Miss Ravenel's conversion from secession to loyalty

by John William De Forest

  CHAPTER X.

  THE RAVENELS FIND CAPTAIN COLBURNE IN GOOD QUARTERS.

  The spring and summer of 1862 was a time of such peace and pleasantnessto the Tenth Barataria as if there had been no war. With the MajorGeneral commanding Carter was a favorite, as being a man who had seenservice, a most efficient officer, an old regular and a West Pointer.The Tenth was a pet, as being clean, admirably accoutred,well-disciplined and thoroughly instructed in those formal niceties andwatchful severities of guard duty which are harder to teach to newsoldiers than the minutiae of the manual, or the perplexities of fieldevolutions, or the grim earnestness of fighting. The Colonel wasappointed Major of New Orleans, with a suspicion of something handsomein addition to his pay; the regiment was put on provost duty in thecity, instead of being sent into the malarious mud of Camp Parapet orthe feverish trenches of Vicksburgh. Colburne's letters of those daysare full of braggadocio about the splendid condition of the Tenth andthe peculiar favor with which it was viewed by the commanding general.Doctor Ravenel, in his admiration for the young captain, unwiselypublished some of these complacent epistles, thereby eliciting retortsand taunts from the literary champions of rival regiments, the _espritdu corps_ having already grown into a strong and touchy sentiment amongthe volunteer organizations.

  In this new Capua, the only lap of luxury that our armies found duringthe war, Carter, a curious compound of hardihood and sybaritism, forgotthat he wanted to be Hannibal, and that he had not yet fought his Cannae.He gave himself up to lazy pleasures, and even allowed his officers torun to the same, in which they were not much discountenanced by thecommanding general, whose grim, practical humor was perhaps gratified bythe spectacle of freeborn mudsills dwelling in the palaces and emptyingthe wine-cellars of a rebellious aristocracy. If, indeed, an undesirablecub over-stepped some vague boundary, he found himself court-martialedand dismissed the service. But the mass of the regimental officers,being jealous in their light duties and not prominently obnoxious incharacter, were permitted to live in such circumstances of comfort asthey chose to gather about them from the property of self-exiledsecessionists. Thus the regiment went through the season: no battles, nomarches, no privations, no exposures, no anxieties: not even anyweakening loss from the perilous climate. That terrible guardian angelof the land, Yellow Jack, would not come to realize the fondpredictions of the inhabitants and abolish the alien garrison as asimilar seraph destroyed the host of Sennacherib.

  "Don't you find it hot?" said a citizen to Captain Colburne. "You'llfind it too much for you yet."

  "Pshaw!" answered the defiant youth. "I've seen it hotter than this inBarataria with two feet of snow on the ground."

  During the spring Colburne wrote several long letters to the Doctor,with his mind, you may believe, fixed more on Miss Ravenel than on hisnominal correspondent. It was a case of moral strabismus, which likemany a physical squint, was not without its beauty, and was even quitecharming to the gaze of sentimental sympathy. It was a sly carom on thefather, with the intention of pocketing the daughter, but done with ahand rendered so timorous by anxiety that the blows seemed to be struckat random. The Captain enjoyed this correspondence; at times he felt allby himself as if he were talking with the young lady; his hazel eyessparkled and his clear cheeks flushed with the excitement of theimaginary interview; he dropped his pen and pushed up his wavy brownhair into careless tangles, as was his wont in gleesome conversation.But this happiness was not without its counterweight of trouble, so thatthere might be no failure of equilibrium in the moral balance of theuniverse. After Colburne had received two responses to his epistles,there ensued a silence which caused him many lugubrious misgivings. Werethe Ravenels sick or dead? Had they gone to Canada or Europe to escapethe jealous and exacting loyalty of New England? Were they offended atsomething which he had written? Was Lillie to be married to youngWhitewood, or some other conveniently propinquitous admirer?

