IT WAS A lovely day in July. Not a cloud in the sky. Mary was so excited that she hugged Gretchen, as they sat in Mrs. Master’s handsome open carriage and were driven round the park.

“I have a surprise for you,” said Gretchen.

“What?”

“Before we take the ferry. Wait and you’ll see.”

You’d hardly guess that the city was at war at all. Not a soldier in sight, and the park looking so splendid and so green.

Two weeks earlier, it had been a different story. At the end of June, when General Lee and his Confederates had crossed the Potomac River and pushed into Pennsylvania, New York had been in a ferment. Every regiment in the city had been sent southward to bolster the Union army. “But if Lee defeats them, or gives them the slip,” Master had pointed out, “he could be here in days.”

By the start of July, a big battle had begun down at Gettysburg. At first no one knew who was winning. But on the fourth, last Saturday, news came up the wires that the Union had gained a great victory. And by Thursday, Mrs. Master had told her: “I think, Mary dear, that it’s safe for you to go on your holiday now.”

Free at last. The holiday had been planned the month before. Gretchen’s husband had insisted that she needed a week of rest. He’d continue to mind the store, while their three children would stay nearby with Gretchen’s parents. It had also been agreed that Mary should go with her, so that Gretchen could travel with safety and propriety, and the two friends keep each other company. A respectable hotel had been booked out on Long Island. Before they took the ferry that afternoon, Mrs. Master had kindly told them to use her carriage as they liked, and so they had begun with a whirl through Central Park.

What with Gretchen’s children and a store to run, it wasn’t possible for the two friends to see each other as they had in the old days—though they always kept in regular touch, and Mary was godmother to one of the children. They were both delighted, therefore, with this chance to spend a week away at the beach together, and already they were laughing like a pair of girls.

“Look at us fashionable ladies going round the park,” cried Mary.