"Oh yes, yes, Honey-bee! The Third Regiment. And he--some wicked old men came here yesterday and read a speech--right befo' me--here in this ve'y room--and began to say that they wished him to be colonel of the 3d Zouaves, and that the Governor wished it and--other fools! And I rose straight up f'om my chair and I said, 'Curt!' And he gave me one look. Oh, Honey-bud! His face was changed; there was _that same thing_ in it that I saw the night the news came about Sumter! And he said: 'Gentlemen, my country educated me; now it honours me.' And I tried to speak again and my lips were stiff; and then he said: 'I accept the command you offer----'" "Oh, Celia!" "Yes, he said it, darling! I stood there, frozen--in a corner of my heart I had been afraid--such a long time!--but to have it come real--'this terror!--to have this thing take my husband--come into our own home befo' I knew--befo' I dreamed--and take Curt!--take --my--Curt!" "Where is he?" "With--_them_. They have a camp near Fort Hamilton. He went there this morning." "When is he coming back?" "I don't know. Stephen is scaring me most to death; he is wild to go, too. And, oh--do you believe it? Captain Lent has gone with Curt to the camp, and Curt means to recommend him for his major. _What_ a regiment!--all the soldiers are mere boys, they say--wilful, reckless, hair-brained boys who don't know--_can't_ know--where they're going. . . . And Curt is so blind without his glasses, and Captain Lent is certainly a little mad, and I'm most distracted myse'f----" "Darling--darling--don't cry!" "Cry? Oh, I could die, Ailsa. Yet, I'm Southern enough to choke back eve'y tear and let them go with a smile if they had to go fo' God and the Right! But to see my Curt go this way--and my only son crazy to join him--Oh, it is ha'd, Honey-bee, ve'y, ve'y ha'd." "Dearest!" "O Honey-bud! Honey-bud!" And the two women mourned, uncomforted. Ailsa remained for three unhappy days in Fort Greene Place, then fled to her own house. A light, amusing letter from Berkley awaited her. It was so like him, gay, cynical, epigrammatic, and inconsequent, that it cheered her. Besides, he subscribed himself very obediently hers, but on re-examining the letter she noticed that he had made no mention of coming to pay his respects to her. So she lived her tranquil life for another week; and Colonel Arran came every day and seemed always to be waiting for something--always listening--gray face buried in his stock. And at the week's end she answered Berkley's letter--although, in it, he had asked no question. "DEAR MR. BERKLEY: