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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2635-0.txt b/2635-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0255352 --- /dev/null +++ b/2635-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5903 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Clarence, by Bret Harte + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Clarence + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 21, 2006 [EBook #2635] +Last Updated: March 4, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLARENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson + + + + + +CLARENCE + + +By Bret Harte + + + + +PART I. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + + +As Clarence Brant, President of the Robles Land Company, and husband of +the rich widow of John Peyton, of the Robles Ranche, mingled with the +outgoing audience of the Cosmopolitan Theatre, at San Francisco, he +elicited the usual smiling nods and recognition due to his good +looks and good fortune. But as he hurriedly slipped through the still +lingering winter's rain into the smart coupe that was awaiting him, and +gave the order “Home,” the word struck him with a peculiarly ironical +significance. His home was a handsome one, and lacked nothing in +appointment and comfort, but he had gone to the theatre to evade its +hollow loneliness. Nor was it because his wife was not there, for he had +a miserable consciousness that her temporary absence had nothing to do +with his homelessness. The distraction of the theatre over, that dull, +vague, but aching sense of loneliness which was daily growing upon him +returned with greater vigor. + +He leaned back in the coupe and gloomily reflected. + +He had been married scarcely a year, yet even in the illusions of +the honeymoon the woman, older than himself, and the widow of his old +patron, had half unconsciously reasserted herself, and slipped back +into the domination of her old position. It was at first pleasant +enough,--this half-maternal protectorate which is apt to mingle even +with the affections of younger women,--and Clarence, in his easy, +half-feminine intuition of the sex, yielded, as the strong are apt to +yield, through the very consciousness of their own superiority. But this +is a quality the weaker are not apt to recognize, and the woman who +has once tasted equal power with her husband not only does not easily +relegate it, but even makes its continuance a test of the affections. +The usual triumphant feminine conclusion, “Then you no longer love me,” + had in Clarence's brief experience gone even further and reached its +inscrutable climax, “Then I no longer love you,” although shown only in +a momentary hardening of the eye and voice. And added to this was his +sudden, but confused remembrance that he had seen that eye and heard +that voice in marital altercation during Judge Peyton's life, and that +he himself, her boy partisan, had sympathized with her. Yet, strange to +say, this had given him more pain than her occasional other reversions +to the past--to her old suspicious of him when he was a youthful protege +of her husband and a presumed suitor of her adopted daughter Susy. +High natures are more apt to forgive wrong done to themselves than any +abstract injustice. And her capricious tyranny over her dependents and +servants, or an unreasoning enmity to a neighbor or friend, outraged his +finer sense more than her own misconception of himself. Nor did he dream +that this was a thing most women seldom understand, or, understanding, +ever forgive. + +The coupe rattled over the stones or swirled through the muddy pools +of the main thoroughfares. Newspaper and telegraphic offices were still +brilliantly lit, and crowds were gathered among the bulletin boards. +He knew that news had arrived from Washington that evening of the first +active outbreaks of secession, and that the city was breathless with +excitement. Had he not just come from the theatre, where certain +insignificant allusions in the play had been suddenly caught up +and cheered or hissed by hitherto unknown partisans, to the dumb +astonishment of a majority of the audience comfortably settled to +money-getting and their own affairs alone? Had he not applauded, albeit +half-scornfully, the pretty actress--his old playmate Susy--who had +audaciously and all incongruously waved the American flag in their +faces? Yes! he had known it; had lived for the last few weeks in an +atmosphere electrically surcharged with it--and yet it had chiefly +affected him in his personal homelessness. For his wife was a +Southerner, a born slaveholder, and a secessionist, whose noted +prejudices to the North had even outrun her late husband's politics. At +first the piquancy and recklessness of her opinionative speech amused +him as part of her characteristic flavor, or as a lingering youthfulness +which the maturer intellect always pardons. He had never taken her +politics seriously--why should he? With her head on his shoulder he had +listened to her extravagant diatribes against the North. He had forgiven +her outrageous indictment of his caste and his associates for the sake +of the imperious but handsome lips that uttered it. But when he was +compelled to listen to her words echoed and repeated by her friends and +family; when he found that with the clannishness of her race she had +drawn closer to them in this controversy,--that she depended upon them +for her intelligence and information rather than upon him,--he had +awakened to the reality of his situation. He had borne the allusions +of her brother, whose old scorn for his dependent childhood had been +embittered by his sister's marriage and was now scarcely concealed. Yet, +while he had never altered his own political faith and social creed +in this antagonistic atmosphere, he had often wondered, with his old +conscientiousness and characteristic self-abnegation, whether his own +political convictions were not merely a revulsion from his domestic +tyranny and alien surroundings. + +In the midst of this gloomy retrospect the coupe stopped with a jerk +before his own house. The door was quickly opened by a servant, who +appeared to be awaiting him. + +“Some one to see you in the library, sir,” said the man, “and”--He +hesitated and looked towards the coupe. + +“Well?” said Clarence impatiently. + +“He said, sir, as how you were not to send away the carriage.” + +“Indeed, and who is it?” demanded Clarence sharply. + +“Mr. Hooker. He said I was to say Jim Hooker.” + +The momentary annoyance in Clarence's face changed to a look of +reflective curiosity. + +“He said he knew you were at the theatre, and he would wait until you +came home,” continued the man, dubiously watching his master's face. “He +don't know you've come in, sir, and--and I can easily get rid of him.” + +“No matter now. I'll see him, and,” added Clarence, with a faint smile, +“let the carriage wait.” + +Yet, as he turned towards the library he was by no means certain that +an interview with the old associate of his boyhood under Judge Peyton's +guardianship would divert his mind. Yet he let no trace of his doubts +nor of his past gloom show in his face as he entered the room. + +Mr. Hooker was apparently examining the elegant furniture and luxurious +accommodation with his usual resentful enviousness. Clarence had got a +“soft thing.” That it was more or less the result of his “artfulness,” + and that he was unduly “puffed up” by it, was, in Hooker's +characteristic reasoning, equally clear. As his host smilingly advanced +with outstretched hand, Mr. Hooker's efforts to assume a proper +abstraction of manner and contemptuous indifference to Clarence's +surroundings