming to see us, and the general has asked me to visit his daughter after the war is over.  Do you think he’ll remember it?”

“The slipper, please.”

“How can you ask so absurd a thing?” and a dainty foot was put out a brief instant before him.

“Oh, you little Cinderella!  I wish I was the Prince.”  He saw something like a frown gathering on her face.  “Don’t look that way,” he resumed, “I want to tell you something I’ve read.  I don’t remember the words, but the gist is that a woman never forgets a man on whom she has bestowed a great kindness.  Already I have twice owed my life to you.  You can’t forget me.  My hope is in what you have done for me, not what I can do for you.  I can think of myself lying dead in front of the house, I know I am standing here looking into your true, sweet eyes.  Let me look into them a moment, for I have no sister, no mother, no one in the world that I care for like you.  Do not think I am making love.  I may be dead yet before night.  But whether I live or die I want you to remember that there is one human soul that always wishes you well for your own sake, that is wholly and unselfishly devoted to your interests and happiness.”

“There, I’m beginning to cry, and your dinner’s getting cold.  You must stop talking so.”

“Give me something to carry into battle this afternoon.”

She stooped and gathered some wild violets.  “There,” she said.

“You could not have chosen better.  Whenever I see violets hereafter they shall be your eyes looking at me as you are looking now.”

“And—­well—­you can remember that there is always a little friend in the South who does care.  That’s a curious thought about a woman’s caring for those she has—­I don’t believe a woman can care for any one and not try to do something for him.  Let us just think of ourselves as friends.  It seems to me that I never want to think any other way.  Now you must get your dinner.  You may be summoned hastily and have no other chance to-day.  After Uncle Lusthah’s words last night I’m not going to have any forebodings.”

“Won’t you let me call you Miss Lou once before I go?”

“Why not?”

“Well, then, Miss Lou, look in my eyes once more and remember what you see there.  I won’t say a word.”