"Oh!"
No more was said. Baby was excuse for any amount of delay, even though it had caused the missing of their train and the driving of the captain into a war dance.
They hurried down stairs and entered the carriages that were waiting to take them to the depot—Fabian, Violet, Clarence and Corona in one; Captain and Mrs. Neville, and Mrs. Neville's maid, in the other. And so they drove to the depot, and arrived just in time to take their tickets and rush to their seats on the train, with no further leave taking than a kiss all around, and a general, heartfelt "God bless you!"
The train was speeding away, leaving Washington City behind, when our party first began to realize that they were really "off" and to take in their surroundings.
Captain and Mrs. Neville sat together about midway in the car. Clarence and Corona sat immediately behind them. On the opposite side sat Mrs. Neville's colored maid, Manda, and in the rear corner, on the same side, the captain's orderly—a new recruit. About half the remaining seats in the car were occupied by other travelers.
At Harper's Ferry, amid the most beautiful and sublime mountain scenery of Virginia, the train stopped twenty minutes for dinner, which, in those ante-bellum days, was well served from the hotel at the depot. After dinner, the train started off again at express speed, stopping but at few stations, until near night, when it reached North End Junction, where Mr. Clarence was to get off.
"Cora, my darling, we must part here," said Mr. Clarence, gathering up his effects, as the train slackened speed.
"Oh, Uncle Clarence! Dear Uncle Clarence! God bless you! God bless you!" sobbed Corona.
"Keep up your heart, dear one. You may see me sooner than you dream of. The missionary mania is sometimes contagious. You have it in its most pronounced form. And I have been sitting by you for eight hours," replied Mr. Clarence, forgetting his prudent resolution to say nothing to Corona of an incipient plan in his mind.
"What do you mean, dear Uncle Clarence?" she anxiously inquired.