t declined. The Secretary approached
at that moment and asked Miss Harley if he might see her home.

"I have just accepted Captain Prescott's escort, but I thank you for the
honour, Mr. Sefton," she replied.

Mr. Sefton flashed Prescott a single look, a look that the young Captain
did not like; but it was gone in a moment like a streak of summer
lightning, and the Secretary was as bland and smiling as ever.

"Again do I see that we civilians cannot compete with the military," he
said.

"It was not his shoulder straps; he was quicker than you," said Mrs.
Markham with a soft laugh.

"Then I shall not be a laggard the next time," replied the Secretary in
a meaning tone.

The meeting of the club came to an end a half-hour later, but first
there was a little ceremony. The coffee was brought in for the third and
last time and all the cups were filled.

"To the cause!" said General Markham, the host. "To the cause that is
not lost!"

"To the cause that is right, the cause that is not lost," all repeated,
and they drank solemnly.

Prescott's feelings as he drank the toast were of a curiously mingled
nature. There was a mist in his eyes as he looked upon this gathering of
women and one-armed men all turning so brave a face and so bold a heart
to bad fortune. And he wished, too, that he could believe as firmly as
they in the justice of the cause. The recurring doubts troubled him. But
he drank the toast and then prepared for departure.

CHAPTER IV

THE SECRETARY MOVES

Nearly all the guests left the Markham house at the same time and stood
for a few moments in the white Greek portico, bidding one another
good-night. It seemed to Prescott that it was a sort of family parting.

The last good-by said, Robert and Helen started down the street, toward
the Harley home six or seven blocks away. Her gloved hand rested lightly
on his arm, but her face was hidden from him by a red hood. The cold
wind was still blustering mightily about the little city and she walked
close beside him.

"I cannot help thinking at this moment of your army. Which way does it
lie, Robert?" she asked.

"Off there," he replied, and he pointed northward.

"And the Northern army is there, too. And Washington itself is only two
hundred miles away It seems to me sometimes that the armies have always
been there. This war is so long. I remember I was a child when it began,
and now----"

She paused, but Prescott added:

"It began only th