CHAPTER IX
IN SOCIETY
Harry, when the dawn had fully come, was sent farther away toward theford to see if the remainder of the troops had passed, and, when hereturned with the welcome news, the rain had ceased to fall. The armywas rapidly drying itself in the brilliant sunshine, and marchedleisurely on. He felt an immense relief. He knew that a great crisishad been passed, and, if the Northern armies ever reached Richmond, itwould be a long and sanguinary road. Meade might get across andattack, but his advantage was gone.
The same spirit of relief pervaded the ranks, and the men sang theirbattle songs. There had been some fighting at one or two of the fords,but it did not amount to much, and no enemy hung on their rear. But nostop was made by the staff until noon, when a fire was made and foodwas cooked. Then Harry was notified that he and Dalton were to startthat night with dispatches for Richmond. They were to ride throughdangerous country, until they reached a point on the railroad, whollywithin the Southern lines, when they would take a train for theConfederate capital.
They were glad to go. They felt sure that no great battles would befought while they were gone. Neither army seemed to be in a mood forfurther fighting just yet, and they longed for a sight of the littlecity that was the heart of the Confederacy. They were tired of therifle and march, of cannon and battles. They wished to be a whilewhere civilized life went on, to hear the bells of churches and to seethe faces of women.
It seemed to them both that they had lived almost all their lives inwar. Even Jeb Stuart's ball, stopped by the opening guns of a greatbattle, was far, far away, and to Harry, it was at least a centurysince he had closed his Tacitus in the Pendleton Academy, and put itaway in his desk. That old Roman had written something of battles, butthey were no such struggles as Chancellorsville and Gettysburg hadbeen. The legions, he admitted in his youthful pride, could fightwell, but they never could have beaten Yank or Reb.
He and Dalton slept through the afternoon and directly after dark, wellequipped and well-armed, they made their start into the South. But ingoing they did not neglect to pass the camp of the Invincibles who werenow in the apex of the army farthest south. They had found anunusually comfortable place on a grassy plot beside a fine, coolspring, and most of them were lying down. But Colonel Talbot andLieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire sat on empty kegs, with a boardon an empty box between them. The great game which ran along with thewar had been renewed. St. Clair and Langdon sat on the grass besidethem, watching the contest.
The two colonels looked up at the sound of hoofs and paused a moment.
"I'm getting his king into a close corner, Harry," said Colonel Talbot,"and he'll need a lot of time for thinking. Where are you two going,or perhaps I shouldn't ask you such a question?"
"There's no secret about it," replied Harry. "We're going to Richmondwith dispatches."
"He was incorrect in saying that he was getting my king into a closecorner, as I'll presently show him," said Lieutenant-Colonel St.Hilaire; "but you boys are lucky. I suppose you'll stay a while in thecapital. You'll sleep in white beds, you'll eat at tables, withtablecloths on 'em. You'll hear the soft voices of the women and girlsof the South, God bless 'em!"
"And if you went on to Charleston you'd find just as fine women there,"said Colonel Leonidas Talbot.
He sighed and a shade of sadness crossed his face. Harry heard and sawand understood. He remembered a night long, long ago in that heat ofrebellion, when he had looked down from the window of his room, and, inthe dark, had seen two figures, a man and a woman, upon a piazza,Colonel Talbot and Madame Delaunay, talking softly together. He hadfelt then that he was touching almost unconsciously upon the thread ofan old romance. A thread slender and delicate, but yet strong enoughin its very tenderness and delicacy to hold them both. The perfume ofthe flowers and of the old romance that night in the town so far awaycame back. He was moved, and when his eyes met Colonel Talbot's somekind of an understanding passed between them.
"The good are never rewarded," said Happy Tom.
"How so?" asked Harry.
"Because the proof of it sits on his horse here before us. Why shoulda man like George Dalton be sent to Richmond? A sour Puritan who doesnot know how to enjoy a dance or anything else, who looks upon thebeautiful face of a girl as a sin and an abomination, who thinks to beugly is to be good, who is by temperament and education unfit to enjoyanything, while Thomas Langdon, who by the same measurements is fit toenjoy everything, is left here to hold back the Army of the Potomac.It's undoubtedly a tribute to my valor, but I don't like it."
