"I never doubted that it would, not even after that terrible day at Bull Run and the greater defeats that came later. A cause is lost from the beginning when it is against the progress of the human race."
There was mingled joy and sadness in her manner—joy that the cause which she thought right had won; sadness that her friends, none the less dear because for so many months they had taken another view, should suffer misfortune.
"Mother," Prescott said presently, "I do not wish to leave you, but I must go to the cottage of Miss Grayson and Miss Catherwood. There are likely to be wild scenes in Richmond before the day is over, and they should not be left alone."
The look that she bent upon her son then was singularly soft and tender—smiling, too, as if something pleased her.
"They will be here, Robert," she said. "I expect them any minute."
"Here! in this house!" he exclaimed, starting.
"Yes, here in this house," she said triumphantly "It will not be the first time that Lucia Catherwood has been sheltered behind these walls. Do you not remember when they wished to arrest her, and Lieutenant Talbot searched the cottage for her? She was at that very moment here, in this house, hidden in your own room, though she did not know that it was yours. I saved her then. Oh, I have known her longer than you think."
Stirred by a sudden emotion Prescott stooped down and kissed his mother.
"I have always known that you were a wonderful woman," he said, "but I gave you credit for less courage and daring than you really have."
Some one knocked.