What if after all there should be a battle?
She had only thought of giving Perez warning, so he might fly with his
men, but what if he should take advantage of it to prepare an ambush
and fight? She had not thought of that. Jonathan was with the
expedition. What if she should prove to be the murderer of her
brother? What had she done? Sick at heart, she lay awake trembling
till dawn. Then she got up and dressed, and waited about miserably,
till toward eight o'clock the news of the result came. Then she
laughed till she cried and ended by saying that she would go to bed,
for she thought she was going to be sick. And she was right. Her
mother wondered how she could have taken such a terrible cold.
But leaving Dr. Partridge to cure her cold with calomel and laudanum,
after the manner of the day, let us inquire in a historical spirit
what it was in the news of the result at Lee which should cause a
young woman to laugh so immoderately.
It had been nearly midnight of the preceding evening, when Reuben
wearily and slowly making his way along the dark and difficult road,
reached Lee, and was directed at the rebel outposts to the house of
Mrs. Perry as the place which Perez occupied as a headquarters.
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