Cottage Farm being on the road between headquarters and Fort Gregg—the fortification which held General Grant in check at that point—I saw General Lee almost daily going to this work, or to "Battery 45." On Sundays he regularly passed on his famous horse, Traveller, on his way to a little wooden chapel, going often through sleet and rain, bending his head to shield his face from the storm.
I was, as was my custom, sewing in my little parlor one morning, about the middle of March, when an orderly entered, saying:—
"General Lee wishes to make his respects to Mrs. Pryor." The General was immediately behind him. His face was lighted with the anticipation of telling me his good news. With the high-bred courtesy and kindness which always distinguished his manner, he asked kindly after my welfare, and, taking my little girl in his arms, began gently to break his news to me:—
"How long, Madam, was General Pryor with me before he had a furlough?"
"He never had one, I think," I answered.
"Well, did I not take good care of him until we camped here so close to you?"
"Certainly," I said, puzzled to know the drift of these preliminaries.
"I sent him home to you, I remember," he continued, "for a day or two, and you let the Yankees catch him. Now he is coming back to be with you again on parole until he is exchanged. You must take better care of him in future."
I was too much overcome to do more than stammer a few words of thanks.
Presently he added, "What are you going to say when I tell the General that in all this winter you have never once been to see me?"