The Captain turned and left without even a glance over his broad
shoulders.
"I couldn't strike him in your presence, dear," Socola apologized.
"You behaved splendidly. I'm proud of your perfect poise and mastery of
yourself. Our Southern men splutter easily."
Socola took her hand and pressed it.
"You don't believe this?"
"I'd sooner doubt my own heart--I'd sooner doubt God--"
"I'll prove to you that I'm worthy of your love," he murmured gently.
He knelt that night and tried to ask God to show him the way. His heart
was rising in fierce rebellion at the deception into which he had
entrapped himself. And yet never had his country's need been so bitter
and the service he was rendering so priceless. He rose at last with face
stern and pale. He would fight to the end.
CHAPTER XXXIV
THE TURN OF THE TIDE
The death of Jackson was to Jefferson Davis an appalling disaster. He
had never seriously believed the Southern people could win their unequal
struggle against the millions of the North backed by their inexhaustible
resources until the achievements of Lee and Jackson had introduced a new
element into the conflict. So resistless and terrible had become the
effective war power of Southern soldiers led by these two men whose
minds moved in such harmony with each other and with their Chief in
Richmond that the South at last was in sight of success.
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