"I got this in Richmond. They found him dead on the field. He fell in the front ranks with my photograph in his pocket next to his heart, this pardon wrapped around it, and on the back of it in his boy's scrawl, 'God bless Abraham Lincoln.' I love to invest in bonds like that."
The Secretary returned to his room, the girl who was waiting stepped forward, and the President rose to receive her.
The mother's quick eye noted, with surprise, the simple dignity and chivalry of manner with which he received this humble woman of the people.
With straightforward eloquence the girl poured out her story, begging for the pardon of her young brother who had been sentenced to death as a deserter. He listened in silence.
How pathetic the deep melancholy of his sad face! Yes, she was sure, the saddest face that God ever made in all the world! Her own stricken heart for a moment went out to him in sympathy.
The President took off his spectacles, wiped his forehead with the large red silk handkerchief he carried, and his eyes twinkled kindly down into the good German face.
"You seem an honest, truthful, sweet girl," he said, "and"—he smiled—"you don't wear hoop-skirts! I may be whipped for this, but I'll trust you and your brother, too. He shall be pardoned."
Elsie rose to introduce Mrs. Cameron, when a Congressman from Massachusetts suddenly stepped before her and
