"I have resigned my commission in the United States Army, Mrs.
Marshall--"
Her finger rose in an imperious gesture.
"You will live to regret it, sir!"
Lee frowned and laid his hand on his sister"s arm in a gesture of appeal.
"Annie, dear, please."
She regained her poise at the touch of his hand and turned to Mrs. Lee.
Stuart extended his hand briskly.
"Goodbye, sir. I hope to see you in Richmond soon--"
Lee"s answer was gravely spoken.
"Goodbye, my boy. I honor you in your quick decision, with the clear vision of youth. We, older men, must halt and pray, and feel our way."
With a laugh in his blue eyes Stuart paused at the door half embarra.s.sed at Mrs. Marshall"s presence. He waved his hat to the group.
"Well, goodbye, everybody! I"m off to join the Cavalry!"
Outside as he hurried to his horse he waved again.
"Goodbye--!"
There was a moment"s painful silence. They listened to the beat of his horse"s hoof on the white roadway toward Washington. As the tall soldier listened he heard the roar of the hoofs of coming legions. And a warrior"s soul leaped to the saddle. But the soul of the man, of the father and brother uttered a cry of mortal pain. He looked about the hall in a dazed way as if unconscious of the presence of the women of his home.
Mrs. Lee saw his deep anxiety and whispered to Mrs. Marshall.
"Come to my room, Annie, and rest before you say anything to Robert--"
She shook her head.
"No--no, my dear. I can"t. My heart"s too full. I can"t rest. It"s no use trying."
The wife took both her hands.
"Then remember, that his heart is even fuller than yours."
"Yes, I know."
"And you cannot possibly be suffering as he is."
"I"ll not forget, dear."
Mrs. Lee pressed her hands firmly.
"And say nothing that you"ll live to regret?"
"I promise, Mary."
"Please!"
With a lingering look of sympathy for brother and sister, Mrs. Lee softly left the room.
Lee stood gazing through the window across the shining waters of the river whose mirror but a few months ago had reflected the distorted faces of John Brown and his men at Harper"s Ferry. It had come, the vision he had seen as he looked on the dark stains that fateful morning.
He dreaded this interview with his sister. He knew the views of Judge Marshall, her husband. He knew her own love for the Union.
She was struggling for control of Her emotions and her voice was strained.
"You"ve--you"ve heard this awful news from Richmond?"
"Yes," he answered quietly. "And I"ve long felt it coming. The first thunderbolt struck us at Harper"s Ferry. The storm has broken now--"
"What are you going to do?"
She asked the question as if half afraid to p.r.o.nounce the words. Lee turned away in silence. She followed him and laid a hand on his arm.
"You"ll let me tell you all that"s in my heart, my brother?"
The soldier was a boy again. He took his sister"s hand and stroked it as he had in the old days at Stratford.
"Of course, my dear."
"And remember that we _are_ brother and sister?"
"Always."
She clung to his hand and made no effort now to keep back the tears.
"And that I shall always believe in you and be proud of you--"
A sob caught her voice and she could not go on. He pressed her hand.
"It"s sweet to hear you say this, Annie, in the darkest hour of my life--"
She interrupted him in quick, pa.s.sionate appeal.
"Why should it be the darkest hour, Robert? What have you or I, or our people, to do with the madmen who are driving the South over the brink of this precipice?"
Lee shook his head.
"The people of the South are not being driven now, my dear--"