She believed that
he would agree with her proposal; but her hands clasped his a little more
firmly and solicitously--there was a faint, womanly fear at her heart--
as she asked him if he would do it. The life meant more than occasional
separation; it meant that there would be periods when she would not be
with him; and there was great danger in that; but she knew that the risks
must be taken, and he must not be wholly reliant on her presence for his
moral strength.
His face fell for a moment when she made the suggestion, but it cleared
presently, and he said with a dry laugh: "Well, I guess they must make me
a sergeant pretty quick. I'm a colonel in the Kentucky Carbineers!"
She laughed, too; then a moment afterwards, womanlike, wondered if she
was right, and was a little frightened. But that was only because she
was not self-opinionated, and was anxious, more anxious than any woman
in all the North.
It happened as Jim said; he was made a sergeant at once--Sally managed
that; for, when it came to the point, and she saw the conditions in which
the privates lived, and realised that Jim must be one of them and clean
out the stables, and groom his horse and the officers' horses, and fetch
and carry, her heart failed her, and she thought that she was making her
remedy needlessly heroical.
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