CHAPTER XX
ARRIVING AT EXTREMITIES
My husband's duties kept him from home several days at a time during the early autumn, but now that the lines were drawn so closely together, he could usually return to us after reporting to General Lee at night. I had ceased to feel anxious when he rode away in the morning on his gray horse, Jubal Early. Jubal had brought him safely through many a difficulty. Once he found himself suddenly confronted by a small company of Federals aligned for drill. He saluted, as if he were an officer on inspection, rode gravely past the line, and then Jubal's fleet feet dashed quite out of range before the volley which followed the discovery of his ruse.
One frosty morning I was writing letters,—to Agnes, to my mother, to my little girls in Charlotte, expressing the gratitude of my heart for the new blessings of the hour,—when General Wilcox entered, and took his accustomed stand before the fire.
"Madam," he commenced, "is the General at home?"
"No, General, he did not return last night."
"Not a bit. He sometimes stops at Mrs. Friend's when he is belated. She's his cousin, you know."
"Of course!" laughed the General. "All the pretty women in Virginia are cousins to the Virginia officers. Couldn't you naturalize a few unfortunates who were not born in Virginia?"
I was sealing and stamping my letters, and looked up without immediately answering his badinage. To my surprise his face was pale and his lip quivering.
"You have to know it," said he. "The General will not return. The Yankees caught him this morning."