Let There Be Light Read Online Free Page B

anything said in the article about the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry Division being involved in Tuesday’s battle?”
    “No, sir. The Third Cavalry Division wasn’t mentioned.”
    Jenny drew a shuddering breath. “I’m glad for that. At least Papa wasn’t in that battle. I … I just wish I knew if Nate was all right.”
    Emma’s arm was still around Jenny. She kissed her cheek. “Honey, I have a good feeling way down deep about Nate. I just know he’s all right.”
    Jenny managed a smile. “You’re such a dear, Emma. Whenever I need encouragement, you always have a way of giving it to me.”
    “You just keep it up, Emma,” said Wiley. “Well, I’ve got more papers to deliver. See all of you later.”
    Emma patted Jenny’s cheek. “It’s going to be all right for both your papa and Nate, honey. How about your mother? Has she met her new doctor?”
    “Not yet, but Dr. Griffin is to pay her a visit about five o’clock this evening so he can go over her problem and get acquainted with her.”
    For a moment, Jenny and the Hendersons discussed the fact that the Linden family physician, Dr. Wayne Maddox, had felt the need to sell his practice and go into the service as an army doctor. Maddox had sold his practice to Dr. Adam Griffin just this past week.
    Customers were coming into the store as Emma said, “I’m glad to know that your mother will get the new doctor’s attention right away.”
    It was toward the end of the day, and while the last shadows cast by the setting sun were fingering their way into the general store, Zack and Emma were waiting on customers at the counter while Jenny was working at the fabric display table nearby. She had been busy for over an hour, arranging new bolts of brightly colored fabrics on the table from the latest shipment that had arrived in early afternoon.
    After having leaned over the table for some time, Jenny straightened and stretched the kinks out of her back. Letting her eyes roam carefully over the display, she rearranged one of the bolts, then ran her hands gently over the soft, colorful cloth.
I sure would love to have a new dress made out of this wonderfully soft, deep blue wool
, she thought.
Right now, money in the Linden household is too scarce to even be thinking this way. Maybe when this horrible war is over and Papa is back home and working again, Mama and I can make some new dresses
.
    Taking a step back, Jenny looked over her handiwork one last time.
    Satisfied, she returned to the back side of the counter, and while Zack and Emma continued taking care of customers, she began refilling the candy jars that were bunched at both ends of the counter.
    Dusk was rapidly encroaching into the small parlor where forty-year-old Myrna Linden sat in her rocking chair near the window that overlooked the street. In her hands, she held a photograph of her husband in his uniform. Pressing the photograph close to herheart, she stared forlornly into space while tears streamed down her cheeks.
    Her mind was tortured as she thought of William facing death every day while the horrible Civil War went on. Myrna had no idea where her husband’s unit was fighting, for General Sherman’s troops were spread over several Confederate states.
    Myrna wiped tears from her face and looked at the photograph. Her lips quivered. “Oh, William, I love you so much. I want the War to be over so you can come home. Almost every night, I hear Jenny crying herself to sleep in her room, wanting her papa to come home safely.”
    Myrna jumped when the knock came at the door. “Oh!” she whispered as she laid her husband’s picture on the nearby table and rose from the rocking chair. “I knew Dr. Griffin was coming.”
    She glanced at the clock on the wall and noted that it was almost five-thirty. Moving a bit unsteadily, Myrna left the parlor and moved through the hall to the vestibule. When she opened the door, a man stood there, holding a black medical bag in one hand and a briefcase in the