"Is George far distant?" she asked. "Let him know--hasten him, that I
may see my brother once again."
"It is as I apprehended!" shrieked Miss Peyton. "But you smile--surely
you are not hurt!"
"Quite well--quite happy," murmured Isabella; "here is a remedy for
every pain."
Sarah arose from the reclining posture she had taken, and gazed wildly
at her companion. She stretched forth her own hand, and raised that of
Isabella from her bosom. It was dyed in blood.
"See," said Sarah, "but will it not wash away love? Marry, young woman,
and then no one can expel him from your heart, unless,"--she added,
whispering, and bending over the other,--"you find another there before
you; then die, and go to heaven--there are no wives in heaven."
The lovely maniac hid her face under the clothes, and continued silent
during the remainder of the night. At this moment Lawton entered. Inured
as he was to danger in all its forms, and accustomed to the horrors of a
partisan war, the trooper could not behold the ruin before him unmoved.
He bent over the fragile form of Isabella, and his gloomy eye betrayed
the workings of his soul.
"Isabella," he at length uttered, "I know you to possess a courage
beyond the strength of women."
"Speak," she said, earnestly; "if you have anything to say, speak
fearlessly.
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