  The truth is that the Doctor had obtained a permit from the governmentto go to New Orleans, and that the letter in which he informed Colburneof his plan had miscarried, as frequently happened to letters in thosedays of wide-spread confusion. On a certain scorching day in June heknocked at the door of the neat little brick house which had beenassigned to the Captain as his quarters. It was opened by an officer inthe uniform of a second-lieutenant, a man of remarkable presence, verydark and saturnine in visage, tall and broad-shouldered and hugechested, with the limbs of a Heenan and the ringing bass voice of aSusini. He informed the visitor that Captain Colburne was out, butinsisted with an amicable boisterousness upon his entering. He had anelaborate and ostentatious courtesy of manner which puzzled the Doctor,who could not decide whether he was a born and bred gentleman or aprofessional gambler.

  "Nearly dinner time, sir," he said in a rolling deep tone like mellowthunder. "The Captain will be in soon for that good and sufficientreason. You will dine with us, I hope. Give you some capital wine, sir,out of Monsieur Soule's own _cave_. Take this oaken arm-chair, sir, andallow me to relieve you of your chapeau. What name, may I ask?--Ah!Doctor Ravenel.--My God, sir! the Captain has a letter for you. I saw iton his table a moment ago."

  He commenced rummaging among papers and writing materials with anexhilaration of haste which caused Ravenel to suspect that he had takena bottle or so of the Soule sherry.

  "Here it is," he exclaimed with a smile of triumph and friendliness."You had better take it while you see it. If you are a lawyer, sir, youare aware that possession is nine tenths of a title. I beg pardon; ofcourse you are not a lawyer. Or have I the honor to address an L. L.D.?"

  "Merely an M. D.," observed Ravenel, and took his letter.

  "A magnificent profession!" rejoined the sonorous lieutenant. "Mostancient and honorable profession. The profession of Esculapius andHippocrates. The physician is older than the lawyer, and more useful tohumanity."

  Ravenel looked at his letter and observed that it was not post-markednor sealed; he opened it, and found that it was from Colburne tohimself--intended to go, no doubt, by the next steamer.

  "I hope it gives you good news from home, sir," observed the lieutenantin the most amicable manner.

  The Doctor bowed and smiled assent as he put the letter in his pocket,not thinking it worth while to explain matters to a gentleman who was soevidently muddled by the Soule vintages. As his interlocutor rattled onhe looked about the room and admired the costly furniture and tastefulornaments. There were two choice paintings on the paneled walls, and adozen or so of choice engravings. The damask curtains edged with lacewere superb, and so were the damask coverings of the elaborately carvedoaken chairs and lounges. The marble mantels and table, and theextravagant tortoise-shell _tiroir_, were loaded with Italian cameos,Parisian bronzes, Bohemian glass-ware, Swiss wood-sculpture, and othervarieties of European gimcracks. Against the wall in one corner leanedfour huge albums of photographs and engravings. The Doctor thought thathe had never before seen a house in America decorated with suchexquisite taste and lavish expenditure. He had not been in it before,and did not know who was its proprietor.

  "Elegant little box, sir," observed the lieutenant. "It belongs to agentleman who is now a captain in the rebel service. He built andfurnished it for his affinity, an actress whom he brought over fromParis, which disgusted his wife, I understand. Some women are devilishexacting, sir."

  Here the humor of a satyr gleamed in his black eyes and grinned underhis black mustache.

  "You will see her portrait (the affinity's--not the wife's) all over thehouse, as she appeared in her various characters. And here she is inher morning-gown, in her own natural part of a plain, straight-forwardaffinity."

  He pointed with another satyr-like grin to a large photographrepresenting the bust and face of a woman apparently twenty-eight orthirty years of age, who could not have been handsome, but, judging bythe air of life and cleverness, might have been quite charming.

  "Intelligent old girl, I should say, sir," continued the cicerone,regardless of the Doctor's look of
disgust; "but not precisely to mytaste. I like them more youthful and innocent, with something of thedown of girlhood's purity about them. What is your opinion, sir?"

