"Then don't go, Mr. Diggs," interrupted Irene, with difficulty restraining her merriment, all her pity put to flight by his affectation and conceit. "I should almost feel inclined to turn a deaf ear to the 'obstreperous trump of fame,' and 'only list to love and thine,' should you command me to stay." "Sir, you are growing more and more incomprehensible. Let us leave this subject." "Not yet, oh no, not yet! Wait until you have heard all. I love you, Irene, dearest, and--and--ah! come to my arms and say you will be mine!" Down he went on one knee, with upturned face and out-stretched arms. Poor Irene felt an almost irresistible impulse to laugh, and for a moment dared not speak. He mistook her silence and again began to plead. "Speak, O brightest sylph, fairer than the angels, sweeter than--hem, hem!--than the honey in the honey-comb!" "For mercy's sake, stand up, Mr. Diggs!" said Irene. "Not until you say you will be mine!" and his arms expanded, like an opened double gate. "Then Mr. Diggs, I fear you will never reach the field of glory, for the war will be over before you rise from your knees," said Irene. "Oh! ah! Hem, hem! You cannot be so cruel,"--still kneeling, and leaning further forward, as though to compel her to his embrace. "Mr. Diggs, you can never be to me more than a friend. Pray, do not pursue the subject further." "Miss Irene, dear, dear Miss Irene, you utterly wreck my life! I care not a straw for it now!" whined little Mr. Diggs, turning, still on his knees, towards Irene who had crossed the room, the most pitiful of faces. No answer. "You are--hem, hem!--very cruel, Miss Irene," he rose and awkwardly took his seat. "I regret to have given you pain," said Irene graciously, as, at Mr. Diggs' request, she rang for his carriage, "but I am sure you will soon forget it, and will see that you had mistaken your feelings." As Mr. Diggs was in the act of getting into his carriage the sound of horse's feet came to his ear, and a moment later Oleah Tompkins galloped up to the side of the old rockaway. "Halloo, Diggs! are you just leaving?" asked Oleah. "Yes--hem, hem!--I am going home," said Diggs. "Well, be on hand to-morrow night without fail, now. We want every member of the company there, as we shall go into camp in a day or two." "Well,--hem, hem, hem!--Oleah, I have almost concluded not to go. I can not--hem, hem!--take up arms against the flag of Washington." "Oh, that's abolitionist nonsense! What care you for a flag that will not protect you?" "That's so," said Diggs. "Then why should we consent to bow our necks to tyrant's heels simply because the great and good Washington fought under a rag with certain stripes and certain stars upon it?" "That is so. Hem, hem, hem! 'They first have breathed treason.'"