I would show him, whoever he was! This grove was mine as long as I wanted to stay there with my girl.

The blood rose to my head as I went quietly forward until I could see Virginia.
She was alone! She had taken a blanket from the wagon and spread it on the ground upon the grass under a spreading elm, and scattered about on it were articles of clothing which she had taken from her satchel--that satchel to which the poor child had clung so tightly while she had come to my camp across the prairie on the Ridge Road that night--which now seemed so long ago.

There was a dress on which she had been sewing; for the needle was stuck in the blanket with the thread still in the garment; but she was not working.

She had in her lap as she sat cross-legged on the blanket, a little wax doll to which she was babbling and talking as little girls do.

She had taken off its dress, and was carefully wiping its face, telling it to shut its eyes, saying that mama wouldn't hurt it, asking it if she wasn't a bad mama to keep it shut up all the time in that dark satchel, asking it if it wasn't afraid in the dark, assuring it that mama wouldn't let anybody hurt it--and all this in the sweetest sort of baby-talk.