"Thomas," said Colonel Leonidas Talbot, gravely, "you're entirely toosevere with our worthy young friend, Dalton. The bubbles of pleasurealways lie beneath austere and solemn exteriors like his, seeking tobreak a way to the surface. The longer the process is delayed the morenumerous the bubbles are and the greater they expand. If scandalousreports concerning a certain young man in Richmond should reach us herein the North, relating his unparalleled exploits in the giddier circlesof our gay capital, I should know without the telling that it was ourprim young George Dalton."
"You never spoke truer words, Leonidas," said Lieutenant-Colonel HectorSt. Hilaire. "A little judicious gallantry in youth is good for anyone. It keeps the temperature from going too high. I recall now thecase of Auguste Champigny, who owned an estate in Louisiana, near theLouisiana estate of the St. Hilaires, and the estates of those cousinsof mine whom I visited, as I told you once.
"But pardon me. I digress, and to digress is to grow old, so I willnot digress, but remain young, in heart at least. I go back now. Iwas speaking of Auguste Champigny, who in youth thought only of makingmoney and of making his plantation, already great, many times greater.The blood in his veins was old at twenty-two. He did not love thevices that the world calls such. But yet there were times, I knew,when he would have longed to go with the young, because youth cannot becrushed wholly at twenty-two. There was no escape of the spirits, nowholesome blood-letting, so to speak, and that which was within himbecame corrupt. He acquired riches and more riches, and land and moreland, and at fifty he went to New Orleans, and sought the places wherepleasures abound. But his true blossoming time had passed. The bloodin his veins now became poison. He did the things that twenty shoulddo, and left undone the things that fifty should do. Ah! Harry, oneof the saddest things in life is the dissipated boy of fifty! Heshould have come with us when the first blood of youth was upon him.He could have found time then for play as well as work. He could haverowed with us in the slender boats on the river and bayous with Mimiand Rosalie and Marianne and all those other bright and happy ones. Hecould have danced, too. It was no strain, we never danced longer thantwo days and two nights without stopping, and the festivals, the gayfete days, not more than one a week! But it was not Auguste's way. Aman when he should have been a boy, and then, alas! a boy when heshould have been a man!"
"You speak true words, Hector," said Colonel Leonidas Talbot, "thoughat times you seem to me to be rather sentimental. Youth is youth andit has the pleasures of youth. It is not fitting that a man should bea boy, but middle-age has pleasures of its own and they are more solid,perhaps more satisfying than those of youth. I can't conceive oftwenty getting the pleasure out of the noble game of chess that we do.The most brilliant of your young French Creole dancers never felt thethrill that I feel when the last move is made and I beat you."
"Then if you expect to experience that thrill, Leonidas, continue thepursuit of my king, from which you expect so much, and see what willhappen to you."
Colonel Talbot looked keenly at the board, and alarm appeared on hisface. He made a rapid retreat with one of his pieces, and Harry andDalton, knowing that it was time for them to go, reached down fromtheir saddles, shook hands with both, then with St. Clair and HappyTom, and were soon beyond the bounds of the camp.
They rode on for many hours in silence. They were in a friendly landnow, but they knew that it was well to be care
ful, as Federal scoutsand cavalry nevertheless might be encountered at any moment. Two orthree times they turned aside from the road to let detachments ofhorsemen pass. They could not tell in the dark and from their hidingplaces to which army they belonged, and they were not willing to takethe delay necessary to find out. They merely let them ride by andresumed their own place on the road.
Harry told Dalton many more details of his perilous journey from theriver to the camp of the commander-in-chief, and he spoke particularlyof Shepard.
"Although he's a spy," he said, "I feel that the word scarcely fitshim, he's so much greater than the ordinary spy. That man is worthmore than a brigade of veterans to the North. He's as brave as a lion,and his craft and cunning are almost superhuman."
