nality on the men under his command and he refused to let him go.

He turned to his tormentor at last with a quizzical look in his eye:

"You know, Winter, that reminds me of a little story----"

The Senator threw up both hands with a gesture of rage. He knew what the
wily diplomat was up to.

"I won't hear it, sir," he growled. "I won't hear it. You and your
stories are sending this country to hell--it's not more than a mile from
there now!"

The sombre eyes smiled as he slowly said:

"I believe it _is_ just a mile from here to the Senate Chamber!"

The Senator faced him a moment and the two men looked at each other
tense, erect, unyielding.

"There may or may not be a grain of truth in your statements, Winter,"
the quiet voice continued, "but your personal animus against Grant is
deeper. He is a Democrat married to a Southern woman, and is a
slave-holder. You can't be fair to him. I can, I must and I will. I am
the President of all the people. The Nation needs this man. I will not
allow him to be crushed. You have my last word."

The Senator strode to the door in silence and paused:

"But you haven't mine, sir!"

The tall figure bowed and smiled.

The President found the task a greater one than he had dreamed. So
furious was the popular outcry against Grant, so dogged and persistent
was the demand for his removal he was compelled to place General Halleck
in nominal command of the district in which his army was operating until
the popular furor should subside. In this way he had kept Grant as
Second in Command at the head of his army, and Vicksburg with
thirty-five thousand prisoners was the answer the silent man in the West
had sent to his champion and protector in the White House.

The thrilling message had come at an opportune moment. The new commander
of the army of the Potomac had defeated General Lee at Gettysburg and
for an hour his name was on every lip. The President and the Nation had
taken it for granted that he would hurl his eighty-two thousand men on
Lee's army hemmed in by the impassable Potomac.

So sure of this was Stanton that he declared to the President:

"If a single regiment of Lee's army ever gets back into Virginia in an
organized condition it will prove that I am totally unfit to be
Secretary of War."

Once more the impossible happened. Lee did get back into Virginia, his
army marching with quick step and undaunted spirit, ready to fight at
any moment his rear guard came in t