"And this is my young cousin, the one who is likely to be so zealous for
our cause," he said, smiling at Harry with flashing black eyes. "You
are a stalwart lad. They grow bigger and stronger here than on our warm
Carolina coast."

"Raymond arrived only three hours ago," said Colonel Kenton in
explanation. "He came directly from Charleston, leaving only three
hours after the resolution in favor of secession was adopted."

"And a rough journey it was," said Bertrand vivaciously. "I was
rattled and shaken by the trains, and I made some of the connections by
horseback over the wild hills. Then it was a long ride through the snow
to your hospitable home here, my good cousin, Colonel Kenton. But I had
minute directions, and no one noticed the stranger who came so quietly
around the town, and then entered your house."

Harry said nothing but watched him intently. Bertrand spoke with a
rapid lightness and grace and an abundance of gesture, to which he was
not used in Kentucky. He ate plentifully, and, although his manners
were delicate, Harry felt to an increasing degree his foreign aspect and
spirit. He did not wonder at it when he learned later that Bertrand,
besides being chiefly of French blood, had also been educated in Paris.

"Was there much enthusiasm in South Carolina when the state seceded,
Raymond?" asked Colonel Kenton.

"I saw the greatest joy and confidence everywhere," he replied, the
color flaming through his olive face. "The whole state is ablaze.
Charleston is the heart and soul of our new alliance. Rhett and Yancey
of Alabama, and the great orators make the souls of men leap. Ah, sir,