“Dear father,” she said, and her eyes were full of tears, “I must see him first, and then I will tell you, Bobbie. It is so sudden; and to be married in such a hurry don’t seem just right somehow.” His look of disappointment reproached her. She put her hand upon his face in the quaint way peculiar to herself for just a moment, and then she drew herself away. She would not let him go with her, and it was fully half an hour before she came back, bringing her father with her. Both showed the traces of how tender had been the talk between them, and both were very quiet. Dr. Trevillian led her to Bobbie, and put her hands in his. “She agrees to our plans, my son,” he said, trying to speak brightly, and then he turned abruptly and left them alone. “You are not marrying your general, Dorothy,” said Bobbie, presently. “What are you going to do about it?” “Send off his scout to-night to report to _his_ general for new orders,” she answered, trying to speak bravely, “but now we must hurry,” and her face colored richly as she ran out of the room. CHAPTER VIII. Had a bomb been exploded at “White Point,” the excitement could hardly have been greater than that caused by Bobbie’s announcement that the marriage would occur that night. Such hurrying and scurrying for the numberless preparations which Sallie Tom insisted should be made had not been seen since the war began. Peter Black could hardly saddle the horse, in such a tremor was he over the great news, and Colonel and Mrs. Tayloe were gratefully pleased that the marriage should be consummated even in such an unexpected way. And now, while Bobbie was riding like mad through the fast-falling snow and gathering darkness, Dorothy and his mother were deep in the mysteries of certain old trunks, which, in the beginning of the war had been brought over from “Grey Cliffs,” and in one of which lay her mother’s wedding gown and veil. It was a good five miles to the court-house, near which, fortunately, was the minister’s heme; and though it was bitterly cold, and the snow cut like ice in his face, Bobbie knew and felt nothing save the unutterable happiness that filled his heart. He had made Peter Black stay at home to help the women folks, and on he rode madly. He stopped only long enough at the Rev. Dr. Miles’s house to tell the dear old gentleman that his services would be needed at once, and to get his promise to go over with all the family to the wedding. “Bundle them up in the sleigh, and take the whole business over,” he called, as he rode off, scarcely waiting to take breath. “We can’t have much of a frolic, but you all must be there.”