But it had already been done, and by those who had long mistaken John C. Calhoun for hidden treasure. In the deepest quiet of the night, before the heel of the conqueror should tread on hallowed ground, they had come, loosing the sandals from their feet as though God were in every bush in the Western Cemetery; and fearful lest an enemy should touch his holy dust for desecration—tenderly, reverently, they had lifted their hero’s ashes and borne them away in secret till the storm should be overpast. CHAPTER XLVI Early in February of ’sixty-five, at the home of Mrs. Liddell, in Columbia, Jack Corbin and his wife and Helen Brooks were sitting round the open fire in the living room. The glow of the firelight on the hearth threw fantastic shadows over the rich furnishings and lit up the forms of the three who sat almost mournfully by his side. The darkness of the evening was made more dreary by the falling rain, through which, in a few minutes, the young captain must go to join his command. His suit of gray was worn and faded, and his felt hat that hung outside was full of holes. “I am glad,” he was saying, “that old Joe is here. It was good of the colonel to send him. I saw him as I came, dressed up in a suit of Colonel Masters’, and new shoes and hat—” “Yes, Jack, and I am so glad that Major Goodwin has said he will get us a guard for this house if Sherman comes.” “He is coming, Bessie.” “And you think there is no danger, Jack, dear?” “I should certainly think not, with the examples the other generals on both sides are setting. Grant would not harm women, nor Thomas, nor Meade, nor Lee. Why, Bessie, my darling, Lee would hang a man who insulted a woman or destroyed private property. You remember when General Gordon captured the city of York just before the Battle of Gettysburg, and the inhabitants were scared lest he should burn the town, he said: ‘I beg you to rest assured that the troops behind me, though ill-clad and travel-stained, are good men and brave—that beneath their rough exteriors are hearts as loyal to women as ever beat in the breasts of honorable men; that their own experience and the experience of their mothers, wives and sisters at home have taught them how painful must be the sight of a hostile army in their town; that under the order of General Lee, non-combatants and private property are safe; that the spirit of lust and rapine has no place in the spirits of those dust-covered men.’ He pledged the head of any soldier under his command who destroyed private property, disturbed the peace of a single home, or insulted a woman. And not a person was harmed, nor a dollar’s worth of private property destroyed. Surely, if a half-starved Confederate force could be so knightly, the great army of Sherman, backed by unlimited supplies, will be as honorable.” “I hear General Sherman says the Emancipation Proclamation was only a war act, and that he expects to own a hundred slaves after the war is over,” said Bessie, reassured.