"Well?" said Miss Cardigan, looking anxious.

"It was done before I thought of mamma and papa. It was all
done - it is done; and I cannot undo it now, even for them."

"My dear, you would not marry without your parents' consent?"

"No, Miss Cardigan. They may forbid _that_."

"What then? What harm would be done by your letting them know
at once how the case stands. They would care for your
happiness, Daisy."

Not with a Northerner, a farmer's son, and an officer in the
Northern army. I knew how it would be; but I could not tell
Miss Cardigan.

"What is it you cannot undo, little Daisy?" she said softly, I
suppose seeing me look troubled. And she stretched out a kind
hand and took hold of mine. It was very hard to bear. All this
was a sort of dragging things into light and putting things in
black and white; more tangible and more hard to deal with for
ever after.

"What is it you cannot undo? Since you confess, that if they
desired, you would undo the whole."

"Not my faith, nor my affection," - I said, slowly. "Some
things they may forbid, and I obey; but _these_ things are
passed beyond their power, and beyond mine. I will be true. I