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Show 56 HOEBUCK. hirnsc1f on others. IIis feelings had becomo nlmo . .;t 1norbicl when the prospect of sccc~sion . and ~var set his "hrewcl and active n1iud to cal u1at.Lng- wnat advant: lo·cs he 1u'ight derive fro1n those events. He ,vaB s~ cautious and secret that hi::; thonghls were not freely disclosed even to his f:unily. . I lis wife '"a a ta11, slcntlcr "ro1nan, 'nth many angles and no curves. She wore l:cr h~tir, her eye:, .her lips, her li1nbs and her gown '\'lth ionnal p~·ec1s1,on. She sat erec.t in a square, high-backed chmr. Sho placed her hands on her lap smoothly along, palm to pahn. She set her feet fiat on the ilo or, ne!"lr together, and n1aking with each other the very ~mglc which, according to her notion, 'vas proper. YVhen she n1oved frotn one scat to another, she elong~ted her figure in ri:iu g 'vith the join ted, hinged . itnd oiled exactnes.9 of a tuathmnatical instrnrnent., g1tdru a way on a straight line, 'vith 1ncchanical regnhrity of ~Step, an llet herself down like a jointe<.l inl:5trument tao~-(mn . \Vhcn ~he talked her voice ran onL in a lercl ' '1'1 streatn without break, cinpha,'is or c.~ lonce. lC sentitnents she nttereLl were alway~ frigitl, but never wrong, according to the stan<.lm·d of right 1vhieh she had studied. 'l'hc 'vanner aud nobler e1uotions were represented in her disconr.·c by enlogied of the1:1· She cleprccntcd their oppo ites with l.itLle hitches lTI her utterances that "rere hints of horror. She passed for a saint in her ihmily aud in her conscience too. She practiced the polileno~s of <'labornte tbt.tery. She was a woman of learning, for she had been edtH.•<tted in Boston, and talked rather •' like a book'' than like a lady. She ren1e1nbered son1e scraps of I .. !-ttin, which she luob·<bY ed into her conYerBatiou in season and out of season. ROEBUCK. 57 IInsbnn(1, wife anil son 'vere diRcnssing the b .test ne\\·:·. The Rame Rnhject w·aq diRcn s 1l th1-t c\·c;ling jn C\' ry habitation of Virgini:t 'vhere the intclli~·,\nr h~H1 been n'ceivec1. The con11ni~. ioner~ depnt e<l h.'' thu Confc<lt\rnte g-overnn1cnt to vi. it \Va~hingLo11 an<i f3o1icit an amicable :v1jn~tn1ent of the qne.·tions in eident to secession, after being detained w.ith del usi \re ~rt until certain 'varlike preparations ·were seeretly 1nn<1e, 'vere rej ctcil.. A dcfin.nce and provocn.ti \·e of " ':-tr " 'as offered to the South by sending vessels to Charleston harbor to be fired upon, and finnlly it 1va~ announced that the President of the United Stnt ::; hnd, by proclamation, called forth an army to be employed agn.inst the Confederate State~~ and that, in consequence of this proclamation, the Convention of Viro·inia l1acl passel an ordinance of sec .'~ion, subject to ratification or rejection by the people at the po1Js. It "·a· also nnnored thnt the State anthor.itics lutd di "'pntched a volunteer force to seize the nnnory at IIarpcr':::; Ii,erry. " This Incaus 1var," pronounced the paternal Palmer. "Undoubtedly 1\':tr," echoed the son. "The ordinance of secession 'viii be ratified by tho people." "Aln1ost unani1nously." ""\V e should be prepared for those events," sa.id the father. "\.V e 1nust choose a side, no doubt," replied the son. "Or sides." This brief, ambjguons qualification, added by his wary father, 'vas not quite intelligible to Albert, but he asked no explanation and none 1vas offered. The 3* |