  Thus bullied, the Doctor admitted that he entertained much the samepreferences, at the same time wishing heartily in his soul that Colburnewould arrive.

  "We have devilish fine times here, sir," pursued the other in hisremorseless garrulity. "We finished the rebel captain's wine-cellar longago, and are now living on old Soule's. Emptied forty-six bottles ofmadeira and champagne yesterday. Select party of loyal friends, sir,from our own regiment, the bullissimo Tenth Barataria."

  "Ah! you belong to the Tenth?" inquired the Doctor with interest.

  "Yes, sir. Proud to own it, sir. The best regiment in either service.Not that I enlisted in Barataria. I had the honor of being the first manto join it here. I was in the rebel service, sir, an unwilling victim,dragged as an innocent sheep to the slaughter, and took a part muchagainst my inclinations in the defence of Fort Jackson. It seemed to me,sir, that the day of judgment had come, and the angel was blowingparticular hell out of his trumpet. Those shells of Porter's killed menand buried them at one rap. My eyes stuck out so to watch for them thatthey havn't got back into their proper place yet. After the fleet forcedthe passage I was the first man to raise the standard of revolt, and biddefiance to my officers. I then made the best time on record to NewOrleans, and enlisted under the dear old flag of my country in CaptainColburne's company. I took a fancy to the captain at first sight. I sawthat he was a born gentleman and a scholar, sir. I was first madesergeant for good conduct, obedience to orders, and knowledge of mybusiness; and when the second-lieutenant of the company died of biliousfever I was promoted to the vacancy. Our colonel, sir, prefers gentlemenfor officers. I am of an old Knickerbocker family, one of the aboriginalPeter Stuyvesant Knickerbockers, as you may infer from my name--VanZandt, at your service, sir--Cornelius Van Zandt, second-lieutenant, Co.I, Tenth Regiment Barataria Volunteers. I am delighted to make youracquaintance, and hope to see much of you."

  I hope not, thought the Doctor with a shudder; but he bowed, smiled, andcontinued to wait for Colburne.

  "Hope to have the pleasure of receiving you here often," Van Zandt wenton. "Always give you a decent bottle of wine. When the Soule _cave_gives out, there are others to be had for the asking. By the way--I bega thousand pardons--allow me to offer you a bumper of madeira. Yourefuse! Then, sir, permit me the pleasure of drinking your health."

  He drank it in a silver goblet, holding as much as a tumbler, to theastonishment if not to the horror of the temperate Doctor.

  "I was remarking, I believe, sir," he resumed, "that I am a descendantof the venerable Knickerbockers. If you doubt it, I beg leave to referyou to Colonel Carter, who knew my family in New York. I am sensitive onthe subject in all its bearings. I have a sort of feud, an ancestralvendetta, with Washington Irving on account of his Knickerbocker'sHistory of New York. It casts an undeserved ridicule on the respectablerace from which I am proud to trace my lineage. My old mother, sir--Godbless her!--never could be induced to receive Washington Irving at herhouse. By the way, I was speaking of Colonel Carter, I think, sir. He'sa judge of old blue blood, sir; comes of an ancient, true-blue cavalierstrain himself; what you might call old Virginia particular. A splendidman, sir, a born gentleman, an officer to the back-bone, the bestcolonel in the service, and soon will be the best general. When he comesto show himself in field service, these militia-generals will have totake the back seats. I assume whatever responsibility there may be inpredicting it, and I request you to mark my words. I am willing to backthem with a fifty or so; though don't understand me as being soimpertinent as to offer you a bet--I am perfectly well aware of therespect due to your clerical profession, sir--I was only supposing thatI might fall into conversation on the subject with a betting character.I feel bound to tell you how much I admire Captain Colburne, of whom Ithink I was speaking. He saw that I was a gentleman and a man ofeducation. (By the way, did I tell you that I am a graduate of ColumbiaCollege?) He saw that I was above my place in the ranks, and he startedme on my career of promotion. I would go to the death for him, sir. Heis a man, sir, that you can depend on. You know just where to find him.He is a man that you can tie to."