He did not tell that he might easily have put Shepard forever out ofthe way, but that his heart had failed him. Yet he did not feelremorse nor any sense of treachery to his cause. He would do the samewere the same chance to come again. But it seemed to him now that aduel had begun between Shepard and himself. They had been driftinginto it, either through chance or fate, for a long time. He knew thathe had a most formidable antagonist, but he felt a certain elation inmatching himself against one so strong.
They rode all night and the next day across the strip of Maryland intoVirginia and once more were among their own people, their undoubtedown. They were now entering the Valley of Virginia where the greatJackson had leaped into fame, and both Harry and Dalton felt theirhearts warm at the greetings they received. Both armies had marchedover the valley again and again. It was torn and scarred by battle,and it was destined to be torn and scarred many times more, but itsloyalty to the South stood every test. This too was the region inwhich many of the great Virginia leaders were born, and it rejoiced inthe valor of its sons.
Food and refreshment were offered everywhere to the two young horsemen,and the women and the old men--not many young men were left--wanted tohear of Gettysburg. They would not accept it as a defeat. It wasmerely a delay, they said. General Lee would march North once morenext year. Harry knew in his heart that the South would never invadeagain, that the war would be for her henceforth a purely defensive one,but he said nothing. He could not discourage people who were sosanguine.
Every foot of the way now brought back memories of Jackson. He sawmany familiar places, fields of battle, sites of camps, lines ofadvance or retreat, and his heart grew sad within him, because one whomhe admired so much, and for whom he had such a strong affection, wasgone forever, gone when he was needed most. He saw again with all thevividness of reality that terrible night at Chancellorsville, when thewounded Jackson lay in the road, his young officers covering his bodywith their own to protect him from the shells.
When they reached the strip of railroad entering Richmond they lefttheir horses to be sent later, and each took a full seat in the shorttrain, where he could loosen his belt, and stretch his limbs. It was acrude coach, by the standards of to-day, but it was a luxury then.Harry and Dalton enjoyed it, after so much riding horseback, andwatched the pleasant landscape, brown now from the July sun, flow past.
Their coach did not contain many passengers, several wounded officersgoing to Richmond on furlough, some countrymen, carrying provisions tothe capital for sale, and a small, thin, elderly woman in a blackdress, to whom Harry assigned the part of an old maid. He noticed thather features were fine and she had the appearance of one who hadsuffered. When they reached Richmond and their passes were examined, hehastened to carry her bag for her and to help her off the train. Shethanked him with a smile that made her almost handsome, and quicklydisappeared in the streets of the city.
"A nice looking old maid," he said to Dalton.
"How do you know she's an old maid?"
"I don't know. I suppose it's a certain primness of manner."
"You can't judge by appearances. Like as not she's been married thirtyyears, and it's possible that she may have a family of at least twelvechildren."
"At any rate, we'll never know. But it's good, George, to be here inRichmond again. It's actually a luxury to see streets and shopwindows, and people in civilian clothing, going about their business."
"Looks the same way to me, Harry, but we can't delay. We must be offto the President, with the dispatches from the Army of NorthernVirginia."
But they did not hurry greatly. They were young and it had been a longtime since they had been in a city of forty thousand inhabitants, wherethe shop windows were brilliant to them and nobody on the streets wasshooting at anybody else. It was late July, the great heats were gonefor the time at least, and they were brisk and elated. They paused alittle while in Capitol Square, and looked at the Bell Tower, risinglike a spire, from the crest of which alarms were rung, then at thefine structure of St. Paul's Church. They intended to go into theState House now used as the Confederate Capitol, but that must waituntil they reported to President Davis.
They arrived at the modest building called the White House of theConfederacy, and, after a short wait in the anteroom, they werereceived by the President. They saw a tall, rather spare man, dressedin a suit of home-knit gray. He received them without either warmth orcoldness. Harry, although it was not the first time he had seen him,looked at him with intense curiosity. Davis, like Lincoln, was born inhis own State, Kentucky, but like most other Kentuckians, he did notfeel any enthusiasm over the President of the Confederacy. There wasno magnetism. He felt the presence of intellect, but there was noinspiration in that arid presence.
