ld choose to liberate
them ourselves after defeating the North."

"I suppose so," said Colonel Talbot, "but I am no politician or
statesman. My trade unfits me for such matters. I am a West Pointer--a
proud and glorious fact I consider it, too--but the life of a regular
army officer makes him a man set apart. He is not really in touch with
the nation. He cannot be, because he has so little personal contact
with it. For that reason West Pointers should never aspire to public
office. It does not suit them, and they seldom succeed in it. But here,
I'm becoming a prosy old bore. Come into the house, lad. The boys are
growing sentimental. Listen to their song. It's the same, isn't it,
that some of our bands played at Bull Run?"

"Yes, sir, it is," replied Harry, as he joined the others in the song:

"The hour was sad, I left the maid
A lingering farewell taking,
Her sighs and tears my steps delayed
I thought her heart was breaking.

"In hurried words her name I blessed,
I breathed the vows that bind me,
And to my heart in anguish pressed
The girl I left behind me."

Most all the officers had leave for the full day. Harry and Dalton in
fact were to stay overnight at the house, and, forgetful of the war,
they sang one song after another as the evening waned. At nine o'clock
all the guests left save Harry and Dalton.

"You and Langdon will show them to their bedrooms," said Colonel Talbot.
"Take the candle. The rest of us can sit here by the firelight."

There was but a single candle, and it was already burning low, but Happy
Tom and Arthur, shielding it from draughts, led the way to the second
floor.

"Most of the houses were demolished by cannon shot and fire," said
Langdon, "but we've a habitable room which we reserve for guests of high
degree. You will note here where a cannon shot, the result of plunging
fire, came slantingly through the roof and passed out at the wall on the
other side. You need not get under that hole if it should rain or snow,
and meanwhile it serves splendidly for ventilation. The rip in the wall
serves the same purpose, and, of course, you have too much sense to fall
through it. Some blankets are spread there in the corner, and as you
have your heavy cloaks with you, you ought to make out. Sorry we can't
treat you any better, Sir Harry of Kentucky and Sir George of Virginia,
but these be distressful times, and the best