"But that means greater peril for you," faltered the young girl.
"No, it means the shortest road to safety for us all. A mob is like fire: it must be stamped out of existence as soon as possible."
"I think Merwyn is right," resumed Mr. Vosburgh. "Another day of successful fighting will carry us to safety, for the general government is moving rapidly in our behalf, and our militia regiments are on their way home. I'll be ready to go to headquarters with you in a minute."
"Oh, please do not be rash to-day. If you had fallen yesterday think what might have happened," said Marian.
"Every blow I strike to-day, Miss Vosburgh, will be nerved by the thought that you have one enemy, one danger, the less; and I shall esteem it the greatest of privileges if I can remain here to-night again as one of your protectors."
"I cannot tell you what a sense of security your presence gives me," she replied. "You seem to know just what to do and how to do it."
"Well," he answered, with a grim laugh, "one learns fast in these times. A very stern necessity is the mother of invention."
"Yes," sighed the girl, "one learns fast. Now that I have seen war, it is no longer a glorious thing, but full of unspeakable horrors."
"This is not war," said Merwyn, a little bitterly. "I pity, while I detest, the poor wretches we knock on the head. Your friends, who have fought the elite of the South will raise their eyebrows if they hear us call this war."
"I have but one friend who has faced a mob alone," she replied, with a swift, shy glance.