"Dear, vigilant old aunty," said Graham, when they were alone, "you know when I have reached the limit of endurance."
"Ah! Alford, Alford," moaned the poor woman, "I fear you are seeking death in this war."
He looked at her tenderly for a moment, and then said, "Hereafter I will try to take no greater risks than a soldier's duties require."
CHAPTER XXII
SELF-SENTENCED
Days, weeks, and months with their changes came and went. Hilland, with characteristic promptness, carried out his friend's suggestion; and through his own means and personal efforts, in great measure, recruited and equipped a regiment of cavalry. He was eager that his friend should take a command in it; but Graham firmly refused.
"Our relations are too intimate for discipline," he said. "We might be placed in situations wherein our friendship would embarrass us."
Grace surmised that he had another reason; for, as time passed, she saw less and less of him. He had promptly obtained a lieutenancy in a regiment that was being recruited at Washington; and by the time her husband's regiment reached that city, the more disciplined organization to which Graham was attached was ordered out on the Virginia picket line beyond Arlington Heights.
Hilland, with characteristic modesty, would not take the colonelcy of the regiment that he chiefly had raised; but secured for the place a fine officer of the regular army, and contented himself with a captaincy. "Efficiency of the service is what I am aiming at," he said. "I would much rather rise by merit from the ranks than command a brigade by favor."
Unlike many men of wealth, he had a noble repugnance to taking any public advantage of it; and the numerous officers of the time that had obtained their positions by influence were his detestation.