The major came in on us silently, in his soft, well-bred way. I rose instantly to greet him.
"Jack, my boy!" said he, throwing one arm around me, and drawing me to him. "How you have grown! I heard you had come home, and I had to see you to-night."
"And you didn't want to see me?" said Eloise, coming up, and kissing him; for the Major was her ideal, and she was always his pet. "Now, Major, you always said that you loved me as much as you did Jack," she teased, winding an arm into his.
"Just the same as ever, my dear; you are both my two children always," he laughed. "Why, good evening, Goff—and the General, where is he?" he asked my Aunt Lucretia. "I have news that will please him."
My Aunt went after my grandfather.
"Jack," he turned to me, "what a man you have grown into! I'm hungry for a long talk with you."
The Major sat down, and Colonel Goff offered him a cigar. He struck a match, but before using it, held it a moment to my face. "Inspection, Jack," said he, smiling; "you know how hard it is to break an old soldier of his habits."
I saw his finely-cut, sensitive face light up. I noticed the familiar turn of his mustache, his kindly mouth, the correct dress, the straight, martial bearing, and the courtesy, that seemed a gift of his own.
"And it looks as if I might die in harness," he went on. "Ah, here's the General."
He rose and shook hands with my grandsire. "I have come over to tell you, General, of a telegram I received this afternoon from the President, and I should so like to have your advice before answering—the advice of all of you," he said kindly, turning and bowing our way.