Sitting in the open window, I marked the few red points of dying firelight grow fewer in the bivouac under the grove4. Out there by the gate Ned Ferry slept. Fireflies blinked, and beyond the hazy5 fields rose the wasted moon, by the regal slowness of whose march I measured the passage of time as I had done two nights before. My vigil was a sad one, but, in health, in love, in the last of my teens and in the silent company of such a moon, my straying thoughts lingered most about the maiden6 who had "prayed for me." My hopes grew mightily8. Yet with them grew my sense of need to redouble a lover's diligence. I resolved never again to leave great gaps in my line of circumvallation about the city of my siege, as I had done in the past--two days. I should move to the final assault, now, at the earliest favorable moment, and the next should see the rose-red flag of surrender rise on her temples; in war it is white, but in love it is red.
First favorable moment; ah! but when would that be? Who was to convey the Harpers to Hazlehurst? Well, thank Heaven! not Harry9. Scott Gholson? Gholson was due at headquarters. Poor Gholson! much rest for racked nerves had he found here; what with Ferry, and Harry, and the fight, and Quinn, I wondered he did not lie down and die under the pure suffocation10 of his "tchagrin." Even a crocodile, I believed, could suffer from chagrin11, give him as many good causes as Gholson had accumulated. But no, the heaven of "Charlie Tolliver's" presence and commands--she seemed to have taken entire possession of him--lifted and sustained him above the clouds of all unkinder things.
A faint stir at the threshold caught my ear and I discerned in the hall a young negro woman. The light of an unseen candle made her known at a glance; she had been here since the previous evening, as I knew, though it chanced that I had not seen her; Oliver's best wedding-gift, the slave maid whom I had seen with Charlotte in the curtained wagon13 at Gallatin. I stole out to her; she courtesied. "Miss Charlotte say ef you want he'p you fine me a-sett'n' on de step o' de stairs hafe-ways down."
I inquired if she was leaving us. "She a-gitt'n' ready, suh; Misteh Goshen done gone to de sta-able to git de hosses." The girl suddenly seemed pleased with herself. "Mis' Charlotte would 'a' been done gone when de yethehs went--dem-ah two scouts14 what was sent ayfteh him--ef I hadn' spoke' up when I did."
"Indeed! how was that?"
"Why, I says, s' I, 'Mis' Charlotte, how we know he ain' gwine fo' to double on his huntehs? Betteh wait a spell, and den7 ef no word come back dat he a-doublin', you kin12 be sho' he done lit out fo' to jine de Yankees roun' Pote Hudsom.'"
"Why did you tell her that? You want him caught; so do I; but you know she doesn't want to catch him, and you don't want her to. Neither do I. Nor neither do we want Lieutenant15 Ferry to catch him."
"No, suh, dass so. But same time, while she no notion o' gitt'n' him cotch, she believe she dess djuty-bound to head-off his devilment. 'Tis dess like I heah' Mr. Goshen say to Miss Hahpeh, 'Dis ain't ow own li'l pri'--'"
I waved her away and went back into the room; the Captain had called. He asked the time of night; I said it was well after two; he murmured, was quiet, and after a moment spoke my name. I answered, and he whispered "Coralie Rothvelt--she's here; I--recognized her voice--when they were singing. Did you know I knew her?"
"Yes, Captain."
"Daring game that was you fellows let her put up on us night before last, my boy,--and it hung by a thread. If our officers had only asked the old man his name--it would have been--a flash of light. If I had dreamed, when I saw--you and Ned Ferry--yesterday,--that Coralie Rothvelt was--Charlotte Oliver,--and could have known her then--as I've--learned to know her--to-day--from her--worst enemy,--you know,--"
"Yes, Captain."
"I should--have turned back, my boy." After a silence the hero said more to himself than to me "Ah, if my brother were here to-night--I might live!"
Many days afterward16 I thought myself dull not to have guessed what that speech meant, but now I was too distressed17 by the change I saw coming over him to do any surmising18. He began to say things entirely19 to himself. "Home!" he murmured; "sweet, sweet home!--my home! my country!--My God, my country, my home!--Smith,--you know what that is you're--wiping off my brow,--don't you?"
"Yes, Captain."
"I--I didn't want you to be--taken too unpleasantly by surprise--just at the--end. You know what's--happening,--don't you?"
"Yes, Captain." As I wiped the brow again I heard the tread of two horses down in front of the house; they were Gholson's, and Ned Ferry's for Charlotte. "Captain, may I go and bring her--tell her what you say, and bring her?"
"Do you think she'd come? She'd have gone to Ship Island if I had caught her."
"I know she'll come."
"I wish she would; she could 'bear a message and a token,' as the song says."
She came. I met her outside the door, and for a moment I feared she would come no farther. "How can I, Richard! Oh, how can I?" she whispered; "this is my doing!" But presently she stood at the bedside calm and compassionate20, in the dark dress and limp hat of two nights before. The dying man's eyes were lustrous21 with gratitude22.
"I have one or two things," he said, after a few words of greeting, "that I'd like to send home--to my mother--and my wife; some trifles--and a message or two; if I--if--if I--"
"Will you let me take them?" Charlotte asked. I did not see or hear what they were; Gholson beckoned23 me into the hall. He did not whisper; there are some people, you know, who can never exercise enough self-suppression to whisper; he mumbled24. He admitted the dying had some rights, but--he feared the delay might result unfortunately; wanted me to tell Charlotte so, and was sure I was ever so wrong to ask to have Ned Ferry awakened25 for the common incident of a prisoner's death; he would let him know the moment he awoke.
When I came back into the room the captive had asked Charlotte to pray. "Tisn't that I'm--the least bit afraid," he was saying.
"Oh, no," she responded, wiping his brow, "why should you be? Dying isn't nearly so fearful a thing as living. I'd rather, now, you'd pray for me; I'm such an unbeliever--in the beliefs, I mean, the beliefs the church people think we can't get on without. My religion is scarcely anything but longings26 and strivings"--she sadly smiled--"longings and strivings and hopes."
"Yet you wouldn't--"
"Part with it? Oh, not for the world beside!"
"Neither would I--with mine." The soldier folded his hands in supplication27. "Neither would I--though mine, O Lord--is only the--old-fashioned sort--for whose beliefs our fathers--used to kill one another; God have mercy--on them--and us."
There was a great stillness. Against the bedside Charlotte had sunk to her knees, and under the broad brim of her Leghorn hat leaned her brow upon her folded hands. Thus, presently, she spoke again.
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1
stanching
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| v.使（伤口）止血( stanch的现在分词 )；止（血）；使不漏；使不流失 | |
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2
narcotics
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| n.麻醉药( narcotic的名词复数 )；毒品；毒 | |
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3
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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4
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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5
hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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6
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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7
den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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9
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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10
suffocation
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| n.窒息 | |
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11
chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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12
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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13
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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14
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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15
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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16
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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17
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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18
surmising
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的现在分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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19
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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compassionate
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| adj.有同情心的，表示同情的 | |
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21
lustrous
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| adj.有光泽的；光辉的 | |
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22
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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23
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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26
longings
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| 渴望，盼望( longing的名词复数 ) | |
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27
supplication
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| n.恳求，祈愿，哀求 | |
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