e. But Harry saw that he was
trembling all over. An excited murmur arose. The boys began to talk
about the news, and the principal, his thoughts far away, did not call
them to order.

"I suppose since South Carolina has gone out that other southern states
will do the same," said Harry to his cousin, "and that two republics
will stand where but one stood before."

"I don't know that the second result will follow the first," replied
Dick Mason.

Harry glanced at him. He was conscious of a certain cold tenacity in
Dick's voice. He felt that a veil of antagonism had suddenly been drawn
between these two who were the sons of sisters and who had been close
comrades all their lives. His heart swelled suddenly. As if by
inspiration, he saw ahead long and terrible years. He said no more,
but gazed again at the pages of his Tacitus, although the letters only
swam before his eyes.

The great buzz subsided at last, although there was not one among the
boys who was not still thinking of the secession of South Carolina.
They had shared in the excitement of the previous year. A few had
studied the causes, but most were swayed by propinquity and kinship,
which with youth are more potent factors than logic.

The afternoon passed slowly. Dr. Russell, who always heard the
recitations of the seniors in Latin, did not call the class. Harry was
so much absorbed in other thoughts that he did not notice the fact.
Outside, the clouds still gathered and the soft beat of the snow on the
window panes never ceased. The hour of dismissal came at last and the
older boys, putting on their overcoats, went silently out. Harry did
not dream that he had passed the doors of Pendleton Academy for the
last time, as a student.

While the seniors were quiet, there was no lack of noise from the
younger lads. Snowballs flew and the ends of red comforters, dancing
in the wind, touched the white world with glowing bits of color. Harry
looked at them with a sort of pity. The magnified emotions of youth had
suddenly made him feel very old and very responsible. When a snowball
struck him under the ear he paid no attention to it, a mark of great
abstraction in him.

He and his cousin walked gravely on, and left the shouting crowd behind
them. Three or four hundred yards further, they came upon the main
street of Pendleton, a town of fifteen hundred people, important in
its section as a market, and as a financial and political center. It
ha