, I fear I shall be of little help."

"You've been of the greatest service to me. You've confirmed my decision
on a great problem of State. Come now and see Mother and the children. I
want you to know them and like them."

He led her quickly into the family apartment and introduced her to Mrs.
Lincoln. He found her in the midst of a grave discussion with Lizzie
Garland, her colored dressmaker.

"This is old Grizzly's lovely daughter, Miss Betty Winter, Mother. She
has joined the administration, stands squarely with us against the
world, the flesh, the devil--and her father! I told her you'd give her
the keys to the house----"

With a wave of his big hand he was gone.

Mrs. Lincoln's greeting was simple and hearty. In half an hour Betty had
found a place in her heart for life, the boys were claiming her as their
own, and a train of influences were set in motion destined to make
history.

CHAPTER V

THE FIRST SHOT

The first month of the new administration passed in a strange peace that
proved to be the calm before the storm. On the first day of April, All
Fool's Day, Mr. Seward decided to bring to a definite issue the question
of supreme authority in the government. That Abraham Lincoln was the
nominal President was true, of course. Mr. Seward generously decided to
allow him to remain nominally at the head of the Nation and assume
himself the full responsibilities of a Dictatorship.

The Secretary of State strolled leisurely into the executive office more
careless in dress than usual, the knot of his cravat under his left ear,
a huge lighted cigar in his hand. He handed the President a folded sheet
of official paper, bowed carelessly and retired.

He had drawn up his proclamation under the title:

SOME THOUGHTS FOR THE PRESIDENT'S CONSIDERATION.

In this remarkable document he proposed to assume the Dictatorship and
outlined his policy as director of the Nation's affairs.

He would immediately provoke war with Great Britain, Russia, Spain and
France!

The dark-visaged giant adjusted his glasses and read this paper with a
smile of incredulous amazement. He wiped his glasses and read it again.
And then without consultation with a single human being, and without a
moment's hesitation he wrote a brief reply to the great man and his
generous offer. There was no bluster, no wrath, no demand for an apology
to his insulted dignity, but in the simplest and friendliest and most
direct language he informed