"John," said she, "I have just finished composing a story, and I came
out to tell it to you before I write it. I want to do this because you
compose stories yourself which in some ways are a good deal like this
of mine. But I can't tell it to you out here in the sun. Isn't there
something you can do in your little house? Haven't you some pea-sticks
to sharpen?"

"Oh, yes, miss," said John Gayther, with great alacrity; "and if you
will go and make yourself comfortable under the shed I will be there in
a few minutes."

It was rather difficult for John Gayther to find any pea-sticks which
had not already been stuck into the ground or which wanted sharpening,
but he succeeded in getting a small armful of them, and with these he
came to where the young lady was seated. He drew up a stool and took out
a big knife.

"Now," said she, gazing through her gold-rimmed spectacles far out into
the sunlit garden, "this is the story of a girl."

John Gayther nodded approvingly. The story of a girl was exactly what he
would like to hear, provided it was told by the young lady who sat in
front of him.

"She was of an independent turn of mind," said the Daughter of the
House, "and there were a great many things in this world which bored
her, not because they were uninteresting in themselves, but because she
could not enjoy them in the way which suited her. She had thought of
hundreds of things she would like to do if she only could do them in her
own way and without control by other people. She was very anxious to
perform deeds, noble deeds if possible, but she could not endure the
everlasting control which seems to be thought necessary in this
world--at least, for girls. The consequence of this was that she spent a
great deal of her time in doing things which made no imprint whatever
upon the progress of the world or upon the elevation of her own
character.

"Now it happened that at the time of my story there was a war in the
land, and a great many people with whom my heroine was acquainted went
forth to do battle for their country and their principles, or to act
patriotically in some other way than fighting. I forgot to say that my
heroine is named Almia--"

"De Ponsett, I suppose," interrupted John Gayther. "Almia de Ponsett is
the name of a beautiful new white tea-rose."

"Not at all," said the young lady, drawing her eyebrows slightly
together; "there is no 'de Ponsett' about it, and her name has nothing
to do with tea-roses. It is simply Almia. She grew more and more
dissatisfied every day the war went on. Everybody who was worth anything
was doing something, and here she was doing nothing. What was there she
could do? This became the great question of her life. If I were about to
write out this story I would say something here about the workings of
her mind; but that is not necessary now. But her mind worked a great
deal, and the end of it was that she determined to be a nurse. Nursing,
indeed, is the only thing a young woman can do in a war.

"But when she began to make inquiries about army nurses--what they ought
to do, how they ought to do it, and all that--she ran up against that
terrible bugbear of control. Everywhere was control, control, control;
and she really began to despair. There were examinations, and training,
and applications to the surgeon-general, and to the assistant surgeon,
and to special heads of departments and districts and States and
counties, for all I know. There was positively no end to the things she
would have to do to get a regular appointment to go forth and do her
duty to her country. So she threw up the whole business of regular army
nursing, and made up her mind to go out into the field of duty to which
she had appointed herself, and do the things she ought to do in the way
she thought they ought to be done. She likened herself to the knights of
old who used to go forth to fight for their ladies and for the upholding
of chivalry. She wanted to be a sort of a free-lance, but she did not
want to hire herself to anybody. She did not fancy being anything like a
guerilla, and then it suddenly struck her that if she did just as she
wanted to do she would resemble a bushwhacker more than anything else. A
bushwhacker is an honest man. When there is no war he whacks bushes,
that is, he cuts them down; and when there is a war--"

"He whacks the enemy," suggested John Gayther.

The Daughter of the House smiled a little. "Yes," she said; "he tries to
do that. But he is entirely independent; he is under nobody; and that
suited Almia. A bushwhacker nurse was exactly what she wanted to be, and
as soon as this was settled she made all her preparations to go to the
war."

"Of course," said John Gayther, "the young lady's parents--or perhaps
she did not have any parents?"

The Daughter of the House frowned. "Now, John," said she, "I don't want
anything said about parents. There were no parents in this case, at
least none to be considered. I don't say whether they were dead or not,
but the story has nothing to do with them. Parents would be very
embarrassing, and I don't want to stop to bother with them."

John Gayther nodded his head as if he thought she was quite right, and
she went on:

"The first thing Almia did was to fit herself out after the fashion she
thought best adapted to a bushwhacker nurse. She wore heavy boots, and a
bicycle-skirt which just came to the top of the boots; and in this skirt
she put ever so many pockets. She wore a little cap with a strap to go
under the chin; and from her belt on the left side she hung a very
little cask, which she happened to have, something like those carried by
the St.В Bernard dogs in Switzerland when they go to look for lost
travellers; and this she filled with brandy. In her pockets she put
every kind of thing that wounded men might want: adhesive plaster, raw
cotton, bandages, some pieces of heavy pasteboard to make splints,
needles and fine silk for sewing up cuts, and a good many other things
suitable for wounded people. And in the right-hand pocket of her skirt
she carried a pistol with five barrels."

"My conscience!" exclaimed John Gayther, "that was dangerous. And then,
you know, nurses hardly ever carry pistols."

"But this was necessary," said she, "as you will see as the story goes
on. Then, when she put on a long waterproof cloak which covered
everything, she was ready to go to the war."

