A flash of blind rage came from the depths of John Vaughan's dark eyes at the first sight of him. He moved forward a step and his hand trembled in a desperate instinctive desire to kill. He was a soldier. His enemy was before him advancing. To kill had become a habit. It seemed the one natural thing to do. He stopped with a shock of surprise as the President turned his haggard eyes in a dazed way and looked about the room. The light fell full on his face increasing its ghost-like pathetic expression. The story of anxiety and suffering was burnt in letters of fire that left his features a wrinkled mask of grey ashes. The drooping eyelids were swollen, and dark bags hung beneath them. The muscles of his massive jaws were flaccid, the lines about his large expressive mouth terrible in their eloquence. His sombre eyes seemed to gaze on the world with the anguish of millions in their depths. For a moment John Vaughan was held in a spell by the unexpected apparition. "You are alone, sir?" the quiet voice slowly asked. "Yes." "I had expected Miss Winter----" "She came with me and was compelled to leave." "Oh--will you pull up a chair." The tall form dropped wearily at his desk. His voice had a far-away expression in its tones. "And what can I do for you, sir?" he asked. "My name is Vaughan--John Vaughan----" The dark head was lifted with interest: "The brother of Ned Vaughan, who escaped from prison?" John nodded: "The son of Dr. Richard Vaughan, of Palmyra, Missouri." "Then you're our boy, fighting with Grant's army--yes, I heard of you when your brother was in trouble. You've been ill, I see--wounded, of course?" "Yes." The President rose and took his visitor's hand, clasping it with both his own: "There's nothing I won't do for one of our wounded boys if I can--what is it?" "My mother writes me that my father has been arrested without warrant, is held in prison without bail and denied the right to trial----" He paused and leaned on the desk, trembling with excitement which had increased as he spoke. "I have come to ask you for justice--that he shall be confronted by his accusers in open court and given a fair trial----" A frown deepened the shadows in the dark, kindly face: "And for what was he arrested?" "For exercising the right of free speech. In a public address he denounced the war----" The President shook his head sorrowfully: "You see, my boy, your house is divided against itself--the symbol in the family group of our unhappy country. Of course, I didn't know of this arrest. Such things hurt me, so I refuse to know of them unless I must. They tell me that Seward and Stanton have arrested without warrant thirty-five thousand men. I hope this is an exaggeration. Still it may be true----" He stopped, sighed, and shook his head again: