KERCHIVAL. Done! You will lose the bet. But you shall have the gloves; and one of the hands that go inside them shall be--[_Taking one of her hands; she withdraws it._
GERTRUDE. My own--until some one wins it. You don't believe that General Beauregard will open fire on Fort Sumter this morning?
KERCHIVAL. It's so much easier to get everything ready to do a thing than it is to do it. I have been ready a dozen times, this very night, to say to you, Miss Gertrude, that I--that I--[_Pauses._
GERTRUDE. [_Looking down and tapping skirt with her whip._] Well?
GERTRUDE. [_Glancing up at him suddenly._] I dare say, General Beauregard has more nerve than you have.
KERCHIVAL. It is easy enough to set the batteries around Charleston Harbour, but the man who fires the first shot at a woman--
KERCHIVAL. At the American flag--must have nerves of steel.
GERTRUDE. You Northern men are so slow to--
KERCHIVAL. I have been slow; but I assure you, Miss Gertrude, that my heart--
KERCHIVAL. You were complaining because I was too slow.
GERTRUDE. I was doing nothing of the kind, sir!--let me finish, please. You Northern men are so slow to believe that our Southern heroes--Northern _men_ and Southern _heroes_--you recognize the distinction I make--you won't believe that they will keep their promises. They have sworn to attack Fort Sumter this morning, and--they--will do it. This "American Flag" you talk of is no longer our flag: it is foreign to us!--It is the flag of an enemy!
KERCHIVAL. [_Tenderly and earnestly._] Am I your enemy?
GERTRUDE. You have told me that you will return to the North, and take the field.
GERTRUDE. You will be fighting against my friends, against my own brother, against me. We _shall_ be enemies.
KERCHIVAL. [_Firmly_.] Even that, Gertrude--[_She looks around at him; he looks squarely into her eyes as he proceeds._]--if you will have it so. If my country needs my services, I shall not refuse them, though it makes us enemies! [_She wavers a moment, under strong emotion, and turns away; sinks upon the seat, her elbow on the back of it, and her tightly-clenched fist against her cheek, looking away from him._
GERTRUDE. I will have it so! I am a Southern woman!
KERCHIVAL. We have more at stake between us, this morning, than a cigar-case and a box of gloves. [_Turning up stage._