“I hope so myself, for the sake of your friend,” said Doctor Humphries, “Mr. Wentworth appears to be quite a gentleman, and I should greatly regret his finding his wife in such an unfortunate position as the woman in prison is represented to be.”

“I know the spirit of the man,” remarked Harry, “he is sensitive to dishonor, no matter in what form or shape it may come, and the knowledge that his wife was charged with robbery would be a fearful blow to his pride, stern and unyielding as it is.”

“If it is his wife, and she has committed a theft, I pity her, indeed; for I am sure if she is the lady her husband represents, nothing but the most dire necessity could have induced her to descend to crime.”

“Ah, sir,” replied Harry, “Heaven only knows if it is not through want.  Alfred Wentworth feared that his wife was living in penury, for he knew that she was without adequate means.  If she has unfortunately been allowed to suffer, and her children to want with her, what gratification is it for him to know that he was proving his loyalty to the South in a foreign prison while his wife and children were wanting bread to eat in our very midst?”

“It will indeed be a sad commentary on our patriotism,” remarked Dr. Humphries.  “God only knows how willing I should have been to serve the poor woman and her children had they applied to me for assistance.”

“And I fervently wish that every heart in the State beat with the same feeling of benevolence that yours does,” replied Harry.  “However, this is no time to lament or regret what is inexorable; we must see the child, and afterwards the mother, for, no matter whether they are the family of Alfred Wentworth or not, the fact of their being the wife and child of a soldier entitles them to our assistance, and it is a debt we should always willingly pay to those who are defending our country.”

“You are right, Harry, you are right,” observed the Doctor, “and it is a debt that we will pay, if no one else does it.  Do you return to Emma, now,” he continued, “while I order the buggy to take us to the cabin.”

Leaving Harry, Dr. Humphries went to the stable and ordered the groom to put the horse in the buggy.  He was very much moved at the idea of a friendless woman being necessitated to steal for the purpose of feeding her children, and in his heart he sincerely wished she would not prove to be the wife of Alfred Wentworth.  Harry’s story of his friend’s chivalrous conduct to him at Fort Donelson, as well as the high toned character evinced by Alfred during the few days acquaintance he had with him, had combined to procure a favorable opinion of the soldier by Dr. Humphries; at the same time, he could not conceive how any one could be so friendless in a land famed for the generous hospitalities of its people, as the South is; but he knew not, or rather he had never observed, that there were times when the eye of benevolence and the hand of charity were strangers to the unfortunate.