I would this moment die for you--for Henry--but I cannot forget
my duty--cannot forfeit my honor; you yourself would be the first to
despise me if I did."
"Peyton Dunwoodie!" said Frances, solemnly, and with a face of ashy
paleness, "you have told me--you have sworn, that you love me----"
"I do," interrupted the soldier, with fervor; but motioning for silence
she continued, in a voice that trembled with her fears,--
"Do you think I can throw myself into the arms of a man whose hands are
stained with the blood of my only brother!"
"Frances, you wring my very heart!" Then pausing, to struggle with his
feelings, he endeavored to force a smile, as he added, "But, after all,
we may be torturing ourselves with unnecessary fears, and Henry, when I
know the circumstances, may be nothing more than a prisoner of war; in
which case, I can liberate him on parole."
There is no more delusive passion than hope; and it seems to be the
happy privilege of youth to cull all the pleasures that can be gathered
from its indulgence. It is when we are most worthy of confidence
ourselves, that we are least apt to distrust others; and what we think
ought to be, we are prone to think will be.
The half-formed expectations of the young soldier were communicated to
the desponding sister, more by the eye than the voice, and the blood
rushed again to her cheek, as she cried,--
"Oh, there can be no just grounds to doubt it.
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