he asked them in his nervous, timid way if it would be safe for him to venture home with so many ladies in charge, they gallantly offered their services as escort, though assuring him the road was perfectly safe so far as their men were concerned. “There is not apt to be much prying around on such a night as this,” the Lieutenant added, shivering a little as he went out in the hall, “but I know it is one we shall never forget,” and he bowed low over the hand Mrs. Tayloe held out to him. “We have all heard of Southern hospitality, of course, but we hardly expected to enjoy it under the present condition of things. I can only assure you, madam, you will never regret it.” He looked at Anne as he spoke, and held out his hand to her. “When all this is over,” he whispered, “this beastly war, I mean, will you scorn to know a man who fought on the other side?” “I never scorn an honest man,” she answered, “even if he is a Yankee soldier,” she added, laughing. “Good-bye.” She touched his hand lightly, and drew back into the room. The horses pawed the ground and turned restlessly round and round. The Mileses and Rutherfoords and Trents piled hastily in their sleighs, and only the Sergeant stood at the door, telling Dorothy again and again good-bye. The eggnog had been too much for him, and his tone took a sentimental air as he held her hand for a second. “I say,” he whispered, “don’t tell the Lieutenant, but I’m mighty glad we didn’t catch that fellow, and if I ever run across him again I won’t know him! Good-bye, good-bye, you little Southern witch, good-bye.” At last they were gone. The muffled sound of their horses’ hoofs, together with their laughter, could be heard for a few moments only, and then came still, intense, impenetrable silence. Dorothy was back in the library for one brief minute. “Keep the lights up, and the house just as it is, until I get back,” she said, hurriedly, “Thank God, they got out safely,” she added, turning to Mrs. Tayloe, and giving her a swift, tender kiss. “Did anybody miss me? I was wild with terror lest they would suspect something, but I knew their only chance was to get out during the noise and romping. I shall tell them good-bye for you all. No, no! No one must go.” She was hastily wrapping herself up as she talked, and when Sallie Tom appeared at the door, heavily muffled about the head and face, they crept out together into the bitter, bitter night.