=Enter= _RALPH, L. 2 E. He pauses. REGINALD at C._
=Reg.= I cannot resist the impulse. I must see my child! [=Exit= _hurriedly into tent, L. 5 E. RALPH watches him cautiously._]
=Re-enter= _REGINALD from tent with cloak, and_ =Exit= _hurriedly, R. 4 E._
=Ralph.= What does this mean? Maitland leaving his post? He acts strangely, too! I'll follow him and see what he is up to. At last I have the opportunity to humble his pride in the sight of the commanding officers! [_He follows REGINALD, R. 4 E._]
=Scene 1=: SITTING-ROOM IN THE MAITLAND COTTAGE.
_ANASTASIA discovered seated knitting at table, L. C._
=Anas.= War, and war, and war--and nothing but war! What earthly sense can there be in a lot of men standing up to be shot at, I'd like to know? Men making targets of themselves for others to practice shooting at! If they want to shoot so bad there are enough shooting galleries, where they can bang away to their hearts' content. But that's just the way with the men. They always will be doing things they ought not to. If the women only had the control of the Government, there would not be any war--never! Everything would be peace and harmony.
=Mor.= [_R. C._] Good morning, sister! Where is my little darling Alice?
=Anas.= Out in the garden with her mother and Hilda.
=Mor.= [_Anxiously._] I am almost afraid to let them venture out of the house for fear there might be some rebels lurking in the neighborhood.
=Anas.= [_Drops knitting and rises._] Good gracious, brother Morris! There is no danger of the fighting coming so close?
=Mor.= It is hard to tell how it will be. Warfare is very uncertain, although I do not think there is any immediate danger. The rebels are fleeing towards the north-west, out of our track entirely. The Union forces are but six miles to our west.
=Anas.= What if they should turn back? What will become of us?
=Mor.= True; but I believe the greatest danger is past! The rebels have a determined pursuer, who will not be forced back. Grant is not the man to acknowledge defeat. He has entered the fight to win, and I have faith in him to believe that he will not turn his back upon the rebels until he has forced them to submission.
=Anas.= Just to think that we might all have been shot and cut up--ugh! It makes my blood run cold.