--You remember?'
Remember! But she said nothing. She raised her eyes for an instant. It
was but a glance; a little, tearful, timid glance. It kept Joe silent
though, for a long time.
'Well!' he said stoutly, 'it was to be otherwise, and was. I have been
abroad, fighting all the summer and frozen up all the winter, ever
since. I have come back as poor in purse as I went, and crippled for
life besides. But, Dolly, I would rather have lost this other arm--ay, I
would rather have lost my head--than have come back to find you dead,
or anything but what I always pictured you to myself, and what I always
hoped and wished to find you. Thank God for all!'
Oh how much, and how keenly, the little coquette of five years ago, felt
now! She had found her heart at last. Never having known its worth till
now, she had never known the worth of his. How priceless it appeared!
'I did hope once,' said Joe, in his homely way, 'that I might come back
a rich man, and marry you. But I was a boy then, and have long known
better than that. I am a poor, maimed, discharged soldier, and must
be content to rub through life as I can. I can't say, even now, that I
shall be glad to see you married, Dolly; but I AM glad--yes, I am, and
glad to think I can say so--to know that you are admired and courted,
and can pick and choose for a happy life.
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