When he came at six o’clock, she met him eagerly, and almost her first words were, “Papa, there hasn’t been any danger to-day?”

“Oh, no; none at all; only humdrum work.  You must not anticipate trouble.  Soldiers, you know, jest and laugh even when going into battle, and they are all the better soldiers for the fact.  No; I have given you a wrong impression.  Nothing has been humdrum to-day.  An acquaintance down town said:  ’What’s up, Vosburgh?  Heard good news?  Have our troops scored a point?’ You see I was so brightened up that he thought nothing but a national victory could account for the improvement.  Men are like armies, and are twice as effective when well supported.”

“The idea of my supporting you!”

“To me it’s a charming idea.  Instead of coming back to a dismal, empty house, I find a blue-eyed lassie who will go with me to dinner, and add sauce piquante to every dish.  Come, I am not such a dull, grave old fellow as you imagine.  You shall see how gallant I can become under provocation.  We must make the most of a couple of hours, for that is all that I can give you.  No sail to-night, as I had planned, for a government agent is coming on from Washington to see me, and I must be absent for at least an hour or two after eight o’clock.  You won’t mope, will you?  You have something to read?  Has the day been very long and lonely?  What have you been doing and thinking about?”

“When are you going to give me a chance to answer?”

“Oh, I read your answer, partly at least, in your eyes.  You can amplify later.  Come, get ready for the street.  Put on what you please, so that you wear a smile.  These are not times to worry over slight reverses as long as the vital points are safe.”

The hour they passed at dinner gave Marian a new revelation of her father.  The quiet man proved true the words of Emerson, “Among those who enjoy his thought, he will regain his tongue.”

At first he drew her out a little, and with his keen, quick insight he understood her perplexity, her solicitude about him and herself and the future, her resolute purpose to be a woman, and the difficulties of seeing the way to the changes she desired.  Instead of replying directly to her words, he skilfully led their talk to the events of the day, and contemporaneous history became romance under his version; the actors in the passing drama ceased to be names and officials, and were invested with human interest.  She was made to see their motives, their hopes, fears, ambitions; she opened her eyes in surprise at his knowledge of prominent people, their social status, relations, and family connection.  A genial light of human interest played over most of his words, yet now and then they touched on the depths of tragedy; again he seemed to be indulging in sublimated gossip, and she saw the men and women who posed before the public in their high stations revealed in their actual daily life.