“I’ll go with you,” Harriot announced. “They always have something to eat at receptions.” But none of the others in the family gave any indication that they were even mildly interested and shortly Mrs. Stewart went away, expressing pointedly her opinion that the whole May family were half Yankees, after all. Harriot and Dorothea went to the reception and found the place crowded with fulsome admirers of Mr. Davis, prominent among whom was Mrs. Stewart, who seemed to hang upon the great man’s words as if an oracle spoke. The two girls viewed this from a distance, and it was not until Mr. Davis consented to make a little speech and stood upon a chair that Dorothea really had a good view of him. He was a tall, aristocratic-looking man with blue eyes, but with the refinement of feature there was also a hint of vanity and weakness. Yet to Dorothea there was something that suggested that real President she had seen in the other Washington. What it was she could not have said, but there was a resemblance that brought a pang to her heart and a wonder that these two antagonists in so great a struggle should resemble each other even in the slightest degree. In character they were as wide apart as the poles. Dorothea listened to the speech Mr. Davis made with only half an ear, until suddenly she became aware that he was saying something that interested her vitally. “Our Sacred Cause is not dead,” Mr. Davis insisted, with the round, ringing tones of the political orator. “Our beloved South has sent her sons from every corner of its fertile lands. Even here in little Washington I could tell you a tale of bravery unsurpassed in the annals of history. The young man of whom I speak has asked that his secret be kept, but I cannot resist the temptation to tell you. This native son, this youth who has grown up among you, was forced by circumstances to stay at home during the early years of the war; but there came a time when he was free, and he journeyed to us, begging for the most dangerous mission upon which he could embark. From the beginning his heart was in our great Cause and because he could not do his utmost at the start he wished a doubly hazardous part to play. I tell you, ladies and gentlemen of Washington, that this gentleman donned the uniform of a Union officer and went into our implacable enemies’ lines and from there sent us information of inestimable value. Every moment he was risking his life—at any hour he might have paid the penalty for his bravery by a disgraceful death. Indeed I do not know to-day whether he is alive or dead. He may have found a martyr’s grave for the sake of our dear Confederacy, and that is one reason why I am telling you, his friends, this story. Have you not guessed of whom I speak? It is of Lee Hendon, whose name, bequeathed to him by honored—”