"I sent for you. I caused his betrayal. I shall be responsible if he dies--" Again the little head drooped in pitiful suffering. She lifted it at last with a smile. "Dick, you're too big and generous for low revenge. You hate this man. But you love me. I know that. I'm proud and grateful for it. I appeal to the best that's in you. Save my life and his--" "You couldn't live if he should die, Jennie?" the man asked tenderly. "Not if he should die in this way--" The Captain struggled and hesitated. Again her hand touched his arm. "I ask the big divine thing of you, Dick?" "It's hard. I've won and you take my triumph from me. For two years I've given body and soul to the task of unmasking this man." "I'm asking his life--and mine--" the pleading voice repeated. "I'll give him up on one condition--" "What?" The Captain held her gaze in silence a moment. "That you send him back to the North and put him out of your life forever!" Jennie laughed softly through her tears. "You big, generous, foolish boy--you might have left that to me--" "All right," he hastened to agree. "I'll leave it to you. Forgive me. I can't deny you anything--" "You're a glorious lover, Dick!" she cried tenderly. "Why didn't I love you?" "I don't know, honey," he replied chokingly. "We just love because we must--there's no rhyme or reason to it--" He paused and laughed. "Well, it's all over now, Jennie. I've given him back to you--good-by--" She grasped his hand and held it firmly. "Don't you dare say good-by to me, sir--you've got to love me, too--as long as I live--my first sweetheart--brave, generous, kind--" She drew his blond head low and kissed him. He looked at her through dimmed eyes and slowly said: "That makes life worth living, Jennie." He turned and quickly left the house. She heard his low orders to his men and watched them pass up the street with their rifles on their shoulders. She opened the door and Socola entered, his face deathlike in its pallor. "Why did he stay so long?" "He has searched your room and found your cipher code--" "And you have saved my life?" "It was I who put it in peril--" "No--I gave my life in willing sacrifice when the war began--" "You are to leave," Jennie went on evenly--"leave at once--" "Of course--" "And give me your solemn parole--never again during this war to fight the South--" "It is your right to demand it. I agree." She gently took his hand. "I know that I can trust you now--" She paused and looked wistfully into his face. "One last long look into your dear eyes--" "Not the last--" "One last kiss--" She drew his lips down to hers. "One last moment in your arms." She clung to him desperately and freed herself with quick resolution. "And now you must go--from Richmond--from the South and out of my life forever--" "You can't mean this!" he protested bitterly. "I do," was the firm answer. "Good-by." He pressed her hand and shook his head. "I refuse to say it--" "You must." "No--"