got to de big
oaks, and when dey outer de kerriage an' went up de steps dey was
chatterin' lak de birds at daybreak! An' now I heah dem sighin' an' Miss
Molly's handkerchief ez wet ez ef 't was in de washtub! De ol' times is
evaporated."

"Dat sholy so," agreed Isham, from the box. "Des look at me er-drivin'
horses dat once I'd er scorned to tech!--An' all de worl' er-mournin'.
Graveyards gitting full an' ginerals lyin' daid. What de use of dis heah
war, anyhow? W'ite folk ought ter hab more sence."

In the Greenwood dining-room they sat at table in silence, scarcely
touching Car'line's supper, but in the parlour afterward Judith turned
at bay. "Even Aunt Lucy--of all people in the world! Aunt Lucy, if you
do not smile this instant, I hope all the Greenwood shepherdesses will
step from out the roses and disown you! And Unity, if you don't play,
sing, look cheerful, my heart will break! Who calls it loss this
afternoon? He left a thought of him that will guide men on! Who doubts
that to-morrow morning we shall hear that Cross Keys was won? Oh, I know
that you are thinking most of General Ashby!--but I am thinking most of
Cross Keys!"

"Judith, Judith, you are the strongest of us all--"

"Judith, darling; nothing's going to hurt Richard! I just feel it--"

"Hush, Molly! Judith's not afraid."

"No. I am not afraid. I think the cannon have stopped at Cross Keys, and
that they are resting on the field.--Now, for us women. I do not think
that we do badly now. We serve all day and half the night, and we keep
up the general heart. I think that if in any old romance we read of
women like the women of the South in this war we would say, 'Those women
were heroic.' We have been at war for a year and two months. I see no
end of it. It is a desert, and no one knows how wide it is. We may
travel for years. Beside every marching soldier, there marches invisible
a woman soldier too. We are in the field as they are in the field, and
doing our part. No--we have not done at all badly, but now let us give
it all! There is a plane where every fibre is heroic. Let us draw to
full height, lift eyes, and travel boldly! We have to cross the desert,
but from the desert one sees all the stars! Let us be too wise for such
another drooping hour!" She came and kissed her aunt, and clung to her.
"I wasn't scolding, Aunt Lucy! How could I? But to-night I simply have
to be strong. I have to look at the stars, for the desert is full of
terrible s