KERCHIVAL. It is easy enough to set the batteries around Charleston
Harbour, but the man who fires the first shot at a woman—
GERTRUDE. Woman!
KERCHIVAL. At the American flag—must have nerves of steel.
GERTRUDE. You Northern men are so slow to—
KERCHIVAL. I have been slow; but I assure you, Miss Gertrude, that my heart—
GERTRUDE. What subject are we on now?
KERCHIVAL. You were complaining because I was too slow.
GERTRUDE. I was doing nothing of the kind, sir!—let me finish, please. You Northern men are so slow to believe that our Southern heroes—Northern men and Southern heroes—you recognize the distinction I make—you won't believe that they will keep their promises. They have sworn to attack Fort Sumter this morning, and—they—will do it. This "American Flag" you talk of is no longer our flag: it is foreign to us!—It is the flag of an enemy!
KERCHIVAL. [Tenderly and earnestly.] Am I your enemy?
GERTRUDE. You have told me that you will return to the North, and take the field.