The first telegrams which appeared in the daily papers brought
anxiety and bodings of ill to many households. The dwellers at
the farm were not exempt. They had been apprised by a recent
letter that Mr. Frost's regiment now formed a part of the grand
army which lay encamped on the eastern side of the Rappahannock.
The probability was that he was engaged in the battle. Frank
realized for the first time to what peril his father was exposed,
and mingled with the natural feeling which such a thought was
likely to produce was the reflection that, but for him, his
father would have been in safety at home.
"Did I do right?" Frank asked himself anxiously, the old doubt
recurring once more.
Then, above the selfish thought of peril to him and his, rose the
consideration of the country's need, and Frank said to himself,
"I have done right--whatever happens. I feel sure of that."
Yet his anxiety was by no means diminished, especially when, a
day or two afterward, tidings of the disaster came to hand, only
redeemed by the masterly retreat across the river, in which a
great army, without the loss of a single gun, ambulance, or
wagon, withdrew from the scene of a hopeless struggle, under the
very eyes of the enemy, yet escaping discovery.
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