In the clearer
consciousness of her feeling toward the Union officer her heart grew
glad and strong at the thought of the service she had rendered him,
nor did it shrink at suffering for his sake. A gratitude quite as
strong as his own now possessed her that he had been the means of
keeping her from a union dreaded even as an ignorant child, and now
known, by the love which made her a woman, to be earthly perdition.
"Having escaped that," she reflected, "there's nothing else I
greatly fear," and she went down to breakfast resolving that she
would be so faithful in her duties as a nurse that no one in
authority would listen to her cousin or Perkins if they sought to
make known their surmises.
Ignorant of her son's action and its results, Mrs. Whately met her
niece kindly and insisted that she should not leave the dining-room
until she had partaken of the breakfast now almost ready. Captain
Maynard joined her with many expressions of a solicitude which the
girl felt to be very uncalled for, yet in her instinct to propitiate
every one in case her action should be questioned, she was more
friendly to him than at any time before.
Pages:
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412