John Gayther looked at the Daughter of the House steadfastly and
wondered if the Almia of the story had cut off her beautiful hair. He
was sure she had had an abundance of light silvery-golden hair which
fluffed itself all about her head under her wide hat, and it would be a
sort of shock to think of its being cut off. But he asked no questions;
he did not want to interrupt too much.

"Almia knew by the papers," continued the Daughter of the House, "that
a great battle was expected to take place not far from a town at some
distance from her home; and she went to this town by rail, carrying
only a small hand-bag in addition to the things she wore under her
waterproof. She took lodgings at a hotel, and, after an early breakfast
the next morning, she hired a cab to take her out to the battle-field.
The cabman drove her several miles into the country, but when he heard
the booming of the preliminary cannon with which the battle was then
opening, he refused to go any farther, and she was obliged to get out
at the corner of a lane and the highroad. She paid the man his fare and
gave him five dollars extra, and then she engaged him to call at that
place for her at eight o'clock that evening. She was sure the battle
would be over by that time, as it would be beginning to get dark. The
cabman was sorry to leave her there to walk the rest of the way, but his
horse was afraid of cannon, and he did not dare to go any farther.

"Almia took off her waterproof and left it in the cab, and the cabman
was a good deal astonished when he saw her without it. He said he
supposed she was a reporter and that the little cask was full of ink;
he had driven lady reporters about before this. But Almia told him she
was a nurse, and that he must not fail to call for her at the time
appointed. Then he drove away; and she walked rapidly along the lane,
which seemed to lead toward the battle-field. The lane soon began to
curve, and she left it and walked across several fields. Soon she came
to some outposts, where the sentries wanted to know where she was going.
Of course the sentries behind an army are not as strict as those in
front of it, and so when she informed them she was a nurse they told her
how to get to the field-hospital, which was a mile or more away.

"But Almia did not intend to go to any hospital. She knew if she did she
would immediately be put under orders; and now her blood was up, and she
could stand no orders. She thought she perceived a faint smell of powder
in the air. This made her feel wonderfully independent, and she strode
onward with a light and fearless step. But when she came to a bosky
copse which concealed her from the sentries, she turned away from the
direction of the hospital, and pressed onward toward the point from
which came the heaviest sound of cannon.

"Now you must understand, John Gayther," remarked the Daughter of the
House, taking off her broad hat, that the breeze might more freely blow
through the masses of her silvery-golden hair, "that when people who are
really in earnest, especially people in fiction, go forth to find things
they want, they generally find them. And if it is highly desirable that
these things should be out of the common they are out of the common. A
great deal of what happens in real life, and almost everything in
literature, depends on this principle. You, of course, comprehend this,
because you compose stories yourself."

"Oh, yes," said the gardener; "I comprehend it perfectly."

"I say all this on account of what is about to happen in this story, and
also because I don't want you to make any objection in your mind on
account of its not being exactly according to present usages. Almia was
pushing steadily through the clump of bushes when she heard, not far
away, the clash of arms. Greatly excited, she silently moved on, and
peeping out from behind some foliage, she saw in a small open space in
the woods two men engaged in single combat. How her heart did beat! She
was frightened nearly to death. But she did not think of flight; her
eyes were glued upon the fascinating spectacle before her. Often had she
heard of two brave swordsmen fighting each other to the bitter end, and
often had she dreamed of these noble contests; but her eyes were all
unfamiliar with such inspiring sights. This truly was war.

"The combatants were both moderately young men, athletic and active, one
with brown hair and the other with black. They had thrown aside their
coats and vests, and each wore a broad leathern belt. Fiercely and
swiftly their long swords clashed. Sparks flew, and the ring of the
steel sounded far into the woods; but there was none to hear save Almia
only, and her soul tingled with admiration and terror as the bright
blades flashed against the background of semi-gloom which pervaded the
woods. She scarcely breathed. Her whole soul was in her eyes."

"I have seen it there before," thought John Gayther, but he said
nothing.

"Now there was a tremendous onset from each swordsman, and the ground
echoed beneath their rapid footfalls as they stamped around. Then there
was a lunge and a sharp nerve-tingling scrape as one blade ran along the
other; and then, without a groan, down fell one of these brave warriors
flat upon his back upon the grass, the wild flowers, and bits of bark.
Instantly the impulses of a woman flashed through every vein and nerve
of that onlooking girl. Scarcely had the tall form of the soldier
touched the sod when she became a nurse. Springing out from her leafy
concealment, she knelt beside the vanquished form of the fallen man. The
other soldier, who was about to rest himself by leaning on his sword,
sprang back; it seemed as though there had suddenly appeared before him
a being from another world."

"Where they wear bicycle-skirts," thought John Gayther.

"Every trace of enthusiastic excitement had passed away from Almia, who
now had something in this world to do, and who set about doing it
without loss of a second. The man was only wounded, for he opened his
eyes and said so, and drawing up his shirt-sleeve he showed Almia that
the cut was in the lower part of his left arm. Instantly despatching the
other soldier to a neighboring spring for water, she cleansed the wound,
and, finding it was not very deep, she drew the edges of the cut
together and held them in place with strips of adhesive plaster. When
this had been done she wrapped the arm in several folds of bandage, and
the man having risen to a sitting posture, she gave him a small draught
of brandy from her cask.

