are not doing wrong."

When we went in my mother looked hard at me; but, to my surprise, said
nothing. She was sulky, but whether it was with Virginia or with me, or
with my new clothes, or whether her conscience smote her for her neglect
of me, I do not know. She put the dinner on the table in silence, and
after it was over she went upstairs. Virginia and I did not neglect this
opportunity. She put on her bonnet, we slipped out, and walked about
together till tea-time. When we came back my mother seized my sister by
the arm and carried her up to bed. Little Virginia made no resistance,
but turned her head and smiled at me as she was led away. I never felt
so happy in my life as I did when I went to bed and thought over the
events of the day.




CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I am so Unfashionable as to pay my Debts--Ben's Opinion as to my
Father's Return--The Chances exemplified in the List of killed and
wounded--The "L'Orient" blowing up and the "Royal George" going
down.


Time passed, and three years of it certainly were not unprofitably
spent. Anderson had instructed me well. I could read, write, and cipher,
and, what the reader will consider of more consequence, I was well
acquainted with the Bible, and duly admonished by my preceptor of my
duty toward God and man. Nor was my sister Virginia neglected. My