“I should think I did,” said Caroline ecstatically. “I just love every one of them. They are going to fight for us and die for us, and I love them.”
“Why don’t you accept one of them before he dies, then, and have done with it? I suppose it will be one of those smart young fellows with a cavalry uniform.”
“It will be some kind of a uniform, I can tell you that. It won’t be any one that stays in Richmond.”
“Now I see what it was,” said Wilfred, looking at her gloomily. “I had to stay in Richmond, and——”
The boy choked up and would not finish.
“Well,” said Caroline, “that made a heap of difference. Why, I was the only girl on Franklin Street that didn’t have a—some one she was engaged to—at the front. Just think what it was to be out of it like that! You have no idea how I suffered; besides, it is our duty to help all we can. There aren’t many things a girl can do, but Colonel Woolbridge—he’s one of Morgan’s new men, you know—said that the boys fight twice as well when they have a—sweetheart at home. I couldn’t waste an engagement on——”
“And is that why you let them all propose to you?” rejoined the youth bitterly.
“Certainly; it didn’t hurt me, and it pleased them. Most of ’em will never come back to try it again, and it is our duty to help all we can.”
“And you really want to help all you can, do you?” asked Wilfred desperately. “Well, if I were to join the army would you help me—that way?”
This was a direct question. It was the argumentum ad feminam with a vengeance. Caroline hesitated. A swift blush overspread her cheek, but she was game to the core.