there join her cousin, Miss Grayson, her nearest living relative,
who could now give her protection that no one could question.

About three o'clock in the morning a young man whose face and manner she
liked came in and looked at Prescott. He showed deep concern, and then
relief, when assured that the wound was not serious. His name was
Talbot--Thomas Talbot, he said--and he was a particular friend of
Prescott's. He gave Lucia one or two glances, but in a few moments he
went away to take his part in the next day's battle.

Lucia dozed a little by and by, her sleep being filled with strange
dreams. She was awakened by a low, distant sound, one that the preceding
day had made familiar--the report of a cannon shot. She looked out of
the window, and it was still so dark that the forest, but a short
distance away, was invisible.

"They have begun early," she murmured.

She saw Prescott stir as if he had heard a call, and his eyes half
opened. Then he made an effort to move, but she put her hand gently upon
his forehead and he sank back to rest. She saw in his half-open eyes a
fleeting look of comprehension, gratitude and joy, then the eyes closed
again, and he floated off once more into the land of peace where he
abode for the present. Lucia felt singularly happy and she knew why, for
so engrossed was she in Prescott that she scarcely heard the second
cannon shot, replying to the first. There came others, all faint and
far, but each with its omen. The second day's battle had begun.

The supreme commanders of either side were now ready. Human minds had
never been more busy than theirs had been. Grant was still preparing to
attack; no thought of failure entered his resolute soul. If he did not
succeed to-day, then he would succeed on the next day or next week or
next month; he would attack and never cease attacking. Lee stood
resolutely in his path, resolved to beat him back, not only on this
line, but on every other line, always bringing up his thinning brigade
for a new defense.

The Wilderness still held secrets for both, but they intended to solve
them that day, to see which way the riddle ran, and the Wilderness
itself was as dark, as calm and as somber as ever. It had been torn by
cannon balls, pierced by rifle bullets and scorched by fire; but the two
armies were yet buried in it and it gave no sign to the world outside.

In the house, despite the wounded, there was deep attention and a
concern that nothing coul