Wasn't it foolish?"
The Colonel nodded, carefully shading his eyes from the fire.
"They were just wasting precious years of companionship," went on the
girl. "That thought came to me as I lay awake in bed, and the very
next morning I wrote to the Major. You see, Colonel Fairfax, I feel
this way," she explained. "There's no North and no South. Daddy and
the Major are citizens of the United States."
The Colonel rose and busied himself about the fire. When he put back
the tongs and reseated himself his cheeks were hot from its blazing
warmth.
"And that's what I told Uncle Edward in the letter, and, Colonel, he
wrote me such a glorious letter back that I had to show it to Daddy.
He was delighted, and he said that any two men who fought over the
battles of a dead war were 'old fools.'"
Colonel Fairfax winced.
"So," finished the girl with glowing eyes, "Uncle Edward came rushing
North in a great state of excitement, and that's how I came to be down
here over Christmas."
In her impetuous criticism of the war-time quarrel that had separated
the Verney twins for more than forty years, and the expression of her
broad, impulsive patriotism.
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