Lord
Northwell's daredevil Royalist ancestor,--the one with the lace collar
over the dull-gold velvet, and the pointed chin, and the lazy scorn in
the eyes. Those eyes are painted with drooping lids. The first time I
saw Clarence Colfax I thought of that picture--and now I thought of the
picture first.

The General's voice startled me.

"Major Brice, do you know this gentleman?" he asked.

"Yes, General."

"Who is he?"

"His name is Colfax, sir--Colonel Colfax, I think"

"Thought so," said the General.

I have thought much of that scene since, as I am steaming northward over
green seas and under cloudless skies, and it has seemed very unreal. I
should almost say supernatural when I reflect how I have run across this
man again and again, and always opposing him. I can recall just how he
looked at the slave auction, which seem, so long ago: very handsome,
very boyish, and yet with the air of one to be deferred to. It was
sufficiently remarkable that I should have found him in Vicksburg. But
now--to be brought face to face with him in this old dining room in
Goldsboro! And he a prisoner. He had not moved. I did not know how he
would act, but I went up to him and held out my hand, and said.--"How do
you do, Colonel Colfax?"

I am sure that my voice was not very steady, for I cannot help liking
him And then his face lighted up and he gave me his hand. And he smiled
at me and again at the General, as much as to say that it was all over.
He has a wonderful smile.

"We seem to run into each other, Major Brice," said he.

The pluck of the man was superb. I could see that the General, too,
was moved, from the way he looked at him. And he speaks a little more
abruptly at such times.

"Guess that settles it, Colonel," he said.

"I reckon it does, General," said Clarence, still smiling. The General
turned from him to the table with a kind of jerk and clapped his hand on
the tissue paper.

"These speak for themselves, sir," he said. "It is very plain that they
would have reached the prominent citizens for whom they were intended if
you had succeeded in your enterprise. You were captured out of uniform
You know enough of war to appreciate the risk you ran. Any statement to
make?"

"No, sir."

"Call Captain Vaughan, Brice, and ask him to conduct the prisoner back."

"May I speak to him, General?" I asked. The General nodded.

I asked him if I could write home for him or do anything else. That
seemed to touch hi