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"Yes"

"And I have coer any shadow of the dead

between us"

She looked up quickly, her hands clasped, her cheeks flushing "Are

you sure? Perhaps you "

"I know it all," he answered, soberly, "from the lips of Hampton"

"You have seen him? Oh, Lieutenant Brant, please tell me the whole

truth I have missed him so much, and since the day he rode away to

Cheyenne not one word to explain his absence has come back to me You

cannot understand what this h

years of kindness"

"You have heard nothing?"

"Not a word"

Brant drew a long, deep breath He had supposed she knew this At

last he said gravely: "Naida, the truth will prove the kindestof defenders clustered about General Custer on the

bluffs of the Little Big Horn"

Her slight figure trembled so violently that he held her close within

his arms

"There was a smile upon his face e found him He performed his

full duty, Naida, and died as becaentleman"

"But--but, this cannot be! I saw the published list; his na them"