Two or three times he opened his lips to speak, then closed them,
as the two young people stood glancing down at the river through
the darkness.
"Aren't you unusually silent, Dick?" asked Laura.
"Perhaps so," he assented in a low voice. "I'm scared."
"Scared!"
"Yes; scared cold. I never knew such a fright in my life before."
"Why, what-----"
"Laura, I reckon the brief, direct way of the soldier will be best.
Laura, ever since we were in High School together I have loved you.
Through all the years that have followed, that love has never
slumbered for an instant. It has grown stronger with every passing \
week. I-----"
With a little cry Laura Bentley drew back.
"I'm going right through to the end," cried Dick desperately. "Then
you can throw cold water over me---if you must. Laura, I love you,
and that love is nearly all of my life! I ask you to become a
soldier's bride---mine!"
"And---and---is that what has scared you?" asked Laura in a very
low voice.
"Yes!"
"What a pitiful coward you are, then, to be a candidate for a
commission in the Army," laughed Laura Bentley softly.
"But you---you haven't answered me."
"Why, Dick, I've never had another thought, in six years, than that
I loved you!"
"Laura! You love me?"
"Why, of course, Dick. What has ailed your eyes and your reasoning
powers?"
With a glad cry, Prescott gathered his betrothed in his arms,
claiming a lover's privilege.
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