For some weeks previous to this day, Mrs. H. had occasionally heard terrible, unearthly screams next door, and had wondered again and again what on earth it could mean. She had mentioned the fact to her husband, and he had suggested that it was probably the cry of servants being punished; but being upon the most friendly terms, as before stated, with their neighbors, they could not, and did not, say a word about it to others. Thus matters went on until the day in question. Again Mrs. H. heard the same fearful, heart-rending cries, and they continued on and on until her very heart grew sick and faint. Just then she heard some one calling her name loudly from the back yard of the next building, and, stepping to the window, saw the elder of Mrs. D.'s two servants wringing her hands and crying out: "Oh, come, Mrs. H., come quickly! come quickly! They are killing my child! they are killing my child!" Tears were pouring in a stream from the poor mothers eyes, and it seemed as though her very heart would break from anguish. Mrs. H. could stand it no longer, and stepping out on her own back porch, which adjoined that of Mrs. D.'s, called out for Mrs. D., and when she appeared, asked her what was the cause of such awful screaming. "Oh, nothing, nothing," answered Mrs. D. "It's only Jane, whom Mr. D. is punishing for looking out of the windows at the soldiers as they pass. I have told her again and again that she should not do it, and yet she will persist in it." "But," said Mrs. H., "was that all? Surely a young girl like her could hardly do otherwise than look out of the windows when she heard music and saw soldiers passing? Did she do nothing else, Mrs. D.?" "No, nothing else," answered Mrs. D.; "but Mr. D. says if she and her mother are allowed to look out of the windows at the soldiers, they will soon be wanting to run away, and therefore we must not allow them to look out." "They don't neglect their work, do they, Mrs. D.?" asked Mrs. H. "Oh, no," answered Mrs. D. "They are both most excellent servants, and never neglect their work; but hav-ing these Yankee soldiers in the city will, we fear, make them want to run away, and it is only to prevent them from getting any such foolish notion in their heads that we have forbid them to look out at the windows." "Have you had to punish them often for disobeying the order?" asked Mrs. H. "Oh, no, not often," answered Mrs. D. "This is only the fifth time, I think, that Mr. D. has had to whip Jane since the Yankee soldiers came into the city, and her mother has only needed three punishments for the same offence. Take them all in all, there are, I think, few better servants in Alexandria than Jane and Mary."