"They say that every cloud has its silver lining!" he laughed again. "I'll remember that fellow Sherman." Late in the day a report reached him of a beautiful young woman serving refreshments without pay to the straggling, broken men. He turned to Nicolay, his secretary: "Get my carriage, find her, and bring her to me. I want to see her." Betty's eyes were still red when she walked into his office. He sprang to his feet, and with long strides met her. He grasped her hand in both his and pressed it tenderly. "So it's _you_!" he whispered. Betty nodded. "My little Cabinet comforter----" "I'm afraid I'll be no good to-day," she faltered. "Then I'll cheer _you_," he cried. "I just wanted to thank the woman who's been standing behind a lemonade counter through this desolate day giving her time, her money, and her soul to our discouraged boys----" "And you are not discouraged?" Betty asked pathetically. "Not by a long shot, my child! Brush those tears away. Jeffy D.'s the man to be discouraged to-day. This will be a dearly bought victory. Mark my word. For the South it's the glorious end of the war. While they shout, I'll be sawing wood. It needed just this shock and humiliation to bring the North to their senses. Watch them buckle on their armor now in deadly earnest. The demagogues howled for a battle. They pushed us in and they got it. Some of the Congressmen who yelled the loudest for a march straight into Richmond without a pause even to water the horses got tangled up in that stampede from Bull Run. They thought Jeb Stuart's cavalry were on them and lost their lunch baskets in the scramble. They've seen a great light. I'll get all the money I ask Congress for and all the soldiers we need for any length of time. I've asked for four hundred million dollars and five hundred thousand men for three years. I shouldn't be surprised if they voted more. The people will have sense enough to see that this defeat was exactly what they should have expected under such conditions." His spirit was contagious. Betty forgot her shame and fear. "You're wonderful, Mr. President," the girl cried in rapt tones. "Now I know that you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this." "And so have you, my child," he answered reverently. "And so has every brave woman who loves this Union. That's what I wanted to say to you and thank you for your example." Betty left the White House with a new sense of loyal inspiration. She walked on air unconscious of the pouring rain. She paused before a throng that blocked the sidewalk. Some of them were bareheaded, the rain drops splashing in their faces, apparently unconscious of anything that was happening.