While they were waiting for the trunks to be brought up Dorothea, yielding to Harriot’s insistent demands for the story of her adventures on the way from Washington, told briefly what had happened.
“It wasn’t very much,” she began. “Everything was made very easy for me, and all the people I met were so pleasant and kind, that it seemed as if I was finding friends wherever I went. All the Americans are like that, aren’t they? It’s different in England. Of course, as I might have expected though I didn’t, Fräulein lost all her courage and refused to go. You might have thought she would have to fight. She talked of both armies as if they wouldn’t have anything to do but kill us. But I wasn’t to be put off. There was a Mrs. Warren and her two children who were going through the lines at the same time, and she looked after me till we reached Charlotte. There I was handed over to a Miss Pettigrew who brought me here. So you see,” Dorothea ended, “it wasn’t much of an adventure after all.”
“Oh, but you haven’t told us about the soldiers, or the flag of truce or—or lots of things you must have seen,” Harriot suggested.
“There isn’t really much to tell,” Dorothea returned; but in her answer there was a hint of reluctance to talk of the matter. “We crossed a river called the Rappahannock in boats with a white flag flying, ‘under the special protection of the two great American armies,’ they said. There was a rope stretched on the Southern side and a Confederate officer met us, lifting the barrier to let us through. All the officers on each side were very polite and friendly to each other, exchanging newspapers and inquiring for mutual friends; but before we knew it everything was all over. After that, we were driven over awful roads to call on one of your commanding officers to deliver our passes and thanks for our special truce, as is customary. Oh, here are my boxes and I want to unpack them.”
Seeming glad of a diversion which allowed a change of subject, Dorothea ended her recital abruptly and turned to where two colored boys were unstrapping her luggage. Mrs. May watched her for a moment and unconsciously shook her head as if a little puzzled. April, her eyes upon the floor, sat immovable, as if her thoughts were very far away.
“I wonder why she doesn’t want to talk about the soldiers?” Harriot asked herself. All three had noted something of a lack of frankness that had set them wondering.
But trunks fresh from outside the blockade had a strong attraction for April and Harriot. Mrs. May, too, did not attempt to conceal her curiosity. However she had many household duties that called for immediate attention.
“I’m just as anxious to see your pretty things as the girls,” she said, as she rose to leave the room; “but I am obliged to wait till later. I’ll send Merry up.”
At once there was a protest.
“We don’t need her!” Harriot exclaimed.