Page:The woman in battle .djvu/92

78 on. My fright, after all, was causeless, for on examination I found that the hair was too firmly glued to my lip to be easily removed; indeed, I subsequently discovered that it was practically impossible to move it without the aid of alcohol. After supper, the old man and Frank went off to finish up their work before going to bed, and the women folks busied themselves in clearing the dishes. I had thus a little time to myself, and took advantage of it, first of all, to ascertain about the security of my mustache. To my intense relief I found it as fast as if it actually grew on my lip; and so, with a light heart, I returned to the house, and joined the old woman and the girls.

During the supper, the elder Giles nearly monopolized the conversation, and scarcely gave his wife and children a chance to put a word in edgewise. I saw very plainly that the old woman was worried at the prospect of losing Frank, and consequently prepared to sustain a heavy siege of queries and expostulations from her. Leaving the girls to finish putting away the supper things, she seated herself in the corner, and began pulling vigorously at a pipe filled with some very strong-smelling tobacco, which was far from grateful to my nostrils.

After a variety of inquiries about the war, the duties of a soldier, the chances of being killed, the amount of pay a soldier received, and like matjters, she asked whether I had any parents.

I replied that my father was living.

"Ain't he opposed to your going to the war?" said she.

"O, no," I answered; "he knows that it is what a military man must expect; and he not only wants me to go, but he will be disappointed if I do not see some hard fighting, and have a chance to distinguish myself."

"Are you married?" was the next query.

"No, madam," I replied, giving a sharp look at Sadie, who made a pause in her rattling of the dishes to hear what I would say; "I am one of the unfortunate single men."

"You are much better off, young man," struck in the old man Giles, who just then came in ; and throwing himself on the bench, began to smoke a very strong pipe rather furiously.

Hearing the girls giggle at this, I glanced over my shoulder, and seeing that Miss Sadie had finished her work, and was apparently anxious to be better acquainted with me, I politely arose and offered her my raw-hide chair. This she blushingly