“But what a way to do it!” said Rhoda, indignantly. “A rabble like that, to attack a few innocent people!”
“Innocent from your point of view, but not from the mob’s.”
“You uphold the mob?”
“No; but I don’t uphold the utterances of the Federal Republican. Come home, girls, and don’t poke your noses out of doors, or at least don’t leave our own front doorstep.”
“I’ll not,” cried Lettice, clinging to him. “I will go out into the garden and sit there. Where are my father and Uncle Tom?”
“They have gone down to see Major Barney, to inquire what can be done about this disturbance. I will keep you informed about what goes on.”
“Don’t go back into that mob, Cousin Joe,” Lettice begged. “You might get killed.”
“I must see what is going on, but I will take no part in violence.”
“But what would Patsey say?” Lettice asked half archly.
Joe looked down at her with a little smile. “If she is the brave girl I take her for, she’ll trust to my good sense to look out for myself.”