"May God bless you--and speed the day when your people and mine shall be no longer enemies." He turned again to his desk, and beside it stood a quiet woman dressed in black. He bowed to her with easy grace: "And how can I serve you, Madam?" She smiled hopefully: "You have children, Mr. President?" A look of sorrow overspread the dark face. "Yes," he said reverently, "I have two boys now. I had three, but God has just taken one of them." "I had two," the mother responded. "Both of them went into the army to fight for their country and left me alone. One has been killed in battle. I tried to be brave about it. I said over and over again, 'the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed is the name of the Lord!' But I had to give up. I'm all alone in my little place in the mountains of Pennsylvania and I can't endure it. I know they say I have no right to ask, but I want my last boy to come home. All night I lie there alone and cry. Can't you let me have my boy back? He's all I've got on earth--others have more. I have only this one. I'm just a woman--lonely, heartsick and afraid. They say I can't have him. But I've come to ask you. I've heard that you have a loving heart----" She stopped suddenly. "You have seen Stanton?" the President asked. "Yes. He wouldn't listen. He swore I shouldn't have him." The hazel-grey eyes gazed thoughtfully out the window across the shining river for a moment. "I have two," he murmured, "and you have only one. It isn't fair. You shall have your boy." He turned to his desk and wrote the order for his discharge. The mother pressed close, gently touched with the tips of her fingers his thick black hair and softly cried while he was writing. She took the precious paper, tried to speak and choked. "Go away now," the President whispered, "or you'll have me crying in a minute." When the last man had gone he stood alone before his window in brooding silence. A tender smile overspread his face and he drew a deep breath. In the hills of Pennsylvania he saw a picture--a mother in the door of a humble home waiting for her boy. He is coming down the road with swift, strong step. She sees and rushes to meet him with a cry of joy, holds him in her arms without words a long, long while and will not let him go. And then she leads him into the house, falls on her knees and thanks God. He smiles again and forgets the burden of the day. CHAPTER XVIII DIPLOMACY In the whirlwind of passion, intrigue, slander and hate which had circled the head of the new President since the day of his Inauguration, the mother of his children had not been spared.