"Almia now explained how she happened to appear upon the scene, and,
addressing the wounded man, she said she hoped she could soon find some
way of conveying him to a hospital. 'Hospital!' he cried, springing to
his feet under the revivifying influence of the brandy. 'No hospital for
me! I can walk as well as anybody. And now, sir,' he said, speaking to
his former opponent, 'am I to consider myself vanquished, and am I to go
with you as your prisoner?' The other regarded him without answering,
and for the moment Almia, too, was lost in reflection."

At this point John Gayther, who had been in wars, began to wonder, even
if soldiers in these days should engage in single combat with long
swords, how one of them could be wounded in the left arm; but he did not
interrupt the story.

"The first thing that shaped itself clearly in Almia's mind was the fear
of being left alone in these woods. Now that she was so near the edge of
the battle, there was no knowing what she might meet with next. The
soldier who had conquered now spoke. 'Yes, sir,' said he; 'you are my
prisoner, and it is my duty to take you to my regiment and deliver you
to my officers. I am sorry to do so, but such are the laws of war.' The
other soldier bowed his head, simply remarking, 'Proceed; I will follow
you.'"

"If I should take a prisoner," thought John Gayther, "I should make him
walk in front of me."

"Then Almia stepped forward; she had made up her mind, and she was very
resolute. 'Gentlemen,' said she, 'this cannot be. We are nearing the
contending forces; there may be stragglers; and I do not wish to be left
alone. You are both my prisoners.' The two soldiers looked at her in
utter amazement. 'Yes,' said Almia, firmly; 'I mean what I say. I am, it
is true, a nurse; but I am a bushwhacker nurse, perfectly independent,
and free to act according to the dictates of my judgment. You are my
prisoners; and if one of you attempts to escape it will be the duty of
the other to assist in arresting his enemy. Do not smile; I am armed.'
And with this she took from her pocket the pistol with the five barrels.
The two soldiers stopped smiling. 'Yes,' continued Almia; 'I would not
wish to do anything of the kind, but if either of you attempts to escape
I will call upon him to halt, and if he does not do it I will fire upon
his legs while the other soldier attacks him with his sword. You are
enemies, and each one of you is bound by his soldiery oaths to prevent
the escape of the other. I am absolutely impartial. If either of you
should be wounded I would dress his wounds and nurse him carefully
without asking to which side he belongs. But if either of you attempts
to escape I will, as I said, fire at his legs without asking to which
side he belongs.'

"The soldier with the brown hair looked at the one with the black hair.
'If I should attempt to escape,' said he, 'would you assist this lady in
restraining me?' 'I would,' answered the other. 'Then I would do the
same by you,' said the first speaker. 'Miss, I am your prisoner.' 'And I
also,' said the black-haired soldier."

"Well, well," said John Gayther, who had not cut a pea-stick for the
last fifteen minutes; "I suppose you could not tell by their uniforms
which one of them belonged to your side--I mean the young lady could not
tell?"

"Almia had no side," replied the Daughter of the House, "and the
soldiers wore no coats, for they had thrown them aside in the heat of
the combat; and she purposely took no note whatever of their trousers.
She was determined to be absolutely impartial. 'Now, then,' said Almia
to her prisoners, 'I am going to get just as close to the battle as I
can. I am delighted to have you with me, not only because you can remove
wounded prisoners to shady places where I can nurse them, but because
you will be a protection to me. Should an unruly soldier appear from
either army he will always be met by an enemy and by me.'

"The three now pressed on, for there was no time to lose. The roar of
the battle was increasing; reports of musketry as well as cannon rent
the air, and the sharp whistling of rifle-balls could frequently be
heard. Reaching a wood road, they followed this for some distance, Almia
in advance, when suddenly they came upon a man sitting on the trunk of a
fallen tree. He had a little blank-book in his hand, and apparently he
was making calculations in it with a lead-pencil. At the sound of
approaching footsteps he rose to his feet, still holding the open book
in his hand. He was a moderately tall man, a little round-shouldered,
and about fifty years old. He wore a soldier's hat and coat, but his
clothes were so covered with dust it was impossible to perceive to which
army he belonged. He had a bushy beard, and that was also very dusty. He
wore spectacles, and had a very pleasant smile, and looked from one to
the other of the new-comers with much interest. 'I hope,' said he,
speaking to the soldiers, 'that this young woman is not your prisoner.'
'No, sir,' said Almia, before the others had time to reply; 'they are my
prisoners.' The dusty man looked at her in amazement. 'Yes,' said the
man with the black hair; 'she speaks the truth. We are her prisoners.'

"Rapidly Almia explained the situation, and when she had finished, the
stranger nodded his head three or four times, and put his blank-book in
his pocket. 'Well, well, well,' said he, 'this is what might be expected
from the tendency of the times! There are sixteen thousand two hundred
and forty more women than men in this State, and many of them are single
and have to do something. But a bushwhacker nurse! Truly I never thought
of anything like that!'

