HOSPITAL STORES
To those who reside at the convulsed throbbing heart of a great revolution,
a lifetime seems compressed into the compass of days and weeks; and men and
women are conscious of growing prematurely old while watching the rushing,
thundering tramp of events, portentous with the fate of nations. W----
presented the appearance of a military camp, rather than the peaceful
manufacturing town of yore. Every vacant lot was converted into a
parade-ground--and the dash of cavalry, the low, sullen rumbling of
artillery, and the slow, steady tread of infantry, echoed through its wide,
handsome streets. Flag-staffs were erected from public buildings, private
residences, and at the most frequent corners, and from these floated
banners of all sizes, tossing proudly to the balmy breeze the new-born
ensign of freedom--around which clustered the hopes of a people who felt
that upon them, and them only, now devolved the sacred duty of proving to
the world the capacity of a nation for self-government.
W---- gave her young men liberally; company after company was equipped,
furnished with ample funds by the munificence of citizens who remained, and
sent forward to Virginia, to make their breasts a shield for the proud old
"Mother of Presidents." The battle of Bethel was regarded as part of an
overture to the opera of Blood, yclept "Subjugation," and people watched in
silence for the crimson curtain to rise on the banks of the Potomac.
Russell Aubrey had succeeded in raising a fine full company for the war, as
contra-distinguished from twelve-months volunteers; and to properly drill
and discipline it, he bent all the energy of his character. It was made the
nucleus of a new regiment; recruits gathered rapidly, and when the regiment
organized, preparatory to starting for Virginia, he was elected colonel,
with Herbert Blackwell for lieutenant-colonel, and Charles Harris was
appointed adjutant. They were temporarily encamped on the common between
the railroad depot and Mr. Huntingdon's residence, and from the observatory
or colonnade Irene could look down on the gleaming tents and the flag-staff
that stood before the officers' quarters. _Reveille_ startled her at dawn,
and _tattoo_ regularly warned her of the shortness of summer nights. As the
fiery carriage-horses would not brook the sight of the encampment, she
discarded them for a time, and when compelled to leave home rode Erebus at
no slight risk of her life--for he evinced the greatest repugnance to the
sound of drum or fife.
One afternoon she went over to the Row, and thence to the factory. A new
company had been named in honour of her father; uniforms and haversacks
were to be furnished, and Mr. Huntingdon had entrusted her with the
commission. Selecting the cloth and accomplishing her errand, she returned
by way of the orphan asylum, whose brick walls were rapidly rising under
her supervision. One of the workmen took her horse, and she went over the
building, talking to the principal mechanic about some additional closets
which she desired to have inserted. Dr. Arnold chanced to be passing, but
saw Erebus at the gate, stopped, and came in.
"I was just going up the Hill to see you, Queen--glad I am saved the
trouble. Here, sit down a minute; I will clear the shavings away. When did
you hear from Leonard?"
"I had a letter yesterday. He was well, and on outpost duty near Manassas."
"Well, I shall join him very soon."
"Sir?"
"I say I shall join him very soon; don't you believe it? Why shouldn't I
serve my country as well as younger men? The fact is, I am going as surgeon
of Aubrey's regiment."
She looked at him, betraying neither surprise nor regret.
"When will you leave W----?"
"Day after to-morrow morning; can't get transportation any sooner. Aubrey
has received orders to report at once to General Beauregard. Child, have
you been sick?"
"No, sir. I am glad you are going with the regiment; very glad. Every good
surgeon in the Confederacy should hasten to the front line of our armies.
Since you leave home, I am particularly glad that you are going to
Manassas, where you can be near father."
He mused a moment, watching her furtively.
"I suppose you have heard of the performance for to-morrow?"
"No, sir. To what do you allude?"
"The daughter of Herodias is preparing to dance."
"I don't understand you, Doctor."
"Oh, don't you, indeed? Well, then, she intends to present a splendid
regimental flag with her own brown hands; and as Aubrey is to receive it,
the regiment will march to Mrs. Churchill's, where the speeches will be
delivered. Will you attend?"
"Scarcely, I presume, as I am not invited. I knew that Salome was having an
elegant flag made, but was not aware that to-morrow was appointed for the
ceremony of presentation. When will you come to see me? I want you to take
a parcel to father for me; and then I want to have a long talk."
"I know what the long talk amounts to. I am coming, of course, after the
flag ceremonies, where I am expected. At one o'clock I will be at the
Hill--perhaps earlier. Where now?"
"I must go by Mrs. Baker's, to see about giving out some sewing for the
'Huntingdon Rifles.' I can't do it all at home, and several families here
require work. I shall expect you at one o'clock--shall have lunch ready for
you. By the way, Doctor, is there anything I can do for you in the sewing
line? It would give me genuine pleasure to make something for you, if you
will only tell me what you need. Think over your wants."
She had caught up her reins, but paused, looking at him. He averted his
head quickly.
"I will tell you to-morrow. Good evening."
