"
In the meantime Beverley slipped away from the fort and made a
hurried call upon Alice at Roussillon place. There was not much
they could say to each other during the few moments at command.
Alice showed very little excitement; her past experience had
fortified her against the alarms of frontier life; but she
understood and perfectly appreciated the situation.
"What are you going to do?" Beverley demanded in sheer despair. He
was not able to see any gleam of hope out of the blackness which
had fallen around him and into his soul.
"What shall you do?" he repeated.
"Take the chances of war," she said, smiling gravely. "It will all
come out well, no doubt."
"I hope so, but--but I fear not."
His face was gray with trouble. "Helm is determined to fight, and
that means--"
"Good!" she interrupted with spirit. "I am so glad of that. I wish
I could go to help him! If I were a man I'd love to fight! I think
it's just delightful."
"But it is reckless bravado; it is worse than foolishness," said
Beverley, not feeling her mood. "What can two or three men do
against an army?"
"Fight and die like men," she replied, her whole countenance
lighting up. "Be heroic!"
"We will do that, of course; we--I do not fear death; but you--
you--" His voice choked him.
A gun shot rang out clear in the distance, and he did not finish
speaking.
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