“I suppose you will take them anyway,” growled the unwilling host.

“Certainly,” replied Scoville, giving him a steady look.  “Do you expect us to go hungry?  I shall do my duty as a soldier and an officer, as well as deport myself as a gentleman.”

There was nothing left but for Mr. Baron to give his directions to Perkins, or for the ladies to make preparations for the improvised hospital.  Miss Lou gratefully recognized that Scoville did not intend to compromise her in the least nor reveal his previous acquaintance unless it should become known through no fault of his.  She lingered a moment as Dr. Williams stepped forward and asked, “May I be permitted to return to my home?”

“I trust so, certainly, sir, but my duty requires brief explanation on your part and pledges that you will take no hostile action.  We are not among friends, you know.”

“I can very readily account for myself, sir,” was the stiff response.  “I was summoned here to perform a wedding ceremony which your most inopportune arrival prevented.  I am a man of peace, not of war, yet I cannot and will not give any pledges.”

“It is scarcely fair then, sir, for you to take refuge in your calling, but I will waive that point.  I must warn you, however, that we can give protection to those only who do not seek to harm us.  You are at liberty.  Good-evening, sir.”

He had extracted from the clergyman the fact that he had arrived in time, and he again gave the girl in the doorway a mirthful glance, then turned on his heel to attend to his military duties.

Miss Lou hastened to her room with hot cheeks.

CHAPTER XIII

THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS

Scoville soon learned that his opponent, so far from being killed or even wounded, had escaped.  He was not much worried by this fact, believing that before the Confederate officer could reach his friends and bring back an attacking force, the Federal column would be on the ground.  Indeed, he was glad that the family upon which he had quartered himself could not associate him with so terrible a calamity.  The young girl might not wish to marry her cousin, yet be sorry if he were fatally or even seriously wounded, while the rest of the household would be plunged in the deepest distress.  Although a resolute soldier, Scoville was a kind-hearted fellow, and disposed to take the most genial views of life that circumstances permitted.  There was a humor about his present situation which he relished exceedingly.  He was buoyant over the interrupted wedding, and bent upon disappointing Mr. Baron in all his grewsome expectations in regard to the Yankees.  There should be discipline, order, quiet, and an utter absence of all high-tragedy.  He cautioned his men against the slightest tendency to excess, even forbidding the chaffing of the negroes and noisiness.  A steer, a pig, and some fowls were killed for supper, and the wood for cooking it