"The two children did not catch the threat latent in that last
word, but they realized the force of it from their father's look
and were surprised when he quietly said:

"'You declare yourself to be the only man on the commission who is
acquainted with the facts you are pleased to style traitorous?'

"The general's lips curled. 'Have I not said?' he asked.

"Something in this stern honesty seemed to affect the father. His
face turned away and it was the other's voice which was next heard.
A change had taken place in it and it sounded almost mellow as it
gave form to these words:

"'Alpheus, we have been friends. You shall have two weeks in which
to think over my demand and decide. If at the end of that time you
have not returned to domestic life you may expect another visit from
me which can not fail of consequences. You know my temper when
roused. Do not force me into a position which will cause us both
endless regret.'

"Perhaps the father answered; perhaps he did not. The children
heard nothing further, but they witnessed the gloom with which he
rode away to the White House the next day. Remembering the general's
threat, they imagined in their childish hearts that their father had
gone to give up his post and newly acquired honors. But he returned
at night without having done so, and from that day on carried his
head higher and showed himself more and more the master, both at home
and abroad.

"But he was restless, very restless, and possibly to allay a great
mental uneasiness, he began having some changes made in the house;
changes which occupied much of his time and with which he never
seemed satisfied. Men working one day were dismissed the next and
others called in until this work and everything else was interrupted
by the return of his late unwelcome guest, who kept his appointment
to a day.

"At this point in her narrative Mistress Callista's voice fell and
the flame which had thrown a partial light on her countenance died
down until I could but faintly discern the secretly inquiring look
with which she watched me as she went on to say

"'Reuben and I,'--Reuben was her brother,--'were posted in the
dark corner under the stairs when my father met the general at the
door. We had expected to hear high words, or some explosion of
bitter feeling between them, and hardly knew whether to be glad or
sorry when our father welcomed his guest with the same elaborate
bow we once saw him make to the