ericksburg. So much pneumonia!
An old man and woman came up from North Carolina looking for their son.
I took them through the wards. Oh, it was pitiful! No, he was not
there. Probably he was killed. And Unity went to the sewing-rooms, and
has been there sewing hard all day. And then we came home, and found
Julius almost in tears, and Molly triumphant with the parlour carpet all
up and ready to be cut into squares--soldiers sleeping in the snowy
winter under tulips and roses. And then we read father's letter, and
that was a comfort, a comfort! And then we took Susan's little baby and
buried it, and did what we could for Susan; and then we walked down to
the gate and stopped to gather chrysanthemums. And now we are going back
to the house, and I dare say there'll be some work to do between now and
bedtime. We're doing something pretty nearly all the time, Unity."

Unity lifted with strength the mass of bloom above her head. "I know, I
know! But it's in me to want a brass band to do it by! I want to see the
flag waving! I want to hear the _sound_ of our work. Oh, I know I am
talking foolishness!" She took Judith by the hands, and lifted her to
her feet. "Anyhow, you're brave enough, Judith, Judith darling! Come,
let us race to the house."

The three were country-bred, fleet of foot. They ran, swiftly, lightly,
up the long drive. Twilight was around them, the leaves drifting down,
the leaves crisp under foot. The tall white pillars gleamed before them;
through the curtainless windows showed, jewel-like, the flame of a wood
fire. They reached the steps almost together, soberly mounted them, and
entered the hall. Miss Lucy called to them from the library. "The papers
have come."

The old room, quiet, grave, book-lined, stored with records of old
struggles, lent itself with fitness to the papers nowadays. The
Greenwood Carys sat about the wood fire, Judith in an old armchair,
Unity on an old embroidered stool, Molly in the corner of a great old
sofa. Miss Lucy pushed her chair into the ring of the lamplight and read
aloud in her quick, low, vibrant voice. The army at Fredericksburg--that
was what they thought of now, day and night. She read first of the army
at Fredericksburg--of Lee on the southern side of the Rappahannock, and
Burnside on the northern, and the cannon all planted, and of the women
and children beginning to leave. She read all the official statements,
all the rumours, all the guesses, all the prophecies of