The little party of visitors in the general's personal tent made a
striking contrast to that assembled under the official canvas. In the
latter, seated on camp stools and candle boxes or braced against the tent
poles were nearly a dozen officers, all in the sombre dark blue
regulation uniform, several in riding boots and spurs, some even wearing
the heavy, frogged overcoat; all but two, juniors of the staff, men who
stood on the shady side of forty, four of the number wearing on their
shoulders the silver stars of generals of division or brigade, and among
their thinning crops of hair the silver strands that told of years of
service. One man alone, the commanding general, was speaking; all the
others listened in respectful silence. In the gloom of that late,
fog-shrouded afternoon a lantern or two would have been welcome, but the
conference had begun while it was still light enough for the chief to
read the memoranda on his desk, and now he was talking without notes. In
the array of grave, thoughtful faces, some actually somber and severe in
expression, a smile would have seemed out of place, yet, all of a sudden,
grim features relaxed, deep-set eyes twinkled and glanced quickly about
in search of kindred sympathetic spirits, and more than half the bearded
faces broadened into a grin of merriment and as many heads were suddenly
uplifted, for just as the gray-haired chief ended an impressive period
with the words: "It will be no laughing matter if I can lay hold of
them," there burst upon the surprised ears of the group a peal of the
merriest laughter imaginable--the rippling, joyous, musical laughter of
happy girlhood mingling with the hearty, wholesome, if somewhat boyish,
outburst of jollity, of healthful youth.
"Merciful powers!" exclaimed the chief. "I had forgotten all about those
people. They must have been here twenty minutes."
"Sixty-five, sir, by the watch," said a saturnine-looking soldier, tall
and stalwart, and wearing the shield of the adjutant-general's department
on the collar of his sack coat.
"They ought to go, then," was the placid suggestion of a third officer, a
man with keen eyes, thin, almost ascetic, face, but there twitched a
quaint humor about the lines of his lips. "That visit's past the retiring
age."
And then another peal of merriment from the adjoining tent put stop to
conversation.
"They don't lack for entertainers," hazarded a staff officer as soon as
he could make himself heard. "The solemn-looking Gothamite who came with
them must have slipped out."
"It seems he knows Colonel Armstrong," said the chief thoughtfully. "I
sent for him an hour ago, and he may be piloting Mr. Prime around camp,
looking up the runaway."
"Another case?" asked a brigade commander with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Another case," answered the general, with a sigh. "It isn't always home
troubles that drive them to it. This boy had everything a doting father
could give him. What on earth could make _him_ bolt and enlist for the
war?"
No one answered for a moment. Then the officer with the humorous twinkle
about the eyes and the twitch at the lip corners, bent forward, placed
his elbows on his knees, his fingers tip to tip, gazed dreamily at the
floor, and sententiously said:
"Girl."
Whereupon his next neighbor, a stocky, thickset man in the uniform of a
brigadier, never moving eye, head or hand, managed to bring a sizable
foot in heavy riding boot almost savagely upon the slim gaiter of the
humorist, who suddenly started and flushed to the temples, glanced
quickly at the chief, and then as quickly back to the floor, his blue
eyes clouded in genuine distress.
The general's gray face had seemed to grow grayer in the gloom. Again
there came, like a rippling echo, the chorus of merry laughter from the
adjoining tent, only it seemed a trifle subdued, possibly as though one
or two of the merry-makers had joined less heartily. With sudden movement
the general rose: "Well, I've kept you long enough," he said. "Let the
three regiments be got in readiness at once, but relax no effort in--that
other matter. Find the guilty parties if a possible thing."
And then the group dissolved. One or two of the number looked back,
half-hesitating, at the entrance of the tent, but the chief had turned
again to the littered table before him, and seating himself, rested his
gray head in the hand nearest his visitors. It was as though he wished to
conceal his face. One of the last to go--the thin-faced soldier with the
twinkling blue eyes, hung irresolutely behind the chief a moment as
though he had it in his mind to speak, then turned and fairly tiptoed
out, leaving the camp commander to the society of a single staff officer,
and to the gathering darkness.
