a tone meant to reach the feelings of her auditor.

"He looks many years older. Ah, sir, if you would only grant my
request!"

"Will the young man return to his family! Have you spoken to him
about it?"

"No; I wished not to create hopes that might fail. But give me his
release, and I will have a claim on him."

"And you will require him to go home in acknowledgment of that
claim."

"I will not leave him till he goes back," said Jenny.

"Is he not satisfied in the service?"

"How could he be satisfied with it?" Jenny spoke with a quick
impulse, and with something like rebuke in her voice. "No! It is
crushing out his very life. Think of your own son in such a
position!"

There was something in this appeal, and in the way it was uttered,
that decided the Secretary's mind. A man of acute observation, and
humane feelings, he not only understood pretty clearly the relation
that Jenny bore to Mark and his family, but sympathised with the
young man and resolved to grant the maiden's request. Leaving her
for a few minutes, he went into an adjoining room. When he returned,
he had a sealed letter in his hand directed to the commander of the