"
We sat down and looked at each other. Could anybody else be sick?
Perhaps aunt Nancy had been taken ill on her way home to Virginia, and
the doctor was for the dear lady. But why a "prudent doctor," and why
both of us to go?
Fitz paced up and down the room, and I sat by the open window, and
looked out into the dreary yard. The hands of the clock in the tall
tower outlined against the evening sky were past the hour, long past,
and yet no colonel.
Suppose he had been suddenly stricken down himself! Suppose--
The slamming of the outer gate, followed by a sentry-like tread in the
tunnel, cut short our quandary, and the colonel's tall figure emerged
from the archway, and mounted the steps.
"What has happened?" we both blurted out, opening the door for him.
"Who's sick? Where are we going?"
The colonel's only reply was a pressure of our hands. Then, placing
his hat with great deliberation on the hall table, he drew off his
gloves, waved us before him, and took his seat at the dining-room
table.
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