But love affairs were not the only matters these two discussed. As the weeks passed Dorothea grew to know more intimately the causes of the war between the North and the South and many perplexing questions entered her mind. Her sympathy for the Confederacy she had taken for granted; but, with an increasing knowledge of the actual conditions, she began to think for herself and, being an English girl, she was free from the prejudices that would have hampered the cool judgment of one born in America.
She was very glad to find that she could talk freely with Miss Imogene, who, although none doubted her loyalty, showed, to Dorothea at least, some understanding of the Union point of view.
“You know, honey,” Miss Imogene began upon one occasion, “I was at home in Charleston when this war broke out. It was my own State that began it, and perhaps if it hadn’t been for the lesson Larry Stanchfield had taught me I should have been as bitter as the other females who clamored for States’ rights and longed to see the old flag torn down at Fort Sumter. As it was, I had already determined to set all my negroes free; but I couldn’t do it all at once, either for their sakes or for my own. No, my dear, I had first to have them taught trades so that they could take care of themselves, and then I had to let them go secretly, one at a time.”
“But why, Cousin Imogene?” Dorothea asked, puzzled at this. “They belonged to you, didn’t they? You could do as you pleased with them, couldn’t you?”
“Yes, honey, but the feeling against freeing slaves was very marked,” Miss Imogene explained. “Particularly when the war began.”
“But the war wasn’t because of slavery,” Dorothea objected. “It was because of secession. That is what we all thought in England.”
“That is what we all said it was,” Miss Imogene agreed, “but the address that South Carolina sent to the other states invited them to form a ‘Confederacy of Slave-holding States.’ They are the very words, my dear—and then it went on to say that the North did not like slavery and would stop it sooner or later. It did not give one good reason for secession. I know, because I read it. I reckon I’m the only Southern woman who did!” She laughed a little as she ended.
“Would it have made any difference if they had read it?” Dorothea asked.
“Not a mite, honey,” Miss Imogene answered cheerfully. “We were all past reasoning, then. Every one was just swept along on one grand wave of excitement. There was martial music, and new uniforms; shouting, singing, sobbing—just anything to keep the war-fever up to its highest pitch. Nobody wanted to think. They just wanted to feel. It was all as contagious as the measles. And they believed in Toombs next to the Bible.”
“It isn’t quite easy to understand,” Dorothea said thoughtfully. “You’d think going to war was a serious matter.”