“Yes—I, Elfie. Now, if you will all stop exclaiming and gesticulating, I’ll explain.”
“Do so, then.”
“Well, you know, last June, when the enrolling officers were going round?”
“Yes,” said Erminie.
“The day they came here no one was at home but myself and the servants. You, Erminie, were at the hospitals, and my pap was with General Hooker. So I was keeping house that morning, when there came a peremptory ring at the bell. Old Bob, as usual, answered it, and then came to me with a scared face, saying there were two ‘ossifer gemmen’ at the door, asking for the head of the family.”
“Well?”
“I was the vice-head, and so I went out to see what was wanted. There stood the two enrolling officers, with the big books and stumpy pens. I knew what they were at a glance. They looked tired and heated that warm summer day, so I invited them to sit down and rest in that cool, shady porch, which they did; when this sort of talk came off:
“‘How many male adults are there belonging to this house?’ inquired the spokesman.
“‘Three or four in all,’ I said.
“‘Name them if you please.’