"Colonel Sprague, are you commissary of this house?"
"I have that honor."
"I want to find Lieutenant Gardner."
"Who?"
"Lieutenant Gardner."
"Who's Lieutenant Gardner?"
"I am told he's an officer in house number four; and as you are commissary, you can probably tell me where he is at."
"Where he's what?"
"Where he's at."
This was the first time I had ever heard the word at so used at the end of a sentence; but it expresses the meaning with admirable precision. I had a slight qualm at lying; but I remembered that even George Washington could tell a lie if necessary in war. Pacifying my conscience with the fact that we were outside the house at the time, I said: