Nothing finer
or grander had Zebulon attempted before the recruiting officer
came to Opinquake, and when he came, poor Zeb appeared to hang
back so timorously that he lost what little place he had in
Susie's thoughts. She was ignorant of the struggle taking place in
his loyal heart. More intense even than his love for her was the
patriotic fire which smouldered in his breast; yet when other
young men were giving in their names and drilling on the village
green, he was absent. To the war appeals of those who sought him,
he replied briefly. "Can't leave till fall."
"But the fighting will be over long before that," it was urged.
"So much the better for others, then, if not for me."
Zeke Watkins made it his business that Susie should hear this
reply in the abbreviated form of, "So much the better, then."
She had smiled scornfully, and it must be added, a little
bitterly. In his devotion Zeb had been so helpless, so diffidently
unable to take his own part and make advances that she, from odd
little spasms of sympathy, had taken his part for him, and
laughingly repeated to herself in solitude all the fine speeches
which she perceived he would be glad to make.
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