but held his ground, and he would have spoken to her
again had she given him the chance. But she began to move away and he
was afraid to follow deliberately lest he make a scene. Instead, he went
back to his friends.

The General's speech came to an end and was followed by a rolling
thunder of cheers. Then all the people of consequence were presented to
him, and forth from the Hustings court-room, where they had been biding
their time, walked twenty of the most beautiful young ladies of
Richmond, in holiday attire of pink, rose and lilac silk or satin,
puffed and flounced, their hair adorned with pink and red roses from
Richmond hothouses.

It was really a wonderful bit of feminine colouring amid the crowd, and
the Southern people, ever proud of their women, cheered again. Helen
was there--it was a holiday--in a wonderful old dress of rose-coloured
satin, her cheeks glowing and her eyes shining, and as Prescott saw her
he forgot the strange woman who had rebuffed him.

"The most beautiful girl of this score of beautiful girls is to present
a wreath of roses to General Morgan. I wonder who it will be," said
Raymond.

He looked quizzically at Prescott.

"I wonder," repeated Prescott, but he felt no doubt whatever upon the
subject.

The cheering of the crowd ceased, and Helen, escorted by her brother,
stepped from the unserried ranks of beauty to a table where the chaplet
of roses lay. Then the General stood aside, and Helen, walking forward
alone, made a little speech to General Morgan, in which she complimented
him on his courage and brilliant achievements. She said that the sound
of his voice would always strike terror in the North and kindle hope
anew in the South. She was half afraid, half daring, but she spoke the
words clearly. The big, black-bearded General stood before her, hat in
hand and openly admiring. When she came to the end of her speech she
reached up, rested the wreath for a moment on his bushy black crown of
hair and then put it in his hands. Now the crowd gave its greatest burst
of applause. The two figures standing there, the tall, brown soldier and
the beautiful woman, appealed to all that was gallant in their nature.

"It does not look as if there would be any social ostracism of Miss
Harley because she has turned working woman," said Winthrop.

"Cold and selfish emotions don't count at a time like this," said
Raymond; "it's the silent pressure of time and circumstance that she'll
have to r