The dinner was a success. The mother was charming and gracious in her welcome. Something in her ways recalled his own mother.
She extended her hand with a genial smile, and took his breath with her first remark:
"I've quite fallen in love with you, sir, because of a story I heard of your West Point career—"
"Not in pity for my fall over the cliff, I hope," he answered gravely.
The mother's voice dropped to a whisper:
"No,—your friend Albert Sydney Johnston told me that you saved a large part of your allowance and sent it home to your mother—"
The young officer's lips trembled, and he looked away for a moment:
"But she sent it back to me, madam."
"Yes, until you wrote that she hurt you by not keeping it—"