Betty greeted him outside with tearful joy still mixed with deep anxiety.
"You have no word from him, of course?"
"Not yet, child, but it will come—cheer up—it's sure to come. You see that he reached Atlanta and delivered my message!"
"We are not sure. The city may have fallen, anyhow——"
"Yes, yes, but it didn't just fall, anyhow. Sherman took it. He got my message. I know it. I felt it flash through the air from his soul to mine!"
His faith and enthusiasm were contagious and Betty returned home with new hope.
In half an hour the Committee who were waiting for his resignation from the National Republican ticket filed into his office to receive as they supposed his final surrender.
The Chairman rose with doleful countenance:
"Since leaving you, Mr. President, we have just heard a most painful and startling announcement from the War Department. We begged you to withhold the new draft for five hundred thousand men until after the election. Halleck informs us of the discovery of a great combination to resist it by armed force and General Grant must detach a part of his army from Lee's front in order to put down this counter revolution. This is the blackest news yet. We trust that you realize the impossibility of your administration asking for indorsement at the polls——"
With a sign of final resignation he sat down and the tall, dark figure rose with quick, nervous energy.