he confidence
of General Lee, on whose staff I serve."

"A good man and a great one," she said, clasping her hands thoughtfully.
"It is a pity----"

She stopped, and her son asked:

"What is a pity, mother?"

She did not answer, but he knew. It was said by many that Lee hesitated
long before he went with his State.

"Now," she said, "you must eat," and she brought him bread and meat and
coffee, serving them from a little table that she herself placed by his
side.

"How happens it, mother," he asked, "that this food is still warm? It
must have been hours since you had breakfast."

A deep tint of red as of a blush suffused her cheeks, and she answered
in a hesitating voice:

"Since there was a pause in the war, I knew that sooner or later you
would come, and I remember how hungry you used to be as a growing boy."

"And through all these days you have kept something hot on the fire for
me, ready at a moment's notice!"

She looked at him and there was a faint suspicion of tears in her eyes.

"Yes, yes, Robert," she replied. "Now don't scold me."

He had no intention of scolding her, but his thought was: "Has any other
man a mother like mine?" Then he corrected himself; he knew that there
must be myriads of others.

He said nothing in reply, merely smiling at her, and permitted her to do
as she would. She went about the room with light, easy step, intent on
her little services.

She opened the window shutters and the rich sunlight came streaming in,
throwing a golden glow across the brown face of him who had left her a
boy and come back a man. She sighed a little as she noticed how great
was the change, but she hid the sigh from her son.

"Mother," he asked presently, "was there not some one else in this room
when I came in? The light was faint, but I thought I saw a shadowy
figure disappear."

"Yes," she answered; "that was Helen Harley. She was with me when you
came. She may have known your footstep, too, and if not, she guessed it
from my face, so she went out at once. She did not wish to be a mere
curious onlooker when a mother was greeting her son, come home after
three years in the war."

"She must be a woman now."

"She is a woman full grown in all respects. Women have grown old fast in
the last three years. She is nearly a head taller than I."

"You have been comfortable here, mother?" he asked.

"As much so as one can be in such times," she replied. "I do not lack
for money, and whatever d