nd
held lightly in one hand an elegant little cap that I am sure must be
provokingly becoming. Why, he was handsome! _Ah ca_! some mistake,
surely, I cried to myself. _My_ Mr. Halsey was not, certainly! "If it
be I, as I hope it may be, I've a little dog at home who will surely
know me," I kept repeating. I resolved to test the little dog's
sagacity, so I pretended to know this apparition, and thanked him for
the pleasure he had afforded me by sending me "Kate Coventry." He
looked conscious and pleased! The "little dog" had found out his
identity! I was more puzzled than ever. How account for this wondrous
change?... But metamorphosed "John" talked! He was expatiating at a
most extraordinary rate, and had been doing so for an hour after
supper, when Gibbes drew his chair near me (Gibbes likes to hear what
visitors say to his little sister); whereupon timid Mr. Halsey drew his
slightly back, and very soon after asked for his horse. O Gibbes! you
wretch! what an amusing tete-a-tete you spoiled, you innocent! And the
General, of course, only waited for his exit before beginning to tease
me unmercifully. I must put an end to this; they shall not bring such
unjust charges against him. Yet how am I to make them see reason?

NIGHT.

I am more pleased to-night than I could well express. I have been
talking to an old and dear friend, no other than Will Pinckney! His
arrival was as unexpected as it was agreeable. The cry of "Here comes
Will Pinckney" sent me back to August, '60, when the words were always
the forerunner of fun and frolic.... He told me what he called his
secrets; of how he had been treated by the War Department (which has,
indeed, behaved shockingly towards the Colonel).

Thursday, 22d January.

What a rush of visitors last night! One would imagine they had all come
by appointment, expressly to have an impromptu dance, which they
certainly enjoyed, by the way. There was little Captain C----, the
Susceptible and Simple, who so innocently says "I seen" and "I done
it," without the faintest suspicion of the peculiarity, and looks so
sweet, and guileless, and amiable, and soft, that I can't help
wondering if he would be sticky if I touch him. Indeed, I think his
hands stick, at least; for when he told me good-bye, it was with the
greatest difficulty that I extracted mine from his grasp (he having
forgotte