.

"Because I have not won my wish--not all of it. They say there is a weak
spot in every man's armour; there is always an Achilles' heel. I am no
exception. Well, the gods ordained that I, James Sefton, a man who
thought himself made wholly of steel, should fall in love with a piece
of pink-and-white girlhood. What a ridiculous bit of nonsense! I suppose
it was done to teach me I am a fool just like other men. I had begun to
believe that I was exceptional, but I know better now."

"Then you call this a weakness and regret it?"

"Yes, because it interferes with all my plans. The time that I should be
devoting to ambition I must sacrifice for a weakness of the heart."

The low throb of a distant drum came from a rampart, and the Secretary
raised his head, as if the sound gave a new turn to his thoughts.

"Even the plans of ambition may crumble," he said. "Since I am speaking
frankly of one thing, Captain Prescott, I may speak likewise of another.
Have you ever thought how unstable may prove this Southern Confederacy
for which we are spending so much blood?"

"I have," replied Prescott with involuntary emphasis.

"So have I; again I speak to you with perfect frankness, because it will
not be to your profit to repeat what I say. Do you realize that we are
fighting against the tide, or, to put it differently, against the weight
of all the ages? When one is championing a cause opposed to the tendency
of human affairs his victories are worse than his defeats because they
merely postpone the certain catastrophe. It is impossible for a
slave-holding aristocracy under any circumstances to exist much longer
in the world. When the apple is ripe it drops off the tree, and we
cannot stay human progress. The French Revolution was bound to triumph
because the institutions that it destroyed were worn out; the American
Colonies were bound to win in their struggle with Britain because nature
had decreed the time for parting; and even if we should succeed in this
contest we should free the slaves ourselves inside of twenty years,
because slavery is now opposed to common sense as well as to morality."

"Then why do you espouse such a cause?" asked Prescott.

"Why do you?" replied the Secretary very quickly.

It was a question that Prescott never yet had been able to answer to his
own complete satisfaction, and now he preferred silence. But no reply
seemed to be expected, as the Secretary continued to talk of the
Southern Confeder