“No matter; but will you answer truly one question? In the first place you know it is necessary for me to start for Albany at once to see Governor Fenton, and Mrs. Painter is called home on business; and you cannot be left here alone. You are distressed and unhappy, and with reason; Bob cannot go to Washington, as you well know, and now please answer without reserve. If Bob should wish to marry you here, in camp, will you consent?”
“Why, we could not be married here,” she exclaimed.
“That can be managed if you will give your answer.”
“Well, yes, I would,” she replied reluctantly.
But womanly delicacy instantly repented and she added, “O, I would not for the world have Bob think I am in the least bit of a hurry.”
“Don’t think of that! He shall never know of this conversation unless you are willing; and you will have nothing more to do about it.”
In the course of the next hour a letter was written to Bob, in which her real position was plainly set forth, adding the very unpleasant suggestion, that should he fall in the expected battle, the poor girl would be doubly miserable. And further, if, after calm deliberation, he wished to place her rightly in camp, and marry her here in the Field Hospital, it was only necessary to telegraph at once and come to City Point at five P. M. to-morrow, and it should be done with every arrangement made.
A rare chance had brought to our tent that day an officer of Captain Eden’s regiment, by whom the letter was at once dispatched. Little suspecting its importance, he delivered it at midnight to his comrade, as he dreamed by his camp fire of the long deferred day when Annie should be all his own. Astonishment and indignation, at the thought of an injustice to the brave girl who had dared all in her devotion to him, at once cleared away the mists of romance that had surrounded his bright visions of the future.
By the first trembling of the morning wires came the telegram, “All right, on the way to City Point on horseback.” This was shown to Annie, who trembled with anxiety and mortification lest he should think her deficient in maidenly reserve; but we laughed away her fears and said nothing. Still I would not take any decisive action in this emergency until he came and assured me of his earnest wish. So the morning wore slowly on until nearly noon, when Hannah “the great-eyed” stumbled into the tent,—her usual manner of entering,—saying, “Lor, Miss Smith, Mass Bob dun come ridin’ way down de road, ready to broke him neck.”
I slipped quietly out of the tent as he dashed up on his fine horse, well flecked with foam, and pulled rein for the first time in fifteen miles of Virginia road! Covered with dust, but without a thought of fatigue, he sprang to the ground and, with a hearty grasp of my hand, exclaimed, “Colonel, you’re a trump! Never would have thought it possible!” and with a significant gesture he whispered, “Do you mean it?”