A SOLDIER OF VIRGINIA




CHAPTER I

LIEUTENANT ALLEN GROWS INSULTING


It was not until he sneered at me openly across the board that I felt my
self-control slipping from me. "Lieutenant Allen seems to have a poor
opinion of the Virginia troops," I said, as calmly as I could.

"Egad, you are right, Lieutenant Stewart," he retorted, his eyes full
on mine. "These two weeks past have I been trying to beat some sense
into the fools, and 'pon my word, 't is enough to drive a man crazy to
see them."

He paused to gulp down a glass of wine, of which I thought he had already
drunk too much.

"I saw them this forenoon," cried Preston, who was sitting at Allen's
right, "and was like to die of laughing. Poor Allen, there, was doing his
best to teach them the manual, and curse me if they didn't hold their
guns as though they burnt their fingers. And when they were ordered to