"I will carry it safely. The gentleman
shall have the letter to-night," and she reached out her hand to take
it.
But Mrs. Carleton shook her head. "No, my dear, I will pin it safely
inside your dress. It would not do for you to be seen leaving the fort
with a letter in your hand."
CHAPTER XI
SYLVIA CARRIES A MESSAGE
Mrs. Fulton did not seem surprised to hear of Sylvia's dismissal from
Miss Patten's school because of her failure to salute the palmetto flag.
She did not say very much of the occurrence that afternoon, when Sylvia
returned from the fort, for she wanted Sylvia to think as pleasantly as
possible of her pretty teacher. But she was surprised that Sylvia
herself did not have more to say about the affair.
But Sylvia's own thoughts were so filled by the mysterious letter which
was pinned inside her dress, with wondering how she could safely deliver
it without the knowledge of anyone, that she hardly thought of school.
For the time she had even forgotten Estralla.
"What do you say to becoming a teacher yourself, Sylvia dear?" her
mother asked, as they sat together in the big sunny room which
overlooked the harbor.
"When I grow up?" asked Sylvia.
Mrs. Fulton smiled. Sylvia "grown up" seemed a long way in the future.
"No--that is too far away," she answered. "I was thinking that perhaps
you would like to teach Estralla to read and write. You could begin to-
morrow, if you wished."
"Yes, indeed! Mother, you think of everything," declared Sylvia.
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