“You don’t know what you are talking about,” replied her aunt. “A chit of a girl like you doesn’t know anything about politics.” “I’ve been to Washington, and I heard, oh, so much talk about it there! I know all about war matters,” Lettice returned triumphantly. “You ought to have heard Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun! And even Mr. Randolph, I believe, would think we ought to defend ourselves if the enemy invades the country.” Mrs. Hopkins went back to her first grievance. “And they will invade it. Nothing but discouraging news from your uncle, and no news at all from Joseph. We are not strong enough to resist this invading foe.” “But just look at the victories at sea!” “A few, to be sure; but as soon as the British are roused to a sense of the real situation, our little navy will be wiped out. I am told that they have said they will chastise us into submission.” “They will, will they? I’d just like to see them!” Lettice’s eyes flamed, and she stamped her foot in rage. “Why, Lettice, what a temper you display!” said Mrs. Hopkins, viewing Lettice’s angry tears with disapproval. “You never see Rhoda fairly cry with temper.” Lettice’s remembrance of Rhoda’s reserved manner and her quiet self-control served to calm her. “I don’t care,” she said. “I know she boils inside, whether she shows it or not.” Then she sat very still for a time. A picture of Rhoda’s tranquil face with its small features, her smooth light hair, her neat slim figure, rose before her. She wondered if at that moment she and Robert Clinton were walking the streets of old Georgetown. From this her thoughts wandered to the old graveyard, and she jumped up with a suddenness that startled her aunt. “Do you suppose, Aunt Martha,” she said, “that Brother Tom wasn’t drowned after all?” Mrs. Hopkins put down her work and looked at her niece in surprise. “What in the world gave you that notion, Lettice?” “I don’t know. Often when I’ve been down in the graveyard at home I’ve thought of it.” “His body was never recovered, it is true,” Mrs. Hopkins returned thoughtfully. “It is possible, but not probable, and I’d put any such notion out of my head, if I were you. He was not only a trial to your parents, but he was not a benefit to society.” “No, he wasn’t, and yet, at his best, he was a dear fellow. No one was so thoughtful of mother, and no one ever loved me so much as Brother Tom. Nothing was too much trouble for him to do for others, and if he had let those wild fellows alone, he would have been all right.” Lettice’s eyes were full of tears again, but this time they were not tears of anger.