r shone!"

"Cemented with the blood of our own brethren!" said the old man,
solemnly.

"There may be a little bloodshed, but not much. The Yankees won't fight.
They are not a military people. Their armies will scatter before us like
chaff before the wind. I know you don't think as I do. I respect the
lingering attachment you feel for the old Union--it is very natural,"
said Bythewood, indulgently.

The old man smiled. His eyes were closed, and his hands were folded
before him near his breast, in his favorite attitude. And he answered,--

"You are very tolerant towards me, my young friend. It is because you
consider me old, and helpless, and perhaps a little childish, no doubt.
But hear my words. You are going to build up a magnificent empire,
founded on--slavery. But I tell you, the ruin and desolation of our dear
country--that will be your empire. And as for the institution you mean
to perpetuate and strengthen, it will be crushed to atoms between the
upper and nether millstones of the war you are bringing upon the
nation."

He spoke with the power of deep and earnest conviction, and the
complacent Bythewood was for a moment abashed.

"I was well aware of your opinions," he remarked, rallying presently.
"It is useless for us to argue the point. And Virginia, I conceive, does
not like politics. Will you favor us with a song, Virginia?"

"With pleasure, if you wish it," said Virginia, with perfect civility,
although a close observer might have seen how repulsive to her was the
presence of this handsome, but selfish and unprincipled man. He was
their guest; and she had been bred to habits of generous and
self-sacrificing hospitality. However detested a visitor, he must be
politely entertained. On this occasion, she led the way to the parlor,
where the piano was,--all the more readily, perhaps, because it was
still farther removed from the kitchen. Bythewood followed, supporting,
with an ostentatious show of solicitude, the steps of the feeble old
man.

Bythewood named the pieces he wished her to sing, and bent graciously
over the piano to turn the music-leaves for her, and applauded with
enthusiasm. And so she entertained him. And all the while were passing
around them scenes so very different! There was Penn, heroically
stifling the groans of a wounded spirit, within sound of her sweet
voice, and Bythewood so utterly ignorant of his presence there! A little
farther off, and just outside the house, a young woman