all my feelings and wishes."

"My dear Louise, you may think me a hasty, inconsiderate wooer to-
day, but that is because you do not know all that I know. I must,
like your guardians, be guided by your best welfare. When you learn
to know me as a kind, loyal, considerate husband, you will
appreciate my most friendly and decisive action at this time. You
are in great danger; you may soon be homeless. In the case of one so
young and fair as you are, those who love you, as you know I do
passionately, must act, not in accordance with your passing mood,
but in a way to secure your peace and honor for all time."

"Oh, this is all a terrible dream! You can--you can protect me as
your cousin, should I need any such protection, which I cannot
believe. Northern soldiers are not savages. I know it! I know it!"

"How can you know it? Have I not seen more of them than you have? I
tell you that for the honor of our house I shall and will give you
the protection of my name at once. Your uncle and aunt feel as
strongly as I do about it, and your happiness will be the only
result. We Southern people take no chances in these matters."

Overwhelmed, frightened, bewildered, the girl left the room and
mournfully climbed to her own apartment. She was too utterly
absorbed in her own desperate plight to observe Zany whisking away
in the background.