Harry felt that the crisis of the great Civil War was at hand.  It had been in the air all that day, and news had come that Grant had broken up his camps and was crossing the Rapidan with a huge force.  He knew how small in comparison was the army that Lee could bring against him, and yet he had supreme confidence in the military genius of his chief.

He had written a letter with which an aide had galloped away, and then he sat at the little table in the great tent, pen in hand and ink and paper before him, but Lee was silent.  He was dressed as usual with great neatness and care, though without ostentation.  His face had its usual serious cast, but tinged now with melancholy.  Harry knew that he no longer saw the tent and those around him.  His mind dwelled for a few moments upon his own family and the ancient home that he had loved so well.

The interval was very brief.  He was back in the present, and the principal generals for whom he had sent were entering the tent.  Hill, Longstreet, Ewell, Stuart and others came, but they did not stay long.  They talked earnestly with their leader for a little while, and then every one departed to lead his brigades.

The secretaries put away pen, ink and paper.  Twilight was advancing in the east and night suddenly fell outside.  The songs ceased, the bands played no more, and there was only the deep rumble of marching men and moving cannon.

“We’ll ride now, gentlemen,” said Lee to his staff.

Traveller, saddled and bridled, was waiting and the commander-in-chief sprang into the saddle with all the agility of a young man.  The others mounted, too, Harry and Dalton as usual taking their places modestly in the rear.

A regiment, small in numbers but famous throughout the army for valor, was just passing, and its colonel and its lieutenant-colonel, erect men, riding splendidly, but gray like Lee, drew their swords and gave the proud and flashing salute of the saber as they went by.  Lee and his staff almost with involuntary impulse returned the salute in like fashion.  Then the Invincibles passed on, and were lost from view in the depths of the forest.

Harry felt a sudden constriction of the heart.  He knew that he might never see Colonel Leonidas Talbot nor Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire again, nor St. Clair, nor Happy Tom either.

But his friends could not remain long in his mind at such a time.  They were marching, marching swiftly, the presence of the man on the great white horse seeming to urge them on to greater speed.  As the stars came out Lee’s brow, which had been seamed by thought, cleared.  His plan which he had formed in the day was moving well.  His three corps were bearing away toward the old battlefield of Chancellorsville.  Grant would be drawn into the thickets of the Wilderness as Hooker had been the year before, although a greater than Hooker was now leading the Army of the Potomac.