"It's pleasant and cool here at the window, isn't it, Dick, boy ?" Dick knew that he was thinking nothing about the window and the pleasant coolness of the night.

He knew equally well the question that was trembling on his lips but which he could not muster the courage to ask.
But he had one of his own to ask first.
"My mother ?" he asked.

"Do you know where she has gone ?" "Yes, Dick, I came here in secret, but I've seen two men, Judge Kendrick and Dr.Russell.The armies are passing so close to this place, and the guerillas from the mountains have become so troublesome, that she has gone to Danville to stay a while with her relatives.

Nearly everybody else has gone, too.

That's why the town is so silent.