All those pretty Virginia girls were his
cousins. It might run to the thirty-second degree, but they were his
cousins just the same, and he would claim them with confidence.
He smiled and his eyelids drooped a little. It was rather dark outside,
and he was looking directly into the court in which rosebushes and tall
flowering plants grew. A shadow passed. He did not see whence it came
or went, but he sat up and laughed at himself for dozing and conjuring up
phantoms when he was at his first real ball in ages.
All the civilians had gone out and only five or six of the officers,
the most important, were left. Their talk had grown more eager, and on
the center of the table around which they sat lay a large piece of white
canvas upon which they were drawing a map expressing their collective
opinion. Every detail was agreed upon, after much discussion, and Harry,
as much interested as they, began to watch, while the lines grew upon the
canvas. He ventured no opinion, being so much younger than the others.
"We don't know, of course, exactly what General Lee will do," said a
colonel, "but we do know that he's always dangerous. He invariably acts
on the offensive, even if he's retreating. I should think that he'd
strike Meade about here.
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