“I dread another war, Major,” said Miss India, with a little shudder. “The last one was so terrible.” “It was, ma’am, it was. It was brother kill brother. But this one will be different, Miss Indy, for North and South will stand together and fight together, and, by Godfrey, there’ll be no stopping until Spanish dominion in Cuba is a thing of the past!” “That’s right,” cried Julian. “This is the whole country together this time; it’s the United States of America, by Jupiter!” “Let us thank God for that,” said Miss India, devoutly. * * * * * Winthrop and Holly were rather silent until they had left the red clay road behind and turned into the woods. There, in a little clearing, Winthrop led the way to the trunk of a fallen pine and they seated themselves upon it. The afternoon sunlight made its way between the branches in amber streams. Above them festoons of gray-green moss decked the trees. The woods were very silent and not even a bird-call broke the silence. Holly took her hat off and laid it beside her on the gray bark. Then she turned gravely to Winthrop and met his eyes. “What is it?” she whispered. “I’ve brought you here, Holly, to ask you to marry me,” he answered. Holly’s hand flew to her heart, and her eyes grew big and dark. “I don’t understand,” she faltered. “No, and before I do ask you, dear, I’ve got something to tell you. Will you listen?” “Oh, yes,” answered Holly, simply. “I was married when I was twenty-four years old,” began Winthrop, after a moment. “I had just finished a course in the law school. The girl I married was four years younger than I. She was very beautiful and a great belle in the little city in which she lived. We went to New York and I started in business with a friend of mine. We were stock brokers. A year later my wife bore me a son; we called him Robert. For five years we were very happy; those years were the happiest I have ever known. Then the boy died.” He was silent a moment. “I loved him a great deal, and I took it hard. I made a mistake then. To forget my trouble I immersed myself too deeply, perhaps, in business. Well, two years later I made the discovery that I had failed to keep my wife’s love. If our boy had lived it would have been different but his death left her lonely and――I was thoughtless, selfish in my own sorrow, until it was too late. I found that my wife had grown to love another man. I don’t blame her; I never have. And she was always honest with me. She told me the truth. She sued me for divorce and I didn’t contest. That was six years ago. She has been married for five years and I think, I pray, that she is very happy.” He paused, and Holly darted a glance at his face. He was looking straight ahead down the woodland path, and for an instant she felt very lonely and apart. Then――