wounds, pain or poverty, jails and revolutions—it was the dawn of life!
He sent her a flower every day and pinned one just like it on his coat. And every night found him seated by her side. She greeted him cordially, but the gulf yawned between them. His courtesy and self-control struck her with surprise and admiration. In the face of her coldness he carried about him an air of smiling deference and gallantry.
She finally told him of her determination to go to New York to pursue her studies until Phil had finished the term of his enlistment in his regiment, which had been ordered on permanent duty in the West.
He laughed with his eyes at this announcement, blinking the lashes rapidly without moving his lips. It was a peculiar habit of his when deeply moved by a sudden thought. It had flashed over him like lightning that she was trying to get away from him. She would not do that unless she cared.
"When are you going?" he asked, quietly.
"Day after to-morrow."
"Then you will give me one afternoon for a sail on the river to say good-bye and thank you for what you have done for me and mine?"
She hesitated, laughed, and refused.
"To-morrow at four o'clock I'll call for you," he said firmly. "If there's no wind, we can drift with the tide."
"I will not have time to go."
"Promptly at four," he repeated as he left.