A man of Oriental features was sitting near with a great bunch ofpapers in his hand. Mr. Davis did not introduce Harry and Dalton tohim, and he remained silent while the President was asking questions ofthe messengers. But Harry watched him when he had a chance, interestedstrongly in that shrewd, able, Eastern face, the descendant of animmemorial and intellectual race, the man who while Secretary of Statewas trying also to help carry the tremendous burden of Confederatefinance. What was he thinking, as Harry and Dalton answered thePresident's questions about the Army of Northern Virginia?
"You say that you left immediately after our army crossed the Potomac?"asked the President.
"Yes, sir," replied Harry. "General Meade could have attacked, but heremained nearly two days on our front without attempting to do so."
A thin gray smile flitted over the face of the President of theConfederacy.
"General Meade was not beaten at Gettysburg, but I fancy he rememberedit well enough."
Harry glanced at Benjamin, but his Oriental face was inscrutable. Thelad wondered what was lurking at the back of that strong brain. He wasshrewd enough himself to know that it was not always the generals onthe battlefield who best understood the condition of a state at war,and often the man who held the purse was the one who measured it bestof all. But Benjamin never said a word, nor did the expression of hisface change a particle.
"The Army of Northern Virginia is safe," said the President, "and itwill be able to repel all invasion of Virginia. General Lee givesespecial mention of both of you in his letters, and you are not toreturn to him at once. You are to remain here a while on furlough, andif you will go to General Winder he will assign you to quarters."
Both Harry and Dalton were delighted, and, although thanks were reallydue to General Lee, they thanked the President, who smiled dryly. Thenthey saluted and withdrew, the President and the Secretary of Stategoing at once into earnest consultation over the papers Mr. Benjaminhad brought.
Harry felt that he had left an atmosphere of depression and said so,when they were outside in the bright sunshine.
"If you were trying to carry as much as Mr. Davis is carrying you'd bedepressed too," said Dalton.
"Maybe so, but let's forget it. We've got nothing to do for a few daysbut enjoy ourselves. General Winder is to give us quarters, but we'renot to be under his command. What say you to a little trip through thecapitol?"
"Good enough."
Congress had adjourned for the day, but
they went through the building,admiring particularly the Houdon Washington, and then strolled againthrough the streets, which were so interesting and novel to them.Richmond was never gayer and brighter. They were sure that the hatedYankees could never come. For more than two years the Army of NorthernVirginia had been an insuperable bar to their advance, and it wouldcontinue so.
Harry suddenly lifted his cap as some one passed swiftly, and Daltonglancing backward saw a small vanishing figure.
"Who was it?" he asked.
"The thin little old maid in black whom we saw on the train. She mayhave nodded to me when I bowed, but it was such a little nod that I'mnot certain."
"I rather like your being polite to an insignificant old maid, Harry.I'd expect you, as a matter of course, to be polite to a young andpretty girl, overpolite probably."
"That'll do, George Dalton. I like you best when you're preachingleast. Come, let's go into the hotel and hear what they're talkingabout."
After the custom of the times a large crowd was gathered in thespacious lobby of Richmond's chief hotel. Among them were the localcelebrities in other things than war, Daniel, Bagby, Pegram, Randolph,and a half-dozen more, musicians, artists, poets, orators and wits.People were quite democratic, and Harry and Dalton were free to drawtheir chairs near the edge of the group and listen. Pegram, thehumorist, gave them a glance of approval, when he noticed theiruniforms, the deep tan of their faces, their honest eyes and theircompact, strong figures.
Harry soon learned that a large number of English and French newspapershad been brought by a blockade runner to Wilmington, North Carolina,and had just reached the capital, the news of which these men werediscussing with eagerness.
"We learn that the sympathies of both the French and Englishgovernments are still with us," said Randolph.
"But these papers were all printed before the news of Vicksburg andGettysburg had crossed the Atlantic," said Daniel.
