"Nothing."
"He entered Atlanta a spy, didn"t he?" she said despairingly.
"Yes--of course."
"They couldn"t execute him without our knowing it, could they?"
"If they trap him--yes--but he"s a very intelligent young man. He"ll be too smart for them. I feel it. I know it----"
He stopped and looked at her quizzically:
"I"ve a sort of second sight that tells me such things. I saw General Sickles in the hospital after Gettysburg. They said he couldn"t live. I told him he would get well and he did."
Again the President returned restlessly to the operator"s room and Betty followed him to the door. He waited a long time in silence, shook his head and turned away. He had almost reached the door when suddenly the operator sprang to his feet livid with excitement:
"Wait--Mr. President!--It"s come--my G.o.d, it"s here!"
Every operator was on his feet listening in breathless excitement to the click of that Southern wire.
The President had rushed back to the table.
"It"s for you, sir!"
"Read it then--out with it as you take it!" he cried.
"Atlanta, Georgia, September 3rd, 1864."
"Glory to G.o.d!" the President shouted.
"Atlanta is ours and fairly won. W. T. Sherman."
"O my soul, lift up thy head!" the sorrowful lips shouted. "Unto thee, O G.o.d, we give all the praise now and forever more!"
He seated himself and quickly wrote his thanks and congratulations:
"EXECUTIVE MANSION, "WASHINGTON, D. C.
"September 3, 1864.
"The National thanks are rendered by the President to Major General W. T. Sherman and the gallant officers and soldiers of his command before Atlanta, for the distinguished ability and perseverance displayed in the campaign in Georgia, which under Divine favor has resulted in the capture of Atlanta. The marches, battles and sieges that have signalized this campaign must render it famous in the annals of war, and have ent.i.tled you to the applause and thanks of the Nation.
"ABRAHAM LINCOLN, "_President of the United States_."
His sombre eyes flamed with a new light. He took the copy of his message from Sherman and started to the White House with long, swift strides.
Betty greeted him outside with tearful joy still mixed with deep anxiety.
"You have no word from him, of course?"
"Not yet, child, but it will come--cheer up--it"s sure to come. You see that he reached Atlanta and delivered my message!"
"We are not sure. The city may have fallen, anyhow----"
"Yes, yes, but it didn"t just fall, anyhow. Sherman took it. He got my message. I know it. I felt it flash through the air from his soul to mine!"
His faith and enthusiasm were contagious and Betty returned home with new hope.
In half an hour the Committee who were waiting for his resignation from the National Republican ticket filed into his office to receive as they supposed his final surrender.
The Chairman rose with doleful countenance:
"Since leaving you, Mr. President, we have just heard a most painful and startling announcement from the War Department. We begged you to withhold the new draft for five hundred thousand men until after the election. Halleck informs us of the discovery of a great combination to resist it by armed force and General Grant must detach a part of his army from Lee"s front in order to put down this counter revolution. This is the blackest news yet. We trust that you realize the impossibility of your administration asking for indors.e.m.e.nt at the polls----"
With a sign of final resignation he sat down and the tall, dark figure rose with quick, nervous energy.
"I, too, have received important news since I saw you an hour ago."
He held the telegram above his head:
"I"ll read it to you without my gla.s.ses. I know it by heart. I have just learned that my administration will be indorsed by an overwhelming majority, that the defeat of George B. McClellan and his platform of failure is a certainty. The war to preserve the Union is a success. The sword has been driven into the heart of the Confederacy. Sherman has captured Atlanta--the Union is saved!"
The Committee leaped to their feet with a shout of applause and crowded around him to congratulate and praise the man they came to bury. There was no longer a question of his resignation. The fall of Atlanta would thrill the North. A wave of wild enthusiasm would sweep into the sea the last trace of gloom and despair. They were practical men--else, as rats, they would never have tried to desert their own ship. They knew that the tide was going to turn, but it was a swift tide that could turn before they could!
They wrung the President"s hands, they shouted his praise, they had always gloried in his administration, but foolish grumblers hadn"t been able to see things as they saw them--hence this hue and cry! They congratulated him on his certain triumph and the President watched them go with a quiet smile. He was too big to cherish resentments. He only pitied small men, he never hated them.
CHAPTER XL
WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE
General Grant fired a salute in honor of the Atlanta victory with shotted guns from every battery on his siege lines of thirty-seven miles before Richmond and Petersburg. To Sherman he sent a remarkable message--the kind which great men know how to pen:
"You have accomplished the most gigantic undertaking given to any General in this war, with a skill and ability which will be acknowledged in history as unsurpa.s.sed if not unequaled."
From the depths of despair the North swung to the wildest enthusiasm and in the election which followed Abraham Lincoln was swept into power again on a tidal wave. He received in round numbers two million five hundred thousand votes, McClellan two millions. His majority by States in the electoral college was overwhelming--two hundred and twelve to his opponent"s twenty-one.
The closing words of his second Inaugural rang clear and quivering with emotion over the vast crowd:
"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as G.o.d gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation"s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
As the last echo died away among the marble pillars above, the sun burst through the clouds and flooded the scene. A mighty cheer swept the throng and the guns boomed their second salute. The war was closing in lasting peace and the sun shining on the finished dome of the Capitol of a new nation.
Betty Winter, leaning on John Vaughan"s arm, was among the first to grasp his big, outstretched hand:
"A glorious day for us, sir," she cried, "a proud one for you!"