spectful silence observed, I saw
they recognized its use, so, unwilling to leave such a relic behind, I
asked aloud for my "ribbon," whereupon Anna says the officers pinched
each other and smiled. Up came the ambulance, and I was in imminent
danger of being carried to it, when with a desperate effort I regained
my feet with Gibbes's help, and reached it without other assistance.
Beyond, I could do no more.

Captain Lenair got inside, and several others lifted me up to him, and
I sank motionless on the floor. All bade me good-bye, and my little
Alabamian assured me that he was proud of having been the first to
assist me. President Miller whispered to Mrs. Badger for permission to
accompany us, which she readily granted, and raising me on the seat, he
insisted on putting his arm around me to hold me up. It was useless to
decline. "Now, Miss Morgan, I assure you I am an old married man! I
know you are suffering! Let me have my way!" and the kind old gentleman
held me so comfortably, and broke the force of so many jolts, that I
was forced to submit and acknowledge that had it not been for him I
could not have endured the rough road. At the gate that leads to
General Beale's headquarters, I saw half a dozen figures standing. One
was Frank Enders, who hailed the driver. "Hush!" said one I recognized
as Captain Lenair. "The young lady is in there, and the Provost, too!"
"I don't care if it is Jeff Davis, I'll find out if she is hurt!" he
answered. Miriam and Anna recognized him, as they followed behind us,
and called to him. Without more ado, he jumped into their buggy,
finding them alone, and drove them home. He asked me something as he
passed, but I could not answer.

The road was dreadful. Once the driver mistook it and drove us within
two steps of an embankment six feet high, but discovered the mistake
before the horses went over.

What I most dreaded was explanations when we should arrive. Miriam
stepped out an instant before, and I heard her telling the accident.
Then everybody, big and little, white and black, gathered around the
ambulance. The Provost thought himself privileged to carry me, Gibbes
insisted on trying it with his one arm, when the General picked me up
and landed me on the gallery. He wanted me to lie down in old Mrs.
Carter's room, but confident that once there I could not get up, and
feeling that perhaps the gentlemen would take advantage of its being on
the ground floor to suggest calling on me, I s