ch, I wish that I had sons too, and then again I'm glad I
have not."

"Why not, Mrs. Lanham?" asked Harry.

"Because I'd be in deadly fear lest I lose them. They'd go to the war--
I couldn't help it--and they'd surely be killed."

"We won't grieve over losing what we've never had," smiled Mr. Lanham.
"That's morbid."

Harry and Dalton did their best to answer all the questions of their
hosts, who they knew would take no pay. The interest of both Mr. and
Mrs. Lanham was increased when they found that their young guests were on
the staff of General Lee and before that had been on the staff of the
great Stonewall Jackson. These two names were mighty in the South,
untouched by any kind of malice or envy, and with legends to cluster
around them as the years passed.

"And you really saw Stonewall Jackson every day!" said Mrs. Lanham.
"You rode with him, talked with him, and went into battle with him?"

"I was in all his campaigns, Mrs. Lanham," replied Harry, modestly,
but not without pride. "I was with him in every battle, even to the last,
Chancellorsville. I was one of those who sheltered him from the shells,
when he was shot by our own men. Alas! what an awful mistake. I--"

He stopped suddenly. He had choked with emotion, and the tears came into
his eyes. Mrs. Lanham saw, and, understanding, she quickly changed the
subject to Lee. They talked a while after supper, called dinner now,
and then they went up to their room on the second floor.

It was a handsome room, containing good furniture, including two single
beds. Their baggage had preceded them and everything was in order.
Two large windows, open to admit the fresh air, looked out over Richmond.
On a table stood a pitcher of ice water and glasses.

"Our lot has certainly been cast in a pleasant place," said Dalton,
taking a chair by one of the windows.

"You're right," said Harry, sitting in the chair by the other window.
"The Lanhams are fine people, and it's a good house. This is luxury,
isn't it, George, old man?"

"The real article. We seem to be having luck all around. And we're
going to a big ball to-morrow night, too. Who'd have thought such a
thing possible a week ago?"

"And we've made friends who'll see that we're not neglected."

"It's an absolute fact that we've become the favorite children of
fortune."

"No earthly doubt of it."

Then ensued a silence, broken at length by a scraping sound as each moved
his chair a little