Rather a quiet day. Cloudy and dull. Mr Cyrus W Field came in for a moment but I think no one else. I had some detail of business but nothing of consequence. We had to dinner Mrs Greenough, the widow of Horatio Greenough, my classmate at Cambridge, and afterwards a sculptor, and Mr Marsh. In the evening a later telegram from the United States announcing that General McClellan had not left Harper’s Ferry on the 21st It is plain that he does not mean to do any more this season. I am puzzled to comprehend the policy of General Lee in remaining so far fro his base until the winter sets in, but he may yet contemplate operations above Washington in connection with the gunboat projects in Chesapeake bay. I must confess my spirits droop under the evidence of the absence of genius in our officers. Nothing else discourages me but this.