Jeanne glanced down at her attire complacently.
“It does look stylish,” she admitted. “I wonder if the rebel girls wear hoops.”
“I dare say they do,” answered the mother rather absently. Then overcome by a rush of emotion she caught the girl to her. “Oh, Jeanne, I wonder if I am doing right to let you go! What if some harm should come to you?”
“Don’t worry, mother,” and Jeanne soothed her gently. “I feel sure that I will get through safely.”
“I shall not be easy until I hold you in my arms again,” said Mrs. Vance mournfully. “But I must not make it hard for you to go, dear. You will be careful, Jeanne.”
“Yes, mother.”
“And, child, you are loyal, I know, but you are very young. You are going into the enemy’s country, where disloyalty to the Union will be the common utterance. Are you strong enough to bear all that you will hear and still retain that fidelity unimpaired?”
“Mother!” Jeanne spoke reproachfully.
“Yes; I know that your heart is devoted to your country, but older ones than you have been drawn from their allegiance. I only give this as a caution because you have always been where nothing but the Union has been talked. Now you are apt to hear just as much on the other side, and there may be trials that will test your strength severely. I cannot but fear that all will not go so smoothly as your father thinks. But, Jeanne, whatever comes, bear yourself as a true American. Swerve not from the allegiance due to your country. Let come what will, even death itself, suffer it rather than for one moment to be false to your country. They are my last words to you, my daughter. Be true to your country. Will you remember?”
“Yes,” replied the girl solemnly. “Whatever comes I will be true to my country.”