“No, there wasn’t; but Larry was an Abolitionist even in those days,” Miss Imogene explained. “To tease him I said that I should give my husband one of my negro boys for a body-servant. I thought what a fine joke it would be to make him a slave owner, little knowing that my whole happiness was at stake. And, honey, he refused my gift! So we parted—and to-day his son is fighting for the very Cause over which we quarreled twenty years ago. And I—I have lost over twenty years of happiness. All the slaves in the world were not worth it, and I knew it at the time; but I had a foolish pride and thought that no one should refuse me what I wanted. I have missed the best in life for a silly whim and when I see others about me who are running the same risk, I long to take them in my arms and whisper my story in their ears. I do not mean you, dear,” Miss Imogene ended, with a little laugh. Dorothea knew to whom Miss Imogene referred, but she kept that knowledge to herself. Thereafter, however, she understood better why April’s affairs were of such vital interest to her cousin. But love affairs were not the only matters these two discussed. As the weeks passed Dorothea grew to know more intimately the causes of the war between the North and the South and many perplexing questions entered her mind. Her sympathy for the Confederacy she had taken for granted; but, with an increasing knowledge of the actual conditions, she began to think for herself and, being an English girl, she was free from the prejudices that would have hampered the cool judgment of one born in America. She was very glad to find that she could talk freely with Miss Imogene, who, although none doubted her loyalty, showed, to Dorothea at least, some understanding of the Union point of view. “You know, honey,” Miss Imogene began upon one occasion, “I was at home in Charleston when this war broke out. It was my own State that began it, and perhaps if it hadn’t been for the lesson Larry Stanchfield had taught me I should have been as bitter as the other females who clamored for States’ rights and longed to see the old flag torn down at Fort Sumter. As it was, I had already determined to set all my negroes free; but I couldn’t do it all at once, either for their sakes or for my own. No, my dear, I had first to have them taught trades so that they could take care of themselves, and then I had to let them go secretly, one at a time.” “But why, Cousin Imogene?” Dorothea asked, puzzled at this. “They belonged to you, didn’t they? You could do as you pleased with them, couldn’t you?” “Yes, honey, but the feeling against freeing slaves was very marked,” Miss Imogene explained. “Particularly when the war began.” “But the war wasn’t because of slavery,” Dorothea objected. “It was because of secession. That is what we all thought in England.”