“It’s the alarm bell,” said Mrs. Varney.
“Yes,” said Caroline, “they are calling out the last reserves.”
“Yes; hark to the cannonading. Isn’t it awful?” returned Mrs. Varney. “They must be making a terrible attack to-night. Lieutenant Maxwell was right; that quiet spell was a signal.”
“There goes another battery of artillery,” said Caroline, staring through the window. “A man told us that they were sending them all over to Cemetery Hill. That’s where the fighting is, Cemetery Hill.”
“General Varney’s Division is to the right of that position, or was the last time I heard from him,” said Mrs. Varney anxiously.
The two women looked at each other for a moment, both of them thinking the same thought, to which neither dared give utterance. The object of their thought was the boy, and the continuous flashes of light on the horizon seemed to make the situation more horrible.
“I am afraid they are going to have a bad time of it to-night,” said Caroline, drawing the curtains and turning away from the window.
“I’m afraid so,” was the rejoinder. “Now, try to think, dear, who was at the telegraph office? Can’t you tell me something that occurred that will explain Edith’s silence? She looks like death, and——”
“I can’t tell you anything except that they arrested Mr. Arrelsford.”
“Mr. Arrelsford! You don’t mean that?”