[Frontispiece: Captain de Sabron and Julia Redmond] HIS LOVE STORY _By_ MARIE VAN VORST _Author of_ First Love, The Girl From His Town The Broken Bell, etc. ILLUSTRATIONS BY HOWARD CHANDLER CHRISTY NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Copyright 1913 The Bobbs-Merrill Company To Monsieur le Capitaine Dadvisard de la Cavalerie Française _Paris, 1912_ CONTENTS Chapter I A Serious Event II Julia Redmond III A Second Invitation IV The Dog Pays V The Golden Autumn VI Ordered Away VII A Soldier's Dog VIII Homesick IX The Fortunes of War X Together Again XI A Sacred Trust XII The News From Africa XIII One Dog's Day XIV An American Girl XV Julia's Romance XVI The Duke in Doubt XVII Out of the Desert XVIII Two Lovely Women XIX The Man in Rags XX Julia Decides XXI Master and Friend XXII Into the Desert XXIII Two Love Stories XXIV The Meeting XXV As Handsome Does XXVI Congratulations XXVII Valor in Retrospect XXVIII Happiness HIS LOVE STORY CHAPTER I A SERIOUS EVENT Le Comte de Sabron, in the undress uniform of captain in the ---- Cavalry, sat smoking and thinking.... What is the use of being thirty years old with the brevet of captain and much distinction of family if you are a poor man--in short, what is the good of anything if you are alone in the world and no one cares what becomes of you? He rang his bell, and when his _ordonnance_ appeared, said sharply: "_Que diable_ is the noise in the stable, Brunet? Don't you know that when I smoke at this hour all Tarascon must be kept utterly silent?" Tarascon is never silent. No French meridional town is, especially in the warm sunlight of a glorious May day. "The noise, _mon Capitaine_," said Brunet, "_is_ rather melancholy." "Melancholy!" exclaimed the young officer. "It's infernal. Stop it at once." The _ordonnance_ held his kepi in his hand. He had a round good-natured face and kind gray eyes that were used to twinkle at his master's humor and caprices. "I beg pardon, _mon Capitaine_, but a very serious event is taking place." "It will be more serious yet, Brunet, if you don't keep things quiet." "I am sorry to tell, _mon Capitaine_, that Michette has just died." "Michette!" exclaimed the master. "What relation is she of yours, Brunet?" "Ah, _mon Capitaine_," grinned the _ordonnance_, "relation! None! It is the little terrier that Monsieur le Capitaine may have remarked now and then in the garden." Sabron nodded and took his cigarette out of his mouth as though in respect for the deceased. "Ah, yes," he said, "_that_ melancholy little dog! Well, Brunet!" "She has just breathed her last, _mon Capitaine_, and she is leaving behind her rather a large family." "I am not surprised," said the officer. "There are six," vouchsafed Brunet, "of which, if _mon Capitaine_ is willing, I should like to keep one."