He wrote a special letter to Christy, containing not only
his adieux, but the good advice he would otherwise have given him in
person.
The breakfast was rather a sad gathering on account of this parting, for
Christy was to leave in another hour. Bertha Pembroke and her father
were quite as sad as the mother and sister, and the young officer did
his best to cheer up the family and the guests. He tried to make them
laugh, but he found it was up-hill work.
"You will be in command of a steamer, Christy, when you reach the Gulf.
I hope you will not be rash, and try to do too much," said Mrs.
Passford, as they rose from the table.
"I don't think I am ever rash, mother; and if I have been exceedingly
fortunate, it was more because the circumstances favored me than because
I ran great risks," replied Christy very seriously, for he was sensitive
on the point his mother had brought up. "Father has said a great deal to
me on this subject, and I have always done my best to carry out his
principles. It is not my fault that I have a friend at court, and have
had opportunities that have not been offered to many others. But the
tide may turn against me on my next cruise."
"I hope it will not, my son," added his mother very earnestly.
"No one knows what is going to happen, and I may spend the next year or
two in a Confederate prison.
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