"'And you?' asked Almia. 'I think it is right that you should give some
account of yourself. I do not ask your name, nor do I wish to know which
cause you have espoused. But as you appear to be a soldier I am curious
to know how you happen to be sitting by the roadside making
calculations.' 'I am a soldier,' answered the dusty man, 'but, under
the circumstances,'--regarding very closely the trousers of Almia's two
companions,--'I am very glad you do not want to know to which side I
belong. The facts of the case are these: I am an Exceptional Pedestrian.
I am also a very earnest student of social aspects considered in their
relation to topography. Yesterday, when my army halted at noon, I set
out to make some investigations in connection with my favorite research,
and when I returned, much later than I expected, my army had gone on,
and I have not yet been able to come up to it, although I have walked a
great many miles.'

"'I should say,' remarked the soldier with the black hair, 'that you are
a deserter.' 'No,' replied the Exceptional Pedestrian, 'I did not desert
my army; it deserted me. And now I wish to say that I have become very
much interested in you all, and, if there is no objection, I should like
to join your company for the present.' 'I have no objection myself,'
said Almia, 'but what do you say?' she asked, addressing the two
soldiers. 'I am afraid, miss,' replied the man with the brown hair, who
had recognized some peculiarities in the fashion of the stranger's dusty
clothes, 'that if he attempted to leave us I would be obliged to shoot
him as a deserter.' 'And I,' said the other, 'would be obliged to do the
same thing, because he is my enemy.' 'Under these circumstances,' said
the Exceptional Pedestrian, 'I beg to insist that I be allowed to attach
myself to your party.'

"Almia felt she had reason to be proud. Here were three military men who
were in her power, and who could not get away from her. They were like
three mice tied together by the tails, each pulling in a different
direction and all remaining in the place where they had been dropped.

"The party now pushed forward toward the battle's edge. 'If glory is
your object,' said the Exceptional Pedestrian to Almia, 'it would have
been better if you had joined a regular corps of nurses. Then any
meritorious action on your part would have been noted and reported to
the authorities, and your good conduct would have been recognized. But
now you can expect nothing of the kind.' 'I did not come for the sake of
glory,' said Almia, flushing slightly; 'I came to succor the suffering,
and to do it without trammels.'

"'Trammels are often very desirable,' said he; 'they enable us to
proceed to a greater distance along the path of duty than we would be
apt to go if we could wander as we please from side to side.'

"Almia was about to reply somewhat sharply to this remark when,
suddenly, they heard a sound which made their nerves tingle. It was the
clang of sabres and the thunder of countless hoofs. They were in a mass
of tangled underbrush, and they peeped out into a wide roadway and
beheld the approach of a regiment of cavalry. On came this tidal wave of
noble horsemen; it reached the spot where Almia's burning eyes glowed
through the crevices of the foliage. Wildly galloping, cavalryman after
cavalryman passed her by. The eyes of the horses flashed fire, and their
nostrils were widely distended as if they smelt the battle from afar.
Their powerful necks were curved; their hoofs spurned the echoing earth;
and their riders, with flashing blades waved high above their heads,
shouted aloud their battle-cry, while their tall plumes floated madly
in the surging air. And, above the thunder of the hoofs, and the
clinking and the clanking of the bits and chains, and the creaking of
their leathern saddles, rose high the clarion voice of their leader,
urging them on to victory or to death.

"Almia had never been so excited in her life; she could scarcely
breathe. This was the grandeur of glorious war! Oh, how willingly would
she have mounted a fleet steed and have followed those valiant horsemen
as they thundered away into the distance!"

John Gayther had seen many a body of cavalry on the march, but he had
never beheld anything like this.

"After her excitement Almia felt somewhat weak; she needed food; and
when they had crossed the roadway they stopped to rest under the shade
of a spreading oak. Unfortunately the soldiers had brought no rations
with them, and Almia had only some Albert biscuit, which she did not
wish to eat because she had brought them to relieve the faintness of
some wounded soldier. 'If you will permit us,' said the soldier with the
black hair, 'we two will go out and forage. Each of us will see to it
that the other returns.'

"While they were gone the Exceptional Pedestrian conversed with Almia.
'During my investigations of the social aspects of this region,' he
said, 'I put many miles between myself and the army to which I belong,
but by closely adhering to certain geological and topographical
principles I knew I should eventually find it. In fact, when you met
with me I was making some final calculations which would not fail to
show me where I should find my comrades. There is no better way to
discover the position of an army than by observing the inclination of
the geological strata. In this section, for instance, the general trend
of the beds of limestone and quartz indicates the direction of the
running streams, and these naturally flow into the valleys and plains,
and the land, being well watered, is more fertile; consequently it was
soonest cleared by the settlers, while the higher ground surrounding it
is still encumbered by timber growth. An army naturally desires open
ground for its operations, for large bodies of cavalry and artillery
cannot deploy to advantage through wooded districts. Therefore, if we
follow this roadway, which, as you see, slightly descends to the
northeast, we shall soon come within sight of the opposing forces.'

"'But,' said Almia, 'the roar of the battle comes over from that way,
which must be the northwest.'

"'That may be,' said the Exceptional Pedestrian, 'but the principle
remains.'

