way. He fully meant to keep his implied
promise, but curiosity was too strong for him, and watching once more
from a distance, he saw her go up Shockoe Hill and into the Capitol
through the wide-open doors. When he found it convenient presently to
enter the Capitol in his turn, he saw no trace of her, and, disappointed
and annoyed with himself, he went back to the City Hall. Here Talbot was
the first whom he met.

"Where have you been?" asked his friend.

"Following a woman."

"Following a woman?"

Talbot looked at Prescott in surprise.

"I didn't know you were that kind of a man, Bob," he said; "but what
luck?"

"None at all. I failed even to learn her name, where she lived or
anything else about her. I'll tell you more this evening, because I want
your advice."

The reception ended presently, and the ladies, escorted by the young
men, went to their homes. Talbot, Winthrop and Raymond rejoined Prescott
soon afterward near Shockoe Hill.

"Now tell us of the woman you were following," said Talbot.

"I don't think I shall," replied Prescott. "I've changed my intention
about it--at least, for the present."

The affair had clung to his mind and the result of his second thought
was a resolution to keep it to himself a while longer. He had formed a
suspicion, but it might be wrong, and he would not willingly do
injustice to any one, least of all to a woman. Her face, when he saw her
close at hand, looked pure and good, and now that he recalled it he
could remember distinctly that there had been in it a touch of reproach
and the reproach was for him--she had seemed to ask why he annoyed her.
No, he would wait before speaking of her to his friends.

Talbot regarded Prescott for a moment with an inquiring gaze, but said
nothing more upon the subject.

Prescott left his friends at the Capitol and spent the remainder of the
day with his mother, who on the plea of age had avoided the reception
and the festivities, although she now had many questions to ask.

"I hear that great enthusiasm was shown and brilliant predictions were
made," she said.

"It is quite true," he replied. "The music, the speeches and the high
spirits, which you know are contagious in a crowd, have done good, I
think, to the Southern cause."

"Did Morgan bring any new recruits for General Lee's army?"

"Now, mother," replied Prescott, laughing a little, "don't let your
Northern blood carry you too far. I know, too, that wars are not won by