fine old maids, and her heart was soft within her. She
remembered the long vigils of Prescott, his deep sympathy, the
substantial help that he had given, and, at last, how, at the risk of
his own career, he had helped Lucia Catherwood to escape from Richmond
and danger. She marked the coldness and constraint still in the air and
was sorry, but knew not what to do.

Prescott rose presently and said good-night, expressing the hope that it
would not be long until he again saw them both. Lucia echoed his hope in
a like formal fashion and Prescott went out. He did not look back to see
if the light from the window still fell across the brown grass, but
hurried away in the darkness.

CHAPTER XXV

THE MOUNTAIN GENERAL

It was a bleak, cold night and Prescott's feelings were of the same
tenor. The distant buildings seemed to swim in a raw mist and
pedestrians fled from the streets. Prescott walked along in aimless
fashion until he was hailed by a dark man on a dark horse, who wished to
know if he were going "to walk right over us," but the rough words were
belied by joviality and welcome.

Prescott came out of his cloud and, looking up, recognized the great
cavalryman, Wood. His huge beard seemed bigger than ever, but his keen
eyes shone in the black tangle as if they were looking through the holes
in a mask.

"What ails you, boy?" he asked Prescott. "You were goin' to walk right
into me, horse an' all, an' I don't believe you'd have seen a house if
it had been planted right in your path!"

"It's true I was thinking of something else," replied Prescott with a
smile, "and did not see what was about me; but how are you, General?"

Wood regarded him closely for a moment or two before replying and then
said:

"All right as far as that goes, but I can't say things are movin' well
for our side. We're in a deadlock down there at Petersburg, and here
comes winter, loaded with snow an' hail an' ice, if signs count for
anythin'. Mighty little for a cavalryman to do right now, so I just got
leave of absence from General Lee, an' I've run up to Richmond for a day
or two."

Then the big man laughed in an embarrassed way, and Prescott, looking up
at him, knew that his face was turning red could it but be seen.

"A man may employ his time well in Richmond, General," said Prescott,
feeling a sudden and not unsympathetic desire to draw him out.

The General merely nodded in reply and Prescott looked at him again and
more