to exceed his orders. I insisted so much on my rights,
at the same time declaring my innocence, that he became frightened and
went away; but, oh, Lucia, I am more frightened now than he ever was!"

Miss Catherwood soothed her and talked to her protectingly and gently,
as a mother to her frightened child, while Prescott admired the voice
and the touch that could be at once so tender and so strong.

But the courageous half in Miss Grayson's dual nature soon recovered its
rule over the timid half and she sat erect again, making apologies for
her collapse.

"You see, now, Captain Prescott," said Miss Catherwood, still leaving a
protecting hand upon Miss Grayson's shoulders, "that I was right when I
wanted you to leave us. We cannot permit you to compromise yourself in
our behalf and we do not wish it. You ran a great risk to-night. You
might not fare so well the next time."

Her tone was cold, and, chilled by it, Prescott replied:

"Miss Catherwood, I may have come where I was not wanted, but I shall
not do so again."

He walked toward the door, his head high. Miss Grayson looked at Miss
Catherwood in surprise.

The girl raised her hand as if about to make a detaining gesture, but
she let it drop again, and without another word Prescott passed out of
the house.

* * * * *

One of the formal receptions, occurring twice a month, was held the next
evening by the President of the Confederacy and his wife. Prescott and
all whom he knew were there.

The parlours were crowded already with people--officers, civilians,
curious transatlantic visitors--and more than one workman in his rough
coat, for all the world was asked to come to the President's official
receptions. They had obeyed the order, too, and came with their bravest
faces and bravest apparel. In the White House of the Confederacy there
were few somber touches that night.

The President and his wife, he elderly and severe of countenance, she
young and mild, received in one of the parlours all who would shake the
hand of Mr. Davis. It was singularly like a reception at that other
White House on the Potomac, and the South, in declaring that she would
act by herself, still followed the old patterns.

It was a varied gathering, varied in appearance, manners and temper. The
official and civil society of the capital never coalesced well. The old
families of Richmond, interwoven with nearly three centuries of life in
Virginia, did no