"England is for us," said Pegram, "only because she likes us little andthe North less. The French Imperialists, too, hate republics, and arein for anything that will damage them. When we beat off the North,until she's had enough, and set up our own free and independentrepublic, we'll have both England and France annoying us, and demandingfavors, because they were for us in the war. Sympathy is something,but it doesn't win any battles."
"A nation has no real friend except itself," said Bagby. "Whatever theSouth gets she'll have to get with her own good right arm."
"I can predict the first great measure to be put through by theSouthern Government after the war."
"What will it be?"
"The abolition of slavery."
"Why, that's one of the things we're fighting to maintain!"
"Exactly so. You're willing to throw away a thing of your own accord,when you're not willing to throw it away because another orders you todo so. Wars are due chiefly to our misunderstanding of human nature."
Then Pegram turned suddenly to Harry. "You're from the field?" hesaid. "From the Army of Northern Virginia?"
"Yes," replied Harry. "My name is Kenton and I'm a lieutenant on thestaff of General Lee. My friend is George Dalton, also of thecommander-in-chief's staff."
"Are you from Kentucky?" asked Daniel curiously.
"Yes, from a little town called Pendleton."
"Then I fancy that I've met a relative of yours. I returned recentlyfrom a small town in North Georgia, the name of which I may not give,owing to military reasons, necessary at the present time, and I metwhile I was there a splendid tall man of middle years, Colonel GeorgeKenton of Kentucky."
"That's my father!" said Harry eagerly. "How was he?"
"I thought he must be your father. The resemblance, you know. Ishould say that if all men were as healthy as he looked there would beno doctors in the world. He has a fine regiment and he'll be in thebattle that's breeding down there. Grant has taken Vicksburg, as weall know, but a powerful army of ours is left in that region. It hasto be dealt with before we lose the West."
"And it will fight like the Army of Northern Virginia," said Harry. "Iknow the men of the West. The Yankees win there most of the time,because we have our great generals in the East and they have theirs inthe West."
"I've had that thought myself," said Bagby. "We've had men of geniusto lead us in the East, but we don't seem to produce them in the West.People are always quoting Napoleon's saying that men are nothing, a manis everything, which I never believed before, but which I'm beginningto believe now."
Then the talk veered away from battle and back to social, literary andartistic affairs, to all of which Harry and Dalton listened eagerly.Both had minds that responded to the more delicate things of life, andthey were glad to hear something besides war discussed. It was hardfor them to think that everything was going on as usual in Europe, thatnew books and operas and songs were being written, and that men andwomen were going about their daily affairs in peace. Yet both weredestined to live to see the case reversed, the people of the Statessetting the world an example in moderation and restraint, while thegovernments of Europe were deluging that continent with blood.
"If this war should result in our defeat," said Bagby, "we won't get afair trial before the world for two or three generations, and maybenever."
"Why?" asked Dalton.
"Because we're not a writing people. Oh, yes, there's Poe, I know, thenation's greatest literary genius, but even Europe honored him beforethe South did. We've devoted our industry and talents to politics,oratory and war. We don't write books, and we don't have anynewspapers that amount to much. Why, as sure as I'm sitting here, themoment this war is over New England and New York and Pennsylvania,particularly New England, will begin to pour out books, telling how thewicked Southerners brought on the war, what a cruel and low people weare, the way in which we taught our boys, when they were strong enough,how to beat slaves to death, and the whole world will believe them.Maybe the next generation of Southerners will believe them too."
"Why?" asked Harry.
"Why? Why? Because we don't have any writers, and won't have any fora long time! The writer has not been honored among us. Any fellowwith a roaring voice who can get up on the stump and tell his audiencethat they're the bravest and best and smartest people on earth is theman for them. You know that old story of Andy Jackson. Somebodytaunted him with being an uneducated man, so at the close of his nextspeech he thundered out: _E pluribus unum! Multum in parvo! Sicsemper tyrannis!_ So it was all over. Old Andy to that audience, andall the others that heard of it, was the greatest Latin scholar in theworld."
"But that may apply to the North, too," objected Harry.
