Enter JANNETTE with card, which she hands to BUCKTHORN.
BUCKTHORN. [Reading card.] Robert Ellingham! [Rises.] I will go to him. [To JANNETTE.] Go upstairs and tell Madeline to come down.
JANNETTE. Yes, sir. [Going.
BUCKTHORN. And, Jannette, simply say there is a caller; don't tell her who is here. [Exit JANNETTE upstairs. BUCKTHORN follows her out to hall.] Ellingham! My dear fellow! [Extending his hand and disappearing.
BARKET. Colonel Ellingham and Miss Madeline—lovers! That's the kind o' volunteers the country nades now!
Enter BUCKTHORN and ELLINGHAM.
BUCKTHORN. [As he enters.] We've been fighting four years to keep you out of Washington, Colonel, but we are delighted to see you within the lines, now.
ELLINGHAM. I am glad, indeed, General, to have so warm a welcome. But can you tell me anything about my sister, Gertrude?
BUCKTHORN. About your sister? Why, can't you tell us? And have you heard nothing of Kerchival West on your side of the line?
ELLINGHAM. All I can tell you is this: As soon as possible after our surrender at Appomattox, I made my way to the Shenandoah Valley. Our home there is utterly deserted. I have hurried down to Washington in the hopes that I might learn something of you. There is no human being about the old homestead; it is like a haunted house—empty, and dark, and solitary. You do not even know where Gertrude is?