When I came in and stood by his bedside, he smiled, and held out his hand, and said, "I am mighty glad to see you again, lieutenant. It is like meeting a brother."
A Delicate Subject.
I said that I was rejoiced to meet him 'again, and would have called on him much sooner had the doctors permitted it. I then asked him how he was coming on, about the nature of his sickness, and matters of that kind, and gradually drifted into a conversation about things in general, the progress of the war, the people we knew, matters at home, and so led him up to the subject about which I particularly desired to speak with him. After some little preliminary talk, which would enable me to bring the question in naturally, without exciting suspicion that I had any but a merely friendly interest in the matter, I said, "Captain, are you married yet? You know you told me some time ago you were engaged, and were expecting very shortly to ask the lady to name the day."
"No," said he, "the wedding has not come off yet, but I hope it will very shortly. I should have gone home for the purpose of getting married if I had kept my health, but this spell of sickness has knocked all my plans in the head."
"Does the lady know that you are sick?" I asked. "Have you heard from her recently?"
"I doubt whether she does," he replied. "I have been expecting to hear from her for some time, and have been greatly disappointed that I have not. The last letter I had stated that she would meet me here ; but for several months I have been unable to communicate with her, and am unable to even guess where she is, or why she has not come to me."
He then raised up, and took the letter he referred to out of a package, evidently made up of my epistles, and read it to me. He also showed me a picture of myself, which he produced from some hiding-place in his pocket, and handed it to me, saying, "That is the woman I love; what do you think of her?"
A Portrait and its Original.
This was almost too much for me; and all trembling with emotion, I handed it back to him, saying, "She is a fine-looking woman;" and wondering he did not observe the resemblance between the portrait and the original before him.