which should wound his vanity ended in his lolling back at +full length in the chair with his eyes on the ceiling. But, remembering +suddenly that he was really the bearer of a message to Clarence, it +struck him that his supine position was, from a theatrical view-point, +infelicitous. In his experiences of the stage he had never delivered a +message in that way. He rose awkwardly to his feet. + +“It was so good of you to wait,” said Clarence courteously. + +“Saw you in the theatre,” said Hooker brusquely. “Third row in parquet. +Susy said it was you, and had suthin' to say to you. Suthin' you ought +to know,” he continued, with a slight return of his old mystery of +manner which Clarence so well remembered. “You saw HER--she fetched the +house with that flag business, eh? She knows which way the cat is +going to jump, you bet. I tell you, for all the blowing of these +secessionists, the Union's goin' to pay! Yes, sir!” He stopped, glanced +round the handsome room, and added darkly, “Mebbee better than this.” + +With the memory of Hooker's characteristic fondness for mystery still in +his mind, Clarence overlooked the innuendo, and said smilingly,-- + +“Why didn't you bring Mrs. Hooker here? I should have been honored with +her company.” + +Mr. Hooker frowned slightly at this seeming levity. + +“Never goes out after a performance. Nervous exhaustion. Left her at our +rooms in Market Street. We can drive there in ten minutes. That's why I +asked to have the carriage wait.” + +Clarence hesitated. Without caring in the least to renew the +acquaintance of his old playmate and sweetheart, a meeting that night +in some vague way suggested to him a providential diversion. Nor was he +deceived by any gravity in the message. With his remembrance of Susy's +theatrical tendencies, he was quite prepared for any capricious futile +extravagance. + +“You are sure we will not disturb her?” he said politely. + +“No.” + +Clarence led the way to the carriage. If Mr. Hooker expected him during +the journey to try to divine the purport of Susy's message he was +disappointed. His companion did not allude to it. Possibly looking upon +it as a combined theatrical performance, Clarence preferred to wait for +Susy as the better actor. The carriage rolled rapidly through the now +deserted streets, and at last, under the directions of Mr. Hooker, +who was leaning half out of the window, it drew up at a middle-class +restaurant, above whose still lit and steaming windows were some +ostentatiously public apartments, accessible from a side entrance. As +they ascended the staircase together, it became evident that Mr. Hooker +was scarcely more at his ease in the character of host than he had been +as guest. He stared gloomily at a descending visitor, grunted audibly +at a waiter in the passage, and stopped before a door, where a recently +deposited tray displayed the half-eaten carcase of a fowl, an empty +champagne bottle, two half-filled glasses, and a faded bouquet. The +whole passage was redolent with a singular blending of damp cooking, +stale cigarette smoke, and patchouli. + +Putting the tray aside with his foot, Mr. Hooker opened the door +hesitatingly and peered into the room, muttered a few indistinct words, +which were followed by a rapid rustling of skirts, and then, with his +hand still on the door-knob, turning to Clarence, who had discreetly +halted on the threshold, flung the door open theatrically and bade him +enter. + +“She is somewhere in the suite,” he added, with a large wave of the hand +towards a door that was still oscillating. “Be here in a minit.” + +Clarence took in the apartment with a quiet glance. Its furniture had +the frayed and discolored splendors of a public parlor which had +been privately used and maltreated; there were stains in the large +medallioned carpet; the gilded veneer had been chipped from a heavy +centre table, showing the rough, white deal beneath, which gave it the +appearance of a stage “property;” the walls, paneled with gilt-framed +mirrors, reflected every domestic detail or private relaxation with +shameless publicity. A damp waterproof, shawl, and open newspaper were +lying across the once brilliant sofa; a powder-puff, a plate of fruit, +and a play-book were on the centre table, and on the marble-topped +sideboard was Mr. Hooker's second-best hat, with a soiled collar, +evidently but lately exchanged for the one he had on, peeping over its +brim. The whole apartment seemed to mingle the furtive disclosures of +the dressing-room with the open ostentations of the stage, with even a +slight suggestion of the auditorium in a few scattered programmes on the +floor and chairs. + +The inner door opened again with a slight theatrical start, and Susy, +in an elaborate dressing-gown, moved languidly into the room. She +apparently had not had time to change her underskirt, for there was the +dust of the stage on its delicate lace edging, as she threw herself into +an armchair and crossed her pretty slippered feet before her. Her face +was pale, its pallor incautiously increased by powder; and as Clarence +looked at its still youthful, charming outline, he was not perhaps +sorry that the exquisite pink and white skin beneath, which he had once +kissed, was hidden from that awakened recollection. Yet there was little +trace of the girlish Susy in the pretty, but prematurely jaded, actress +before him, and he felt momentarily relieved. It was her youth and +freshness appealing to his own youth and imagination that he had +loved--not HER. Yet as she greeted him with a slight exaggeration of +glance, voice, and manner, he remembered that even as a girl she was an +actress. + +Nothing of this, however, was in his voice and manner as he gently +thanked her for the opportunity of meeting her again. And he was frank, +for the diversion he had expected he had found; he even was conscious of +thinking more kindly of his wife who had supplanted her. + +“I told Jim he must fetch you if he had to carry you,” she said, +striking the palm of her hand with her fan, and glancing at her husband. +“I reckon he guessed WHY, though I didn't tell him--I don't tell Jim +EVERYTHING.” + +Here Jim rose, and looking at his watch, “guessed he'd run over to the +Lick House and get some cigars.” If he was acting upon some hint from +his wife, his simulation was so badly done that Clarence felt his +first sense of uneasiness. But as Hooker closed the door awkwardly and +unostentatiously behind him, Clarence smilingly said he had waited to +hear the message from her own lips. + +“Jim only knows what he's heard outside: the talk of men, you know,--and +he hears a good deal of that--more, perhaps, than YOU do. It was that +which put me up to finding out the truth. And I didn't rest till I did. +I'm not to be fooled, Clarence,--you don't mind my calling you Clarence +now we're both married and done for,--and I'm not the kind to be fooled +by anybody from the Cow counties--and that's the Robles Ranche. I'm a +Southern woman myself from Missouri, but I'm for the Union first, last, +and all the time, and I call myself a match for any lazy, dawdling, +lash-swinging slaveholder and slaveholderess--whether they're mixed +blood, Heaven only knows, or what--or their friends or relations, or +the dirty half-Spanish grandees and their mixed half-nigger peons who +truckle to them. You bet!” + +His blood had stirred quickly at the mention of the Robles Ranche, +but the rest of Susy's speech was too much in the vein of her old +extravagance to touch him seriously. He found himself only considering +how strange it was that the old petulance and impulsiveness of her +girlhood were actually bringing back with them her pink cheeks and +brilliant eyes. + +“You surely didn't ask Jim to bring me here,” he said smilingly, “to +tell me that Mrs. Peyton”--he corrected himself hastily as a malicious +sparkle came into Susy's blue eyes--“that my wife was a Southern woman, +and probably sympathized with her class? Well, I don't know that I +should blame her for that any more than she should blame me for being a +Northern man and a Unionist.” + +“And she doesn't blame you?” asked Susy sneeringly. + +The color came slightly to Clarence's cheek, but before he could reply +the actress added,-- + +“No, she prefers to use you!” + +“I don't think I understand you,” said Clarence, rising coldly. + +“No, you don't understand HER!” retorted Susy sharply. “Look here, +Clarence Brant, you're right; I didn't ask you here to tell you--what +you and everybody knows--that your wife is a Southerner. I didn't ask +you here to tell you what everybody suspects--that she turns you round +her little finger. But I did ask you here to tell you what nobody, +not even you, suspects--but what I know!