let officers leave camp without a pass, and he has prayer meetings all
the time! Ever so many people think he's crazy!"

"Miriam!"

"But they do, mother! Of course, not Richard. Richard knows how to be a
soldier. And Will--Will would be loyal to a piece of cement out of the
Virginia Military Institute! And of course the Stonewall Brigade doesn't
say it, nor the Rockbridge Artillery, nor any of Ashby's men--they're
soldiers, too! But I've heard the _militia_ say it--"

Maury Stafford laughed. "Then I won't! I'll only confide to you that the
Army of the Northwest thinks that General Jackson is--is--well, is
General Jackson!--To burn our stores of subsistence, to leave unguarded
the passes along a hundred miles of mountain, to abandon quarters just
established, to get our sick somehow to the rear, and to come up here
upon some wild winter campaign or other--all on the representation of
the rather singular Commander of the Army of the Valley!" He took off
his gold-braided cap, and lifted his handsome head to the breeze from
the west. "But what can you do with professors of military institutes
and generals with one battle to their credit? Nothing--when they have
managed to convert to their way of thinking both the commanding general
and the government at Richmond!--You look grave, Mrs. Cleave! I should
not have said that, I know. Pray forget it--and don't believe that I am
given to such indiscretions!" He laughed. "There were representations
which I was to make to General Jackson. Well, I made them! In point of
fact, I made them but an hour ago. Hence this unbecoming temper. They
were received quite in the manner of a stone wall--without comment and
without removal from the ground occupied! Well! Why not expect the thing
to show its nature?--Is this pleasant old house your goal?"

They had come to a white, old mansion, with steps running up to a narrow
yard and a small porch. "Yes, we are staying here. Will you not come
in?"

"Thank you, no. I ride as far as Woodstock to-night. I have not seen
Captain Cleave. Indeed, I have not seen him since last spring."

"He is acting just now as aide to General Jackson. You have been all
this while with General Magruder on the Peninsula?"

"Yes, until lately. We missed Manassas." He stood beside the garden
wall, his gauntleted hand on the gatepost. A creeper bearing yet a few
leaves hung from a tree above, and one of the crimson points touched his
grey cap. "I am now on General Lo