Part 53 (2/2)
”If our men were only as loyal! Ask anything you will of me--to the half of my kingdom.”
Jennie wished to put this impulsive promise to the test. She would see that Socola secured his appointment. This brilliant young recruit for the South was her gift to her country and she was proud of him. It had all come about too quickly for her to a.n.a.lyze her feelings. She only realized that she felt a sense of tender proprietary interest in him.
That he could render valuable service she did not doubt for a moment.
She had told him to meet her at the statue of Was.h.i.+ngton in the Capitol Square. They would wait there for the appearance of the President and follow him. His habits were simple and democratic. He walked daily from the Confederate White House to the Capitol grounds, crossed the Square and at the foot of the hill entered his office in the Custom House on Main Street, unaccompanied by an escort of any kind.
Anybody on earth could approach and speak to him. The humbler the man or woman, the easier the approach was always made.
Socola was waiting at the big group of statuary contemplating the lines of its fine workmans.h.i.+p with curious interest.
Jennie startled him from a reverie:
”You like him?”
The white teeth gleamed in pleasant surprise.
”The father of his country?--Yes--I like him. It's going to be my country, too, you know.”
They strolled through the grounds and watched the squirrels leap from the limbs of a great tree to the swaying boughs of the next.
A tall awkward trooper on whose hat was the sign of a North Carolina regiment toiled painfully up the hill slightly under the influence of whisky. Socola saw that he was navigating the steep with difficulty and turned into a by-path to give him a free pa.s.sage. It was never pleasant to meet a man under the influence of liquor in the presence of ladies.
They had taken but a few steps along the little path when the quick firm military tread of the President was heard.
They turned just in time to see him encounter the toiling trooper from North Carolina.
The soldier's jaw suddenly dropped and his eyes kindled with joy. He stood squarely in the President's way and laughed good naturedly.
”Say--Mister!”
”Well, sir?”
”Say--now--ain't yo' name Jeff'son Davis?”
The President nodded in a friendly way.
”It is.”
”I knowed it,” the trooper laughed. ”By Gum, I knowed it, the minute I laid my eyes on ye--”
He moved closer with insinuating joy.
”I bet ye could never guess how I knowed it--could ye?”
”Hardly--”
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