  The Doctor looked gratified at this statement, and listened with visibleinterest.

  "He would have died in the cause of total abstinence, but for ColonelCarter," continued Van Zandt. "The Colonel came in when he was at hislowest."

  "Sick!" exclaimed the Doctor. "Has he been sick?"

  "Sick, sir? Yes, sir! Wofully broken up--slow bilious typhoid fever--andwouldn't drink, sir--conscientious against it. 'You _must_ drink, by----! sir,' says the Colonel; 'you must drink and wear woollen shirts.''But,' says the Captain, 'if I drink and get well, my men will drink andgo to hell.' By the way, those were not his exact words, sir. I am aptto put a little swearing into a story. It's like lemon in a punch. Don'tyou think so, sir?--Where was I? Oh, I remember. 'How can I punish mymen,' says the Captain, 'for doing what I do myself?' 'It's none oftheir dam business what you do,' says the Colonel. 'If they get drunkand neglect duty thereby, it's your business to punish them. And if youneglect duty, it's my business to punish you. But don't suppose it isany affair of your men. The idea is contrary to the Regulations, sir.'Those are the opinions of Colonel Carter, sir, an officer, a gentlemanand a philosopher. Nothing but good old Otard brandy and woollen shirtsbrought the Captain around--woollen shirts and good old Otard brandywith the Soule seal on it. He was dying of bilious night-sweats, sir.Horrible climate, this Louisiana. But perhaps you are acquainted withit. By the way, I was speaking of Colonel Carter, I believe. _He_ knowshow to enjoy himself. He keeps the finest house and most hospitableboard in this city. He has the prettiest little French--_boudoir_--"

  He was about to utter quite another word, but recollected himself intime to substitute the word _boudoir_, while a saturnine twinkle in hiseye showed that he felt the humor of the misapplication. Then, tickledwith his own wit, he followed up the idea on a broad grin.

  "I am more envious of the Colonel's _boudoir_, sir, than of hiscommission. Nothing like a trim little French _boudoir_ for a bachelor.You are a man of the world, sir, and understand me."

  And so on, prattling _ad nauseam_, meanwhile pouring down the madeira.The Doctor, who wanted to say, "Sir, your goose has come for you," hadnever before listened to such garrulity nor witnessed such thirst. WhenColburne entered, Van Zandt undertook to introduce the two, althoughthey met each other with extended hands and friendly inquiries. TheCaptain was somewhat embarrassed, knowing that his surroundings were ofa nature to rouse suspicion as to the perfect virtuousness of his life,and thinking, perhaps in consequence of this knowledge, that the Doctorsurveyed him with an investigating expression. Presently he turned hiseyes on Van Zandt; and, gently as they had been toned by nature, therewas now a something in them which visibly sobered the bacchanalian; herose to his feet, saluted as if he were still a private soldier, andleft the room murmuring something about hurrying up dinner. The Doctornoticed with interest the authoritative demeanor which had usurped theplace of the old New Boston innocence.

  "And where is Miss Ravenel?" was of course one of the first questions.

  "She is in the city," was the answer.

  "Is it possible?" (With a tremendous beating of the heart.)

  "Yes. You may suppose that I could not get her to stay behind when itwas a question of re-visiting New Orleans. She is as fierce a rebel asever."

  Colburne laughed, with the merest shadow of hysteria in his amusement,and, patriot as he was, felt that he hated Miss Ravenel none the worsefor the announcement. There is a state of the affections in which everypeculiarity of the loved object, no matter how offensive primarily or initself, becomes an additional charm. People who really like cats likethem all the better for their cattishness. A mother who dotes on adeformed child takes an interest in all lame children because theyremind her of her own unfortunate.
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br />   "Besides, there was no one to leave her with in New Boston," continuedthe Doctor.