"Kindly say to Mr. Prime, or his friends, that I will join them in a
moment," said the former, presently, without so much as uplifting head or
eye, and the aide-de-camp left as noiselessly as his predecessor, the
humorist. But when he was gone and "The Chief" sat alone, the sound of
merry chat and laughter still drifted in with the mist at the half-opened
entrance. Shadowy forms flitted to and fro between the official tent and
the lights beginning to twinkle at brigade headquarters across the wide
roadway. An orderly scratched at the tent flap, but got no answer. The
lone occupant sat well back in the gloomy interior and could barely be
distinguished. The waiting soldier hesitated a moment, then entered and
stamped once upon the wooden floor, then turned and noiselessly stepped
out, for, anticipating his question, the general spoke:
"No light just yet, orderly. I'll call you--in a moment. Just close the
tent."
At his hand, he needed no light to find it, lay a little packet that had
been passed in to him with the mail while the council was still in
session. It was stoutly wrapped, tightly corded, and profusely sealed,
but with the sharp point of an eraser the general slit the fastenings,
tore off the wrapper, and felt rather than saw, that a bundle of letters,
rolled in tissue paper and tied with ribbon, ribbon long since faded and
wrinkled, lay within. This he carefully placed in a large-sized military
letter envelope, moistened and pressed tight the gummed flap, stowed it
in the inner pocket of the overcoat that hung at the rear tent pole,
reduced the wrapper and its superscription to minute fragments, and
dropped them into the waste-basket, all as carefully and methodically as
though life knew neither hurry nor worry; then bowed his lined face in
both hands a moment in utter silence and in unmistakable sadness.
Presently his lips moved: "Can you look down and see that I have kept my
word, Agnes?" he murmured. "God help me to find him and save him--yet."
Once again the laughter, the gay young voices, rang from the other tent.
All over camp, far and near, from the limits of the park to the very
slope of the height at the north, the evening bugles were calling by
thousands the thronging soldiery to mess or roll call. Slowly the General
rose, drew on his overcoat, and in another moment, under the sloping
visor of his forage-cap, with eyes that twinkled behind their glasses,
with a genial smile softening every feature, his fine soldierly face
peered in on the scene of light, of merriment and laughter under the
canvas roof of the only home he knew in the world--the soldier home of
one whose life had been spent following the flag through bivouac, camp or
garrison, through many a march, battle and campaign all over the broad
lands of the United States until now, at the hour when most men turned
for the placid joys of the fireside, the love of devoted and faithful
wife, the homage and affection of children, the prattle and playful
sports of children's children--homeless, wifeless, childless he stood at
the border of the boundless sea, soldier duty pointing the way to far
distant, unknown and undesired regions, content to follow that flag to
the end of the world, if need be, and owning no higher hope or ambition
than to uphold it to the end of his life.
There was nothing in such a face as his to put a check to fun and
merriment, yet, all on a sudden, the laughter died away. Three young
gallants in soldier garb sprang to their feet and faced him with appeal
and explanation in their speaking eyes, although only one of their number
found his tongue in time to put the matter into words. There were only
two girls when the general left that tent to meet his officers at four
o'clock, and now there were four, and the four were having five-o'clock
tea.
At least any one would have said they were four blithe girls, innocent of
graver responsibilities than social calls and dinner or dance
engagements, for never looked four young women so free from the cares of
this world as did those who were picturesquely grouped about the
General's camp table and under the brilliant reflector of the General's
lamp, but the plain gold circlet on the slender finger of the merriest
and noisiest and smallest of the four, and the fact that she had nothing
to say to the elder of the three attendant officers except in the brief,
indifferent tones of assured proprietorship, and very much to say to the
others, told a different story. The General's manner lost none of its
kindness, even though a close observer would have seen that his face lost
a little of its light as he recognized in the evident leader of the
revels and mistress of the situation the wife of his senior aide-de-camp.