--and that is that she's a +TRAITOR--and more, a SPY!--and that I've only got to say the word, +or send that man Jim to say the word, to have her dragged out of her +Copperhead den at Robles Ranche and shut up in Fort Alcatraz this very +night!” + +Still with the pink glowing in her rounding cheek, and eyes snapping +like splintered sapphires, she rose to her feet, with her pretty +shoulders lifted, her small hands and white teeth both tightly +clenched, and took a step towards him. Even in her attitude there was a +reminiscence of her willful childhood, although still blended with +the provincial actress whom he had seen on the stage only an hour ago. +Thoroughly alarmed at her threat, in his efforts to conceal his feelings +he was not above a weak retaliation. Stepping back, he affected to +regard her with a critical admiration that was only half simulated, and +said with a smile,-- + +“Very well done--but you have forgotten the flag.” + +She did not flinch. Rather accepting the sarcasm as a tribute to her +art, she went on with increasing exaggeration: “No, it is YOU who +have forgotten the flag--forgotten your country, your people, your +manhood--everything for that high-toned, double-dyed old spy and +traitress! For while you are standing here, your wife is gathering under +her roof at Robles a gang of spies and traitors like herself--secession +leaders and their bloated, drunken 'chivalry'! Yes, you may smile your +superior smile, but I tell you, Clarence Brant, that with all your +smartness and book learning you know no more of what goes on around you +than a child. But others do! This conspiracy is known to the government, +the Federal officers have been warned; General Sumner has been sent out +here--and his first act was to change the command at Fort Alcatraz, and +send your wife's Southern friend--Captain Pinckney--to the right about! +Yes--everything is known but ONE thing, and that is WHERE and HOW this +precious crew meet! That I alone know, and that I've told you!” + +“And I suppose,” said Clarence, with an unchanged smile, “that this +valuable information came from your husband--my old friend, Jim Hooker?” + +“No,” she answered sharply, “it comes from Cencho--one of your own +peons--who is more true to you and the old Rancho than YOU have ever +been. He saw what was going on, and came to me, to warn you!” + +“But why not to me directly?” asked Clarence, with affected incredulity. + +“Ask him!” she said viciously. “Perhaps he didn't want to warn the +master against the mistress. Perhaps he thought WE are still friends. +Perhaps”--she hesitated with a lower voice and a forced smile--“perhaps +he used to see us together in the old times.” + +“Very likely,” said Clarence quietly. “And for the sake of those old +times, Susy,” he went on, with a singular gentleness that was quite +distinct from his paling face and set eyes, “I am going to forget all +that you have just said of me and mine, in all the old willfulness and +impatience that I see you still keep--with all your old prettiness.” He +took his hat from the table and gravely held out his hand. + +She was frightened for a moment with his impassive abstraction. In +the old days she had known it--had believed it was his dogged +“obstinacy”--but she knew the hopelessness of opposing it. Yet with +feminine persistency she again threw herself against it, as against a +wall. + +“You don't believe me! Well, go and see for yourself. They are at Robles +NOW. If you catch the early morning stage at Santa Clara you will come +upon them before they disperse. Dare you try it?” + +“Whatever I do,” he returned smilingly, “I shall always be grateful to +you for giving me this opportunity of seeing you again AS YOU WERE. Make +my excuses to your husband. Good-night.” + +“Clarence!” + +But he had already closed the door behind him. His face did not relax +its expression nor change as he looked again at the tray with its broken +viands before the door, the worn, stained hall carpet, or the waiter who +shuffled past him. He was apparently as critically conscious of them and +of the close odors of the hall, and the atmosphere of listless decay and +faded extravagance around him, as before the interview. But if the woman +he had just parted from had watched him she would have supposed he still +utterly disbelieved her story. Yet he was conscious that all that he saw +was a part of his degradation, for he had believed every word she had +uttered. Through all her extravagance, envy, and revengefulness he saw +the central truth--that he had been deceived--not by his wife, but by +himself! He had suspected all this before. This was what had been really +troubling him--this was what he had put aside, rather than his faith, +not in her, but in his ideal. He remembered letters that had passed +between her and Captain Pinckney--letters that she had openly sent to +notorious Southern leaders; her nervous anxiety to remain at the Rancho; +the innuendoes and significant glances of friends which he had put +aside--as he had this woman's message! Susy had told him nothing new of +his wife--but the truth of HIMSELF! And the revelation came from people +who he was conscious were the inferiors of himself and his wife. To an +independent, proud, and self-made man it was the culminating stroke. + +In the same abstracted voice he told the coachman to drive home. The +return seemed interminable--though he never shifted his position. Yet +when he drew up at his own door and looked at his watch he found he +had been absent only half an hour. Only half an hour! As he entered the +house he turned with the same abstraction towards a mirror in the hall, +as if he expected to see some outward and visible change in himself +in that time. Dismissing his servants to bed, he went into his +dressing-room, completely changed his attire, put on a pair of long +riding-boots, and throwing a serape over his shoulders, paused a moment, +took a pair of small “Derringer” pistols from a box, put them in his +pockets, and then slipped cautiously down the staircase. A lack of +confidence in his own domestics had invaded him for the first time. The +lights were out. He silently opened the door and was in the street. + +He walked hastily a few squares to a livery stable whose proprietor he +knew. His first inquiry was for one “Redskin,” a particular horse; the +second for its proprietor. Happily both were in. The proprietor asked no +question of a customer of Clarence's condition. The horse, half Spanish, +powerful and irascible, was quickly saddled. As Clarence mounted, the +man in an impulse of sociability said,-- + +“Saw you at the theatre to-night, sir.” + +“Ah,” returned Clarence, quietly