Part 68 (1/2)
With sudden emotion she leaped to her feet her little fists clinched.
She stood trembling in silence for a moment and her face paled.
”No, Signor,” she went on in cold tones. ”There can be no readjustment of this war. It's to the death now. I confess myself a rebel body and soul--_Confess_? I glory in it! I'm proud of being one. I thought my father extravagant at first. Ben Butler has changed my views. The South can't look back now. It's forward--forward--always forward to death--or independence!”
She paused overcome with emotion.
”Yes,” she went on in quick tones, ”I thank G.o.d we're two different tribes! I'm proud of the South and her old-fas.h.i.+oned, out-of-date chivalry. The South respects and honors women. G.o.d never made the Southern white man who could issue Butler's orders in New Orleans or insult the heart-broken women who are forced to enter his office with the vile motto he has placed over his desk--”
Socola lifted his hand in gentle smiling protest.
”But you must remember, Miss Jennie, that General Butler is a peculiar individual. He probably does not represent the best that's in New England--”
”G.o.d knows I hope not for their sakes,” was the answer. ”I only wish I could fight in the ranks with our boys. If I can't fight at least I'm going to help our men in other ways. I'll work with my hands as a slave.
I'll sew and knit and nurse. I'll breathe my soul into the souls of our men. I sing Dixie when I rise in the morning. I hum it all day. I sing it with my last thoughts as I go to sleep.”
Socola moved uneasily.
She looked at him a moment with an expression of sudden tenderness.
”I can't tell you how proud and happy I am in the thought that I may have helped you to give your brilliant mind to the service of the South.
It's my offering to my country and her cause!”
It was impossible to resist the glow of love in her s.h.i.+ning face. Socola felt his soul dissolve.
With a little gesture of resignation she dropped to a seat on the lounge beside the window, her young face outlined against a ma.s.s of early roses in full bloom. Their perfume poured through the window and filled the room.
Socola seated himself deliberately by her side and held her gaze with direct purpose. She saw and understood and her heart beat in quick response.
”You realize that you _are_ the incarnate Cause of the South for me?”
She smiled triumphantly.
”I have always known it.”
There was no silly boasting in her tones, no trace of the Southern girl's light mood with one of her numerous beaux. Her words were spoken with deliberate tenderness.
”And yet how deeply and wonderfully you could not know--”
”I have guessed perhaps--”
He took her hand in his.
”I love you, Jennie--”
Her voice was the tenderest whisper.