“Then the war will soon be ended,” Mrs. May said prayerfully.
April raised her head as if to speak, her eyes flashing angrily; but her white lips trembled and of a sudden she left them.
With the arrival of the train to Washington all doubt of the events that had taken place at Richmond were put at rest. Lee had surrendered and Jefferson Davis was in flight. The Confederacy was breaking fast.
After supper that night Dorothea, looking out of her window, saw April and Val Tracy walking together on the lawn, deep in earnest conversation.
“It is little wonder he is in love with her,” she thought, and turned away with just the faintest of sighs. Possibly she did not know that she sighed.
But in thinking that their conversation had anything to do with love, Dorothea was very much mistaken.
“The grapevine telegraph doesn’t carry all the news,” Val was saying to April in a half whisper.
“What do you mean by that?” she asked.
“It isn’t all over yet,” he went on, glancing about to make sure he was not overheard. “We have a shot left in our locker that may surprise the Yanks.”
“Tell me, Val,” she demanded eagerly.