, and went on blithely through the whole, giving Mother
Venus's advice archly, and adding a shower of improvised trills at the
end.

"Bravo!" said a voice from the garden below.

Rushing to the casement, Miss Duke beheld, first with astonishment, then
dismay, two officers in the uniform of the United States army standing
at the front door. They bowed courteously, and one of them said, "Can I
see the lady of the house?"

"I--I am the lady," replied Gardis, confusedly; then drawing back, with
the sudden remembrance that she should not have shown herself at all,
she ran swiftly up to the study for Cousin Copeland. But Cousin Copeland
was not there, and the little mistress remembered with dismay that old
Dinah was out in the corn-field, and that Pompey had gone fishing. There
was nothing for it, then, but to go down and face the strangers.
Summoning all her self-possession, Miss Duke descended. She would have
preferred to hold parley from the window over the doorway, like the
ladies of olden time, but she feared it would not be dignified, seeing
that the times were no longer olden, and therefore she went down to the
entrance where the two were awaiting her. "Shall I ask them in?" she
thought. "What would Aunt Margaretta have done?" The Gardiston spirit
was hospitable to the core; but these--these were the Vandals, the
despots, under whose presence the whole fair land was groaning. No; she
would not ask them in.

The elder officer, a grave young man of thirty, was spokesman. "Do I
address Miss Gardiston?" he said.

"I am Miss Duke. My aunt, Miss Gardiston, is not living," replied
Gardis.

"Word having been received that the yellow fever has appeared on the
coast, we have been ordered to take the troops a few miles inland and go
into camp immediately, Miss Duke. The grove west of this house, on the
bank of the river, having been selected as camping-ground for a portion
of the command, we have called to say that you need feel no alarm at the
proximity of the soldiers; they will be under strict orders not to
trespass upon your grounds."

"Thanks," said Gardis mechanically; but she was alarmed; they both saw
that.

"I assure you, Miss Duke, that there is not the slightest cause for
nervousness," said the younger officer, bowing as he spoke.

"And your servants will not be enticed away, either," added the other.

"We have only two, and they--would not go," replied Gardis, not
aggressively, but merely stating her fact