"So it would. Nevertheless they'll write this war, and they'll gettheir side of it fastened on the world before our people begin towrite."
"But if we win we won't care," said Randolph. "Success speaks foritself. You can squirm and twist all you please, and make all theexcuses for it that you can think up, but there stands success glaringcontemptuously at you. You're like a little boy shooting arrows at theSphinx."
Thus the conversation ran on. Both Harry and Dalton were glad to be inthe company of these men, and to feel that there was something in theworld besides war. All the multifarious interests of peace andcivilization suddenly came crowding back upon them. Harry rememberedPendleton with its rolling hills, green fields, and clear streams, andDalton remembered his own home, much like it, in the Valley ofVirginia, not so far away.
"Do you remain long in Richmond?" asked Randolph.
"A week at least," replied Harry.
"Then you ought to see a little of social life. Mrs. John Curtis, aleading hostess, gives a reception and a dance to-morrow night. I caneasily procure invitations for both of you, and I know that she wouldbe glad to have two young officers freshly arrived from our gloriousArmy of Northern Virginia."
"But our clothes!" said Dalton. "We have only a change of uniformapiece, and they're not fresh by any means."
All
the men laughed.
"You don't think that Richmond is indulging in gorgeous apparel doyou?" said Daniel. "We never manufactured much ourselves, and sinceall the rest of the world is cut off from us where are the clothes tocome from even for the women? Brush up your uniforms all you can andyou'll be more than welcome. Two gallant young officers from the Armyof Northern Virginia! Why, you'll be two Othellos, though white, ofcourse."
Harry glanced at Dalton, and Dalton glanced at Harry. Each saw thatthe other wanted to go, and Daniel, watching them, smiled.
"I see that you'll come," he said, "and so it's settled. Have youquarters yet?"
"Not yet," replied Harry, "but we'll see about it this afternoon."
"I'll have the invitations sent to you here at this hotel. All of uswill be there, and we'll see that you two meet everybody."
Both thanked him profusely. They were about to go, thinking it time toreport to General Winder, when Harry noticed a thin woman in a blackdress, carrying a large basket, and just leaving the hotel desk. Hecaught a glimpse of her face and he knew that it was the old maid ofthe train. Then something else was impressed upon his mind, somethingwhich he had not noticed at their first meeting, but which came to himat their second. He had seen a face like hers before, but theresemblance was so faint and fleeting that he could not place it,strive as he would. But he was sure that it was there.
"Who is that woman?" he asked.
Daniel shook his head and so did Randolph, but Bagby spoke up.
"Her name is Henrietta Carden," he said, "and she's a seamstress. I'veseen her coming to the hotel often before, bringing new clothes to thewomen guests, or taking away old ones to be repaired. I believe thatthe ladies account her most skillful. It's likely that she'll be atthe Curtis house, in a surgical capacity, to-morrow night, as a quickrepairer of damaged garments, those fine linen and silk and laceaffairs that we don't know anything about. Mrs. Curtis relies greatlyupon her and I ought to tell you, young gentlemen, that Mr. Curtis is amost successful blockade runner, though he takes no personal riskhimself. The Curtis house is perhaps the most sumptuous in Richmond.You'll see no signs of poverty there, though, as I told you, officersin old and faded clothes are welcome."
Harry saw Henrietta Carden carrying the large basket of clothes, go outat a side door, and he felt as if a black shadow like a menace hadpassed across the floor. But it was only for an instant. He dismissedit promptly, as one of those thoughts that come out of nothing, likeidle puffs of summer air. He and Dalton bade a brief farewell to theirnew friends and left for the headquarters of General Winder. Anelderly and childless couple named Lanham had volunteered to take twoofficers in their house near Capitol Square, and there Harry and Daltonwere sent.
They could not have found a better place. Mr. and Mrs. Lanham werequiet people, who gave them an excellent room and a fine supper. Mrs.Lanham showed a motherly solicitude, and when she heard that they weregoing to the Curtis ball on the following night she demanded that theirspare and best uniforms be turned over to her.
