The Long Roll

of roses, and it aided the tone of time among the portraits. The boughs of peach and cherry blossoms in the old potpourri jars made it welcome, and the dark, waxed floor let it lie in faded pools

it was her delight to make beautiful, soft little sacques and shoes and coverlets fo

à la poste-in eighteen hundred and sixty-one! She untied the string, emptied letters and papers upon the table beside her, and began to sort them. Julius

rth the paper they are written upon.' 'Faith as to Sumter fully kept-wait and see.' That which was seen was a fleet of eleven vessels, with two hundred and eighty-five guns and twenty-four hundred men-'carrying provisions to a starving garrison!' Have done with cant, and welcome open war! The Enquirer.

Miss

od will be here for supper and to s

sarved to me dat Marse Edward am cond

t's best, Julius, in the lower bed. I walked by there this morning.-Letters for my brother!

rse Berkeley Cyarter done recompense him on de roa

ward-one in young Beaufort Porcher's writing. Now we'll hear the Charleston version-probably he fired the

Miss

an rapidly over the half-dozen sheets, then laid them aside for a more leisurely perusal. "It's one of his swift

Fauquier sho' do favour Old Marster in dat.-He don' never forgit! 'Pears ter me he'd better come home-all dis he

g now. Edward from Sally Hampton. More Charleston ne

llern at de gate. She an' Marse Maury Stafford'll be b

e to supper, then. Hairston Breckinr

w in Richmond, in the Convention there, speaking earnestly for amity, a better understanding between Sovereign States, and a happily restored Union. His wife, upon wh

of all who knew her. Not a great beauty as had been her mother, she was yet a handsome woman, clear brunette with bright, dark eyes and a most likable mouth. Miss Lucy never undertook to explain why s

lower gyarden wid Marse Hairston Br

is Miss

reverence over er big

e drawing-room with a great atlas outspread upon her arms. "Aunt Lucy, where are all these places? I can't find them. The Island and Fort Moultrie a

e jagged lightnings. You are eighty years away from a great war, and you don't know what you are talking about, and may you never be any nearer!-Yes, Julius, that's all. Tell Easter's Jim to go right awa

erself to Fauquier Cary's letter. Molly, ensconced in a window, was already busy with her own.

"They all have fine minds-the

birthday, and she's going to have it made with angel sle

s a good

Richmond-something about arms for h

, de

t Richard lo

lly, stop

t summer he used to watch her and Mr. Stafford-and there

y! Mo

t yet. And there was the big tournament, and Richard and Dundee took all the rings, though I know that Mr. Stafford had expected to, and Judith let Richard crown her queen, but she looked jus

o lock up every poet

ern and fine, and rode away. He isn't really handsome-not lik

you're u

and the roses Richard had crowned her with beside her in grandmother's Lowestoft bowl. And each time I asked her, 'Why don't you come to bed, Judith?' and each time she said, 'I'm not sleepy.' Then in the

! I shouldn't have let you ever begin. I

word about her and Richard until this instant when the sunshine came in somehow and started it. And I don't k

o many fancies, and don't read so much

t knight out of the 'Faery Queen.' Didn't you ever not

hey had discovered a thorn. They sat in silence-at opposite sides of the steps-nursing the recollection. Breckinridge regarded the toe o

m the doorway, "is turning col

ildren will be falling out about South Carolina. Mr. Breckinridge is a Democrat and

p him dismount. A negro had hardly taken the grey, and Mr. Wood was yet speaking to the ladies upon the porch, when two other horsemen appeared, mounted on much more fiery s

Edward Cary sprang up the steps. "Aunt Lucy, you remember Hilary Preston!-and this is my sister Unity, Preston,-the Quakeress we call her! and this is Molly, the little one!-Mr. Wood, I am very glad to see you, sir! Aunt Lucy! Virginia Pag

t smiled upon a stage they no longer trod, and between garlands of roses the shepherds and shepherdesses pursued their long, long courtship. The night was mild, the windows partly open, the young girls dancing in gowns of summery stuff. Their very wide skirts were printed over with pale flowers, their bodices were cut low, with a fall of lace against the white bosom. The hair was worn smooth and drawn over the ear, with on either side a bright cluster of blossoms. The fiddlers played "Malbrook s'en va-t-en guerre." L

e. Well off and well-bred, good to look at, pleasant of speech, at times indolent, at times ardent, a little silent on the whole, and never failing to match the occasion with just the right shade of intelligence, a certain grip and essence in this man made itself felt like the firm bed of a river beneath the flowing water. He was not of Albemarle; he was of a tide-water count

illiam held him like the Ancient Mariner and talked of the long past on the Eastern Shore. Judith, entering the library, came upon the R

dith. "Do you think it would be

s wrong. It is this way. I go into the drawing-room and watch you. It is, as you say, a very pretty sight! But if I find it so and still keep a long face, I am to myself something of a hypocrite. And if I testify my delight, if I am absorbed

ed, and reversed the volume. He laughed, and then he sighed. "I was thinking of the country, Judith.

ary's voice, "Judith, Judit

ghing without noise. The April wind, fragrant of greening forests, ploughed land, and fruit trees, blew in and out the long, thin curtains. Faster went the bow upon the fiddle, the room became more brilliant and more dreamy. The flowers in the old, old blue jars grew pinker, mistier, the light

illiam on the sofa, raised her hea

usin William, with a smile. "

r seat again. Cousin William listened. "The air's very clear to-night, and there mus

alled Eli. "Swing yo

ense. The dancers moved more and more quickly. "There are only three horses," said Cousin William, "two in front a

rother he is welcoming!" From the porch came a burst of negro voices. "Who dat comin' up de driv

smounting, a step upon the porch, a voice. "Fath

tained, fatigued, pale with some suppressed emotion, there sped to the gayer company a subtle wave of expectation and alarm. Miss Lucy was the first whom it reached. "What is it, brother?" she said quickly. C

ed to the middle of the room, and stood there, beneath the lit candles, the swinging prisms of the chandelier.

