THE MAJOR'S STORY. 279 



tent with half the General's fortune, and let me have the 

 other half?' 



" ' Bah ! Jerry,' said he, ' as if that would be any more 

 even, when you want Sarah with it. In Heaven's name, 

 take the half of the money, ifthat's all you want.' 



" ' Can't we fix it so as to make an even division, Tom ? 

 Take all the fortune, and let me have her, and I'll call it 

 square.' 



" ' Just what I was going to propose to you. Be rea- 

 sonable now, Jerry, and get out of the way. You must 

 see she doesn't care a copper for you.' 



" I twirled a rosebud in my fingers that she had given 

 me that morning, and replied 



" ' Poor devil ! I did not think you could be so infatu- 

 ated. Why, Tom, there is no chance for you under the 

 sun. But go ahead ; find it out as you will. I'm sorry 

 for you.' 



" A hundred such talks we used to have, and she never 

 gave either of us one particle more of encouragement 

 than the other. She was like a sister to us both, and 

 neither dared to break the spell of our perfect happiness 

 by asking her to be more. 



" And so time passed on. 



" One summer afternoon we were off together on horse- 

 back, all three of us, over the mountain and down the 

 valley. We were returning toward sunset, sauntering 

 along the road down the side of the hill. 



" Philip, stir the fire a little. That bottle of claret is 

 rather cold, it seems to me, or I am a little chilly my- 

 self. Perhaps it is the recollection of that day that 

 chills me. 



" I had made up my mind, if opportunity occurred, to 

 tell her that day all that I had thought for years. I had 



