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Page 42
"'I wanted to ask,' said I, 'if I might send my men around to your well
for a drink of water. They're thirsty.'
"The way she answered, looking all around me and never once at me, made
me uncomfortable. 'I suppose you can if you wish,' she said. 'You're
stronger than we are. You can take what you choose. But I won't give you
anything--not if you were dying--not a glass of water.'
"Well, in spite of her having played football with my heart, that made
me angry.
"'I didn't know before that to be Southern made a woman unwomanly,' I
said. 'Where I came from I don't believe there's a girl would say a
cruel thing like that or refuse a drink of cold water to soldiers doing
their duty, friends or enemies. We've slept on the ground nine nights
and ridden nine days, and had very little to eat--my men are tired and
thirsty. I shan't make them go without any refreshment they can get,
even if it is grudged.'
"I gave an order over my shoulder, and my party went off to the back of
the house. Then I made a low bow to the old lady and to Miss
High-and-Mighty, and I swung about and walked down the steps and mounted
my horse. I was parched for water, but I wouldn't have had it if I'd
choked, after that. Between taking an almighty shine to the girl and
getting stirred up that way, and then being all frozen over with icicles
by her cool insultingness, I was pretty savage, and I stared away from
the place and thought the men would never come. All of a sudden I felt
something touch my arm, and I looked around quick, and there was the
girl. She stood by the horse, her red hair close to my elbow as I sat in
the saddle, and she held up a glass of water. I never was so astonished
in my life.
"'You're thirsty and tired, too,' she said, speaking as low as if she
was afraid the horse might hear. 'For my self-respect--for Southern
women'--she brought it out in that soft, sliding way, but the words
were all mixed up with embarrassment--and red--my, but she blushed! Then
she went on. 'You were right,' said she. 'I was cruel; you're my enemy
and I hate you, but I ought not to grudge you water. Take it.'
"I put my hand right on top of hers as she held the glass, and bent down
and drank so, making her hold it to my lips, and my hand over
hers--bless her heart!"
The General came to a full stop. He was smiling into the fire, and his
face was as if a flame burned back of it. I waited very quietly, fearing
to change the current by a word, and in a moment the strong voice, with
its vibrating note, not to be described, began again.
"I drained every drop," he said, "I'd have drunk a hogshead. When I
finished I raised my head and looked down at her without a word
said--but I didn't let go of the glass with her hand holding it inside
mine--and she lifted her eyes very slowly, and for the first time looked
at me. Well--" he shut his lips a moment--"these things don't tell well,
but something happened. I held her eyes into mine, us if I gripped them
with my muscles, and there came over her face an extraordinary
expression--first as if she was surprised that it was me, then as if she
was glad, and then--well, you may believe it or not, but I knew that
second that the girl--loved me. She hated me all right five minutes
before--I was her people's enemy--the chances were she'd never see me
again--all that's true, but it simply didn't count. She cared for me,
and I for her, and we both knew it--that's all there was about it.
People live faster in war-time, I think--anyhow, that's the way it was.
"The men and horses came pouring around the house, and I let her hand
loose--it was hard to do it, too--and then she was gone, and we rode on
to the ford. We stopped when we got to the stream to let the horses have
their turn at drinking, and as I sat loafing in the saddle, with my mind
pretty full of what had just passed, my eyes were all over. Every
cavalry officer, and especially an aide-de-camp, gets to be a sort of
hawk in active service--nothing can move within range that he doesn't
see. So as I looked about me I took in among other things the house
we'd just left, and suddenly I spied a handkerchief waving from behind
one of the big white pillars. Of course you've got to be wary in an
enemy's country, and these people were rabid Confederates, as I'd
occasion to know. All the same it would have been bad judgment to
neglect such a signal, and what's more, I'd have staked my life on that
girl's honesty. If the handkerchief had been a cannon I'd have gone
back. So back I went, taking a couple of men with me. As I jumped off my
horse I saw her standing inside the front door, back in the shadow, and
I ran up the steps to her.
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