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“I love you, Meg You know I adore you” I reached and touched her face Her dark hair fell acrossin thethe Charles

A sudden knock, and Mazie entered the room “’Scuse ent”

“Who is it, Mazie?” said Meg

“He say his name Nate, and…” She paused, reluctant to finish the sentence

“Is he a colored man, Mazie?” I asked

Meg said, “Of course he is, Ben He’s here to see you, isn’t he?”

A pause

“Please show the man in,” I said

Chapter 12

RIGHT THEN AND THERE, everything changed in our lives, certainly ineyes of hers, as ain, but she pulled away She shook her head as if I were a child whose behavior had disappointed her “You know this one by name?”

“I only know one man named Nate, and that’s Nate Pryor He was Tenth Cavalry We rode together at San Juan Hill”

Nate appeared at the door just in ti say, “The hell with you, Ben”

She walked past Nate and out of the roo set up the first decent breeze I’d felt all day

“You can introduce us some other time,” Nate said His voice was deep, his enunciation precise I shook his hand warmly and clapped his shoulder

“I don’t knohat elixir you’re drinking, Nate, but you look younger than you did the day Colonel Roosevelt drove us up old San Juan Hill”