"
Betty's lips trembled with a smile:
"What's the salary?"
"No salary, save the eternal gratitude of your Chief--will you accept?"
"I'll consider it--what duty?"
He looked steadily into her brown eyes:
"You have very bright, clear eyes, Miss Betty, I can see myself in them
now more distinctly than in that mirror over the mantel. I'd like to
borrow your eyes now and then to see things with. Will you accept the
position?"
"If I can be of service, yes."
"The White House is open to you at all hours, and I shall send for you
sometimes when I'm blue and puzzled and want a pair of pure, beautiful,
young eyes--you understand?"
Betty extended her hand and her voice trembled:
"You have conferred on me a very great honor, Mr. President."
"For instance now," he said dreamily: "You endorse my Inaugural?"
"I'm sure it was wise, firm, friendly, dignified."
"I couldn't have said less than that I must possess and hold the
property of the Government, could I? Well, I must now order a fleet to
sail for Charleston Harbor to relieve our fort or allow the men who wear
our uniform and fly our flag to die of starvation or surrender. Pretty
poor Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy if I do that, am I not?
Suppose I send a fleet to provision our men in Fort Sumter, not
reinforce it--mind you, merely provisions for the handful of men who are
there,--and suppose the Southern troops manning those land batteries
open fire on our flag and force Major Anderson to surrender--what would
happen in the North?"
He paused and looked at her steadily.
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