Magnolia and laurel grew richer and glossier; azaleas were budding; dog-wood twigs swelled; and somewhere, in some sheltered hollow, a spray of jasmine must have been in bloom, because the faint and exquisite scent haunted all the woodlands. On the 17th the entire army was paraded by regiments to cheer for the fall of Fort Donnelson. About mid-February the Allotment Commission began its splendid work in camp; and it seemed to Ailsa that the mental relief it brought to her patients was better than any other medicine--that is, better for the Union patients; for now there were, also, in the wards, a number of Confederate wounded, taken at various times during the skirmishing around Fairfax--quiet, silent, dignified Virginians, and a few fiery Louisianians, who at first, not knowing what to expect, scarcely responded to the brusque kindness of the hospital attendants. The first Confederate prisoner that Ailsa ever saw was brought in on a stretcher, a quiet, elderly man in bloody gray uniform, wearing the stripes of a sergeant. Prisoners came more often after that. Ailsa, in her letters to Celia Craig, had mentioned the presence of Confederate wounded at the Farm Hospital; and, to her delight and amazement, one day late in February a Commission ambulance drove up, and out stepped Celia Craig; and the next instant they were locked tightly in each other's arms, "Darling--darling!" sobbed Ailsa, clinging desperately to Celia, "it is heavenly of you to come. I was so lonely, so tired and discouraged. You won't go away soon, will you? I couldn't bear it--I want you so--I need you----" "Hush, Honey-bud! I reckon I'll stay a while. I've been a week with Curt's regiment at Fortress Monroe. I had my husband to myse'f fo' days, befo' they sent him to Acquia Creek. And I've had my boy a whole week all to myse'f! Then his regiment went away. They wouldn't tell me where.' But God is kinder. . . . You are certainly ve'y pale, Honey-bee!" "I'm well, dearest--really I am, I'll stay well now. Is Curt all right? And Stephen? And Paige and Marye?--and Camilla?" "Everybody is well, dear. Curt is ve'y brown and thin--the dear fellow! And Steve is right handsome. I'm just afraid some pretty minx--" She laughed and added: "But I won't care if she's a rebel minx." "Celia! . . . And I--I didn't think you liked that word." "What word, Honey-bell?" very demurely. "Rebel!" "Why, I reckon George Washington wore that title without reproach. It's a ve'y good title--rebel," she added serenely. "I admire it enough to wear it myse'f." Quarters were found for Mrs. Craig. Letty shyly offered to move, but Celia wouldn't have it. "My dear child," she said, "I'm just a useless encumbrance 'round the house; give me a corner where I may sit and look on and--he'p everybody by not inte'fering."