Page:Maud Howe - Atlanta in the South.djvu/323

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ATALANTA IN THE SOUTH
317

buried? It seems too terrible, after all that he has done, that there should be no word said over him, no friend to follow him to his grave."

Philip hesitated. His charge was with the living, his time and strength were too precious to waste with the dead; but the girl went on and would not be denied.

"Come, let us go, the drive will do us both good; I have not been in the air for nearly a week. You must come with me, or I will call Therese and we will go alone."

"Therese is asleep, and Madame Anna begged that we should not wake her; she has not been in bed for many nights. I will go with you, Virginia, but we must hasten; I have still to make my rounds to-night."

All barriers of caste were swept away in this terrible time. Anna the Magdalen, Virginia the pure, delicate Northern maiden, Therese the hunted fugitive flying from the law, Rondelet the fastidious aristocrat and man of the world, addressed each other by their Christian names, as if they had been brother and sisters to one another in blood, as they were in their self-abnegation and faith.

A rude cart stood waiting; they took their seats as best they might beside the rough pine coffin, and with Hero and one other negro for guides, made their way to the city of the dead,