I am afraid,--afraid--do you know what that means?"
"But I am not afraid," answered the girl steadily.
He shivered and turned away; then he came back and knelt down to kiss her
skirt. "No, I can't take you with me," he went on rapidly, "but if I live
to be a man I shall come back--I _will_ come back--and you--"
"And I am waiting," she replied.
He opened the gate and passed out into the road.
"I will come back, beloved," he said again, and went on into the darkness.
Leaning over the gate she strained her eyes into the shadows, crying his
name out into the night. Her voice broke and she hid her face in her arm;
then, fearing to lose the last glimpse of him, she looked up quickly and
sobbed to him to come back for a moment--but for a moment. It seemed to
her, clinging there upon the gate, that when he went out into the darkness
he had gone forever--that the thud of his footsteps in the dust was the
last sound that would ever come from him to her ears.
Had he looked back she would have gone straight out to him, had he raised a
finger she would have followed with a cheerful face; but he did not look
back, and at last his footsteps died away upon the road.
When she could see or hear nothing more of him, she turned slowly and crept
toward the house. Her feet dragged under her, and as she walked she cast
back startled glances at the gate. The rustling of the leaves made her
stand breathless a moment, her hand at her bosom; but it was only the wind,
and she went step by step into the house, turning upon the threshold to
throw a look behind her.
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