patched a note to Betty:

"DEAREST: God saved me from an act of madness. He sent His message
through your sweet spirit. I am leaving for the South on a
dangerous mission for the President. If I live to return I am all
yours--if I die, I shall still live through eternity if only to
love you.

"JOHN."

Within an hour he had communicated with the commander of the Knights,
his arrangements were complete, and he was steaming down the river on
his perilous journey.

CHAPTER XXXVII

MR. DAVIS SPEAKS

John Vaughan arrived in Richmond a day before Jaquess and Gilmore. His
genial Southern manner, his perfect accent and his possession of the
signs and pass words of the Knights of the Golden Circle made his
mission a comparatively easy one.

He had brought a message from the Washington Knights to Judah P.
Benjamin, which won the confidence of Mr. Davis' Secretary of State and
gained his ready consent to his presence on the occasion of the
interview.

The Commissioners left Butler's headquarters with some misgivings.
Gilmore took the doughty General by the hand and said: "Good-bye, if you
don't see us in ten days you may know we have 'gone up.'"

"If I don't see you in less time," he replied, "I'll demand you, and if
they don't produce you, I'll take two for one. My hand on that."

Under a flag of truce they found Judge Ould, the Exchange Commissioner,
who conducted them into Richmond under cover of darkness.

They stopped at the Spottswood House and the next morning saw Mr.
Benjamin, who agreed to arrange an interview with Jefferson Davis.

Mr. Benjamin was polite, but inquisitive.

"Do you bring any overtures from your Government, gentlemen?"

"No, sir," answered Colonel Jaquess. "We bring no overtures and have no
authority from our Government. As private citizens we simply wish to
know what terms will be acceptable to Mr. Davis."

"Are you acquainted with Mr. Lincoln's views?"

"One of us is fully," said Colonel Jaquess.

"Did Mr. Lincoln in any way authorize you to come here?"

"No, sir," said Gilmore. "We came with his pass, but not by his request.
We came as men and Christians, not as diplomats, hoping, in a frank talk
with Mr. Davis, to discover some way by which this war may be stopped."

"Well, gentlemen," said Benjamin, "I will repeat what you say to the
President, and if he follows my advice, he will meet you."

At nine o'clock the two men