ar!

BUCKTHORN. Close in Colonel Powell on the extreme left--[_Slapping his
coat-tails out of_ JENNY'S _hands, without looking around._]--and hold
Custer on the second line, at Old Forge Road. That is all at present.
[_Turns to_ JENNY.] Good-bye, my darling! [_Kisses her._] Remember
your orders! You little pet! [_Chuckling, as he taps her chin; draws
up suddenly; turns to_ HAVERILL.] General! I bid you good-day.

HAVERILL. Good-day, General Buckthorn. [_They salute with great
dignity._ BUCKTHORN _starts up stage;_ JENNY _springs after him,
seizing his coat-tails._

JENNY. But I want to talk with you, papa; I can't fall out. I--I
haven't finished yet. [_Etc., clinging to his coat, as_ BUCKTHORN
_marches out rapidly, in road,--holding back with all her might._

HAVERILL. It may have been a ruse of the enemy, but I hope that
General Sheridan has turned back from Washington. [_Looking at his
note-book._] We are to make changes in our line at four o'clock this
afternoon. [_Returns book to pocket and stands in thought._] The
Surgeon tells me that Kerchival West will get on well enough if he
remains quiet; otherwise not. He shall not die by the hand of a
common assassin; he has no right to die like that. My wife gave my own
picture of herself to him--not to my son--and she looked so like an
angel when she took it from my hand! They were both false to me, and
they have been true to each other. I will save his life for myself.

_Enter_ GERTRUDE, _on veranda._

GERTRUDE. General Haverill! [_Anxiously, coming down._] Colonel West
persists in disobeying the injunctions of the Surgeon. He is preparing
to join his regiment at the front. Give him your orders to remain
here. Compel him to be prudent!

HAVERILL. [_Quickly._] The honour of death at the front is not in
reserve for him.

GERTRUDE. Eh? What did you say, General?

HAVERILL. Gertrude! I wish to speak to you, as your father's old
friend; and I was once your guardian. Your father was my senior
officer in the Mexican War. Without his care I should have been left
dead in a foreign land. He, himself, afterwards fell fighting for the
old flag.

GERTRUDE. The old flag. [_Aside._] My father died for it, and
he--[_Looking left._]--is suffering for it--the old flag!

HAVERILL. I can now return the kindness your father did to me, by
protecting his daughter from something that may be worse than death.

GERTRUDE. What do you mean?

HAVERILL. Last night I saw you kneeling