the face of the man who
had been so faithful and well tried a friend, would have looked upon it
with something deeper and sadder, could he at the same time have gazed a
little way into the future, and seen what it held in store for him.

Four months after he marched away, Surrey's brigade was in that awful
fight and carnage of Chancellorsville, where men fought like gods to
counteract the blunders, and retrieve the disaster, induced by a stunned
and helpless brain. There was he stricken down, at the head of his
command, covered with dust and smoke; twice wounded, yet refusing to
leave the field,--his head bound with a handkerchief, his eyes blazing
like stars beneath its stained folds, his voice cheering on his men;
three horses shot under him; on foot then; contending for every inch of
the ground he was compelled to yield; giving way only as he was forced
at the point of the bayonet; his men eager to emulate him, to follow him
into the jaws of death, to fall by his side,--thus was he prostrated;
not dead, as they thought and feared when they seized him and bore him
at last from the field, but insensible, bleeding with frightful
abundance, his right arm shattered to fragments; not dead, yet at
death's door--and looking in.

May blossoms had dropped, and June harvests were ripe on all the fields,
ere he could take advantage of the unsolicited leave, and go home.
Home--for which his heart longed!

He was not, however, in too great haste to stop by the way, to pause in
Washington, and do what he had sooner intended to accomplish,--solicit,
as a special favor to himself, as an honor justly won by the man for
whom he entreated it, a promotion for Jim. "It is impossible now," he
was informed, "but the case should be noted and remembered. If anything
could certainly secure the man an advance, it was the advocacy of
General Surrey"; and so, not quite content, but still satisfied that
Jim's time was in the near future, he went on his way.

As the cars approached Philadelphia his heart beat so fast that it
almost stifled him, and he leaned against the window heavily for air and
support. It was useless to reason with himself, vain to call good
judgment to his counsels and summon wisdom to his aid. This was her
home. Somewhere in this city to which he was so rapidly hastening, she
was moving up and down, had her being, was living and loving. After
these long years his eyes so ached to see her, his heart was so hungry
for her pr