Fighting was on the point of commencing, all intercourse across the border was stopped, the trains were all taken up for the conveyance of troops, and even a man would have had great difficulty in passing northward, while for an unprotected negress with a baby such a journey would have been impossible.
Mrs.Wingfield had therefore written four times at fortnightly intervals to Tony, saying that it was impossible to send Dinah off at present, but that she should be dispatched as soon as the troubles were over, upon receipt of another letter from him saying that his address was unchanged, or giving a new one.

These letters were duly posted, and it was probable that one or other of them would in time reach Tony, as mails were sent off to Europe, whenever an opportunity offered for them to be taken by a steamer running the blockade from a Southern port.
Dinah, therefore, still remained at the Orangery.

She was well and happy, for her life there was a delightful one indeed after her toil and hardship at the Jacksons'; and although she was anxious to join her husband, the knowledge that he was well and safe from all pursuit, and that sooner or later she would join him with her child, was sufficient to make her perfectly contented.
During Vincent's illness she had been his most constant attendant; for her child now no longer required her care, and passed much of its time down at the nursery, where the young children of the slaves were looked after by two or three aged negresses past active work.

She had therefore begged Mrs.Wingfield to be allowed to take her place by the bedside of her young master, and, after giving her a trial, Mrs.Wingfield found her so quiet, gentle, and patient that she installed her there, and was able to obtain the rest she needed, with a feeling of confidence that Vincent would be well attended to in her absence.
When Vincent was well enough to be about again, his sisters were surprised at the change that had taken place in him since he had started a few months before for the war.

It was not so much that he had grown, though he had done so considerably, but that he was much older in manner and appearance.