"I owe you for the sables, too," she said. "But kiss me--not on my
ears, as the Russian count kissed Gabord, but on both cheek."

This won him to our cause utterly, and I never think of Gabord,
as I saw him last in the sway and carnage of battle, fighting with
wild uproar and covered with wounds, but the memory of that moment,
when he kissed my young wife, comes back to me.

At that he turned to leave. "I'll hold the door for ten minutes,"
he added; and bowed to the chaplain, who blessed us then with tears
in his eyes, and smiled a little to my thanks and praises and purse
of gold, and to Alixe's sweet gratitude. With lifting chin--good
honest gentleman, who afterwards proved his fidelity and truth--he
said that he would die to uphold this sacred ceremony. And so he
made a little speech, as if he had a pulpit round him, and he wound
up with a benediction which sent my dear girl to tears and soft
trembling:

"The Lord bless you and keep you: the Lord make his face to shine
upon you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you
peace now and for evermore."

A moment afterwards the door closed, and for ten minutes I looked
into my wife's face, and told her my plans for escape. When
Gabord opened the door upon us, we had passed through years of
understanding and resolve. Our parting was brave--a bravery on
her side that I do not think any other woman could match. She
was quivering with the new life come upon her, yet she was
self-controlled; she moved as in a dream, yet I knew her mind was