  "Certainly," assented Colburne in a manifestly cheerful humor.

  "But I am truly sorry to see you so thin and pale," the Doctor went on."You are suffering from our horrible climate. You positively must becareful. Let me beg of you to avoid as much as possible going out in thenight air."

  Colburne could not help laughing outright at the recommendation.

  "I dare say it's good advice," said he. "But when I am officer of theday I must make my rounds after midnight. It puts me in mind of thecounsel which one of our Union officers who was in the siege ofVicksburg received from his mother. She told him that the air near theground is always unhealthy, and urged him never to sleep lower than thethird story. This to a man who lay on the ground without even a tent tocover him."

  "War is a dreadful thing, even in its lesser details," observed theDoctor.

  "What can I do for you?" asked Colburne after a moment's silence.

  "I really don't know at present. Perhaps much. I have come here, ofcourse, to get together the fragments of my property. I may be glad ofsome introductions to the military authorities."

  "I will do my best for you. Colonel Carter can do more than I can. But,in the first place, you must dine with me."

  "Thank you; no. I dine at five with a relation of mine."

  "Dine twice, then. Dine with me first, for New Boston's sake. Youpositively must."

  "Well, if you insist, I am delighted of course.--But what a city! I mustbreak out with my amazement. Who could have believed that prosperous,gay, bragging New Orleans would come to such grief and poverty! I seemto have walked through Tyre and witnessed the fulfillment of thepredictions of the prophets. I have been haunted all day by Ezekiel.Business gone, money gone, population gone. It is the hand of theAlmighty, bringing to shame the counsels of wicked rulers and thepredictions of lying seers. I ask no better proof than I have seento-day that there is a Divine Ruler. I hope that the whole land will nothave to pay as heavy a price as New Orleans to be quit of its compactwith the devil. We are all guilty to some extent. The North thought thatit could make money out of slavery and yet evade the naturalpunishments of its naughty connivance. It thought that it could use theSouth as a catspaw to pull its chestnuts out of the fires of hell. Ithoped to cheat the devil by doing its dirty business over the planter'sshoulders. But he is a sharp dealer. He will have his bond or his poundof flesh. None of us ought to get off easily, and therefore I concludethat we shall not."

  Now who would suppose that the Doctor had in his mind all the while amoral lecture to Colburne? Yet so it was: for this purpose had he goneback to Tyre and Babylon; with this object in view had he descanted ondivine providence and the father of evil. It was his manner to reproveand warn persons whom he liked, but not bluntly nor directly. He touchedthem up gently, around the legs of other people, and over the shouldersof events which lost their personal interest to most human beingsthousands of years ago. Please to notice how gradually, delicately, yetsurely he descended upon Colburne through epochal spaces of time, andquestions which involved the guilt and punishment of continents.

  "Just look at this city," he continued, "merely in its character as atemptation to this army. Here is a chance for plunder and lowdissipation such as most of your simply educated and innocent countrylads of New England never before imagined. I have no doubt that there isspoil enough here to demoralize a corps of veterans. I don't believethat any thing can be more ruinous to a military force than free licenceto enrich itself at the expense of a conquered enemy. There is nobody soneeded here at this moment as John the Baptist. You remember that whenthe soldiers came unto him he exhorted them, among other things, to becontent with their wages. I suppose the counsel was an echo of themilitary wisdom of his Roman rulers. The greatest blessing that could bevouchsafed this army would be to have John the Baptist crying night andday in this wilderness of temptation, Be content with your wages! Ihave hardly been here forty-eight hours, and I have already heardstories of cotton speculations and sugar speculations, as they are slylycalled, yes, and of speculations in plate, pictures, furniture, and evenprivate clothing. It is sure disgrace and probable ruin. Please tounderstand that I am not pleading the cause of the traitors who haveleft their goods exposed to these peculations, but the cause of the armywhich is thus exposed to temptation. I want to see it subjected to therules of honor and common sense. I want it protected from itsopportunities."

