assented willingly, as she
stated that the presence of a young man would both amuse and protect the
family. For several nights she had not slept, and had imagined footsteps
on the porch and the drawing of window-bolts. There was a bed, formerly
occupied by her brother, that I might take, but must depend upon rather
laggard attendance. I had the satisfaction, therefore, of seeing the
Captain and retinue mount their horses, and wave me a temporary good by.
Poor Fogg looked back so often and so seriously that I expected to see
him fall from the saddle. The young ladies were much impressed with the
Captain's manliness, and Miss Bell wondered _how_ such a _puffick_
gentleman could _reconcile_ himself to the Yankee cause. She had felt a
desire to speak to him upon that point as she was _sure_ he was of fine
stock, and entirely averse to the invasion of such territory as that of
_dear_ old Virginia. There was something in his manner that _so_
reminded her of some one who should be _nameless_ for the present; but
the "nameless" was, _of course_, young, _handsome_, and _so_ brave. I
ruthlessly dissipated her theory of the Captain's origin, by stating
that he was of humble German descent, so far as I knew, and had probably
never beheld Virginia till preceded by the bayonets of his neighbors.

After tea Miss Bessie produced a pitcher of rare cider, that came from a
certain mysterious quarter of the cellar. A chessboard was forthcoming
at a later hour, when we amused ourselves with a couple of games,
facetiously dubbing our chessman Federals and Confederates. Miss Bell,
meanwhile, betook herself to a diary, wherein she minutely related the
incidents and sentiments of successive days. The quantity of words
underscored in the same autobiography would have speedily exhausted the
case of italics, if the printer had obtained it. I was so beguiled by
these patriarchal people, that I several times asked myself if the
circumstances were real. Was I in a hostile country, surrounded by
thousands of armed men? Were the incidents of this evening portions of
an historic era, and the ground about me to be commemorated by
bloodshed? Was this, in fact, revolution, and were these simple country
girls and their lovers revolutionists? The logs burned cheerily upon the
hearth, and the ancestral portraits glowered contemplatively from the
walls. Miss Prissy looked dreamily into the fire, and the old man snored
wheezily in a corner. A gray cat purred in