office and
I get fifteen dollars a week."

"Confederate money?"

"No, in gold."

"What do you do it for?"

"For the money. I need it."

Mrs. Markham flicked the pony's mane again and once more he reared, but,
as before, the strong hand restrained him.

"What you are doing is right, Helen," she said. "Though a Southern
woman, I find our Southern conventions weigh heavily upon me: but," she
added quizzically, "of course, you understand that we can't know you
socially now."

"I understand," said Helen, "and I don't ask it."

Her lips were pressed together with an air of defiance and there was a
sparkle in her eyes.

Mrs. Markham laughed long and joyously.

"Why, you little goose," she said, "I believe you actually thought I was
in earnest. Don't you know that we of the Mosaic Club and its circle
represent the more advanced and liberal spirit of Richmond--if I do say
it myself--and we shall stand by you to the utmost. I suspect that if
you were barred, others would choose the same bars for themselves. Would
they not, Captain Prescott?"

"I certainly should consider myself included in the list," replied the
young man sturdily.

"And doubtless you would have much company," resumed she. "And now I
must be going. Ben Butler is growing impatient. He is not accustomed to
good society, and I must humour him or he will make a scene."

She spoke to the horse and they dashed down the street.

"A remarkable woman," said Prescott.

"Yes; and just now I feel very grateful to her," said Helen.

They met others, but not all were so frank and cordial as Mrs. Markham.
There was a distinct chilliness in the manners of one, while a second
had a patronizing air which was equally offensive. Helen's high spirits
were dashed a little, but Robert strove to raise them again. He saw only
the humourous features of such a course on the part of those whom they
had encountered, and he exerted himself to ridicule it with such good
effect that she laughed again, and her happy mood was fully restored
when she reached her own gate.

The next was a festal day in Richmond, which, though always threatened
by fire and steel, was not without its times of joyousness. The famous
Kentucky raider, Gen. John H. Morgan, had come to town, and all that was
best in the capital, both military and civil, would give him welcome and
do him honour.

The hum and bustle of a crowd rose early in the streets, and Prescott,
with all the spirits of youth, e