“Those darkies before a clever lawyer would have been our undoing,” they admitted to one another.
The night school was discontinued for the time being and the poor colored people got back into their one time rut. Tempy resumed her labors at Grantly, a sadder and wiser girl. She no longer slept amidst the unwashed dishes but seemed anxious to become as good a servant as her sister Chloe. Sam, the factotum, returned in time to put in the garden.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE CARRIER PIGEON
There came a day in mid-April that will always be remembered by the dwellers in Valhalla. Herz had walked home from school with Douglas, and contrary to his custom, had come in when they reached the house. He was in a strange, fierce humor and it seemed to Douglas as though his near-sighted eyes were boring holes in her. She could not keep her mind and talk off the war and whenever war was mentioned he became very glum.
“Now that we are at war, will you not enlist?” she asked. “If you are a true American, I do not see how you can help it.”
“My eyes would debar me. Near-sighted men can’t always serve where they would like to,” he answered rather bitterly. “You see good in no one but a soldier.”
“Why, not at all!” blushed Douglas. “Of course, when my country is at war I want our young men to be willing to fight. Being a girl is all that keeps me here. You might work in a munition factory and help that way.”