"All right," replied the young lieutenant.
Rose's eyes were filled with tears. It seemed to the friendless creature very hard to lose Cora, just as Cora was beginning to be friendly.
"Good-by," said Mrs. Rothsay, taking the woman's hand. But Rose burst into tears, threw her arms around the young lady's neck, hugged her close, and kissed her many times.
"Good-by, my pretty step-grandmother-in-law," said Sylvan, gayly, taking her hand and giving her a kiss. "You are still
'The rose that all admire,'
but the best of friends must part."
And leaving Rose in tears, he opened the door for his sister to pass out before him. But she, at least, passed no farther than the front porch, where she stood looking down the lawn in surprise and anxiety, while Sylvan hurried off to see what was the meaning of that which had so suddenly startled them. What was it? What had happened?
A crowd of men, silent, but with faces full of suppressed excitement and surrounding something that was borne in their midst, was slowly marching up the avenue.
Cora watched Sylvan as he went to meet them; saw him speak to them, though she could not hear what he said; saw them stop and put the something, which they bore along and escorted, down on the gravel; saw a parley between her brother and the crowd, and finally saw her brother turn and hurry back toward the house, wearing a pale and troubled countenance.
"You may take the carriage back to the stables, John," said the lieutenant to the wondering negro groom, as he passed it in returning to the porch.