down on one of the benches, an' the train started." She shut her eyes
tightly. "I don't like train travel. I like to go slower--"

"But it brought you to Richmond--"

Christianna opened her eyes. "Yes, ma'am, we ran an' ran all day, making
a lot of noise, an' it was so dirty; an' then last night we got
here--an' I slept on a bench in the house where we got out--only I
didn't sleep much, for soldiers an' men an' women were going in and out
all night long--an' then in the mahnin' a coloured woman there gave me a
glass of milk an' showed me where I could wash my face--an' then I came
out into the street an' began to look for Cousin Nanny Pine--"

"And you couldn't find her?"

"She isn't here, ma'am. I walked all mahnin', looking, but I couldn't
find her, an' nobody that I asked knew. An' they all said that the army
from the Valley hadn't come yet, an' they didn't even know if it was
coming. An' I was tired an' frightened, an' then at last I saw a window
with two bonnets in it, and I said, 'Oh, thank the Lord!' an' I went an'
knocked. An' it wasn't Cousin Nanny Pine. It was another milliner. 'Mrs.
Oak?' she says, says she. 'Mrs. Oak's in Williamsburg! Daniel Oak got
his leg cut off in the battle, an' she boarded up her windows an' went
to Williamsburg to nurse him--an' God knows I might as well board up
mine, for there's nothin' doin' in millinery!' An' she gave me my
dinner, an' she told me that the army hadn't come yet from the Valley,
an' she said she would let me stay there with her, only she had three
cousins' wives an' their children, refugeein' from Alexandria way an'
stayin' with her, an' there wasn't a morsel of room. An' so I rested for
an hour, an' then I came out to look for some place to stay. An' it's
mortal hard to find." Her soft voice died. She wiped her eyes with the
cape of her sunbonnet.

"She had best come with me," said Margaret to Judith. "Yes, there is
room--we will make room--and it will not be bad for Miriam to have some
one.... Are we not all looking for that army? And her people are in
Richard's regiment." She rose. "Christianna, child, neighbours must
help one another out! So come with me, and we shall manage somehow!"

Hospitality rode well forward in the Thunder Run creed. Christianna
accepted with simplicity what, had their places been changed, she would
as simply have given. She began to look fair and happy, a wild rose in
sunshine. She was in Richmond, and she had found a friend, and t