  The Doctor had not alluded to plundered wine-cellars, but Colburne'smind reverted to the forty-six emptied bottles of yesterday. John theBaptist had not made mention of this elegant little dwelling, but thisconvicted legionary glanced uneasily over its furniture and gimcracks.He had not hitherto thought that he was doing any thing irregular orimmoral. In his opinion he was punishing rebellion by using the propertyof rebels for the good or the pleasure of loyal citizens. The subjecthad been presented to him in a new and disagreeable light, but he wastoo fair-minded and conscientious not to give it his instant and seriousconsideration. As for the forty-six bottles of wine, he might havestated, had he supposed it to be worth while, that he had drunk only acouple of glasses, and that he had quitted the orgie in disgust duringits early stages.

  "I dare say this is all wrong," he admitted. "Unquestionably, if anything is confiscated, it should be for the direct and sole benefit ofthe government. There ought to be a system about it. If we occupy thesehouses we ought to receipt for the furniture and be responsible for it.I wonder that something of the sort is not done. But you must remembercharitably how green most of us are, from the highest to the lowest, inregard to the laws of war, the rights of conquerors, the discipline ofarmies, and every thing that pertains to a state of hostilities. It isvery much as if the Quakers had taken to fighting."

  "Oh, I don't say that I am right," answered the Doctor. "I don't pretendto assert. I only suggest."

  "I am afraid there is occasion to offer apologies for my Lieutenant,"continued Colburne.

  "A very singular man. I should say eccentric," admitted the Doctorcharitably.

  "He annoys me a good deal, and yet he is a valuable officer. When he isdrunk he is the drunkest man since the discovery of alcohol. He isn'tdrunk to-day. You have heard of three-bottle men. Well, Van Zandt issomething like a thirty bottle man. I don't think he has had above twoquarts of sherry this morning. I let him have it to keep him fromswallowing camphene or corrosive sublimate. But with all his drink he isone of the best officers in the regiment, a good drill-master, afirst-rate disciplinarian, and able to do army business. He takes a loadof writing off my hands. I never saw such a fellow for returns and otherofficial documents. He turns them off in a way that reminds you of thosejugglers who pull dozens of yards of paper out of their mouths. He wasonce a bank accountant, and he has seen five years in the regular army.That explains his facility with the pen and the musket. Then he speaksFrench and Spanish. I believe he is a reprobate son of a veryrespectable New York family."

  This brief biography of Van Zandt furnished Ravenel the text for adiscourse on the dangers of intemperance, illustrated by reminiscencesof New Orleans society, and culminating in the assertion thatthree-quarters of the southern political leaders whom he remembered haddied drunkards. The Doctor was more disposed than most Anglo-Saxonstowards monologue, and he had a mixture of enthusiasm and humor whichmade people in general listen to him patiently. His present oration wasinterrupted by a mulatto lad who announced dinner.

  The meal was elegantly cooked and served. Louisiana has inherited fromits maternal France a delicate taste in convivial affairs, and theculinary artist of the occasion was he who had formerly ministered tothe instructed appetites of the rebel captain and his Parisian affinity.To Colburne's mortification Van Zandt had paraded the rarest treasuresof the Soule wine-cellar; hermitage that could not have been bought thenin New York for two dollars a bottle, and madeira that was worth threetimes as much; not to enlarge upon the champagne for the dessert, andth
e old Otard brandy for the _pousse-cafe_. He seemed to have got quitesober, as if by some miracle; or as if there was a fresh Van Zandtalways ready to come on when one got over the bay; and he nowrecommenced to get himself drunk again _ab initio_. He governed histongue, however, and behaved with good breeding. Evidently he was notonly grateful to Colburne, but stood in professional awe of him as hissuperior officer. After dinner, still amazingly sober, although with tenor twenty dollars' worth of wine in him, he sat down to the piano, andthundered out some pretty-well executed arias from popular operas.