"The two soldiers now returned, bearing two large apple-pies resting
upon two palm-leaf fans. 'These were all we could procure,' said the
brown-haired soldier, 'and the woman would not sell her plates.' The
pies were rapidly divided into quarters, and the hungry party began to
eat. 'It is true,' said the Exceptional Pedestrian, 'that the character
of the apple indicates the elevation above sea-level of the soil in
which it grew. The people who grew these apples would have done much
better if they had devoted themselves to the cultivation of the
huckleberry. These they could have sold, and then have bought much
better apples grown in the plains. I also notice that the flour of which
this pastry is made was ground from the wheat of this region, which is
always largely mixed with cockle. If the people would give up growing
wheat for three or four years, cockle would probably disappear, and they
would then have flour of a much higher grade.' Almia and the two
soldiers could not help smiling when they perceived that while the
Exceptional Pedestrian was making these criticisms he ate three quarters
of a pie, which was more than his share.

"When the pies had been consumed the little party pressed forward, but
not to the northeast, for the two soldiers insisted that the battle
raged in the northwest, and they would not go in any other direction,
although the Exceptional Pedestrian endeavored to overwhelm them with
arguments to prove that he was right. The din of the battle, however,
soon proved that he was wrong. Penetrating an extensive thicket, they
reached its outer edge, and there gazed upon a far-stretching
battle-field.

"Now this would be the place," said the Daughter of the House, "for a
fine description, not only of the battle-field, but of the battle which
was raging upon it; and, if I ever write this story, I shall tell how
one army was posted on one side of a wide valley, while the other army
was posted on the other, and how regiments and battalions and
detachments from each side came down into the beautiful plain and fought
and fired and struggled until the grass was stained with blood; and how
the cannon roared from the hills and mowed down whole battalions of
infantry below; how brave soldiers fell on every side, wounded and dead,
while men with stretchers hurried to carry them away from beneath the
hoofs of the charging cavalry. I would tell how the carnage increased
every moment; how the yells of fury grew louder; and how the roar of
the cannon became more and more terrible.

"But all I can say now is that it was a spectacle to freeze the blood.
Poor Almia could scarcely retain consciousness as she gazed upon the
awful scenes of woe and suffering which spread out beneath her. And she
could do nothing! Her labors would be useful only in cases of isolated
woundings. If she were to mingle in the fray she would perish in the
general slaughter; and if she were to go and offer assistance in the
hospitals she would find herself but as a drop in the bucket, her
efforts unrecognized, even if she were not driven away as an interloper.
Besides, she did not know where the hospitals were.

"As she gazed upon this scene of horror she perceived an officer,
mounted upon a noble charger and followed by several horsemen, take
a position upon a hillock not far from the spot where she and her
companions were concealed. From this point of vantage the officer, who
was evidently a general, could perceive the whole battle-field."

"And get himself picked off by a sharp-shooter," thought John Gayther,
but he did not interrupt.

"The brown-haired soldier trembled with emotion, and whispered to Almia,
'That is my Commander-in-Chief.' Even without this information Almia
would have known that the stalwart figure upon the pawing steed was an
officer in high command; for, after speaking a few words to one of his
companions, the latter galloped away into the valley toward the right,
and very soon the battle raged more fiercely in that direction, and
the booming of the cannon and the cracking of the rifles was more
continuous. Then another officer was sent galloping to the left, and in
this direction, too, the battle grew fiercer and the carnage increased.
Courier after courier was sent away, here and there, until, at last, the
commander remained with but one faithful adherent. Since his arrival
upon the hillock the horrors of the bloody contest had doubled, and
Almia could scarcely endure to look into the valley.

"'Is there no way,' she said in a gasping whisper, 'of stopping this?
These two armies are like hordes of demons! Humanity should not permit
it!'

"'Humanity has nothing to do with it,' said the Exceptional Pedestrian.
'A declaration of war eliminates humanity as a social factor. Such is
the usage of nations.'

"'I don't care for the usage of nations,' said Almia. 'It is vile!'

"Now something very important happened in the battle-field. The
Commander-in-Chief rose in his stirrups and peered afar. Then, suddenly
turning, he sent his only remaining follower with clattering hoofs to
carry a message. 'He is making it worse!' declared Almia. 'Now more
brave men will fall; more blood will flow.'

"'Of course,' said the Exceptional Pedestrian. 'He gives no thought to
the falling of brave men or the flowing of blood. Upon his commands
depends the fate of the battle!'

"'And without his commands?' asked Almia, trembling in every fibre.

"The Exceptional Pedestrian shrugged his shoulders and slightly smiled.
'Without them,' he said, 'there would soon be an end to the battle. He
is the soul, the directing spirit, of his army. Unless he directs, the
contest cannot be carried on.'

"Almia sprang to her feet, not caring whether she was seen or not. She
looked over the battle-field, and her heart was sick within her. Not
only did she see the carnage which desecrated the beautiful plain, but
she saw, far, far away, the mothers and sisters of those who were dead,
dying, and wounded; she saw the whiteness of their faces when their
feverish eyes should scan the list of dead and wounded; she saw them
groan and fall senseless when they read the names of loved ones. She
could bear no more.

"Suddenly she turned. 'Gentlemen,' she said, 'follow me.' And without
another word she stepped out into the open field and walked rapidly
toward the Commander-in-Chief, whose eyes were fixed so steadfastly on
the battle that he did not notice her approach. The three soldiers gazed
at her in amazement, and then they followed her. They could not
understand her mad action, but they could not desert her.