An hour before he thought her a thousand miles away--and so did her
husband.
"Bless your dear old heart!" exclaimed the little lady, springing to her
feet, facing him with indomitable smiles and thrusting forward two
slender, white, bejeweled hands. "No--don't say you disapprove! Don't
scold! Don't do anything but sit right down here and have a cup of your
own delicious tea--(Frank, some boiling water)--that no one makes for you
as I do--you've owned it many a time. And then we're all going in to the
Palace for dinner and then to the theatre, and I'll tell you all about it
between the courses or between the acts. Oh, you poor dear! I ought to
have come before--you've been working yourself to death!"
And by this time, resolutely pulling, she had towed the General to a
chair, and into this, his favorite leather-armed, canvas-backed,
hickory-framed companion of many a year, she deftly dropped him and then,
giving him no chance for a word, gayly pirouetting, she seized one after
another upon each member of the party present--an accomplished little
mistress of ceremonies encased in a tailor-made traveling suit that
rendered her proof against a dozen minor ills, so beautifully was it cut
and fitted to her pretty figure--and, with inexhaustible flow of merry
words, presented her or him to the veteran in the chair:
"This, my honored General, first and foremost, is Miss Mildred Prime,
daughter of a thousand earls is she, yet one _vastly_ to be desired,
though I say it who should not, for she hails from New York, which is
enough to make me hate her, whereas we've just sworn an eternal
friendship. You've only casually met her and her folks before, but _I_
can tell you all about them. You should have put Frank at the head of
your Intelligence Bureau, General. _He'd_ never find out anything, but
_I_ would. We came on the same train together all the way from Ogden."
A tall, dark-eyed, dark-haired, oval-faced girl, coloring slightly in
evident embarassment over these odd army ways, courtesied smilingly to
the General and seemed to be pleading dumbly for clemency if there had
been transgression.
"This," hurried on the voluble little woman, seizing another feminine
wrist, "is Miss Cherry Langton--Cherry Ripe we call her at home this
summer, the dearest girl that ever lived except myself, and one you'll
simply delight in--as you do in me--when you get to know her. She is, as
you have often been told and have probably forgotten, the only
good-looking member of Frank's family--his first cousin. She was moping
her heart out after all the nice young men in Denver went to the wars,
and withering on the stem until I told her she should go too, when she
blossomed and blushed with joy as you see her now, sir. Cherry, make your
manners." Cherry, whose name well described her, was only waiting for a
chance, laughing the while at the merry flow of her chaperon's words,
and, at the first break, stepped quickly forward and placed her hand
frankly in the outstretched palm of her host, then glanced eagerly over
her shoulder as though she would say: "But you must see _her_," and her
bright eyes sought and found the fourth feminine member of the group.
"And this," said Mrs. Frank Garrison, bravely, yet with a trifle less
confidence of manner, with indeed a faint symptom of hesitancy, "is Miss
Amy Lawrence," and in extending her little hand to take that of the most
retiring of the three girls, only the finger tips and thumb seemed to
touch. Miss Lawrence came quickly forward, and waiting for no
description, bowed with quiet grace and dignity to the chief and, smiling
a bit gravely, said:
"Uncle left word that he would soon return, General, but he has been gone
with Colonel Armstrong nearly an hour. I hope we have not taken too great
a liberty," and her glance turned to the substantial tea service on the
rude camp table.
"Oh, _I'm_ responsible for that--and for any and every iniquity here
committed, solely because I know our General too well to believe he would
allow famishing damsels to faint for lack of sustenance." It was Mrs.
