In
their sovereign power they have recalled me. As their servant I go!"
With a wave of his hand in an imperious gesture of defiance to the
silent Senators of the North, amid a scene of unparalleled passion, the
speaker turned to his seat, gathered his books and papers and strode
with quick firm step down the aisle.
Jennie had leaped to her feet and stood clapping her hands in a frenzy
of excitement, unconscious of the existence of the strangely quiet young
man by her side.
He rose and stood smiling into her flushed face as she gasped:
"A wonderful speech--wasn't it?"
"They say the South has never lacked audacity, Miss Barton. I'm
wondering if they are really going to make good such words with deeds."
He spoke with a cold detachment that chilled and angered the impulsive
girl. A hot answer was on her lips when she remembered suddenly that he
was a foreigner.
"Of course, Signor, you can not understand our feelings!"
"On the other hand, I assure you, I do--I'm just wondering in a cold
intellectual way whether the oratorical temperament--the temperament of
passion, of righteous wrath of the explosive type which we have just
witnessed, will win in the trial by fire which war will bring--"
"You doubt our courage?" she interrupted, with a slight curve of the
proud little lips.
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