"Almia stopped at the horse's head. With her left hand she seized his
bridle, and in a clear, loud voice she exclaimed, 'Commander-in-Chief,
you are my prisoner!' There was no trembling, no nervousness now; body
and soul, she was as hard as steel. The general looked down upon her in
petrified bewilderment. He gazed at the three soldiers, and again looked
down at her. 'Girl!' he thundered, 'what do you mean? Let go my horse!'
As he said these words he gave his bridle a jerk; but the noble steed
paid no attention to his master. He was not afraid of girls. In former
days he had learned to like them; to him a girl meant sugar and savory
clover-tops. He bent his head toward Almia, and instantly her hand was
in her pocket and she drew forth an Albert biscuit. The horse, which had
not tasted food since morning, eagerly took it from her hand, and
crunched it in delight.

"The Commander-in-Chief now became furious, and his hand sought the hilt
of his sword. If Almia had been a man he would have cut her down.
'Girl!' he cried, 'what do you mean? Are you insane? You men, remove her
instantly.'

"Then Almia spoke up bravely, never loosening her hold upon the bridle
of the horse. 'I am not insane,' she said. 'I am a nurse, but not a
common one; I am a bushwhacker nurse, and that means I am entirely
independent. These men are under my control. They are from the opposing
armies, and compel each other to obey my commands. I have determined to
stop this blood and slaughter. If you do not quietly surrender to me I
will fire at one of your legs, and call upon the soldier who is your
enemy to attack you with his sword. His duty to his country will compel
him to do so.'

"The general, who was now so infuriated he could not speak, jerked
savagely at the reins; but Almia had just given the noble animal another
biscuit, and his nose was seeking the pocket from which it came. The
horse was conquered!

"At this moment a rifle-ball shrieked wildly overhead. The enemy had
perceived the little party upon the hillock. The three soldiers, who
stood a little below, shouted to Almia to come down or she would be
killed. She instantly obeyed this warning, but she did not release her
hold upon the general's bridle. She started down the hillock away from
the battle, and the horse, who willingly subjected himself to her
guidance, trotted beside her. The general did not attempt to restrain
him, for he had been startled by the rifle-shots.

"A little below the edge of the hill Almia stopped, and, turning toward
the Commander-in-Chief, she said, 'You might as well surrender. I do not
wish to injure you, but if you compel me to do so, I must.' And with
this she drew the pistol from her pocket.

"'Is that thing loaded?' exclaimed the general.

"'It is,' answered Almia, 'and with five balls.'

"'Please put it back in your pocket,' said the officer, who, for the
first time during the terrible battle, showed signs of fear. 'A girl
with a pistol,' said he, 'makes me shudder. Why do you stand there?' he
shouted to the three men. 'Come here and take her away.'

"But they did not obey, and the black-haired soldier stepped forward.
'You are my enemy, sir,' he said, 'and I am bound to assist in your
capture if I can. There are two of your own men here, but only one of
them is armed.'

"As he spoke these words a great shell struck the top of the hillock and
blew the earth and little stones in every direction. Without a word the
whole party retired rapidly to an open space behind a large overhanging
rock. The general was very much disturbed. The enemy must be getting
nearer. He almost forgot Almia.

"'Look here,' he cried to the brown-haired soldier; 'creep back to the
top of the hillock and tell me how the battle goes.' With furrowed brows
he waited, while Almia fed his horse. The brown-haired soldier came
quickly back. 'Tell me,' cried the general, without waiting for the
other to speak, 'has my cavalry made its grand charge, and cut off the
approach of the left wing of the enemy?'

"'No, sir,' replied the soldier, touching his cap; 'it did not charge in
time, and it is now all mixed up with the artillery, which is rapidly
retiring.'

"'What!' cried the general, 'retiring?'

"'Yes, sir,' said the soldier; 'I am sorry to say that our whole army is
retreating, pell-mell, as fast as it can go. The enemy is in active
pursuit, and its left wing is now advancing up this side of the valley.
In less than twenty minutes the retreat of our cavalry and artillery
will be cut off by the hills, and the infantry is already scattering
itself far and wide.'

"'I must go!' shouted the general, drawing his sword from its scabbard.
'I must rally my forces! I must--'

"'No, general,' said the brown-haired soldier; 'that is impossible. If
you were now to attempt to approach our army you would throw yourself
into the ranks of the enemy.'

"The Commander-in-Chief dropped the bridle from his listless hands, and
bowed his head. 'Lost!' he murmured. 'Lost! And this was the decisive
battle of the war! If I had been able to order my cavalry to charge,
the enemy's left wing would have been cut from their main body. But
for you,' he continued, fixing his eyes upon Almia with a look of
unutterable sadness, 'I should have done it. You have caused me to lose
this battle.'

"Almia drew herself up, her heart swelling with emotion. This was the
proudest moment of her life--prouder by far than she had ever expected
any moment of her existence to be. 'Yes,' she said; 'that is what I did.
And if this was the decisive battle of the war, then will follow peace;
blood will cease to flow, widows and orphans will cease to suffer, and
men who have been fighting one another like tigers without really
understanding why they sought one another's lives will again meet as
friends.'