ruder sort upon the porch, "outdoor" negroes drawn by the music and the spectacle from the quarter, approached the windows. Together they made a background, dark and exotic, splashed with bright colour, for the Aryan stock ranged to the front. The drawing-room was filled. Mr. Corbin Wood had come noiselessly in from the library, none was missing. Guests, family, and servants stood motionless. There was that in the bearing of the master which seemed, in the silence, to detach itself, and to come toward them like an emanation, cold, pure, and quiet, determined and imposing. He spoke. "I supposed that you had heard the news

and smote his hands together. "It had to come, Cary, it had to come! North and South, we've pulled in different directions for sixty years! T

The terms of that Union have been broken; she cannot, within it, preserve her integrity, her dignity, and her liberty. Therefore s

mistaken. We are in earnest. War will be for us a desperate thing. We are utterly unprepared; we are seven million against twenty million, an agricultural country against a manufacturing one. We have little shipping, they have much. They will gain command of the sea. If we can get our cotton to Europe we will have gold; therefore, if they can block our ports they will do it. There are those who think the powers will intervene and that we will have England or France for our ally. I am not of them. The odds are greatly against us. We have struggled for peace; apparently we cannot have it; now we will fight for the conviction that is in us. It will be for us a war of defence, with the North for the invader, and Virginia will prove the battle-ground. I hold it very probable that there are men here to-night who will di

began to rock themselves, to strike with the tongue the roof of the mouth, to work toward a camp-meeting excitement. Out on the porch Big Mimy, the washerwoman, made herself heard. "Des' let um dar ter come fightin' Greenwood folk! Des' let me hab at um with er tub er hot water!" Scipio, old and withered as a last year's reed, began to sway violently. Suddenly he broke into a chant. "Ain' I done heard about hit er

peak to you again before I go away to-morrow, but now we'll say g

"Don' you fret, marster! I ain' gwine let er soul tech one er my chillern!" Julius followed her. "Dat's so,

, young women on the edge of an unthought-of experience, on the brink of a bitter, tempestuous, wintry sea. They did not see it so; there was danger, of course, but they thought of splendour and heroism, of trumpet calls and waving banners. They were mu

h, clustered at the top of the steps, between the white pillars, stood in silence until the noise of departure had died away. Warwick Cary, his arm around Molly, his hand in Judith's, Unity's cheek resting against his shoulder, then spoke. "It is the last merry-

er voice died away toward the back of the house. The moon was shining, and the lawn lay chequered beneath the trees. Corbin Wood, who had been standing in a brown study, began to descend the steps. "I'll take a little walk, Judith, my dear," he said, "and think it over! I'll let myself in." He was gone walking rapidly, not toward the big

nd?" she said. "Molly ha

is dreadfully small-but I secured a few. Two thirds of us will have to manage, until we can do better, with the s

ing back to

ll at once offer its services to the g

You will be

a method of officering companies and regiments as can be imagined! 'They are volunteers,

you will make

ry to be a good captain.-The clock is striking. I do not know when

hard? Yes, I will wish you

er. "Do you as

ill later in the morning. It

yellow lamplight, chiefly in silver moonlight the porch lay deserted and quiet before the murmuring oaks, above the fai

es

o hard to forgive-that tournament

" said Judith,

Christmas when, going to Lauderdale, I

I reme

tion-I wished to make certain. And then you passed me going to Silver Hill, and I said, 'It is

said Judith. "Her

ard, and mounted the steps. "I walked as far as the gate with Breckinri

es

he sea to-morrow. Heigho! War

eenwood in

s was strongly so. "In the morning! You waste no time. Unfortunately I cannot get away for another twenty-four hours." He let the rose bough go and turned to Judith. His voice when he spoke to her became at once low an

ord was much the nearer to her. Released, she thanked him with grave kindness, went on to the doorway, and there turned, standing a moment in her drapery of dim blue, in the two lights. She had about her a long scar

ill morning-dear cousin!'" There was a silence on the Greenwood porch, a white-pillared rose-embowered space, paced ere this by lovers and rivals. It was broken by Mr. Corbin Wood, returning from the fields and mounting the moonlit steps. "I have thought it out," he

d good-night, and

," said Stafford, "may be in the thunder of the fight. I have a

h his thick dark hair, his tanned, clean shaven, squarely cut face, stood very straight, in earnest and formidable. The other, leaning against the pillar, was the fairer to look at, and certainly not

"You have reason to re

wore, then spoke with deliberation. "Yes. It is hard to quit Paradise for even such a tourne

false to-night I may yet make it truth to-morrow. All's fair in love and war, and God knows my all is in this war! Judith! Judith! Judith! look my way, not his!" He stared into the night, moodily enough. His room was at the side of the house. Be

eneath the large, mild stars, she tried to think of Virginia and the coming war, but at the end of every avenue she came upon a morning hour. Perhaps it would be in the flower garden, perhaps in the summer-house, perhaps in the plantation woods where the windflower and the Judas tre

un was an hour high when she awoke. Hagar, the girl who waited upon her, came in and flung wide the shutters

. "Is any one downstairs yet, Hagar?-No, not

en he done tol' her ter tell marster dat he'd done been thinkin' ez how dar wuz so much ter do dat he'd better mek an early start, en he lef' good-bye fer de fambly. Easter, she ax him won't he wait 'twel the ladies come down, en he s