University of Virginia Library

XXXIV.
THE OFFER AND REFUSAL.

“Ratcliffe went to see Miss Adair,” continued
the deserter, “on the day after his arrival in the
neighbourhood.

“He commanded a full company of regular cavalry;
established his camp in the vicinity of the
young lady's residence; and, taking a guard of a
dozen men, went to visit her. I think he was afraid
of guerillas. He is not a coward, but he is not
brave. Well, he went, and I went with him, anxious
to see the face of the woman whom he had once
loved.

“It was a very beautiful face. More still, — it
was pure and high-bred. This was a lady truly.
Well, Ratcliffe's manner to Miss Adair, who received
him with freezing coldness, was the perfection
of laughing carelessness; you would have sworn
that he cared nothing for her. They were old acquaintances,
he said; the war had wafted him hither;
he thought he would call and see her, as well as
Judge Adair; and, if he could be of use to them in
any way, they had only to indicate it.

“These polite speeches, however, made not the
least impression. I was standing at the door, and
saw Judge Adair's eye flash; as to the young lady,
she was a veritable iceberg; and Ratcliffe came out
and rode off in a towering rage at his reception.

“That did not prevent him, however, from going
again; and again I accompanied him as his orderly,
and witnessed his reception. More, — I heard the
conversation between himself and Miss Adair, her
father being ill; and this conversation related to
yourself, Captain Landon. Ratcliffe spoke of the
time before the war, when he was a guest in your
house at `Bizarre,” and something had occurred
there, it seemed, slightly differing from the statement
which he had made to me at West Point. In other
words, it was Ratcliffe who had tried to steal away
Miss Adair's affection from you, — to break your
engagement, while he was residing in your house as
your guest; and this fact Miss Adair now referred
to, and charged him with. He laughed, but far from
gayly. It sounded like a growl rather, — that harsh
and forced laughter. He replied that the charge
was true; `but Landon's character had justified
him.' You were a `sneak and a coward, as was
proved by your leaving the country and giving up
the woman you loved for a mere fancy.' She turned
pale as he spoke; her eyes — they are grand eyes!
— flashed haughtily. `He is not here!' she said,

superbly, `it is easy to see that you know that,
sir!' Half an hour afterwards Ratcliffe left her,
white with rage, gnawing his lips, muttering curses,
and — loving her!

“I saw that, and it raised the demon in me. For
this man had subjected my whole life to his will. I
had despised myself, struggled against my infatuation,
sought to break the chain that bound me; but
without success. I loved him still, and up to that
moment was his slave. But at the moment when I
discovered that he loved Miss Adair, I began to feel
my free will return to me. Revenge began to replace
love. Not revenge upon her, — for she had
done nothing; she despised this man, — but on him.

“Events hastened. Going everywhere with Ratcliffe,
I was at the ford yonder when you attacked
and drove him back upon Millwood. I bore him off
that night when you had bruised him by a blow of your
pistol, from which he soon recovered, however. I
was at the Chapel with him, where he was not engaged,
and afterwards went with him to Miss Adair's,
where you, sir,” — and the speaker turned to me, —
“captured the valiant Ratcliffe and carried him off.
Well, on that night I yielded to a weak impulse and
brought up the cavalry which recaptured him. I
was repaid by another scene that night at Judge
Adair's, in which he stormed at, insulted, and declared
his love for Miss Adair. Then you captured

him in turn, Captain Landon; he escaped, and
another visit, still, to Miss Adair, followed.

“Let me finish. For the last three days his infatuation
has become a species of madness. He has
repulsed, insulted, spurned, put his heel upon me!
I am no longer anything but the wretched slave of his
caprice! He has made nothing of telling me that I
am disgusting in his eyes. He has dared to use a
term in addressing me that I will not repeat! Yes,
this man, to whom I have sacrificed everything, —
for whom I have lost name and fame, and all that a
woman values, — this base, cowardly wretch, who has
lied and tricked and betrayed others for so long, has
now insulted, outraged, and betrayed me!

“He has betrayed me!” continued the speaker,
with flaming eyes; “but woe to him! He has not
counted on the Basque blood of the Duvarnys! I
have but one aim, — to crush him! And now,
perhaps, you understand why I have come hither,
Captain Landon. I come to say, You have only to
follow me to surprise and destroy the bitterest enemy
you have in the world! I will lead you straight
to him; will deliver him into your hands, asking one
thing only, — that you will allow me to be present
when you bury your sword in his cowardly
heart!”

She paused, shuddering with rage. It was an absorbing
spectacle, — that beautiful face convulsed; that

bosom shaken by wrath; those lips half open, and
showing the white teeth close-set beneath.

“Will you follow me?” she said, hoarsely and abruptly
to Landon; “I will go unarmed between two
men; you can shoot me if I betray you; will you
follow me?”

“No!” said Landon, rising.

“You refuse!”

“I will do better,” said the Partisan, coldly. “I
will kill him in fair fight before your eyes, or he
shall kill me!”