For a moment the man stood, silent, wondering if it was possible that the child had been coached in a string of lies to trade upon his tenderness of heart; then he spoke, in a voice of mingled pity and reproach: "And so you told me a story.

And all the rest--is a story, too.

Oh, Virgie! Virgie!" "I didn't!" she cried, the big tears breaking, out at last.

"I didn't tell you stories'.

Only jus' a _little_ one--for Daddy--an' Gen'ral Lee." She was sobbing now, and the man looked down upon her in genuine compassion, his own eyes swimming at her childish grief, his soldier heart athrob and aching at the duty he must perform.
"I'm sorry, dear," he sighed, removing her doll and dragging the table across the floor to a point directly beneath the scuttle in the ceiling.
"What are you goin' to do ?" she asked in terror, following as he moved.
"Oh, what are you goin' to do ?" He did not reply.