is a floating community."

So we parted for the night. And I slept, the dark hours; but
restlessness took possession of me the moment I awoke. Dr.
Sandford's last words rung in my heart. "It is a floating
community." "Nobody else is going to stay." I must see Mr.
Thorold. What if _he_ should be ordered on, away from Washington
somewhere, and my opportunity be lost? I knew to be sure that
he had been very busy training and drilling some of the new
troops; and I hoped there was enough of the same work on hand
to keep him busy; but I could not know. With the desire to
find him, began to mingle now some foretaste of the pain of
parting from him again when I - or he - should leave the city.
A drop of bitter which I began to taste distinctly in my cup.

I was to learn now, how difficult it sometimes is in new forms
of trial, to be quiet and submissive and trust. I used to be
able to trust myself and my wants with God; I found at this
time that the human cry of longing, and of fear, was very hard
to still. I was ready to trust, if I might only see Mr.
Thorold. I was willing to wait, if only we might not be
separated at last. But _now_ to trust and to wait, when all was
in doubt for me; when, if I missed this sight of my friend, I
might never have another; when all the future was a cloudy sea
and a rocky shore; I felt that I _must_ have this one moment of
peace. Yet I prayed for it submissively; but I am afraid my
heart made its own cry unsubmissively.

I was restless. The days that followed the President's levee
were one after the other filled up with engagements and