"'There is a great deal of sense in what you say,' exclaimed the
Exceptional Pedestrian. 'I admit I am a soldier, but I do not approve of
war. The statistics of social aspects prove--'

"He was interrupted by the brown-haired soldier, who remarked: 'It would
be well for us to retire, for doubtless the enemy will soon occupy the
ridge.'

"The general took no notice; apparently he was lost in thought.

"'Excuse me, sir,' said the brown-haired man, 'but you must seek a place
of safety.'

"The general raised his head. 'Is there a road to the west?' he asked.
'I must take a roundabout way, and join my army, and share its fortunes,
whatever they may be.'

"'Yes, sir,' said the Exceptional Pedestrian; 'if you skirt these woods,
and follow the upward trend of the limestone- and quartz-beds, and then
keep along the crest of the mountain for about eight miles, you will
come to the village of Kirksville, where our retreating army will no
doubt halt for the night.'

"The general said no more. He turned his horse, whose bridle Almia had
now released, and, casting another look of sadness upon the erect form
of the bushwhacker nurse, he sped away.

"I will not say anything more of the general, except that after
following for half an hour the directions given to him by the
Exceptional Pedestrian, he rode at full speed into the ranks of the
enemy, and was obliged to surrender. No evil happened to him, however,
for the war was soon ended, and he was released.

"'Now,' said the Exceptional Pedestrian, who was in no way a traitor,
but only a person accustomed to making mistakes, 'the day is drawing to
a close, and we must hurry away.'

"No one objected, and the three soldiers accompanied Almia back over the
way she had taken when she walked to the battle-field. A little after
eight o'clock they arrived at the main road, and there Almia found her
cab waiting for her.

"'I will probably not see you again,' said the Exceptional Pedestrian,
shaking her very cordially by the hand; 'for as the war is now
practically over, and my regiment probably scattered, I shall go West.
There are many features of our social aspects out there which I wish to
study. But before I leave you, miss, I wish to thank you for having made
yourself so highly instrumental in bringing this terrible and inhuman
war to a close.'

"'Good-by,' said Almia. 'But I think it may be said that it was an
Albert biscuit which gave us peace. If that horse had not been used to
being fed by girls, my efforts might have come to nothing.'

"When the two younger soldiers bade good-by to Almia they did not say
much, but it seemed to her they felt a good deal. At any rate, she knew
she felt a good deal. She had known them but a little while, but they
had come into her life in such a strange way; for a time she had ruled
their destinies, and they had been so good to her! They had stood by
her, regardless of everything but her wishes; and then, they were both
so handsome, such gallant soldiers. She took their hands, she gazed into
their honest faces, a few words of farewell were spoken, and then they
helped her into the cab, the door was shut, and she drove away.

"As she turned and looked out of the little window in the back of the
cab she saw one of them gazing after her; but the dusk of the evening
had come on so rapidly she could not be certain which one of them it
was. At a turn in the road she sank into her seat. She was tired; she
was faint; and, instinctively thrusting her hand into her pocket, she
found there one Albert biscuit which had been left. She drew it out,
but when she looked at it, it seemed to her as though it would be a
sacrilege to eat it; its companions had done so much for humanity. But
she did eat it, and felt stronger.

"For the rest of the drive she sat and wondered and wondered which it
was who had looked back, the brown-haired soldier or the black-haired
one. Then she tried to think which she would like it to be, but she
could not make up her mind.

"Before parting with the soldiers Almia had exchanged cards with them,
and they had assured her they would let her know how fortune should
treat them. Day after day she watched and waited for the letter-carrier;
but a fortnight passed, and he brought her nothing--at least, nothing
she cared for.

"At last a letter came. It was from one of the soldiers; she knew that
by the address and its general appearance, but of course she did not
know the handwriting. She held it in her hand and gazed upon it, and her
heart beat fast as she asked herself the question, 'Which one has
written first?'

"Presently she opened it. It was from the brown-haired soldier. Her face
flushed and her heart said to her, 'This is right; this is what you
hoped for.' Then she read the letter, which was long. It told of many
things; and, among others, it informed Almia how grateful were the
writer's wife and two little girls for the kindness she had shown the
husband and father. She had dressed his wounds; she had saved him from
being made a prisoner. For the rest of their lives they would never
forget her.

"The letter dropped from Almia's hand; she had received a shock, and for
a time she could not recover from it. She sat still, looking out into
the nothingness of the distant sky. Then her face flushed again, and her
heart told her it had made a mistake. She was well pleased that this was
the one who had written that he was married.

"Hour after hour and day after day Almia became more and more convinced
that she was right. It was the black-haired soldier on whom her thoughts
were constantly fixed. And no wonder. In the first place, he was the
better soldier of the two. She hated war; but, if men must fight, it is
glorious to conquer, and she had seen his quick and practised blade lay
low his enemy. The thought of his power made her heart swell. Moreover,
he had stood by her in the moment of greatest peril; he it was who had
said to the Commander-in-Chief, armed and mounted though he was, that
he would attack him if her commands were not obeyed. Then, too, he was
a little taller than the other, and handsomer; his chest was broad, he
stood erect.

