"They should be in Virginia--prisoners of war. It was a cavalry failure.--Well, it cannot be helped." "Will you cross at Harper's Ferry?" "With all my heart I wish we might! Defensive war should always be waged in the enemy's territory. But I am certain that we are working with the explicit purpose of preventing McDowell's junction with McClellan and the complete investment of Richmond which would follow that junction. We are going to threaten Washington. The government there may be trusted, I think, to recall McDowell. Probably also they will bring upon our rear Fremont from the South Branch. That done, we must turn and meet them both." "Oh, war! Over a year now it has lasted! There are so many in black, and the church bells have always a tolling sound. And then the flowers bloom, and we hear laughter as we knit." "All colours are brighter and all sounds are deeper. If there is horror, there is also much that is not horror. And there is nobility as well as baseness. And the mind adapts itself, and the ocean is deeper than we think. Somewhere, of course, lies the shore of Brotherhood, and beyond that the shore of Oneness. It is not unlikely, I think, that we may reinforce Johnston at Richmond." "Then Miriam and I will make our way there also. How long will it last, Richard--the war?" "It may last one year and it may last ten. The probability is perhaps five." "Five years! All the country will be grey-haired." "War is a forge, mother. Many things will be forged--more of iron perhaps than of gold." "You have no doubt of the final victory?"