said the girl.

"Amen, say I to that," continued the surgeon, "and amen says every
man in the regiment."

"Is he so popular as that?" asked the girl, innocently.

"Popular, why he's the pet of the entire division. He's the best
swordsman, best scholar, best-in short we could better lose half the
other officers than Captain Bezan."

"Do you think him any better than he was this morning?"

"The sleep is favorable, highly favorable," replied the surgeon,
approaching the bedside; "but in my judgment of the case, it must
entirely depend upon the state in which he wakes."

"Is there fear of waking him, do you think?" asked the girl, in a
whisper, as she drew nearer to the bed, and looked upon the high,
pale forehead and remarkably handsome features of the young soldier.
Though the few days of confinement which he had suffered, and the
acute pain he had endured by them, had hollowed his checks, yet he
was handsome still.

"No," replied the surgeon, to her question; "he will sleep quite
long enough from the opiate, quite as long as I wish; and if he
should wake even now, it would not be too soon."

"How very slightly he breathes," continued the girl, observantly.