social intercourse. He was not of them,
and they knew it; that was all there was of it. Before he had been at
home ten days he began to see the force of his cousin Rodney's warning,
that if he did not turn his back upon the Union and proclaim himself a
secessionist, his neighbors would not have the first thing to do with
him, and during those ten days two things happened that made the
situation harder to bear than it was at first.

The little town of Nashville, to which Marcy sent his dispatch from
Raleigh, was situated about three miles distant from the plantation.
Besides the telegraph, express, and post offices it contained a court
house, two hotels, and the homes of about five hundred inhabitants. The
mail was received twice each day, and as often as it came in, rain or
shine, there was some one from Mrs. Gray's house there to meet it. This
duty was at once assumed by Marcy, who, besides having a fast horse of
his own which he was fond of riding, was so impatient to see the latest
papers that he could not wait for anybody to bring them to him. He
always read them on his way home, allowing his filly to choose her own
gait. On the day he reached home the papers told him that President
Lincoln had placed an embargo upon the seaports of all the seceded
States; but Marcy did not pay much attention to that. It was nothing
more than those States might have expected, but it was a question
whether or not the navy was strong enough to enforce the blockade. The
same paper informed him that President Davis was ready to issue letters
of marque and reprisal to anybody who would equip a privateer, and give
bonds that the laws of the Confederate States regulating the capture of
prizes should be obeyed. The boy didn't give a second thought to that
either. His schooner wasn't heavy enough to engage in the business of
privateering, and she would not have gone into it if she had been. She
had always floated the flag of the Union, and as long as she remained in
his keeping, she never would carry any other. But when on the 29th of
April Marcy read that President Lincoln, two days before, had included
the ports of Virginia and North Carolina in the limits of his
proclamation, it made him open his eyes.

"My State hasn't seceded yet, and here he has gone and shut up her
ports," exclaimed Marcy indignantly. "That's a pretty thing to do, isn't
it now? Hurry up, Fanny. Let's get home and see what mother thinks about
it."