loyal to the Union, and
all my correspondence from Richmond to the Confederate agents in
Canada and the North I deliver to the President and Stanton. This
one is an exception. I happened to have met Mr. Ned. Vaughan and
like him. I deliver this letter to you unopened by any hand. I've a
sweetheart myself."

With a cry of joy, Betty broke the seal and read Ned's message. It was
written just after the battle of Gettysburg.

"DEAREST: I am writing to you to-night because I must--though this
may never reach you. The whole look of war has changed for me since
that wonderful hour we spent in the moonlight beside the river and
you promised me your life. It's all a pitiful tragedy now, and
love, love, love seems the only thing in all God's universe worth
while! I don't wish to kill any more. It hurts the big something
inside that's divine. I'm surprised at myself that I can't see the
issues of National life as I saw them at first. Somehow they have
become dwarfed beside the new wonder and glory that fills my heart.
And now like a poor traitor, I am praying for peace, peace at any
price. Oh, dearest, you have brought me to this. I love you so
utterly with every breath I breathe, every thought of mind and
every impulse of soul and body, how can I see aught else in the
world?

"In every scene of these three days of horror through which we've
just passed, my thought was of you. The signal gun that called the
men to die boomed your name for me. I heard it in the din and roar
and crash of armies. The louder came the call of death, the sweeter
life seemed because life meant you. Life has taken on a new and
wonderful meaning. I love it as I never loved it before and I've
grown to hate death and I whisper it to you, my love, my own--to
hate war! I want to live now, and I'm praying, praying, praying for
peace. My mind is yet clear in its conviction of right or I could
not stay here a moment longer. But I'm longing and hoping and
wondering whether God will not show us the way out of your tragic
dilemma.

"During the battle I found a handsome young Federal officer who had
fallen inside out lines. With his last strength he was trying to
write a message to his bride who was waiting for him behind the
Union lines. I couldn't pass by. I stopped and got his name, gave