Crisis, the — Volume 05 by Winston Churchill
page 34 of 106 (32%)
page 34 of 106 (32%)
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the regiment. Then the soldiers and the noisy crowd were upon them and
while these were passing the two stood there as in a dream. After that silence fell upon the street, and Mr. Brinsmade turned and went back into the house, his head bowed as in prayer. Stephen and his mother drew back, but Anne saw them. "He is a rebel," she faltered. "It will break my father's heart." She looked at Stephen appealingly, unashamed of the tears in her eyes. Then she, too went in. "I cannot stay here mother," he said. As he slammed the gate, Anne ran down the steps calling his name. He paused, and she caught his sleeve. "I knew you would go," she said, "I knew you would go. Oh, Stephen, you have a cool head. Try to keep Jack--out of mischief." He left her standing on the pavement. But when he reached the corner and looked back he saw that she had gone in at his own little gate to meet his mother. Then he walked rapidly westward. Now and again he was stopped by feverish questions, but at length he reached the top of the second ridge from the river, along which crowded Eighteenth Street now runs. There stood the new double mansion Mr. Spencer Catherwood had built two years before on the outskirts of the town, with the wall at the side, and the brick stable and stable yard. As Stephen approached it, the thought came to him how little this world's goods avail in times of trouble. One of the big Catherwood boys was in the blue marching regiment that day, and had been told by his father never again to darken his doors. Another |
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