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Christianna opened her eyes. "Yes, ma'am, we ran an' ran all day, making a lot of noise, an' it was so dirty; an' then last night we got here an' I slept on a bench in the house where we got out only I didn't sleep much, for soldiers an' men an' women were going in and out all night long an' then in the mahnin' a coloured woman there gave me a glass of milk an' showed me where I could wash my face an' then I came out into the street an' began to look for Cousin Nanny Pine "
The first day that he was well enough to be left, Sairy went round to the Thunder Run women, beginning with Christianna Maydew's mother. Several days afterward, Tom hobbling out on the porch was most happily welcomed by the noise of wheels. "Thar now!" said Sairy, "ain't it a real picnic feeling to get back to business?" Tom went out to the gate with the tobacco box.
In the intervals between the thunders the hillside heard the tap of drum and the bugles blowing. The moving soldiers were going toward the cloud. Miriam and Christianna sank down beneath a little tree. They were on a facet of the hill not quite so advantageous as others. The crowded slopes were beyond.
Miriam rose, threw off the muslin sacque and began to dress. Her eyes were narrowed, her fingers rapid and steady. Christianna opened the window-blinds. The sound of the hurrying feet came strongly in, and with it voices. "The top of the Capitol! see best from there I think the hills toward the almshouse Can you get out on the Brook turnpike?
Artillerymen are hard to kill That's Pender's brigade going now " Christianna clutched Miriam. "Look! look! Oh, what is it?" It soared into the blue, above the smoke. The sunlight struck it and it became a beautiful iridescent bubble, large as the moon. "Oh, oh!" cried the boy. "Look at the balloon!" The hillside kept silence for a moment while it gazed, then "Is it ours? No; it is theirs!
He knew them, checked them off in his mind. He was doing well. A body, superbly healthful, might stand out boldly against a minie ball or two, just as calm nerves, courage and serene judgement were of service in a war hospital such as this. If he was restless now, it was because he was wondering about Christianna. It was an hour past her time for coming. The ward was fearfully crowded.
Miriam lay with closed eyes. A fly buzzed in the darkened room. The fan went monotonously to and fro. Christianna crooned "Shining River" and then "Shady Grove." Outside, on the brick pavement, the sound of feet went by in a slender stream. "Shady Grove! Shady Grove Going to Church in Shady Grove " The stream without grew wide and deep, then hurrying.
On it lay a man, blond and straight, closed eyes with a line between them, hand across his breast touching his shirt where it was stiff with dried blood. "Air you thirsty?" began Christianna, then set the bucket suddenly down. Allan opened his eyes. "Very thirsty.... I reckon I am light-headed. I'm not on Thunder Run, am I?" The frightful day wore on to late afternoon.
Allan spoke at some length, in his frank, quiet voice. She sat beside him, with her cheek on her hand, the blue sky and old house roofs above her. When he ceased her eyes were full of tears. She would not let them fall. "If I began to cry I should never stop," she said, and smiled them away. Presently she rose. "I must go now. Christianna will be back to-morrow."
"So she thought she ought not to come to-day. Had there been strong reason, many people dependent upon her, she would have come." "Poor Christianna poor wild rose!... It's ghastly, this war! There is nothing too small and harmless for its grist." "I agree with you. Nothing too great; nothing too small. Nothing too base, as there is nothing too noble." "Isham Maydew!
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