"Day after day she watched and waited, but no letter came. At last,
however, there was a ring at the bell, and the black-haired soldier was
announced. By a supreme effort Almia controlled herself; she bade her
heart be still, and she went down to meet him. She was dressed in white;
there were flowers in her hair and in her belt. She could not help
wondering what he would think of the difference between her and the girl
he had known as a bushwhacker nurse.

"When her eyes fell upon him and their hands met she was the one who had
the right to be the more amazed. She had thought him handsome before; he
was glorious now. Arrayed in fashionable, well-fitting clothes, wearing
only a mustache, and with his hair properly cut, he was a vision of
manly beauty. Instantly, without any volition on her part, her heart
went out to him; she knew that it belonged to him.

"For twenty minutes, perhaps a little longer, Almia sat with the man she
loved; and as she listened to him, saying but little herself, colder and
colder grew the heart she had given him. Soon she discovered that he
looked upon her as a young lady in whom he took an interest on account
of the adventures they had had together, but still as a chance
acquaintance. He had come to see her because he had happened to be in
the town in which she lived. When he went away she did not ask him to
come again, and it was plain that he did not expect such an invitation.
The few remarks he made about his future plans precluded the
supposition that they might meet again. He was pleasant, he was polite,
he was even kind; but when he departed he left her with a heart of
stone. There was now nothing in the world for which she cared to live.
She despised herself for such a feeling, but existence was a blank. She
had loved; perhaps, unwittingly, she had shown her love; and now by day
and by night she moaned and mourned that the bushwhacker nurse had ever
met the two brave soldiers with their glittering swords--that she had
not passed them by and gone out into the battle-field to be laid low by
some chance bullet."

For some little time the Daughter of the House had been speaking in a
voice which grew lower and lower, and now she stopped. There were tears
in her eyes, brought there by the story she herself was telling. John
Gayther dropped his pea-stick and leaned forward.

"Now miss," said he, "I really think your story is not quite right. You
must have forgotten something--a good many things. Think it over, and I
am sure you will agree with me that that is not the true ending."

She looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean this," replied the gardener. "If you will put your mind to it,
and seriously consider the whole situation, I believe you will see, just
as well as I do, that it really turned out very differently from the way
you have just told it. That black-haired soldier did not go away in
twenty minutes. It must have been somebody else at some other time who
went away so soon. It would have been simply impossible for him to have
done it. The longer he sat and looked at Miss Almia, the more he gazed
into her beautiful eyes, the more fervently he must have thought that if
it depended upon him he would never leave her, never, never again. And
she, as she gazed into his handsome features, thrilling with the emotion
he could not hide, must have known what was passing in his heart. It did
not even need the words he soon spoke to make her understand she was the
one thing in the world he loved, and that, in spite of sickness and
obstacles of all sorts, he had come that day to tell her so. And when
they had sat together for hours, and at last he was obliged to go, and
they stood together, his impassioned eyes looking down into her orbs of
heavenly blue, you know what must have happened, miss, now, don't you,
really? And isn't this the true, true end of the story?"

The eyes of the Daughter of the House were sparkling; a little flush had
come upon her cheeks, and a smile upon her lips.

"I do really believe that is the true ending, John," said she; "but how
did you ever come to know so much about such things?"

"I can't tell you that, miss," said the gardener; "but sometimes I
notice things I cannot see, as when I look upon a flower bud not yet
open and know exactly what is inside of it."

With the smile still on her lips and the flush still on her cheeks, the
Daughter of the House walked away through the garden. She had determined
to make her story end sadly, but John Gayther had known her heart better
than she knew it herself.




                      THIS STORY IS TOLD BY

                           JOHN GAYTHER

                          AND IS CALLED

                        THE LADY IN THE BOX




III

THE LADY IN THE BOX


John Gayther was busy putting the finishing touches to a bed in which he
intended to sow his latest planting of bush-beans, or string-beans, or
snaps, as they are called in different parts of the country. These were
very choice seeds which had been sent to him by a friend abroad, and,
consequently, John wanted to get them into the ground as soon as
possible. But when he saw entering the garden not only the Daughter of
the House but also her mother, the Mistress of the House, a sudden
conviction shot through him that there would be no beans planted that
morning.

The elder of these two ladies was not very elderly, and she was
handsomer than her daughter. She was pleasant to look upon and pleasant
to talk to, but she had a mind of her own; John Gayther had found that
out long before. She was very fond of flowers, and there were many beds
of them which were planted and treated according to her directions and
fancies. These beds did not, in fact, form part of the gardener's
garden; they belonged to her, and nobody else had anything to say about
them. Many things grew there which were not often found in gardens:
weeds, for instance, from foreign countries, and some from near-by
regions, which the Mistress of the House thought might be made to grow
into comely blossoms if they were given the chance. Here she picked and
planted, and put in and pulled out, according to her own will; and her
pulling out was often done after a fashion which would have discouraged
any other gardener but John Gayther, who had long since learned that
the Mistress of the House knew what she wanted, and that it would be
entirely useless for him to trouble himself about her methods.

The gardener was not altogether happy when he saw these two ladies
coming toward him. He felt sure that they were coming for a story, for
when the elder lady came to the garden it was not her habit to bring
her daughter with her; and neither of them was likely, on ordinary
occasions, to walk along in a straightforward way, loitering neither
here nor there. Their manner and their pace denoted a purpose.