The bell rang, and Stephen went to the door. He was startled to see Mr. Brinsmade. That gentleman was suddenly aged, and his clothes were wet and spattered with mud. He sank into a chair, but refused the spirits and water which Mrs. Brice offered him in her alarm.
“Stephen,” he said, “I have been searching the city for John. Did you see him at Camp Jackson—was he hurt?”
“I think not, sir,” Stephen answered, with clear eyes.
“I saw him walking southward after the firing was all over.”
“Thank God,” exclaimed Mr. Brinsmade, fervently. “If you will excuse me, madam, I shall hurry to tell my wife and daughter. I have been able to find no one who saw him.”
As he went out he glanced at Stephen's forehead. But for once in his life, Mr. Brinsmade was too much agitated to inquire about the pain of another.
“Stephen, you did not tell me that you saw John,” said his mother, when the door was closed.
CHAPTER XX. IN THE ARSENAL
There was a dismal tea at Colonel Carvel's house in Locust Street that evening Virginia did not touch a mouthful, and the Colonel merely made a pretence of eating. About six o'clock Mrs. Addison Colfax had driven in from Bellegarde, nor could it rain fast enough or hard enough to wash the foam from her panting horses. She did not wait for Jackson to come out with an umbrella, but rushed through the wet from the carriage to the door in her haste to urge the Colonel to go to the Arsenal and demand Clarence's release. It was in vain that Mr. Carvel assured her it would do no good, in vain that he told her of a more important matter that claimed him. Could there be a more important matter than his own nephew kept in durance, and in danger of being murdered by Dutch butchers in the frenzy of their victory? Mrs. Colfax shut herself up in her room, and through the door Virginia heard her sobs as she went down to tea.