"Thanks--thanks, dearest lady, but I must get upon my horse and go!"

"Go?"

"Yes, Edith--don't you understand, that after what I have done--after
what I have had the joy of doing--the only honorable course left open
to me, is to go and give myself up to answer the charges that may be
brought against me?"

"Oh, heaven! I know! I know what you have incurred by defending me! I
know the awful penalty laid upon a military officer who lifts his hand
against his superior. Don't go! oh, don't go!"

"And do you really take so much interest in my fate, sweetest lady?"
said the youth, gazing at her with the deepest and most delightful
emotions.

"'Take an interest' in my generous protector! How should I help it? Oh!
don't go! Don't think of going. You will not--will you? Say that you
will not!"

"You will not advise me to anything dishonorable, I am sure."

"No--no--but oh! at such a fearful cost you have saved me. Oh! when I
think of it, I wish you had not interfered to defend me. I wish it had
not been done!"

"And I would not for the whole world that it had not been done! Do not
fear for me, sweetest Edith! I run little risk in voluntarily placing
myself in the hands of a court-martial--for British officers are