"I will be there in a few minutes. Dress yourself, and be ready to leave at a minute's notice," continued Captain Passford. "Where is Christy?"
"He went out about an hour ago, when he saw from the window a young man I did not know," replied Florry, as she passed into her room.
Captain Passford wondered who the young man was whom his son had gone out to meet; for no one was allowed to leave the deck of the Bellevite who belonged to her, and he was not aware that Christy had any friend in the vicinity. He was annoyed at his absence, for he wanted him at that very moment.
Mrs. Passford and Gerty were up-stairs, where nimble fingers were busily at work for the soldiers of the Southern Confederacy, as they were also in the North for the Union. The captain looked all about the house, but he could not see or hear of his son.
[CHAPTER XV]
BROTHER AT WAR WITH BROTHER
Captain Passford was very much annoyed at the absence of Christy at that particular moment, for it seemed to be heavily laden with momentous events to him and his family; though Christy could not possibly know what had transpired in the library between the two brothers. He waited very uneasily in the hall, after his return from his search.
Homer Passford did not come out of his library, and he sat brooding over the remarkable interview which had taken place between the brothers. No doubt he would have been glad to believe that he had been wrong; for he had nothing but the kindest feelings in the world towards his brother, and had never had in all his life. He was five years older than Horatio; and, in their earlier life, he had been to some extent his guardian and protector, and he had never lost the feeling of boyhood.
But he had proved himself to be a patriot of the severest type, and proposed to rob his brother of his steamer, his only means of conveying his daughter to his home, for the benefit of the fraction of the nation which he called his country, and more to prevent her from being transferred to the navy of the Union.
While the captain was waiting in the hall, the library door opened, and Homer presented himself. He invited his brother to return to the apartment, for he had something to say to him; but Horatio positively declined to do so, fearful that they might come to an open rupture if the exciting discussion was continued.