gathering up the reins. + +“Rather a smart trick of that woman with the flag,” he went on +tentatively. Then, with a possible doubt of his customer's politics, he +added with a forced smile, “I reckon it's all party fuss, though; there +ain't any real danger.” + +But fast as Clarence might ride the words lingered in his ears. He saw +through the man's hesitation; he, too, had probably heard that Clarence +Brant weakly sympathized with his wife's sentiments, and dared not speak +fully. And he understood the cowardly suggestion that there was “no real +danger.” It had been Clarence's one fallacy. He had believed the public +excitement was only a temporary outbreak of partisan feeling, soon to +subside. Even now he was conscious that he was less doubtful of the +integrity of the Union than of his own household. It was not the +devotion of the patriot, but the indignation of an outraged husband, +that was spurring him on. + +He knew that if he reached Woodville by five o'clock he could get +ferried across the bay at the Embarcadero, and catch the down coach to +Fair Plains, whence he could ride to the Rancho. As the coach did not +connect directly with San Francisco, the chance of his surprising them +was greater. Once clear of the city outskirts, he bullied Redskin into +irascible speed, and plunged into the rainy darkness of the highroad. +The way was familiar. For a while he was content to feel the buffeting, +caused by his rapid pace, of wind and rain against his depressed head +and shoulders in a sheer brutal sense of opposition and power, or to +relieve his pent-up excitement by dashing through overflowed gullies in +the road or across the quaggy, sodden edges of meadowland, until he had +controlled Redskin's rebellious extravagance into a long steady stride. +Then he raised his head and straightened himself on the saddle, to +think. But to no purpose. He had no plan; everything would depend +upon the situation; the thought of forestalling any action of the +conspirators, by warning or calling in the aid of the authorities, for +an instant crossed his mind, but was as instantly dismissed. He had but +an instinct--to see with his own eyes what his reason told him was true. +Day was breaking through drifting scud and pewter-colored clouds as he +reached Woodville ferry, checkered with splashes of the soil and the +spume of his horse, from whose neck and flanks the sweat rolled like +lather. Yet he was not conscious how intent had been his purpose until +he felt a sudden instinctive shock on seeing that the ferryboat was +gone. For an instant his wonderful self-possession abandoned him; he +could only gaze vacantly at the leaden-colored bay, without a thought or +expedient. But in another moment he saw that the boat was returning from +the distance. Had he lost his only chance? He glanced hurriedly at his +watch; he had come more quickly than he imagined; there would still +be time. He beckoned impatiently to the ferryman; the boat--a ship's +pinnace, with two men in it--crept in with exasperating slowness. At +last the two rowers suddenly leaped ashore. + +“Ye might have come before, with the other passenger. We don't reckon to +run lightnin' trips on this ferry.” + +But Clarence was himself again. “Twenty dollars for two more oars in +that boat,” he said quietly, “and fifty if you get me over in time to +catch the down stage.” + +The man glanced at Clarence's eyes. “Run up and rouse out Jake and +Sam,” he said to the other boatman; then more leisurely, gazing at his +customer's travel-stained equipment, he said, “There must have been a +heap o' passengers got left by last night's boat. You're the second man +that took this route in a hurry.” + +At any other time the coincidence might have struck Clarence. But he +only answered curtly, “Unless we are under way in ten minutes you will +find I am NOT the second man, and that our bargain's off.” + +But here two men emerged from the shanty beside the ferryhouse, and +tumbled sleepily into the boat. Clarence seized an extra pair of sculls +that were standing against the shed, and threw them into the stern. “I +don't mind taking a hand myself for exercise,” he said quietly. + +The ferryman glanced again at Clarence's travel-worn figure and +determined eyes with mingled approval and surprise. He lingered a moment +with his oars lifted, looking at his passenger. “It ain't no business o' +mine, young man,” he said deliberately, “but I reckon you understand me +when I say that I've just taken another man over there.” + +“I do,” said Clarence impatiently. + +“And you still want to go?” + +“Certainly,” replied Clarence, with a cold stare, taking up his oars. + +The man shrugged his shoulders, bent himself for the stroke, and the +boat sprung forward. The others rowed strongly and rapidly, the tough +ashen blades springing like steel from the water, the heavy boat seeming +to leap in successive bounds until they were fairly beyond the curving +inshore current and clearing the placid, misty surface of the bay. +Clarence did not speak, but bent abstractedly over his oar; the ferryman +and his crew rowed in equal panting silence; a few startled ducks +whirred before them, but dropped again to rest. In half an hour they +were at the Embarcadero. The time was fairly up. Clarence's eyes were +eagerly bent for the first appearance of the stage-coach around the +little promontory; the ferryman was as eagerly scanning the bare, empty +street of the still sleeping settlement. + +“I don't see him anywhere,” said the ferryman with a glance, half of +astonishment and half of curiosity, at his solitary passenger. + +“See whom?” asked Clarence carelessly, as he handed the man his promised +fee. + +“The other man I ferried over to catch the stage. He must have gone on +without waiting. You're in luck, young fellow!” + +“I don't understand you,” said Clarence impatiently. “What has your +previous passenger to do with me?” + +“Well, I reckon you know best. He's the kind of man, gin'rally speaking, +that other men, in a pow'ful hurry, don't care to meet--and, az a rule, +don't FOLLER arter. It's gin'rally the other way.” + +“What do you mean?” inquired Clarence sternly. “Of whom are you +speaking?” + +“The Chief of Police of San Francisco!” + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The laugh that instinctively broke from Clarence's lips was so sincere +and unaffected that the man was disconcerted, and at last joined in +it, a little shamefacedly. The grotesque blunder of being taken as +a fugitive from justice relieved Clarence's mind from its acute +tension,--he was momentarily diverted,--and it was not until the +boatman had departed, and he was again alone, that it seemed to have any +collateral significance. Then an uneasy recollection of Susy's threat +that she had the power to put his wife in Fort Alcatraz came across him. +Could she have already warned the municipal authorities and this man? +But he quickly remembered that any action from such a warning could +only have been taken by the United States Marshal, and not by a civic +official, and dismissed the idea. + +Nevertheless, when the stage with its half-spent lamps still burning +dimly against the morning light swept round the curve and rolled heavily +up to the rude shanty which served as coach-office, he became watchful. +A single yawning individual in its doorway received a few letters and +parcels, but Clarence was evidently the ONLY waiting passenger. Any hope +that he might have entertained that his mysterious predecessor would +emerge from some seclusion at that moment was disappointed. As he +entered the coach he made a rapid survey of his fellow-travelers, but +satisfied himself that the stranger was not among