George Boyd's right hand had been maimed in a peculiar manner during the
war, and this bloody mark upon the woman's night-dress was its exact
imprint.

Already Mr. Travilla had procured his arrest, and had him imprisoned for
trial, in the county jail.

Yet this was but a small part of the day's work: lumber had been
ordered, and men engaged for the rebuilding of the school-house;
merchandise also to replace the furniture and clothing destroyed; and
arms for every man at the quarter capable of using them.

All this Elsie knew and approved, as did her father and brother. For
Mrs. Carrington's sake they deeply regretted that Boyd was implicated in
the outrage; but all agreed that justice must have its course.

The question had been mooted in both families whether any or all of them
should leave the South until the restoration of law and order should
render it a safe abiding place for honest, peaceable folk, but
unanimously decided in the negative.

The gentlemen scorned to fly from the desperadoes and resign to their
despotic rule their poor dependents and the land of their love; nay they
would stay and defend both to the utmost of their power; and the wives
upheld their husbands in their determination and refused to leave them
to meet the peril alone.

Returning from the burial of Uncle Mose, Mr. Dinsmore and Horace spent
an hour at Ion before riding back to the Oaks.