“I didn’t wake you up,” Harriot insisted, thus changing the subject much to Dorothea’s delight.
But as the hours wore on she became more and more anxious for Val’s return and when in the early evening she heard a horseman ride rapidly up to the front of the house she was the first on the porch to welcome him. It was not Tracy, however, but Hal, and he brought information that was by no means welcome.
“We’re ordered off!” he announced.
He had little more to tell than that. Tracy was already on the move and they need not expect to see him for a long time to come. The Confederate Government was combing the country for men and big events were expected. Hal gave his meager news and was off again ere they realized it, and the household settled down to await events.
“That’s the way it goes,” Mrs. May sighed as they sat at the table that night and looked about at the empty places. “In the morning the house is full. In the evening we are deserted. We women haven’t the easiest part in some ways.”
“That is the misfortune of being born a girl,” April said bitterly.
“We have our place, too, honey,” Miss Imogene replied with a gentle rebuke in her tone. “I think our men need us just as we are. Fighting isn’t just letting off guns.”
“But I might take the place of a man who won’t fight!” April burst out and, jumping to her feet, she left the room amid a hush that lasted some little time after she had gone. All knew of whom she was thinking, and the rest of the meal was eaten in comparative silence.
CHAPTER XVII
CONFIDENCES