As the days went on, the Baby Veterans and Middleburgh came no nearer being acquainted than they were that morning. The Baby Veterans still drilled, and paraded, and set pickets all around the town; Middleburgh and Nancy Pansy still picked up their skirts and passed by with uplifted heads and defiant eyes. The Baby Veterans shouted on the Court-house Square, “Yankee Doodle” and the “Star-spangled Banner;” Middleburgh sang on its verandas and in its parlors, “Dixie” and the “Bonnie Blue Flag.” Perhaps, some evenings Middleburgh may have stopped its own singing, and have stolen out on its balconies to listen to the rich chorus which came up from the Court-house Grove, but if so, the Baby Veterans never knew it; or perhaps, the Baby Veterans some evenings may have strolled along the shadowed streets, or stretched themselves out on the grass to listen to the sweet voices which floated down from the embowered verandas in the Judge’s yard; if so, Middleburgh never guessed it. Nancy Pansy used to sing sweetly, and she would often sing whilst her sister played for her. The strict regulations established by the soldiers prevented any letters from going or coming unopened, and Middleburgh never would tolerate that. So the only mail which passed through the office was that which the Baby Veterans received or sent. As stated, Nancy Pansy’s mother, by the old doctor’s advice and for reasons good to her and her friends, still kept the post-office under a sort of surveillance, yet the intercourse with the soldiers was strictly official; the letters were received or were delivered by the postmistress in silence, or if the Baby Veterans asked a question it was generally replied to by a haughty bow, or an ungracious “No.” One mail day Mrs. Seddon was ill, so Nancy Pansy’s sister Ellen had to go to open the mail, and Nancy Pansy went with her, taking Harry along, “to take care of them.” It happened that Tom Adams and a friend came in to ask for their letters. Nancy Pansy’s sister was standing at the table arranging the mail, and Nancy Pansy was sitting up on the table by her, holding the battered but cherished Harry in her lap. The young officer stiffened up as he saw who was before him. “Are there any letters for Lieutenant Adams?” he asked, in a very formal and stately manner.