""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 n.o.bly of you," cried f.a.n.n.y 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 circ.u.mstances? Faith, I"m afraid it"ll not be for better, but for worse."

Sempland said nothing. He would not interfere now. f.a.n.n.y 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. f.a.n.n.y 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 a.s.sure you, on my honor, all there is left of it, that if Sempland gets half a chance he"ll do better than I. Choose because you love him-or me."

The girl stared from one to the other in indignant bewilderment. Lacy was an ideal lover. Sempland looked like a stern master, and she hated a master. She made a half step toward the handsomer and weaker man, and a half turn toward the homelier and stronger. In her heart of hearts she found in that moment which she preferred. And, as love is wayward, in the knowledge came a surprise for her-and it brought shame. Lacy was handsome and gallant and distinguished, in spite of all, but Sempland was strong-a man indeed.

"Oh!" she cried, looking at him, "if you only had done something great or-"

"What!" he cried, his face alight.

But she turned instantly away. In her words Lacy, more subtile and more used to women, read her preference and his rejection. But he smiled bravely and kindly at her in spite of his knowledge.

"Major Lacy," she said, giving him her hand, "I esteem you, I honor you, I respect you. I do not believe what this-what has been said about you. But I do not love you." She drew away from him. "You were mistaken. There is no choice between you, for I love neither of you. I do not love anybody. I hate you both!" she flashed out inconsistently. "Now go! I don"t want to see either of you again."

She buried her face in her hands and burst into tears.

"I will do something to deserve your praise," said Sempland, in his deep voice, turning away.

"Miss Glen," said Lacy, most graciously,-f.a.n.n.y Glen"s presence seemed to call all that was good in him to the surface,-"no one has respected me, or trusted me, or honored me as you have, for years. Sempland cannot rob me of that, even though he should win you. Good-by, and, if it be not grotesque from me, may G.o.d bless you!"

CHAPTER III

A STRIFE IN MAGNANIMITY

"Well, Sempland," said Lacy, with astonishing courtesy and forbearance under all the circ.u.mstances, as he overtook the other man plodding along the shaded street, "you don"t seem to be in much greater favor with the young lady than I."

"Lacy," returned the other, "you did well this evening. You are not good enough for Miss Glen, I still think. n.o.body is, for that matter, but you less than others. My opinion of you, you know-"

"Faith, all the world may know it apparently!"

"That"s unjust. I have never mentioned it to any one, and should not have expressed it to Miss Glen had it not been to save her. But you showed the stuff that was in you, that used to be in you, to-night. It was fine. I thank you for having said-" he paused.

"What?" asked Lacy.

"Why, that about my not having had a chance, you know."

"Oh, that was a trifle."

"I know. But not many men would have said it at the time."

"I tell you what it is, Sempland. I like you, I always have liked you. When I-er-dropped out of the old set, you know, before the war, I didn"t mind giving up any one so much as you. And I was sorry for you to-night. You hadn"t had a chance. G.o.d knows I love the girl, but I am not the man for her. I would break her heart in a month. You don"t know women, I take it, but I think she will be yours in the end. I give her to you."

"She is not yours to give."

"No, I know she isn"t. But I withdraw in your favor."

"I don"t want that sort of a fair field. Harry," went on the other man, unconsciously dropping into the familiar form of boyhood, which caused Lacy"s face to flush with pleasure, "I am sure she loves you. I thought it was I, at first, but since this afternoon I have changed my mind. Why can"t you be different? You are not a fit man to marry any honest woman now, and when I thought of your record I doubted that you ever would be. I was sure you would not, but-see here, old man! Throw the past aside! A fellow that"s got it in him to do what you have done for the South-why can"t you control yourself? Turn over a new leaf. I love her, too. She"s more to me than life itself, but her happiness is more than mine. If she loves you, and wants you, make yourself worthy of her. By heaven, I"ll help you, if it kills me! You thought I was harsh to-day. I swear to you if you succeed n.o.body will acknowledge it quicker than I!"

"Will you tell her so?"

"I will!"

"Rhett," said the other man, stretching out his hand, "the woman I love has this day honored me, but by heaven I believe you have honored me more. I did think it was a low-down trick for you to go to Miss Glen, but I know why you did it, and you were right. It"s too late. I can never be anything different. My father and grandfather both died in drunken sprees-it"s in my blood. I can"t help it. I"ve had a chance or two to do something a little out of the ordinary in this war, thank G.o.d for it, but I suppose the reason I was able to carry it through was that I cared little whether I lived or died. No, that isn"t true. I"d rather die than live, but I would like to go out of existence doing something fine and n.o.ble. I-I-might get a better chance on the other side, then, you know. Life is nothing to me, and there are no possibilities in it."

He spoke bitterly. It was rare that any one saw him in that mood.

"I tell you I"m cursed! I wouldn"t take that girl if she did accept me. I only wanted to trouble you. Well, no, not exactly that, either. I love her, G.o.d knows, but the devil"s got me in his grip and-"

"I can"t understand it," said Sempland, vaguely.

"Of course you can"t. You"re so strong and so self-contained-such as you never can understand such as I. But to be a drunkard, and a gambler, and a-"

He stopped and threw up his hands, and then dropped them heavily by his side.