“It is to be hoped so,” replied the parson with a smile; “I doubt whether she will meet any one of her age as proficient in book learning as herself, but there remains music, etiquette, and above all, the social customs and accomplishments which can be acquired nowhere except in the abode of civilization. There is none upon whom this blow will fall more heavily than myself, but I have no right to interpose when a man is doing his duty.”
An exploding bomb could not have caused more consternation than the news brought by the parson. Every one felt the truth of his words and respected him for their utterance, but it was like asking them to consent to the blotting of the sun from the heavens.
“I see a way out of it,” finally remarked Wade Ruggles with a brightening face; “we can compermise.”
“In what way?”
“Why, if Dawson feels that he and the gal must go, let him split the difference atween us; he can go and leave her; that will satisfy everybody.”
“It will hardly satisfy him, since the whole question is that of taking her with him. He must be left free to do whatever he chooses.”
The parson looked into the gloomy faces turned toward him.
“Boys, you have all heard the news brought by the last papers. Fort Sumter has been fired on; President Lincoln has called for volunteers; the Southern Confederacy has been declared and civil war has begun. It is the intention of Dawson to offer his services to the cause of the Union.”
“And I shall enlist too,” declared Wade Ruggles, compressing his lips, “but it will be on the other side.”