ence of those papers.

"So it is. If I had been lucky enough to have made the acquaintance of
that young lady, as you have, I would not let my aspirations stop short
of the stars of a major-general."

"You need not as it is, if you do your duty."

"Ah! my dear fellow, you are as sentimental as a girl of sixteen. I am a
modest man; but, in my estimation, there are ten thousand men in the army
as good as I am. They can't all be major-generals, can they?"

"Certainly not."

"Then, if you live a few months longer, you will find out how good a
thing it is to have a friend at court. You are a modest young man; but I
suppose you think there isn't another man in the army who is quite your
equal, and that your merit and your bravery will make a brigadier of you
in less than a year. It's a good thing to think so; but----"

"I don't think so. That would be modesty with a vengeance."

"I was a sentimental boy like you once, and I was just as certain that I
should be made a field-marshal, and have the command of the French army
in the Crimea----"

"I thought you were in the English army in the Crimea," interposed the
young lieutenant, eager to change the subject.

"Certainly, in the English army; that's what I said," continued the
gallant captain, entirely unmoved by the interruption. "I was just as
sure of having the command of the British army in the Crimea as you are
of becoming a brigadier by the time we get into Richmond. But I have no
friends at court as you have now."

"I never thought of such a thing as being a brigadier," protested Somers.
"I never even expected to become a second lieutenant."

"It isn't much to be a brigadier. I served with 'Old Rosey' in West
Virginia for a time. We had a captain there who didn't know any more
about military than a swine does about Lord Chesterfield's table
etiquette. He went into action with a cane in his hand, hawbucking his
company about just as a farmer does a yoke of cattle. That fellow is a
brigadier-general now; and there's hope for you and me, if we can only
have a friend at court."

"I am higher now than I ever expected to be, and I wouldn't give a straw
for fifty friends at court."

"That's because you are sentimental; but you'll get over that."

"Lieutenant Somers," said Senator Guilford, who had risen from his seat,
and approached that occupied by the two officers, "I shall leave the
train at the next stopping-place, in order to procure proper medical
attendan