them. They were +mainly small traders or farmers, a miner or two, and apparently +a Spanish-American of better degree and personality. Possibly the +circumstance that men of this class usually preferred to travel on +horseback and were rarely seen in public conveyances attracted his +attention, and their eyes met more than once in mutual curiosity. +Presently Clarence addressed a remark to the stranger in Spanish; he +replied fluently and courteously, but at the next stopping-place he +asked a question of the expressman in an unmistakable Missouri accent. +Clarence's curiosity was satisfied; he was evidently one of those early +American settlers who had been so long domiciled in Southern California +as to adopt the speech as well as the habiliments of the Spaniard. + +The conversation fell upon the political news of the previous night, or +rather seemed to be lazily continued from some previous, more excited +discussion, in which one of the contestants--a red-bearded miner--had +subsided into an occasional growl of surly dissent. It struck Clarence +that the Missourian had been an amused auditor and even, judging from a +twinkle in his eye, a mischievous instigator of the controversy. He +was not surprised, therefore, when the man turned to him with a certain +courtesy and said,-- + +“And what, sir, is the political feeling in YOUR district?” + +But Clarence was in no mood to be drawn out, and replied, almost curtly, +that as he had come only from San Francisco, they were probably as well +informed on that subject as himself. A quick and searching glance from +the stranger's eye made him regret his answer, but in the silence that +ensued the red-bearded miner, evidently still rankling at heart, saw +his opportunity. Slapping his huge hands on his knees, and leaning far +forward until he seemed to plunge his flaming beard, like a firebrand, +into the controversy, he said grimly,-- + +“Well, I kin tell you, gen'l'men, THIS. It ain't goin' to be no matter +wot's the POLITICAL FEELING here or thar--it ain't goin' to be no matter +wot's the State's rights and wot's Fed'ral rights--it ain't goin' to +be no question whether the gov'ment's got the right to relieve its own +soldiers that those Secesh is besieging in Fort Sumter or whether they +haven't--but the first gun that's fired at the flag blows the chains +off every d--n nigger south of Mason and Dixon's line! You hear me! +I'm shoutin'! And whether you call yourselves 'Secesh' or 'Union' or +'Copperhead' or 'Peace men,' you've got to face it!” + +There was an angry start in one or two of the seats; one man caught +at the swinging side-strap and half rose, a husky voice began, “It's a +d----d”--and then all as suddenly subsided. Every eye was turned to an +insignificant figure in the back seat. It was a woman, holding a +child on her lap, and gazing out of the window with her sex's profound +unconcern in politics. Clarence understood the rude chivalry of the road +well enough to comprehend that this unconscious but omnipotent figure +had more than once that day controlled the passions of the disputants. +They dropped back weakly to their seats, and their mutterings rolled off +in the rattle of the wheels. Clarence glanced at the Missourian; he was +regarding the red-bearded miner with a singular curiosity. + +The rain had ceased, but the afternoon shadows were deepening when they +at last reached Fair Plains, where Clarence expected to take horse to +the Rancho. He was astonished, however, to learn that all the horses in +the stable were engaged, but remembering that some of his own stock were +in pasturage with a tenant at Fair Plains, and that he should probably +have a better selection, he turned his steps thither. Passing out of +the stable-yard he recognized the Missourian's voice in whispered +conversation with the proprietor, but the two men withdrew into the +shadow as he approached. An ill-defined uneasiness came over him; he +knew the proprietor, who also seemed to know the Missourian, and this +evident avoidance of him was significant. Perhaps his reputation as a +doubtful Unionist had preceded him, but this would not account for their +conduct in a district so strongly Southern in sympathy as Fair Plains. +More impressed by the occurrence than he cared to admit, when at last, +after some delay, he had secured his horse, and was once more in the +saddle, he kept a sharp lookout for his quondam companion. But here +another circumstance added to his suspicions: there was a main road +leading to Santa Inez, the next town, and the Rancho, and this Clarence +had purposely taken in order to watch the Missourian; but there was +also a cutoff directly to the Rancho, known only to the habitues of the +Rancho. After a few moments' rapid riding on a mustang much superior to +any in the hotel stables, he was satisfied that the stranger must +have taken the cut-off. Putting spurs to his horse he trusted still to +precede him to the Rancho--if that were his destination. + +As he dashed along the familiar road, by a strange perversity of fancy, +instead of thinking of his purpose, he found himself recalling the first +time he had ridden that way in the flush of his youth and hopefulness. +The girl-sweetheart he was then going to rejoin was now the wife of +another; the woman who had been her guardian was now his own wife. He +had accepted without a pang the young girl's dereliction, but it was +through her revelation that he was now about to confront the dereliction +of his own wife. And this was the reward of his youthful trust and +loyalty! A bitter laugh broke from his lips. It was part of his still +youthful self-delusion that he believed himself wiser and stronger for +it. + +It was quite dark when he reached the upper field or first terrace of +the Rancho. He could see the white walls of the casa rising dimly out of +the green sea of early wild grasses, like a phantom island. It was here +that the cut-off joined the main road--now the only one that led to the +casa. He was satisfied that no one could have preceded him from Fair +Plains; but it was true that he must take precautions against his +own discovery. Dismounting near a clump of willows, he unsaddled and +unbridled his horse, and with a cut of the riata over its haunches +sent it flying across the field in the direction of a band of feeding +mustangs, which it presently joined. Then, keeping well in the shadow of +a belt of shrub-oaks, he skirted the long lesser terraces of the casa, +intending to approach the house by way of the old garden and corral. +A drizzling rain, occasionally driven by the wind into long, misty, +curtain-like waves, obscured the prospect and favored his design. He +reached the low adobe wall of the corral in safety; looking over he +could detect, in spite of the darkness, that a number of the horses +were of alien brands, and even recognized one or two from the Santa Inez +district. The vague outline of buggies and carryalls filled the long +shed beside the stables. There WAS company at the casa--so far Susy was +right! + +Nevertheless, lingering still by the wall of the old garden for the +deepening of night, his nervous feverishness was again invaded and +benumbed by sullen memories. There was the opening left by the old +grille in the wall, behind which Mrs. Peyton stood on the morning when +he thought he was leaving the ranch forever; where he had first clasped +her in his arms, and stayed. A turn of the head, a moment's indecision, +a single glance of a languorous eye, had brought this culmination. And +now he stood again before that ruined grille, his house and lands, even +his NAME, misused by a mad, scheming enthusiast, and himself a creeping +spy of his own dishonor! He