[CHAPTER XX.]
"I never thought you unreasonable before, Ida."
"I am sorry you should now, Carry."
"How can I help it, when after travelling with us for weeks you suddenly resolve to return to Eastern Virginia by yourself; and to that lonesome place in the country, which you have not visited for years!"
"I have an escort; a gentleman who is on his way to Richmond, and will take charge of me."
"But why this notion, just as we decided to go north? Has your curiosity to behold Niagara diminished since your sight of 'the Bridge?'"
"Frankly and truly, I do not care to see it. I would not ride to the House Mountain yonder, if Mont Blanc, the Lake of Como, and the Great Fall were to be seen from the other side."
"Do you hear that, Arthur?" said Carry, despairingly, to her husband, who was reading.
"No—what is it?"