Possibly there was also a melancholy grace in this sardonic soldier's manner that affected her, for she looked up, and said impulsively,-- "You think so ?" But he met her eager eyes with some surprise.
"I certainly do," he replied more coldly.

"I can imagine your feelings on finding your uncle's home in the possession of your enemies, and your presence under the family roof only a sufferance.

I can hardly believe it a pleasure to you, or a task you would have accepted for yourself alone." "But," she said, turning towards him wickedly, "what if I did it only to excite my revenge; what if I knew it would give me courage to incite my people to carry war into your own homes; to make you of the North feel as I feel, and taste our bitterness ?" "I could easily understand that, too," he returned, with listless coldness, "although I don't admit that revenge is an unmixed pleasure, even to a woman." "A woman!" she repeated indignantly.

"There is no sex in a war like this." "You are spoiling your flower," he said quietly.

"It is very pretty, and a native one, too; not an invader, or even transplanted.