turned with a bitter smile again to the +garden. A few dark red Castilian roses still leaned forward and swayed +in the wind with dripping leaves. It was here that the first morning of +his arrival he had kissed Susy; the perfume and color of her pink skin +came back to him with a sudden shock as he stood there; he caught at a +flower, drew it towards him, inhaled its odor in a long breath that left +him faint and leaning against the wall. Then again he smiled, but this +time more wickedly--in what he believed his cynicism had sprung up the +first instinct of revenge! + +It was now dark enough for him to venture across the carriage road and +make his way to the rear of the house. His first characteristic instinct +had been to enter openly at his own front gate, but the terrible +temptation to overhear and watch the conspiracy unobserved--that +fascination common to deceived humanity to witness its own shame--had +now grown upon him. He knew that a word or gesture of explanation, +apology, appeal, or even terror from his wife would check his rage and +weaken his purpose. His perfect knowledge of the house and the security +of its inmates would enable him from some obscure landing or gallery +to participate in any secret conclave they might hold in the patio--the +only place suitable for so numerous a rendezvous. The absence of light +in the few external windows pointed to this central gathering. And he +had already conceived his plan of entrance. + +Gaining the rear wall of the casa he began cautiously to skirt its +brambly base until he had reached a long, oven-like window half +obliterated by a monstrous passion vine. It was the window of what had +once been Mrs. Peyton's boudoir; the window by which he had once forced +an entrance to the house when it was in the hands of squatters, the +window from which Susy had signaled her Spanish lover, the window whose +grating had broken the neck of Judge Peyton's presumed assassin. But +these recollections no longer delayed him; the moment for action had +arrived. He knew that since the tragedy the boudoir had been dismantled +and shunned; the servants believed it to be haunted by the assassin's +ghost. With the aid of the passion vine the ingress was easy; the +interior window was open; the rustle of dead leaves on the bare floor as +he entered, and the whir of a frightened bird by his ear, told the story +of its desolation and the source of the strange noises that had been +heard there. The door leading to the corridor was lightly bolted, merely +to keep it from rattling in the wind. Slipping the bolt with the blade +of his pocket-knife he peered into the dark passage. The light streaming +under a door to the left, and the sound of voices, convinced him that +his conjecture was right, and the meeting was gathered on the broad +balconies around the patio. He knew that a narrow gallery, faced with +Venetian blinds to exclude the sun, looked down upon them. He managed to +gain it without discovery; luckily the blinds were still down; between +their slats, himself invisible, he could hear and see everything that +occurred. + +Yet even at this supreme moment the first thing that struck him was the +almost ludicrous contrast between the appearance of the meeting and +its tremendous object. Whether he was influenced by any previous boyish +conception of a clouded and gloomy conspiracy he did not know, but +he was for an instant almost disconcerted by the apparent levity and +festivity of the conclave. Decanters and glasses stood on small tables +before them; nearly all were drinking and smoking. They comprised +fifteen or twenty men, some of whose faces were familiar to him +elsewhere as Southern politicians; a few, he was shocked to see, were +well-known Northern Democrats. Occupying a characteristically central +position was the famous Colonel Starbottle, of Virginia. Jaunty and +youthful-looking in his mask-like, beardless face, expansive and +dignified in his middle-aged port and carriage, he alone retained some +of the importance--albeit slightly theatrical and affected--of the +occasion. Clarence in his first hurried glance had not observed his +wife, and for a moment had felt relieved; but as Colonel Starbottle +arose at that moment, and with a studiously chivalrous and courtly +manner turned to his right, he saw that she was sitting at the further +end of the balcony, and that a man whom he recognized as Captain +Pinckney was standing beside her. The blood quickly tightened around his +heart, but left him cold and observant. + +“It was seldom, indeed,” remarked Colonel Starbottle, placing his fat +fingers in the frill of his shirt front, “that a movement like this +was graced with the actual presence of a lofty, inspiring, yet delicate +spirit--a Boadicea--indeed, he might say a Joan of Arc--in the person +of their charming hostess, Mrs. Brant. Not only were they favored by her +social and hospitable ministration, but by her active and enthusiastic +cooperation in the glorious work they had in hand. It was through +her correspondence and earnest advocacy that they were to be favored +to-night with the aid and counsel of one of the most distinguished and +powerful men in the Southern district of California, Judge Beeswinger, +of Los Angeles. He had not the honor of that gentleman's personal +acquaintance; he believed he was not far wrong in saying that this was +also the misfortune of every gentleman present; but the name itself +was a tower of strength. He would go further, and say that Mrs. Brant +herself was personally unacquainted with him, but it was through the +fervor, poetry, grace, and genius of her correspondence with that +gentleman that they were to have the honor of his presence that very +evening. It was understood that advices had been received of his +departure, and that he might be expected at Robles at any moment.” + +“But what proof have we of Judge Beeswinger's soundness?” said a lazy +Southern voice at the conclusion of Colonel Starbottle's periods. +“Nobody here seems to know him by sight: is it not risky to admit a man +to our meeting whom we are unable to identify?” + +“I reckon nobody but a fool or some prying mudsill of a Yankee would +trust his skin here,” returned another; “and if he did we'd know what to +do with him.” + +But Clarence's attention was riveted on his wife, and the significant +speech passed him as unheeded as had the colonel's rhetoric. She was +looking very handsome and slightly flushed, with a proud light in her +eyes that he had never seen before. Absorbed in the discussion, she +seemed to be paying little attention to Captain Pinckney as she rose +suddenly to her feet. + +“Judge Beeswinger will be attended here by Mr. MacNiel, of the Fair +Plains Hotel, who will vouch for him and introduce him,” she said in +a clear voice, which rang with an imperiousness that Clarence well +remembered. “The judge was to arrive by the coach from Martinez to Fair +Plains, and is due now.” + +“Is there no GENTLEMAN to introduce him? Must we take him on the word +of a common trader--by Jove! a whiskey-seller?” continued the previous +voice sneeringly. + +“On the word of a lady, Mr. Brooks,” said Captain Pinckney, with a +slight gesture towards Mrs. Brant--“who answers for both.” + +Clarence had started slightly at his wife's voice and the information +it conveyed. His fellow-passenger, and the confidant of MacNiel, was +the man they were expecting! If they had recognized him, Clarence, would +they not warn the company of his proximity? He held his breath as the +sound of voices came from the outer gate of the courtyard. Mrs. Brant +rose; at the same moment the gate swung open, and a man entered. It WAS +the Missourian. + +He turned with