"
"That sounds ve'y Yankee, too!"
"Celia! And perhaps it was true that one or two among thousands
might not have been everything they should have been," admitted
Ailsa, loyal to her government in everything. "And perhaps one or
two soldiers were insolent; but neither Letty Lynden nor I have
ever heard one unseemly word from the hundreds and hundreds of
soldiers we have attended, never have had the slightest hint of
disrespect from them."
"They certainly do behave ve'y well," conceded Celia, brushing away
vigorously. "They behave like our Virginians."
Ailsa laughed, then, smiling reflectively, glanced at her hand
which still bore the traces of a healed scar. Celia noticed her
examining the slender, uplifted hand, and said:
"You promised to tell me how you got that scar, Honey-bud."
"I will, now--because the man who caused it has gone North."
"A--man!"
"Yes, poor fellow. When the dressings were changed the agony
crazed him and he sometimes bit me. I used to be so annoyed," she
added mildly, "and I used to shake my forefinger at him and say,
'Now it's got to be done, Jones; will you promise not to bite me.'
And the poor fellow would promise with tears in his eyes--and then
he'd forget--poor boy----"
"I'd have slapped him," said Celia, indignantly.
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