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The incident I am narrating were the work of many hands. Mrs. Gannat had from the first given her heart to the Union cause. A woman of high standing in society, well known throughout the State for her mind, her manners, and her benevolence, it was not difficult for her, by adroit management, to aid such prisoners as fell into rebel hands during the early years of the war.
"We taught them how to run at Manassas," Mrs. Starlow, a Senator's dame, remarked. "I'm afraid they have learned the lesson so well that we shall never teach them how to stand," Mrs. Davis added, gayly. "Ah! friends, we are teaching each other how to die let us not forget that," Mrs. Gannat murmured, gently, and there was a sudden hush in the exchange of vivacities.
Before Richmond became a mart in the modern sense, the Gannat mansion, set far back among the trees of a noble grove, was a shrine to the tradition loving citizens, for, beyond any Southern city, save perhaps New Orleans, Richmond folk cherished the memory of aristocratic and semi-regal ancestors.
Among the most reverently considered in this sanctified group, Mrs. Gannat was, if not first, the conceded equal. She was the dowager of the ancient noblesse. The young Virginian received in her drawing-rooms carried away a distinction which was recognized throughout the State. The dame admitted to Mrs. Gannat's semi-literary leveés was accepted as all that society demanded of its votaries.
"We heard you were here, Madame Gannat," the President's wife murmured, graciously. "And since you wouldn't come to us, we have come to you." Mrs. Gannat arose to receive the great lady, and when she had exchanged salutations with the rest she presented Jack. "Ah! the hero of the Rosedale affair," and as Mrs. Davis said this she looked keenly at the young man.
The warning and sudden change in topic were caused by the apparition of a dame who came rustling in, a vision of youthful charms and vivaciousness. "Mrs. Didier Rodney Mr. Sprague," Mrs. Gannat said, cordially.
Davis, hearing your name, lamented that women were not eligible to office. If they were, he declared that Mistress Gannat should be appointed ambassadress to France, and that, within ten days of her reception at the Tuileries, there would be a treaty of alliance signed between France and the Confederacy!"
"I take that as rather an admission of weakness on your President's part," Jack said, as the lady glanced inquiringly at him, "since it is a poor cause that requires the strongest advocates." "Ah! a Southern man would never have said a thing so uncivil as that," Mrs. Rodney cried, reproachfully. "You pay Mrs. Gannat a compliment at the cost of the Confederacy." "And Mr.
I think it was flat; but Bertie's driving made it play cup and ball with the car in a curious way, which a good chauffeur could hardly have managed if he tried. We passed Riom, Gannat, Aigueperse, I know; and at Moulins, in the valley of the Allier, we lunched in a hurry.
Davis herself was not the least of the factors that made the President's policy the creed of the land. There was no elaboration of costume no obtrusive jewels. The most richly dressed dame in the company was a Madame Gannat, the deity of the most charming drawing-room at the capital.
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