A Little Traitor to the South | Page 5

"And you do not love me?"
"Love you!" cried the girl, scornfully.
"I know you don't, but won't you?" he pleaded.
"I won't!"
"Won't you try?"
"No!"
"You do not dislike me?"
"I hate you!"
"Do you love Lacy?"

"I will not allow you to question me!"
"You must answer me!" said the man, taking her almost savagely by
the arm, and in spite of herself she thrilled at his touch.
"You hurt me," said the girl.
"Nonsense! You hurt me more than I do you. Do you love this man?"
"Why not? He has his failings, his weaknesses, but he fights against
them, he tries to overcome them. The whole South knows him, loves
him for his deeds, pities him for his failings. And I--"
"Yes? You what?"
"You shall see. Meanwhile before you depreciate a brother soldier, why
don't you do something yourself? You are not in the same class."
"I wouldn't say that, Miss Glen, if I were you," exclaimed Major Lacy,
quietly entering the room through one of the long windows opening on
the veranda. "Ah, Sempland, have you told your little tale?"
[Illustration: "'Ah, Sempland, have you told your little tale?'"]
"Yes."
"Exposed me to this young lady?"
"I have."
"And condemned me as an utter scoundrel, a blackguard?"
"Not quite. I told the truth," returned Sempland, calmly, "just as I said
to you I would, and for that I am ready to answer in any way to please
you. We can settle the matter when the war is over."
"Very well. What did you say, Miss Glen?" continued Lacy, turning to
that young woman.

"I told him it wasn't true!" burst out the girl, impetuously.
"Ah, but it is," said Lacy, softly. "I am all that he says, and more, too."
"But look at what you have done."
"But little, after all. I heard you reproaching Sempland for what he had
not done when I came in. That isn't fair. No braver man lives than Rhett
Sempland. Why, did it not take courage to defy me, to tell me to my
face that I was a scoundrel, a blackguard? And it took more courage to
defy custom, convention, propriety, to come here and tell you the same
things. No, Miss Glen, Sempland only lacks opportunity. Fortune has
not been kind to him. In that settlement after the war there will be a
struggle I'll warrant you."
"See! He can speak nobly of you," cried Fanny Glen, turning
reproachfully to Sempland.
"I never said he was not a gentleman, could not be a gentleman, that is,
when he was--when he wished to be one, that is, as well as a brave man.
He has good blood in him, but that doesn't alter the case. He isn't a fit
match for you, or for any woman. I am not speaking for myself. I know
my case is hopeless--"
"Gad!" laughed Lacy, "you have tried then and lost? It's my turn then.
Miss Glen, you have heard the worst of me this afternoon. I have been
a drunkard, a scoundrel. I have fallen low, very low. But sometimes I
am a gentleman. Perhaps in your presence I might always be. I can't tell.
I'm not sure. Will you take me for your lover, and in good time your
husband, under such circumstances? Faith, I'm afraid it'll not be for
better, but for worse."
Sempland said nothing. He would not interfere now. Fanny Glen must
answer for herself. He clenched his teeth and strove to control himself.
In spite of his efforts, however, the blood flamed into his dark face.
Fanny Glen grew very white, her blue eyes shone like stars in the pallor
of her face under her fair hair. She hesitated. She looked from one to
the other. She could not speak. She was too conscious of that stern iron

figure. Yet she would have given worlds to say "yes" to Lacy's plea.
"Choose, Miss Glen," said Lacy, at last. It was hard for him to wait for
anything. "You stand between us, you see. I warn you if you do not
take me, you will take Sempland. Look at him,--" he smiled
satirically,--"he always gets what he wants. He is the very incarnation
of bulldog tenacity and resolution. If I don't get you, he certainly will."
"How dare you comment upon me?" cried Sempland.
"Patience, my good sir," said the other, coolly. "You commented upon
me in my absence. I comment upon you in your presence. The
advantage is mine. As I said, Miss Glen, it is a choice between us. Do
not choose me, if you should be so fatuously inclined, because I happen
to have had some chances for distinction, for I assure you, on my honor,
all there is left of it, that if Sempland