was a fuss betwixt Major-General Tommy Drake and Lieutenant-Colonel
Agnes Frisbie, and he snatched her doll away, which is made of
white kid stuffed with sawdust, and tore every rag of its clothes
off, right before them all, and is under arrest, and the charge is
conduct un--"

"Yes, I know--conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman--a
plain case, too, it seems to me. This is a serious matter. Well,
what is her pleasure?"

"Well, Marse Tom, she has summoned a court-martial, but the doctor
don't think she is well enough to preside over it, and she says
there ain't anybody competent but her, because there's a major-
general concerned; and so she--she--well, she says, would you
preside over it for her? . . . Marse Tom, SIT up! You ain't any
more going to faint than Shekels is."

"Look here, Dorcas, go along back, and be tactful. Be persuasive;
don't fret her; tell her it's all right, the matter is in my hands,
but it isn't good form to hurry so grave a matter as this. Explain
to her that we have to go by precedents, and that I believe this
one to be new. In fact, you can say I know that nothing just like
it has happened in our army, therefore I must be guided by European
precedents, and must go cautiously and examine them carefully.
Tell her not to be impatient, it will take me several days, but it
will all come out right, and I will come over and report progress
as I go along. Do you get the idea, Dorcas?"

"I don't know as I do, sir."