"I can make them look fresh," she insisted, "and your appearance mustbe the finest possible. No, don't refuse again. It's a pleasure to meto do it. When I look at you two, so young and strong and so honest inmanner and speech, I wish that I had sons too, and then again I'm gladI have not."
"Why not, Mrs. Lanham?" asked Harry.
"Because I'd be in deadly fear lest I lose them. They'd go to thewar--I couldn't help it--and they'd surely be killed."
"We won't grieve over losing what we've never had," smiled Mr. Lanham."That's morbid."
Harry and Dalton did their best to answer all the questions of theirhosts, who they knew would take no pay. The interest of both Mr. andMrs. Lanham was increased when they found that their young guests wereon the staff of General Lee and before that had been on the staff ofthe great Stonewall Jackson. These two names were mighty in the South,untouched by any kind of malice or envy, and with legends to clusteraround them as the years passed.
"And you really saw Stonewall Jackson every day!" said Mrs. Lanham."You rode with him, talked with him, and went into battle with him?"
"I was in all his campaigns, Mrs. Lanham," replied Harry, modestly, butnot without pride. "I was with him in every battle, even to the last,Chancellorsville. I was one of those who sheltered him from theshells, when he was shot by our own men. Alas! what an awful mistake.I--"
He stopped suddenly. He had choked with emotion, and the tears cameinto his eyes. Mrs. Lanham saw, and, understanding, she quicklychanged the subject to Lee. They talked a while after supper, calleddinner now, and then they went up to their room on the second floor.
It was a handsome room, containing good furniture, including two singlebeds. Their baggage had preceded them and everything was in order. Twolarge windows, open to admit the fresh air, looked out over Richmond.On a table stood a pitcher of ice water and glasses.
"Our lot has certainly been cast in a pleasant place," said Dalton,taking a chair by one of the windows.
"You're right," said Harry, sitting in the chair by the other window."The Lanhams are fine people, and it's a good house. This is luxury,isn't it, George, old man?"
"The real article. We seem to be having luck all around. And we'regoing to a big ball to-morrow night, too. Who'd have thought such athing possible a week ago?"
"And we've made friends who'll see that we're not neglected."
"It's an absolute fact that we've become the favorite children offortune."
"No earthly doubt of it."
Then ensued a silence, broken at length by a scraping sound as eachmoved his chair a little nearer to the window.
"Close, George," said Harry at length.
"Yes, a bit hard to breathe."
"When fellows get used to a thing it's hard to change."
"Fine room, though, and those are splendid beds."
"Great on a winter night."
"You've noticed how the commander-in-chief himself seldom sleeps undera tent, but takes his blankets to the open?"
"Wonder how an Indian who has roamed the forest all his life feels whenhe's shut up between four walls for the first time."
"Fancy it's like a prison cell to him."
"Think so too. But the Lanhams are fine people and they're doing theirbest for us."
"Do you think they'd be offended if I were to take my blankets, andsleep on the grass in the back yard?"
"Of course they would. You mustn't think of such a thing. After thiswar is over you've got to emerge slowly from barbarism. Do youremember whether at supper we cut our food with our knives and liftedit to our mouths with forks, or just tore and lifted with our fingers?"
"We used knife and fork, each in its proper place. I happened to thinkof it and watched myself. You, I suppose, did it through the force ofan ancient habit, recalled by civilized surroundings."
"I'm glad you remember about it. Now I'm going to bed, and maybe I'llsleep. I suppose there's no hope of seeing the stars through the roof."
"None on earth! But my bed is fine and soft. We'd be all right if wecould only lift the roof off the house. I'd like to hear the windrubbing the boughs together."
"Stop it! You make me homesick! We've got no right to be pining forblankets and the open, when these good people are doing so much for us!"
Each stretched himself upon his bed, and closed his eyes. They had notbeen jesting altogether. So long a life in the open made summer skiesat night welcome, and roofs and walls almost took from them the powerof breathing.
But the feeling wore away after a while and amid pleasurable thoughtsof the coming ball both fell asleep.
The Shades of the Wilderness: A Story of Lee's Great Stand Page 11
