But Harry promised to bring her back; and she was to be immediately summoned, in case of any marked unfavorable change in the invalid.

Then, too, Harold was so serenely happy in the prospect before him, and talked so constantly of it as only going home a little while before the rest, and of how at length all would be reunited in that better land, to spend together an eternity of bliss, that it had robbed death of half its gloom and terror.

It was Harold’s earnest desire that all his dear ones should be as gay and happy as though he were in health; he would not willingly cast a shadow over the pathway of any of them, for a day; especially the newly married, whose honeymoon, he said, ought to be a very bright spot for them to look back upon in all after years.

So Lottie felt it right to let her heart swell with gladness in the new love that crowned her life; and the time passed cheerfully and pleasantly to the guests at Elmgrove.

Mrs. Ross and her mother, and Miss Stanhope, remained for a fortnight after the wedding.  All were made to feel themselves quite at home in both houses; the two families were much like one, and usually spent their evenings together, in delightful social intercourse; Harold in their midst on his couch, or reclining in an easy chair, an interested listener to the talk and occasionally joining in it.

One evening when they were thus gathered about him, Mrs. Carrington, looking compassionately upon the pale, patient face, remarked, “You suffer a great deal, Captain Allison?”

“Yes, a good deal,” he answered cheerfully, “but not more than I can easily endure, remembering that it is ’whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.’”

“You take a very Christian view of it; but do your sufferings arouse no bitterness of feeling towards the South?”

“Oh, no!” he answered, earnestly, “why should they?  The people of the South were not responsible for what was done at Andersonville; perhaps the Confederate government was so only in a measure; and Wirtz was a foreigner.  Besides, there was a great deal endured by rebel prisoners in some of our Northern prisons.  Father,” turning to the elder Mr. Allison, “please tell Mrs. Carrington about your visit to Elmira.”

The others had been chatting among themselves, but all paused to listen as Mr. Allison began his narrative.

“We learned that a young relative of my wife was confined there, and ill.  I went at once to see what could be done for him, and finding the prison in charge of a gentleman who was under much obligation to me, gained admittance without much difficulty.  It was a wretched place, and the prisoners were but poorly fed; which was far more inexcusable here than at the South, where food was scarce in their own army and among the people.”

“I know that to have been the case,” said Mrs. Carrington.  “The farmers were not allowed to make use of their grain for their own families, till a certain proportion had been taken for the army; and there were families among us who did not taste meat for a year.”