e for forgiveness; but the General had been struck deeply. The
present was returned. He wrote: "I want obedience; not sacrifice."

Confident of his wife's ability to overcome any obstacle, the young
man bided his time. His wounds, however, and his breach with his father
affected his health so much that he went with his wife to the far South,
where Major Drayton, now a colonel, had a remnant of what had once been
a fine property. Here, for a time, amid the live-oaks and magnolias he
appeared to improve. But his father's obdurate refusal to forgive his
disobedience preyed on his health, and just after the war closed, he
died a few months before his son was born.

In his last days he dwelt much on his father. He made excuses for him,
over which his wife simply tightened her lips, while her gray eyes
burned with deep resentment.

"He was brought up that way. He cannot help it. He never had anyone to
gainsay him. Do not be hard on him. And if he ever sues for pardon, be
merciful to him for my sake."

His end came too suddenly for his wife to notify his father in advance,
even if she would have done so; for he had been fading gradually and at
the last the flame had flared up a little.

Lucy Hampden was too upright a woman not to do what she believed her
duty, however contrary to her feelings it might be. So, although it was
a bitter thing to her, she wrote to inform General Hampden of his son's
death.

It happened by one of the malign chances of fortune that this letter
never reached its destination, General Hampden did not learn of Oliver's
death until some weeks later, when he heard of it by accident. It was a
terrible blow to him, for time was softening the asperity of his temper,
and he had just made up his mind to make friends with his son. He
attributed the failure to inform him of Oliver's illness and death to
the malignity of his wife.

Thus it happened that when her son was born, Lucy Hampden made no
announcement of his birth to the General, and he remained in ignorance
of it.

IV

The war closed, and about the only thing that appeared to remain
unchanged was the relation between General Hampden and Colonel Drayton.
Everything else underwent a change, for war eats up a land.

General Hampden, soured and embittered by his domestic troubles, but
stern in his resolve and vigorous in his intellect, was driven by
his loneliness to adapt himself to the new conditions. He applied his
unabated energies to