Under Fire: A Tale of the Shenandoah Valley — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

LOVE’S YOUNG DREAM. 9 sudden resolution he had decided upon some time be- fore. She did not seem to notice his embarrassment. ‘‘T wish to say how much I have enjoyed this visit,’’ he continued, desperately. ‘‘Charleston is a beautiful city, and I have been very handsomely treated by all whose acquaintance it has been my good fortune to make. But——’’ ‘‘T understand,’ said Bertha, in a low voice. ‘‘You are a Northern man—you see much transpiring about you here at this unfortunate crisis which hurts you. Am I not right ?”’ ‘You have guessed it,’? he said, his heart throb- bing violently, ‘‘and you, I fear, will soon think of me with feelings of—of——”’ He could not bring himself to pronounce the word. “Of what, Mr. Chetwood ?”’ she said, raising her large, lustrous eyes suddenly to his face. | ‘“Repugnance,’’ he blurted out. ‘Why should I? Indeed, you surprise me. I have always——’’ She stopped and blushed vividly. ‘Vou are a Southern girl,’’ he said. ‘*Ves,’’ she said, proudly, ‘'I am.”’ “Need I say more?’’ said Royal, almost patheti- — cally. ‘‘Our friendship has been the sweetest episode of my brief visit here. You have been more than kind, and—and I hope you don’t think me ungrate- ful; but I fear there is a shadow rising between us—the same that is at this moment menacing the tranquillity of our country. Oh, Bertha—WMiss McVane——’’ His secret had escaped him when he uttered her Christian name. And now she, too, was much agitated. Vet with an effort she laid. her beautiful hand, sparkling with diamonds, upon his arm and lifted her eyes to his face. comicbooks (E(0) mn