"I was born there," I said. And a little silence fell between us. I was thinking. Some impression, got I suppose from my remembrance of father and mother, Preston, and others whom I had known, forbade me to dismiss quite so lightly, as too absurd to be true, the rumour I had heard. Moreover, I trusted Dr. Sandford's sources of information, living as he did in habits of close social intercourse with men of influence and position at Washington, both Southern and Northern.
"Mr. Thorold,"—I broke the silence,—"if the South should do such a thing, what would happen?"
"There would be trouble," he said.
"What sort of trouble?"
"Might be all sorts," said Mr. Thorold, laughing; "it would depend on how far people's folly would carry them."
"But suppose the Southern States should just do that;—say they would break off and govern themselves?"
"They would be like a bad boy that has to be made to take medicine."
"How could you make them?" I asked, feeling unreasonably grave about the question.
"You can see, Miss Randolph, that such a thing could not be permitted. A government that would let any part of its subjects break away at their pleasure from its rule, would deserve to go to pieces. If one part might go, another part might go. There would be no nation left."
"But how could you help it?" I asked.