"You have, I believe, received your orders. I can suggest nothing but obedience."
Too angry to ask an explanation, he strode from the room without a word.
The President closed his desk, climbed the steep hill of the Capitol Square, walked home in brooding silence, and locked himself in his room without eating his dinner.
Alarmed at his absence, Mrs. Davis at last gently rapped on his door. With tender tact she drew from his reluctant lips the story.
Turning his dimmed eyes on hers, he burst out in tones of quivering anguish:
"Oh, my Winnie dear, how could any man with a soul write a letter like that, mark it private and force me to plunge a knife into the heart of my best friend and leave it there without a word—"
"You should have told your friend the whole truth!"
"No—he could have made trouble in the army. His commander knew that I could bear it best."
"You must try to mingle more with those men, dear," his wife pleaded. "Use your brains and personality to win them. You can do it."
"At the cost of precious hours I can give to better service for my country. No. I've given my life to the South. I'll eat my heart out in silence if I must—"