Page:The woman in battle .djvu/74

62 farther in this momentous affair, and while waiting for the tailor to send my uniform suit, I thought and planned until my head fairly arched. At length I hit upon a method of arranging my financial matters which I judged would prove satisfactory, and concluded to call in a gentleman who was a very old and intimate friend of both my husband and myself, and demand his assistance. This friend, in whom I knew full reliance could be placed, came to my room immediately upon my summons, and having first sworn him to secrecy, I made a full revelation with regard to what I proposed to do. He turned deadly pale when I informed him of my intention to disguise myself as a man, and to enter the army on exactly the same footing as other combatants; but, having recovered from his first astonishment and dismay, he tried to treat the whole matter as a jest, and evidently believed that I was either a little demented, or was indulging in an absurd bit of pleasantry. He was convinced, however, that I really meant business, when he saw the trunk with my military pseudonyme upon it, the male garments which the tailor had just sent home, and the accoutrements I had purchased within the past two or three days.

As I had anticipated, he thought it his duty to endeavor to persuade me to abandon my wild ideas, as he called them. He went over all the arguments my husband had used, adding a great many of his own, and painted military associations in the blackest and most repulsive colors. He might as well have talked to the wind, for my heart was fixed on achieving fame, and of accomplishing even more than the great heroines of history had been able to do. I turned a deaf ear to all his remonstrances, and the only answer I gave to his pleadings that I would abandon the thought of unsexing myself, was to insist upon his aid. This he finally promised to give, although most reluctantly, when he found that nothing he could say would move me from my purpose.

My friend suggested that the first thing to be done was, for me to leave the hotel; so, sending for a man, he had my trunk and military equipments carried to the house in which he occupied apartments. My other baggage was prepared for removal, and was taken away to be stored in a place of safety until I should need it again, which I hoped would not