As she went homeward a shadow fell upon her face--a shadow darker than that
cast by the black plume in her riding-hat--and once or twice her lips
writhed from their ordinary curves of beauty. Nearing the encampment she
lowered her veil, but saw that dress parade had been dismissed, and as she
shook the reins and Erebus quickened his gallop, she found herself face to
face with the colonel, who had just mounted his horse and was riding toward
town. She looked at him and bowed; but, in passing, he kept his eyes fixed
on the road before him, and in the duskiness his face seemed colder and
more inflexible than ever. Such had been the manner of their occasional
meetings since the interview at the factory, and she was not surprised that
this, her first greeting, was disregarded. The public believed that an
engagement existed between him and Salome, and the attentions heaped upon
him by the family of the latter certainly gave colour to the report. But
Irene was not deceived; she had learned to understand his nature, and knew
that his bitterness of feeling and studied avoidance of herself betokened
that the old affection had not been crushed. Struggling with the dictates
of her heart, and a sense of the respect due to her father's feelings, she
passed a sleepless night in pacing the gallery of the observatory. It was a
vigil of almost intolerable perplexity and anguish. Under all its painful
aspects she patiently weighed the matter, and at sunrise next morning,
throwing open the blinds of her room, she drew her rosewood desk to the
window, and wrote these words--
"COL. AUBREY,--
"Before you leave W---- allow me to see you for a few moments. If your
departure is positively fixed for to-morrow, come to me this afternoon, at
any hour which may be most convenient.
"Respectfully,
"IRENE HUNTINGDON."
As the regiment prepared to march to Mrs. Churchill's residence, the note
was received from Andrew's hands. Returning his sword to its scabbard, the
colonel read the paper twice, three times--a heavy frown gathered on his
forehead, his swarthy cheek fired, and, thrusting the note into his pocket,
he turned toward his regiment, saying hastily to the servant--
"You need not wait. No answer is expected."
At the breakfast-table Irene opened a hasty missive from Salome, inviting
her to be present at the presentation of the flag, and begging a few choice
flowers for the occasion. Smiling quietly, she filled the accompanying
basket with some of the rarest treasures of the greenhouse, added a bowl of
raspberries which the gardener had just brought in, and sent all, with a
brief line excusing herself from attending.
The morning was spent in writing to her father, preparing a parcel for him,
and in superintending the making of a large quantity of blackberry jelly
and cordial for the use of the hospitals.
About noon Dr. Arnold came, and found her engaged in sealing up a number of
the jars, all neatly labelled. The day was warm; she had pushed back her
hair from her brow, as she bent over her work; the full sleeves were
pinned up above the elbow, and she wore a white check-muslin apron to
protect her dress from the resin and beeswax.
"In the name of Medea and her Colchian cauldron! what are you about,
Irene?"
"Fixing a box of hospital stores for you to take with you. I have finished,
sir. Let me wash my hands, and I will give you some lunch in the
dining-room."
"No; I lunched with the Israelites. Salome was brilliant as a Brazilian
fire-fly, and presented her banner quite gracefully. Aubrey looked splendid
in his uniform; was superbly happy in his speech--always is. Madam did the
honours inimitably, and, in fine--give me that fan on the table--everything
was decidedly _comme il faut_. You were expected, and you ought to have
gone; it looked spiteful to stay away. I should absolutely like to see you
subjected to 212 deg. Fahrenheit, in order to mark the result. Here I am
almost suffocating with the heat, which would be respectable in Soudan,
and you sit there bolt upright, looking as cool as a west wind in March.
Beauty, you should get yourself patented as a social refrigerator,
'Warranted proof against the dog-days.' What rigmarole do you want me to
repeat to Leonard?"
"I wish, if you please, when you get to Manassa, that you would persuade
father to allow me to come, at least, as far as Richmond. You have some
influence with him; will you use it in my favour?"
"You are better off at home; you could possibly do no good."
"Still I want to go. Remember, my father is all I have in this world."
"And what have you elsewhere, Irene?"
"My mother, my Saviour, and my God."
"Are you, then, so very anxious to go to Virginia?" he repeated, after a
pause.
"I am. I want to be near father."
"Well, I will see what I can do with him. If I fail, recollect that he is
not proverbial for pliability. Look here--are you nervous? Your fingers
twitch, and so do your eyelids, occasionally, and your pulse is twenty
beats too quick."
"I believe I am rather nervous to-day."
"Why so?"
"I did not sleep last night; that is one cause, I suppose."
"And the reason why you did not sleep? Be honest with me."
"My thoughts, sir, were very painful. Do you wonder at it in the present
state of the country?"
"Irene, answer me one question, dear child: what does the future contain
for you? What hope have you?--what do you live for?"
"I have much to be grateful for--much that makes me happy, and I hope to do
some good in the world while I live. I want to be useful--to feel that I
have gladdened some hearts, strengthened some desponding spirits, carried
balm to some hearth-stones, shed some happiness on the paths of those who
walk near me through life."
"Have you, then, fully resolved to remain single?"
"Why do you ask me that, Dr. Arnold?"
"Because you are dear to me, Queen; and I should like to see you happily
married before I am laid in my grave."
"You will never see it. Be sure I shall live and die Irene Huntingdon."
"What has induced you to doom yourself to a----"
"Ask me no more, Doctor. If I am content with my lot, who else has the
right to question?"
He looked into that fair chiselled face, and wondered whether she could be
truly "content"; and the purity and peace in her deep, calm eyes baffled
him sorely. She rose, and laid her hand on his shoulder.
"Dr. Arnold, promise me that if there is a battle, and father should be
hurt, you will telegraph me at once. Do not hesitate--let me know the truth
immediately. Will you?"
"I promise."
"And now, sir, what can I make or have made for you which will conduce to
your comfort?"
"Have you any old linen left about the house that could be useful among the
wounded?"
"I have sent off a good deal, but have some left. In what form do you want
it? As lint, or bandages?"
"Neither; pack it just as it is, and send it on by express. I can't carry
the world on my shoulders."
"Anything else?"
"Write to the overseer's wife to sow all the mustard-seed she can lay her
hands on, and save all the sage she can. And, Irene, be sure to send me
every drop of honey you can spare. That is all, I believe. If I think of
anything else, I will write you."
He stooped, kissed her forehead, and hurried out to his buggy.