ng for a long time of this man Grant and his great deeds in
the West, where no general of the South seemed able to stand before him.
Now he was here in the East among that group of officers yonder, and
there was nothing left for either side but to fight. Grant would permit
no other choice; he was not like the other Northern generals--he would
not find excuses, and in his fancy double and triple the force before
him, but he would drive straight for the heart of his foe.

It was a curious chance, but as the echo of the last gun rolled away
among the trees the skies were darkened by leaden clouds rolling up from
the southwest and the air became somber and heavy. Prescott saw as if in
a vision the mighty battles that were to come and the miles of fallen
scattered through all the wilderness that lay around them.

But Talbot, gifted with a joyous soul that looked not far into the
future, never flinched. He saw the cloud on the face of Prescott and the
glow in the eyes of the Vermonter, but he was stirred by no tumult.

"Never mind," he said calmly. "You've got your Grant and you are welcome
to him, but Marse Bob is back there waiting for him." And he nodded over
his shoulder toward the tent where the lone man had been sitting. His
face as he spoke was lighted by the smile of supreme confidence.

They thanked the man for his news and walked slowly back to their camp,
Prescott thoughtful all the way. He knew now that the crisis had come.

The two great protagonists stood face to face at last.

When Robert announced the arrival of Grant to his Commander-in-Chief a
single flash appeared in the eye of Lee and then the mask settled back
over his face, as blank and expressionless as before.

Then Prescott left the General's tent and walked toward a little house
that stood in the rear of the army, well beyond the range of a hostile
cannon shot. The arrival of Grant, now conceded by North and South alike
to be the ablest general on the Northern side, was spreading with great
swiftness among the soldiers, but these boys, veterans of many fields,
showed little concern; they lived in the present and thought little of
"next week."

Prescott noted, as he had noted so many times before, the motley
appearance of the army, but with involuntary motion he began to
straighten and smooth his own shabby uniform. He was about to enter the
presence of a woman and he was young and so was she.

The house was a cheap and plain structure, such a