"Think!" said the quiet voice again, while the perspiration started out on the forehead of more than one listener. "And remember what your father said just now. When was it?"
Again the fearless eyes of the child, the Littlest Rebel of them all, rose to the gaze of the man whose iron heel was crushing them into the ground and she made her answer—as crystal clear and truthful as if she stood before the Throne on the last great day.
"When—when Daddy came through the woods an'—an' put my mamma in the ground."
There was a silence. No one moved. Outside in the trees and bushes the song the summer insects were singing suddenly burst upon, their ears and the myriad noises of the camp, hitherto unnoticed, became a veritable clamor, so complete was the stillness in the room. Everyone except, perhaps, the child herself realized the vital importance of her answer and now that it had been given the crisis had passed. The Littlest Rebel had put an end to questioning. An audible sigh went up from everyone except the man behind the desk.
This one turned his head slowly towards the Confederate prisoner.
"Captain Cary, is this true?"
"Yes, General," came the straightforward answer. "I went to your nearest post with a flag of truce and asked permission to go to my dead wife. I was refused. I went without permission."
General Grant rose to his feet. Centering the other's eyes with his own he spoke to him as one officer speaks to another when he expects the truth and nothing but the truth.
"And you give me your word, as a soldier and a gentleman, that once—once only—you wore a Federal uniform and that because of the burial of your wife?"
"I do," answered Herbert Cary, a rebel to the last. "And that was the only cause in heaven or hell that could have induced me to wear it!"