Page:A strange, sad comedy (IA strangesadcomedy00seawiala).pdf/23

Rh forward, and the Colonel put one arm around her.

"I had a son,—a noble son,—but he laid down his life in defense of his State, and this is his orphan child," said he.

The lanky sergeant took off his cap and made a bow.

"And I 'll be bound," he said, with infinite respect in his awkwardly familiar manner, "that your son was true grit." He stopped and hunted about in his mind for a title to bestow upon the Colonel superior to the one he had, and finally hit upon "Judge," to which title the Colonel was as much entitled as the one he bore.

"Judge, I don't believe you 'd turn a hair if there was a hundred pieces of artillery trained on you. I believe you 'd just go on talkin' in this 'ere highflown way, without kerin' about anything except your dignity. And if your son was like you, he did n't have no skeer in him at all, General." By this time the sergeant had concluded that the old gentleman deserved promotion even from the title of Judge.

The Colonel inclined his head, a slight flush creeping into his wan face.