Why, my hair was all down."
He laughed again; but the laughter died from his lips as the remembrance of
their situation returned to him. Death was ordinarily little to him; though
now life could be so sweet since she loved him. It seemed a terrible thing
that this young girl must die so soon--and probably by his own hand to save
her from a worse fate.
She guessed his thoughts.
"Is this really the end, dear?" she asked, unwilling but unafraid to meet
death. "Is there no hope for us?"
"I fear not, beloved."
"I--I don't want to die so soon. Before you came tonight I wouldn't have
minded very much; for I was not happy. But now it's a little hard, just as
this wonderful thing has happened to me."
She sighed. He held out his arms again, and she crept into them and nestled
into his embrace.
"Well, if it must be so, I'll try to be worthy of my soldier and not
disgrace you, dear," she said fondly, bravely. "Let's try to forget it for
a while and not let it spoil our last hours together. Let's 'make-believe,'
as the children say. Let's pretend that this is all a hideous nightmare,
that our lives and our love are before us."
So through the long, dread night with the hideous menace never out of their
minds they talked bravely of what they would like to do, to be--if only
they were not to die so soon. Several times Noreen left him and went to
comfort, to console the poor Mohammedan women and children to whom she had
given shelter.
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