I offered to
efface myself and give up the dearest ambition of my soul to heal the
wounds of my people--and he refused----"
"Refused?" John gasped.
"Yes."
The younger man gazed at the haggard face for a moment through dimmed
eyes, sank slowly to a seat and covered his face in his hands in a cry
of despair!
The reaction was complete and his collapse utter.
The President gazed at the bent figure with sorrowful amazement, and
touched his head gently with the big friendly hand:
"Why, what's the matter, my boy? I'm the only man to despair. You're
just a captain in the army. If to be the head of hell is as hard as
what I've had to undergo here I could find it in my heart to pity Satan
himself. And if there's a man out of hell who suffers more than I do, I
pity him. But it's my burden and I try to bear it. I wish I had only
yours!"
John Vaughan sprang to his feet and threw his hands above his head in a
gesture of anguish:
"O my God, you don't understand!"
He quickly crossed the space that separated them and faced the President
with grim determination:
"But I'm going to tell you the truth now and you can do what you think's
right. In the last fight before Petersburg I killed my brother in a
night attack and held his dying body in my arms. I think I must have
gone mad that night.
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