You were marrying him
merely because you had promised, because you could not explain to your
father why your feelings had changed--you were afraid to confess that
you loved a Yankee."
"But I didn't--it was not that!"
"Then what was it?"
She remained silent, but now I was fully aroused.
"Billie," my voice low, and barely reaching her ear. "When I rode away
that night I knew I loved you. I was a Yankee soldier, but I had been
captured by a Rebel. I scarcely possessed a hope then of meeting you
again, but I did believe you already realized what kind of a man Le
Gaire was. I could not conceive that you would marry him, and I swore to
myself to seek you out at the earliest moment possible. Don't draw back
from me, dear, but listen--you must listen. This means as much to you
as to me."
"But I cannot--I must not."
"What is there to prevent? Your pride of the South? Your adherence to
the Confederacy? I care nothing for that; we are not Rebel and Yankee,
but man and woman. As to Le Gaire, I have no respect for his claim upon
you, nor would your father have if he knew the truth. It is all an
accident our meeting again, but it was one of God's accidents. I
thought I was sent here to capture Johnston, but my real mission was to
save you.
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