he was clasped in her husband's arms.

"Now, Vincent, tell us all about it," his mother said. "Don't you see we
are dying of curiosity?"

"And I am dying of fatigue," Vincent said; "which is a much more painful
sort of death, and I can think of nothing else until I have got these
boots off. Annie, do run and tell them to bring me a pair of slippers
and a cup of tea, and I shall want the buggy at the door in half an
hour."

"You are not going away again to-night, Vincent, surely?" his mother
said anxiously. "You do look completely exhausted."

"I am exhausted, mother. I have walked seven or eight and forty miles,
and this cavalry work spoils one for walking altogether."

"Walked forty-eight miles, Vincent! What on earth have you done that
for?"

"Not from choice, I can assure you, mother; but you know the old saying,
'Needs must when the devil drives,' and in the present case you must
read 'Yankee' instead of 'the gentleman in black.'"

"But has Petersburg fallen?" Mrs. Wingfield asked in alarm.

"No; Petersburgh is safe, and is likely to continue so. But you must
really be patient, mother, until I have had some tea, then you can hear
the story in full."

When the servant came in with the tea, Vincent told her that she was to
tell Dinah, whom she would find in the veranda, to bring her husband
into the kitchen, and to give him everything he wanted. Then, as soon as
he had finished tea, he told his mother and sister the adventures he had
gone through. Both were crying when he had finished.

"I am proud of you, Vincent," his mother said. "It is hard on us that
you should run such risks; still I do not blame you, my boy, for, if I
had ten sons, I would give them all for my country."

Vincent had just finished his story when the servant came in and said
that the buggy was at the door.

"I will go in my slippers, mother, but I will run up and change my other
things. It's lucky I have got a spare suit here. Any of our fellows who
happened to be going down to-night in the train would think that I was
mad, were I to go like this."

It was one o'clock in the morning when Vincent reached Petersburg. He
went straight to his quarters, as it would be no use waking General Lee
at that hour. A light was burning in his room, and Dan was asleep at
the table with his head on his arms. He leaped up with a cry of joy as
his master entered.

"Well, Dan, here I am safe again," Vincent said cheerily. "I hope you
had not begun