er father came he found her standing against the wall, her hands,
outstretched behind her, resting on it. The last soft bloom of day was
upon her; indefinably, with her hands so, the wall behind her and her
lifted head, she looked a soldier facing a firing party. "Tell me
quickly," she said, "the exact truth."

Warwick Gary closed the door behind him and came toward her. "The court
found him guilty, Judith."

As she still stood, the light from without upon her face, he took her in
his arms, drew her from the wall and made her sit in the chair by the
window, then placed himself beside her, and leaning over took her hands
in his strong clasp. "Many a court has found many a man guilty, Judith,
whom his own soul cleared."

"That is true," she answered. "Your own judgment has not changed?"

"No, Judith, no."

She lifted his hand and kissed it. "Just a moment, and then you'll tell
me--"

They sat still in the soft summer air. The stars were coming out. Off to
the east showed the long red light where was the army. Judith's eyes
rested here. He saw it, and saw, presently, courage lift into her face.
It came steady, with a deathless look. "Now," she said, and loosed her
hands.

"It is very bad," he answered slowly. "The evidence was more adverse
than I could have dreamed. Only on the last count was there acquittal."

"The last count?--"

"The charge of personal cowardice."

Her eyelids trembled a little. "I am glad," she said, "that they had a
gleam of reason."

The other uttered a short laugh, proud and troubled. "Yes. It would not
have occurred to me--just that accusation.... Well, he stood cleared of
that. But the other charges, Judith, the others--" He rested his hands
on his sword hilt and gazed broodingly into the deepening night. "The
court could only find as it did. I myself, sitting there, listening to
that testimony.... It is inexplicable!"

"Tell me all."

"General Jackson's order was plain. A staff officer carried it to
General Winder with perfect correctness. Winder repeated it to the
court, and word for word Jackson corroborated it. The same officer,
carrying it on from Winder to the 65th came up with a courier belonging
to the regiment. To this man, an educated, reliable, trusted soldier, he
gave the order."

"He should not have done so?"

"It is easy to say that--to blame because this time there's a snarl to
unravel! The thing is done often enough. It should not be done, but it
is. Staff serv