brought in, if I was n't considered trustworthy. Anyhow I had barely
fallen asleep when the orderly called me, and that was what was
wanted--that I ride north and head you off."

"But you were not obliged to go?"

"No; I was not under your father's orders. I doubt if I would have
consented if I had n't been shown your picture. I could n't very well
refuse then."

She sat with hands clasped together, her eyes shadowed by long lashes.

"I should have thought there would have been some soldiers there--his
own men."

"There were," dryly, "but the army just now is recruited out of pretty
tough material. To be in the ranks is almost a confession of
good-for-nothingness. You are an officer's daughter and understand
this to be true."

"Yes," she answered doubtfully. "I have been brought up thinking so;
only, of course, there are exceptions."

"No doubt, and I hope I am already counted one."

"You know you are. My father trusted you, and so do I."

"I have wondered some times," he said musingly, watching her face
barely visible in the dawn, "whether those of your class actually
considered us as being really human, as anything more valuable than