"In a moment, General," responded the Adjutant, hastening to the doorway as the tread of feet sounded again in the hallway. Dismissing the two privates who had arrived with Uncle Billy between them he led the old man down to the desk and left him there, bowing and scraping a little and holding his hat in front of him in both hands.
"Wan' see me, suh?" ventured Uncle Billy, intruding delicately on the General's calculations. "Here I is!"
General Grant looked up quickly and ran his eye over the old man.
"Your name!"
"Er—William Lewis, seh. Yas, seh."
"To whom do you belong?"
Although Uncle Billy's back was not particularly straight this sudden question introduced a stiffening into it which made it more upright than it had been in years.
"I b'longs to Cap'n Hubbert Cary, seh—of de Confed'it Army. Das who I b'longs to. Yas, seh."
The General sat back a little in his chair and studied Uncle Billy. He saw that after all the old negro was simply a natural slave—that he probably had no other thought in his grayed head than that of faithful service to his owner. But he would try him and see how far the old man would go.
"I understand," he said, "that freedom has been offered you—and you refused it. Is this true?"