"You feel much better, do you not, my boy?" and the lady stroked the lad's hair gently. "Yes, Cherie." "So well that we can have our little talk again? We will not be interrupted to-day as we were yesterday." "If you wish," and it seemed to Jeanne that Dick spoke with great weariness. "But of what use is it? You have your views and I have mine. Why not let the subject drop when we cannot agree?" "Because the old adage has it, 'That constant dropping will wear away the hardest stone.' By keeping continually at you I shall finally succeed in overcoming your scruples, and get your signature to the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy." "Never!" exclaimed Dick with so much resolution that his sister's heart swelled with thankfulness and pride. "Though you were to talk to me forever you could not change my principles." "Listen to me, Dick." Madame spoke in her sweetest tones. "You are but a boy. You cannot know which side is right in this war when great men have differed upon the matter. I have heard you say that you honored Robert E. Lee. That he was a noble man, a great general, and one of the finest gentlemen that you ever met. Think you that such a man would embrace our cause if he did not believe himself right?" "I do not," answered Dick at once. "There are many men on the side of the South who believe themselves to be in the right. But they are none the less mistaken for all that." "And you set up your feeble judgment against them?" cried Madame, a trace of anger in her voice. "It is presumption." Dick did not reply. Presently Madame spoke again, and Jeanne noted that her tones were once more caressingly soft. "Dick, I have spoken to you of my own son, have I not?" "Yes, Cherie." "He was so much like you. When I used to hear Jeanne talk of you I knew that you were what my boy would have been. When I saw you my heart yearned over you, for you were the image of him. Had he lived he would have fought to defend our South from the rank invaders." "I do not doubt it," spoke the boy gently. "Think how desolate I am," went on the lady quick to note the lad's sympathy for her. "I have no one, Dick. Be my boy, I will be so proud of you. You would be our heir, and have all the property. I have influence too, and it should be used to advance you quickly to a high rank. You should be a general, my boy. The handsomest and youngest in the service. Think what I can give you. And all just to sign one little paper! Why do you hesitate? Why throw away such advantages for the sake of a mere notion? Come, sign it." Dick was silent so long that Jeanne became alarmed and she pushed back the curtain and looked at the pair anxiously. Madame Vance was holding a paper before the boy pleadingly, while Dick was regarding it with a look of indifference. "You will, my beautiful boy. You will, I know. You cannot refuse a mother's prayer. Oh, I know that you will not refuse me."