he mud, and slush, ice and frozen pools of
blood--out of the storm cloud of sleet and snow and black palls of smoke
emerged the stolid, bulldog face of Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln made him a
major general.

CHAPTER XXII

JENNIE'S RECRUIT

Socola lost no time in applying for a position. The one place of all
others he wished was a berth in the War Department. It was useless to
try for it. No foreigner had ever been admitted to tiny position of
trust in this wing of the Confederate Government.

He would try for a position in the Department of State. His supposed
experience in the Diplomatic Service and his mastery of two languages
besides the English would be in his favor. The struggle for recognition
from the powers of Europe was the card he could play. Once placed in the
Department of State he would make the acquaintance of every clerk and
subordinate who possessed a secret of the slightest value to his cause.

He wished to enter the Department of State for another reason. He had
learned from absolutely reliable sources that Judah P. Benjamin, the
present Secretary of War, was slated for Secretary of State in the new
Cabinet which would be named when Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as
permanent President. He knew Benjamin to be the ablest man in the
Cabinet, the one man on whose judgment Davis leaned with greatest
confidence. It would he of immense value to his cause to be in daily
touch with this man.

Fortunately he had mastered shorthand the last year of his stay in
Washington. This accomplishment, rare in the South, would be an
additional argument with which to secure his appointment.

Jennie had promised to accompany him to the office of the President and
add her voice to his plea. She had quite won the heart of the badgered
chieftain of the Confederacy by her steady loyalty to his
administration. The malignant opposition of Senator Barton was
notorious. This opposition at the moment had become peculiarly
vindictive and embarrassing. The fall of Fort Donelson and the loss of
Nashville had precipitated a storm of hostile criticism. The fierce
junta of malcontents in the Confederate Congress were eager to seize on
any excuse to attack the President. They were now demanding the removal
of Albert Sidney Johnston from his command. Davis knew that his
commanding general in Tennessee was the greatest soldier of his
time--and that all he needed was a single opportunity to demonstrate his
genius. He refused wi