Garrison, of course, who spoke. "I simply set Frank and his fellows to
work, with the result that tea and biscuit, light and warmth, mirth and
merriment, faith, hope and charity sprang up like magic in this gloomy old
tent, and here we are still. Now, say you're glad I came, General, for
these stupid boys--Oh! I quite forgot! Let me present the slaves of the
lamp--the spirit lamp, General. Frank you know--too well, I dare say.
Stand forth, vassal Number Two. This, General, is Captain Schuyler, a mite
of a man physically--a Gothamite, in fact--but a tower of wit and wisdom
when permitted to speak." (A diminutive youngster, with a head twice too
big for his body, and a world of fun in his sparkling eyes, bowed
elaborately to his commanding general, but prudently held his peace.)
"Captain Schuyler, my dear General, meekly bears the crescent of the
subsistence department on his beautifully high and unquestionably New
York-made collars. He hasn't an idea on the subject of supplies except
that commissary cigars are bad, but his senator said he had to have
something and that's what he got. He'd rather be second lieutenant of
regular infantry any day, but that was too high for him. _Here's_ a youth
it fits to a 't'--Mr. William Gray of the --teenth Foot, whom I knew years
ago when we were kids in the same camp, and whose best claim to your
notice is that you knew his father. He says so, and hopes you'll forgive
all his budding iniquities on the strength of it." The General nodded with
a grin at the youngster who stood at Miss Lawrence's left, and then held
up his hand for silence, shutting off further presentations.
"I'll forgive anything but more chatter," said he, with a placid smile,
"provided you give me some tea at once. Then I should be glad to know how
you all happened to meet here."
"My doing entirely, General. (Frank, another cup--quick!) Cherry came
with me to surprise my husband--an easy thing to do--I'm always doing it.
We found him here, by your orders, striving to entertain these two
charming damsels--the last thing on earth he is capable of doing, however
valuable he may be with orders and correspondence. _I_ heard Mr. Prime's
story and at once suggested Colonel Armstrong. _I_ heard Miss Lawrence
exclaim at sight of Billy here, and saw a case of old acquaintance and
sent for him forthwith. So easy to say: 'The adjutant-general's
compliments'--_I_ found that, after all, they had never met, but Miss
Lawrence had seen him at the head of some famous student company. _I_ it
was who presented him to her, and summoned Captain Schuyler to meet once
more his fellow-citizens, the Primes. _I_ it was who ordered lamps, fire
and the tea things. _I_ am the good fairy who wrought the transformation.
Behold me with my wand!"
She seized Miss Langton's slender umbrella and, waving it over her curly
little head, pirouetted again in triumphant gayety.
The General was thoughtfully sipping his tea and studying her as she
chattered and danced. When she paused a moment for breath he again held
up his hand.
"Colonel Armstrong went with Mr. Prime, did he?"
"With every assurance that the prodigal should be produced forthwith and
restored to the paternal bosom," declaimed Mrs. Garrison melodramatically,
and would have ranted on, never noting the flush of pain and embarrassment
that almost instantly appeared in the faces of Miss Lawrence and her
dark-eyed Eastern cousin, nor seeing the warning in her husband's eyes,
but at the moment the tent flap was thrown back and held open to admit a
tall, gray-haired civilian whose silk hat was uplifted as he entered, in
courteous recognition of the group, despite the distress that was betrayed
in the pallor of his face and the instant glance of his dark eyes toward
the slender girl, who stepped eagerly forward. Mrs. Garrison, turning
quickly, saw, and with swift, agile movement, sprang to one side. The
General slowly struggled up from his easy-chair. Reaching her father's
side, Miss Prime laid her hand upon his arm, looking fondly and anxiously
into his face.
A soldierly, middle-aged officer, in dripping forage cap and rain coat,
stepped quickly in and lowered the flap. "Did you find him, father?" was
Miss Prime's low-toned, faltering question.
"We found--the soldier referred to; Colonel Armstrong has been most kind;
but--it wasn't your brother at all, my child."