  "Four o'clock!" exclaimed the Doctor. "I have just time to get home andsee my daughter dine. Captain, we shall see you soon, I hope."

  "Certainly. What is the earliest time that I can call withoutinconveniencing you?"

  "Any time. This evening."

  The Doctor bade Van Zandt a most amicable good afternoon, but did notask him to accompany Colburne in the projected visit.

  No sooner was he gone than the Captain turned upon the Lieutenant.

  "Mr. Van Zandt, I must beg you to be extremely prudent in your languageand conduct before that gentleman."

  "By Jove!" roared Van Zandt, "it came near being the cursedest mess. Ihave had to pour down the juice of the grape to keep from fainting."

  "What is the matter?"

  "Why, Parker brought his ---- cousin here this morning. You've heard ofthe girl he calls his cousin? She's in the smoking-room now. I've beenso confoundedly afraid you would show him the smoking-room! I've beensweating with fright during the whole dinner, and all the time lookingas if every thing was lovely and the goose hung high. She couldn't getout, you know; the side entrance has never been unlocked yet--no key,you know."

  "What in Heaven's name did you let her in here for?" demanded Colburnein a passion.

  "Why--Parker, you see--I didn't like to insult Parker by refusing him afavor. He only wanted to leave her while he ran around to head-quartersto report something. He swore by all his gods that he wouldn't be gonean hour."

  "Well, get her out. See that the coast is clear, and then get her out.Tell her she must go. And hereafter, if any of my brother officers wantto leave their ---- cousins here, remember, sir, to put a veto on it."

  The perspiration stood on his brow at the mere thought of what mighthave been the Doctor's suspicions if he had gone into the smoking-room.Van Zandt went about his delicate errand with a very meek and sheepishgrace. When he had accomplished it, Colburne called him into thesitting-room and held the following Catonian discourse.

  "Mr. Van Zandt, I want you to take an inventory of the furniture of thehouse and the contents of the wine-cellar, so that when I leave here Ican satisfy myself that not a single article is missing. We shall leavesoon. I shall make application to-day to have my company quartered inthe custom-house, or in tents in one of the squares."

  "Upon my honor, Captain!" remonstrated the dismayed Van Zandt, "Ipledge you my word of honor that nothing of this kind shall happenagain."

  He cast a desperate glare around the luxurious rooms, and gave amournful thought to the now forbidden paradise of the wine-cellar.

  "And I give you mine to the same effect," answered the Captain. "Thedebauch of yesterday answers my purpose as a warning; and I mean to getout of temptation for my sake and yours. Besides, this is no way forsoldiers to live. It is poor preparation for the field. More than halfof our officers are in barracks or tents. I am as able and ought to beas willing to bear it as they. Make your preparations to leave here atthe shortest notice, and meantime remember, if you please, theinventory. The company clerk can assist you."

  Poor Van Zandt, who was a luxurious brute, able to endure any hardship,but equally able to revel in any sybaritism, set about his unwelcometask with a crest-fallen obedience. I do not wish to be understood, bythe way, as insinuating that all or even many of our officers thenstationed in New Orleans were given up to plunder and debauchery. I onlywish to present an idea of the temptations of the place, and to show howour friend Colburne could resist them, with some aid from the Doctor,and perhaps more from Miss Ravenel.

  As the Doctor walked homeward he put his hand into his pocket for ahandkerchief to wipe his brow, and discovered a paper. It was Colburne'sletter to him, and he read it through as he strolled onward.

  "How singular!" he said. "He doesn't even mention that he has been sick.He is a noble fellow."

  The Doctor was too fond of the young man to allow his faith in him to beeasily shaken.