"When I parted with my brother on board of the Bellevite, both of us shed tears as we realized that war made enemies of us; but each of us promised to do all he could for the other in case of need. I am very sure that there was not the slightest unkind feeling between us. Of course, I did not expect him to write me the war news, but I think he could have written a few lines without any allusion to the war," said Captain Passford, pained at this want of filial affection on the part of his brother. At that moment the bell for tea rang, and the captain invited his nephew to the table with him. The host was saddened by the absence of news from his brother, of any kindly expression from one who was of the same blood as himself. He was not quite satisfied with Corny's manner, or with the little he seemed to be willing to say about the rest of the family. It was certainly very strange that the young man should be there at all, and his awkwardness and confusion made the visit seem still more singular. It was possible that the young man had just arrived and was fatigued by the trials and perils of his trip, for he must have come by some roundabout way; and very likely he felt nervous and uneasy in the midst of people who were loyal to the government and the Union. Captain Passford decided to say nothing more to his nephew at present as to the occasion and the manner of his visit to Bonnydale, and during the evening meal he avoided all allusion to the war, so far as it was possible to do so. Mrs. Passford and Florry received him very kindly, but following the example of the head of the family, they spoke only of domestic affairs, and of the relations of the two families as they had been before the war. Between the brothers Homer and Horatio Passford, even from their early boyhood, a remarkably strong fraternal affection had subsisted. Both of them were high-toned men, and both of them had always been faithful in the discharge of every duty to God and man. Each of them had a wife, a son and a daughter, and two happier families could not have been found on the face of the earth. They were not only devoted to each other, each within its own circle, but the two families were as nearly one as it was possible to be. Captain Horatio had formerly been a shipmaster, and had accumulated an immense fortune. Homer was less fortunate in this respect, and his tastes were somewhat different from those of his brother. He wanted to be a planter, and with the financial assistance of his brother, he went into the business of raising cotton near Mobile, in Alabama. But years before the war, he had paid off every dollar of his indebtedness to Horatio, and had made a comfortable fortune besides. The two families had visited each other as much an possible, and the captain, with his little family, had been almost to the plantation in the Bellevite, the magnificent steam-yacht of the Northerner.