e. Oh! Clarence, do as your mother wishes, and let us leave
the country, for my heart will break if you are drafted!"

"You must leave at once, if at all," said the mother; "even a week's delay
may be too late, for the neighbors boast that before the month is out I
shall see my son march away to Washington! I would give every dollar we
possess to help the southern cause, if what they threaten should come to
pass!" she added, in an angry tone.

"Well, mother," replied the son with a smile, "my patrimony is too precious
to run such a risk, and as I am not very anxious to shoot anyone, or be
shot at either, I will do as you wish, and let you live in peace. I feel
confident that a few months will end the struggle, or my decision would be
different; but where do you wish me to go?"

"Go!" her countenance softening at once. "You can decide that for yourself;
as long as you are out of the reach of the Unionists, that is all I ask.
So, go to Halifax, if you like!"

"Very well, mother, to Halifax I'll go, but you do not seem to have the
welfare of your only son very much to heart, after all, by the way you
speak."

"Nonsense! Clarence, you know my heart better than that! I mean that it
matters little where you settle, so long as you are out of American
territory until the war is over."

"Oh! Halifax will suit me very well, mother. Ever since I can remember you
have threatened to send me to Halifax; so now I'll go, and I do not believe
I shall find it a place of torment either. Nelson, who was in partnership
with me when I was in Augusta, has moved his family there, and I may join
him again in business. He is buying up horses and sending them to
headquarters. What! you surely would not object to me making some money out
of the Unionists?" he asked, in answer to his mother's quick look of
surprise.

The discussion lasted some time, but to the relief of the son's wife they
decided to return home the following day, that her husband might have an
opportunity to settle his business in time to catch the first boat to
Halifax.

Becoming aware of the hostility which prevailed among the neighbors, on
account of Dinah's presence at the farmhouse, Mr. Sherwood proposed to take
her with them to Halifax as their hired nurse. He had a kindly feeling for
the good, old woman, who was such a faithful and partial nurse to him in
his boyhood, and he could not help seeing that she was less kindly treated
than formerly, and to his surprise h