I do not yet see that my country needs me; when I do I shall come home and join the Union army.

We may meet yet on some battlefield, and if we do you will see I am no coward or traitor either." Alice's face was white now as marble, and her breath came hurriedly.

The war, before so far off, seemed very near--a terrible reality, when those two young men talked of standing side by side on some field of carnage.
Hugh noticed her now, and attributing her emotions wholly to her fears for Irving Stanley, wrung the hand of the latter and then walked away, half wishing that the leafy woods beyond the distant fields were so many human beings and he was one of them, marching on to duty.
In this quiet way two days went by, Irving Stanley, quiet, pleasant, gentlemanly, and winning all hearts by his extreme suavity of manner; Hugh, silent, fitful, moody; Alice, artificially gay, and even merry, trying so hard to make up Hugh's deficiencies, that she led poor Irving astray, and made him honestly believe she might be won.

It was on the morning of the third day that he resolved to end the uncertainty, and know just how she regarded him.

Hugh had gone to Frankfort, he supposed; Mrs.Worthington was suffering from a nervous headache, while Densie, as usual, sat in her own room, mostly silent, but occasionally whispering to herself, "White nigger, white nigger--that's me!" Apparently it was the best opportunity he could have, and joining Alice in the large, cool parlor, he seated himself beside her, and with the thought that nothing was gained by waiting, plunged at once into his subject.
"Alice," he began, "I must leave here to-morrow, and the business on which I came is not yet transacted.