Stand By The Union | Page 6

bell rang an hour later than usual," added Christy.
"We were all disturbed last night, and I did not wake till the cook
knocked at my door. She told me she could not find Walsh, and
breakfast had been ready half an hour. That is the reason why
everything is late this morning," Mrs. Passford explained.
"But where is Walsh?" inquired Christy.
"I am sure I do not know. I called in the coachman, and he has been to
his room and looked all over the place without finding him."
"That is very odd," mused the officer, wondering whether this sudden
disappearance had anything to do with the principal event of the
preceding night.
"Peach says he has taken his valise with him, which indicates that he
has gone for good."
"Who is Peach?" asked Christy, who had been at home so little that he
hardly knew the names of the servants.

"He is the coachman. I am not sorry that Walsh has gone, for he has
saved me the trouble of discharging him. Wilder, who had been with us
so many years, took it into his head to enlist in the army, and I was not
willing to persuade him to shirk his duty. Walsh has not been here quite
two weeks. He said he was born in the West Indies; but he was always
prying into matters that did not concern him, and I have several times
found him standing at the door when we were talking about family
matters. I reproved him for it; but it did no good. Your father intended
to discharge him as soon as he returned from Washington."
Christy went to the library, and busied himself in considering whether
or not the sudden departure of Walsh had any connection with the
mysterious midnight intruder. The two events had been near together in
point of time; but he could establish no other relation between them.
Then it flashed upon his mind that the man-servant had been the person
who had opened or closed his door, and visited his room; but he was
sure he had seen a man near the grand entrance of the estate. He had
been all around the house, and Walsh could not have escaped his
observation. He had answered the bell, and admitted him after his
search. He concluded that the servant was not the person who had
disturbed his slumbers.
The morning mail brought a letter from Captain Passford, informing
the family that he was detained in Washington, and that he could not be
at home to say good-by to his son, who was to leave that day in the
store ship Vernon. He wrote a special letter to Christy, containing not
only his adieux, but the good advice he would otherwise have given
him in person.
The breakfast was rather a sad gathering on account of this parting, for
Christy was to leave in another hour. Bertha Pembroke and her father
were quite as sad as the mother and sister, and the young officer did his
best to cheer up the family and the guests. He tried to make them laugh,
but he found it was up-hill work.
"You will be in command of a steamer, Christy, when you reach the
Gulf. I hope you will not be rash, and try to do too much," said Mrs.
Passford, as they rose from the table.

"I don't think I am ever rash, mother; and if I have been exceedingly
fortunate, it was more because the circumstances favored me than
because I ran great risks," replied Christy very seriously, for he was
sensitive on the point his mother had brought up. "Father has said a
great deal to me on this subject, and I have always done my best to
carry out his principles. It is not my fault that I have a friend at court,
and have had opportunities that have not been offered to many others.
But the tide may turn against me on my next cruise."
"I hope it will not, my son," added his mother very earnestly.
"No one knows what is going to happen, and I may spend the next year
or two in a Confederate prison. I don't think my Uncle Homer would
cry his eyes out if such should be my fate, for he has lost several
vessels and cargoes of cotton on my account," returned Christy.
"But I am sure he has no ill-will against you."
"I don't think he has."
"By the way, Christy, have you heard anything from him or his family
lately?" asked Mrs. Passford.
"Not a word, and I am not likely to hear from them. Corny Passford
was exchanged, and sent back to the South a year ago or more; and I
have no idea what has become of