I suppose he was in front of you, and your musket went off accidentally ?" "No, Miss Greendale, I took deliberate aim at him, and it was only the mercy of God that saved his life." Bertha was too surprised and shocked to speak, and he went on: "He himself thought that he had been hit by a Sepoy bullet, and it was only when I sent for him, believing that I had received my death wound, that he knew that it was I who had hit him." "But for what ?" she asked.

"What made you do this terrible thing?
I thought he was liked by his men." "There was no one liked better, Miss Greendale; he was the most popular officer in the regiment, and if the soldiers had known it, and I had escaped being hung for it, I should have been shot the first time I went into action afterwards.

It had nothing to do with the army.

I enlisted in his company on purpose to shoot him." Bertha could hardly believe her ears.

She looked at the man earnestly.