Never had Gavin more admired his mother’s courage than during those last two days. Smiling, hopeful, encouraging, she bore the terrible heartache of parting, but she did not wholly hide it, even from Gavin. For himself, he went to war as he went to a festival. He was distressed at the thought of his mother, but he was too wholly confident of returning to her to seriously grieve.
“Do this for me, mother—go with me to the palace to-night; let me have the satisfaction of showing you to all those people, and, besides, it will divert you and make you forget that I am leaving to-morrow.”
“Very likely,” murmured Lady Hamilton.
“And as for meeting my father, I think he must have left Vienna. No one has seen him for a month.”
“Then I will go; perhaps the being with you a few hours longer may be an inducement,” replied his mother in a gayer tone.
“It is every one’s duty, mother, to look gay to-night; for if we meet the Prussians with downcast hearts, we are already half beaten.”
“Quite true. And as I am the daughter of a soldier, and was the sister of soldiers, as well as the mother of a soldier, I shall be as brave as any. But let me tell you, Gavin, the bravest at the levee to-night will not be the men wearing their swords, but the women who with anxious hearts and trembling souls give their best beloved to their country.”
Madame Ziska and Kalenga were to sit up until the return of the party from the palace, and they were to have a farewell supper together, for St. Arnaud and Gavin must be with their troops before daybreak.
Madame Ziska and little Freda assisted Lady Hamilton with her toilet—the same severely simple black satin gown she had worn before. The two women understood and mutually comforted each other, and by tacit agreement there was no mention of the impending parting until just as Lady Hamilton was ready, and stood a picture of mature and womanly grace, Madame Ziska began to weep.
“I am a fool,” she cried. “They will come back—I know they will come back—but it is hard to let them go, for I, too, love them dearly.”