old-fashioned courtesy to the single woman standing on +the balcony. + +“My fair correspondent, I believe! I am Judge Beeswinger. Your agent, +MacNiel, passed me through your guards at the gate, but I did not deem +it advisable to bring him into this assembly of gentlemen without your +further consideration. I trust I was right.” + +The quiet dignity and self-possession, the quaint, old-fashioned +colonial precision of speech, modified by a soft Virginian intonation, +and, above all, some singular individuality of the man himself, produced +a profound sensation, and seemed to suddenly give the gathering an +impressiveness it had lacked before. For an instant Clarence forgot +himself and his personal wrongs in the shock of indignation he felt at +this potent addition to the ranks of his enemies. He saw his wife's eyes +sparkle with pride over her acquisition, and noticed that Pinckney cast +a disturbed glance at the newcomer. + +The stranger ascended the few steps to the balcony and took Mrs. Brant's +hand with profound courtesy. “Introduce me to my colleagues--distinctly +and separately. It behooves a man at such a moment to know to whom he +entrusts his life and honor, and the life and honor of his cause.” + +It was evidently no mere formal courtesy to the stranger. As he stepped +forward along the balcony, and under Mrs. Brant's graceful guidance was +introduced to each of the members, he not only listened with scrupulous +care and attention to the name and profession of each man, but bent +upon him a clear, searching glance that seemed to photograph him in his +memory. With two exceptions. He passed Colonel Starbottle's expanding +shirt frill with a bow of elaborate precision, and said, “Colonel +Starbottle's fame requires neither introduction nor explanation.” He +stopped before Captain Pinckney and paused. + +“An officer of the United States army, I believe, sir?” + +“Yes.” + +“Educated at West Point, I think, by the government, to whom you have +taken the oath of allegiance?” + +“Yes.” + +“Very good, sir,” said the stranger, turning away. + +“You have forgotten one other fact, sir,” said Pinckney, with a slightly +supercilious air. + +“Indeed! What is it?” + +“I am, first of all, a native of the State of South Carolina!” + +A murmur of applause and approval ran round the balcony. Captain +Pinckney smiled and exchanged glances with Mrs. Brant, but the stranger +quietly returned to the central table beside Colonel Starbottle. “I am +not only an unexpected delegate to this august assembly, gentlemen,” he +began gravely, “but I am the bearer of perhaps equally unexpected news. +By my position in the Southern district I am in possession of dispatches +received only this morning by pony express. Fort Sumter has been +besieged. The United States flag, carrying relief to the beleaguered +garrison, has been fired upon by the State of South Carolina.” + +A burst of almost hysteric applause and enthusiasm broke from the +assembly, and made the dim, vault-like passages and corridors of the +casa ring. Cheer after cheer went up to the veiled gallery and the misty +sky beyond. Men mounted on the tables and waved their hands frantically, +and in the midst of this bewildering turbulence of sound and motion +Clarence saw his wife mounted on a chair, with burning cheeks and +flashing eyes, waving her handkerchief like an inspired priestess. Only +the stranger, still standing beside Colonel Starbottle, remained unmoved +and impassive. Then, with an imperative gesture, he demanded a sudden +silence. + +“Convincing and unanimous as this demonstration is, gentlemen,” he began +quietly, “it is my duty, nevertheless, to ask you if you have seriously +considered the meaning of the news I have brought. It is my duty to +tell you that it means civil war. It means the clash of arms between two +sections of a mighty country; it means the disruption of friends, the +breaking of family ties, the separation of fathers and sons, of brothers +and sisters--even, perhaps, to the disseverment of husband and wife!” + +“It means the sovereignty of the South--and the breaking of a covenant +with lowborn traders and abolitionists,” said Captain Pinckney. + +“If there are any gentlemen present,” continued the stranger, without +heeding the interruption, “who have pledged this State to the support +of the South in this emergency, or to the establishment of a Pacific +republic in aid and sympathy with it, whose names are on this paper”--he +lifted a sheet of paper lying before Colonel Starbottle--“but who now +feel that the gravity of the news demands a more serious consideration +of the purpose, they are at liberty to withdraw from the meeting, giving +their honor, as Southern gentlemen, to keep the secret intact.” + +“Not if I know it,” interrupted a stalwart Kentuckian, as he rose to his +feet and strode down the steps to the patio. “For,” he added, placing +his back against the gateway, “I'll shoot the first coward that backs +out now.” + +A roar of laughter and approval followed, but was silenced again by the +quiet, unimpassioned voice of the stranger. “If, on the other hand,” he +went on calmly, “you all feel that this news is the fitting culmination +and consecration of the hopes, wishes, and plans of this meeting, you +will assert it again, over your own signatures, to Colonel Starbottle at +this table.” + +When the Kentuckian had risen, Clarence had started from his +concealment; when he now saw the eager figures pressing forward to the +table he hesitated no longer. Slipping along the passage, he reached +the staircase which led to the corridor in the rear of the balcony. +Descending this rapidly, he not only came upon the backs of the excited +crowd around the table, but even elbowed one of the conspirators aside +without being noticed. His wife, who had risen from her chair at the +end of the balcony, was already moving towards the table. With a quick +movement he seized her wrist, and threw her back in the chair again. +A cry broke from her lips as she recognized him, but still holding her +wrist, he stepped quickly between her and the astonished crowd. There +was a moment of silence, then the cry of “Spy!” and “Seize him!” rose +quickly, but above all the voice and figure of the Missourian was heard +commanding them to stand back. Turning to Clarence, he said quietly,-- + +“I should know your face, sir. Who are you?” + +“The husband of this woman and the master of this house,” said Clarence +as quietly, but in a voice he hardly recognized as his own. + +“Stand aside from her, then--unless you are hoping that her danger may +protect YOU!” said the Kentuckian, significantly drawing his revolver. + +But Mrs. Brant sprang suddenly to her feet beside Clarence. + +“We are neither of us cowards, Mr. Brooks--though he speaks the +truth--and--more shame to me”--she added, with a look of savage scorn at +Clarence--“IS MY HUSBAND!” + +“What is your purpose in coming here?” continued Judge Beeswinger, with +his eyes fixed on Clarence. + +“I have given you all the information,” said Clarence quietly, “that +is necessary to make you, as a gentleman, leave this house at once--and +that is my purpose. It is all the information you will get from me +as long as you and your friends insult my roof with your uninvited +presence. What I may have to say to you and each of you hereafter--what +I may choose to demand of you, according to your own code of honor,”--he +fixed his eyes on Captain Pinckney's,--“is another question, and one not +usually discussed before a lady.” + +“Pardon me. A moment--a single moment.” + +It was the voice of Colonel Starbottle; it was the frilled shirt front, +the lightly buttoned blue coat with its expanding lapels, like bursting +petals, and the smiling mask of that gentleman rising above the table +and bowing to Clarence Brant and his wife with infinite courtesy. +“The--er--humiliating situation in which we find ourselves, +gentlemen,--the reluctant witnesses of--er--what we trust is only +a temporary disagreement between our charming hostess and +the--er--gentleman whom she recognized under the highest title to +our consideration,--is distressing to us all, and would seem to amply +justify that gentleman's claims to a personal satisfaction, which I +know we would all delight to give. But that situation rests upon the +supposition that our gathering here was of a purely social or festive +nature! It may be,” continued the colonel with a blandly reflective +air, “that the spectacle of these decanters and glasses, and the nectar +furnished us by our Hebe-like hostess” (he lifted a glass of whiskey and +water to his lips while he bowed to Mrs. Brant gracefully), “has led +the gentleman to such a deduction. But when I suggest to him that our +meeting was of a business, or private nature, it strikes me that the +question of intrusion may be fairly divided between him and ourselves. +We may be even justified, in view of that privacy, in asking him if +his--er--entrance to this house was--er--coincident with his appearance +among us.” + +“With my front door in possession of strangers,” said Clarence, more in +reply to a sudden contemptuous glance from his wife than Starbottle's +insinuation, “I entered the house through the window.” + +“Of my boudoir, where another intruder once broke his neck,” interrupted +his wife with a mocking laugh. + +“Where I once helped this lady to regain possession of her house when +it was held by another party of illegal trespassers, who, however, were +content to call themselves 'jumpers,' and did not claim the privacy of +gentlemen.” + +“Do you mean to imply, sir,” began Colonel Starbottle haughtily, +“that”-- + +“I mean to imply, sir,” said Clarence with quiet scorn, “that I have +neither the wish to know nor the slightest concern in any purpose that +brought you here, and that when you quit the house you take your secrets +and your privacy with you intact, without let or hindrance from me.” + +“Do you mean to say, Mr. Brant,” said Judge Beeswinger, suppressing the +angry interruption of his fellows with a dominant wave of his hand, as +he fixed his eyes on Clarence keenly, “that you have no sympathy with +your wife's political sentiments?” + +“I have already given you the information necessary to make you quit +this house, and that is all you have a right to know,” returned Clarence +with folded arms. + +“But I can answer for him,” said Mrs. Brant, rising, with a quivering +voice and curling lip. “There IS no sympathy between us. We are as far +apart as the poles. We have nothing in common but this house and his +name.” + +“But you are husband and wife, bound together by a sacred compact.” + +“A compact!” echoed Mrs. Brant, with a bitter laugh. “Yes, the compact +that binds South Carolina to the nigger-worshipping Massachusetts. +The compact that links together white and black, the gentleman and the +trader, the planter and the poor white--the compact of those UNITED +States. Bah! THAT has been broken, and so can this.” + +Clarence's face paled. But before he could speak there was a rapid +clattering at the gate and a dismounted vaquero entered excitedly. +Turning to Mrs. Brant he said hurriedly, “Mother of God! the casa is +surrounded by a rabble of mounted men, and there is one among them even +now who demands admittance in the name of the Law.” + +“This is your work,” said Brooks, facing Clarence furiously. “You have +brought them with you, but, by God, they shall not save you!” He +would have clutched Clarence, but the powerful arm of Judge Beeswinger +intervened. Nevertheless, he still struggled to reach Clarence, +appealing to the others: “Are you fools to stand there and let him +triumph! Don't you see the cowardly Yankee trick he's played upon us?” + +“He has not,” said Mrs. Brant haughtily. “I have no reason to love him +or his friends; but I know he does not lie.” + +“Gentlemen!--gentlemen!” implored Colonel Starbottle with beaming and +unctuous persuasion, “may I--er--remark--that all this is far from the +question? Are we to be alarmed because an unknown rabble, no matter +whence they come, demand entrance here in the name of the Law? I am not +aware of any law of the State of California that we are infringing. By +all means admit them.” + +The gate was thrown open. A single thick-set man, apparently unarmed +and dressed like an ordinary traveler, followed by half a dozen other +equally unpretentious-looking men, entered. The leader turned to the +balcony. + +“I am the Chief of Police of San Francisco. I have warrants for the +arrest of Colonel Culpepper Starbottle, Joshua Brooks, Captain Pinckney, +Clarence Brant and Alice his wife, and others charged with inciting to +riot and unlawful practice calculated to disturb the peace of the State +of California and its relations with the Federal government,” said the +leader, in a dry official voice. + +Clarence started. In spite of its monotonous utterance it was the voice +of the red-bearded controversialist of the stage-coach. But where were +his characteristic beard and hair? Involuntarily Clarence glanced at +Judge Beeswinger; that gentleman was quietly regarding the stranger with +an impassive face that betrayed no recognition whatever. + +“But the city of San Francisco has no jurisdiction here,” said Colonel +Starbottle, turning a bland smile towards his fellow-members. “I +am--er--sorry to inform you that you are simply trespassing, sir.” + +“I am here also as deputy sheriff,” returned the stranger coolly. “We +were unable to locate the precise place of this meeting, although we +knew of its existence. I was sworn in this morning at Santa Inez by the +judge of this district, and these gentlemen with me are my posse.” + +There was a quick movement of resistance by the members, which was, +however, again waived blandly aside by Colonel Starbottle. Leaning +forward in a slightly forensic attitude, with his fingers on the table +and a shirt frill that seemed to have become of itself erectile, he +said, with pained but polite precision, “I grieve to have to state, sir, +that even that position is utterly untenable here. I am a lawyer myself, +as my friend here, Judge Beeswinger--eh? I beg your pardon!” + +The officer of the law had momentarily started, with his eyes fixed +on Judge Beeswinger, who, however, seemed to be quietly writing at the +table. + +“As Judge Beeswinger,” continued Colonel Starbottle, “will probably tell +you and as a jurist himself, he will also probably agree with me when +I also inform you that, as the United States government is an aggrieved +party, it is a matter for the Federal courts to prosecute, and that +the only officer we can recognize is the United States Marshal for the +district. When I add that the marshal, Colonel Crackenthorpe, is one +of my oldest friends, and an active sympathizer with the South in the +present struggle, you will understand that any action from him in this +matter is exceedingly improbable.” + +The general murmur of laughter, relief, and approval was broken by the +quiet voice of Judge Beeswinger. + +“Let me see your warrant, Mr. Deputy Sheriff.” + +The officer approached him with a slightly perplexed and constrained +air, and exhibited the paper. Judge Beeswinger handed it back to him. +“Colonel Starbottle is quite right in his contention,” he said quietly; +“the only officer that this assembly can recognize is the United States +Marshal or his legal deputy. But Colonel Starbottle is wrong in his +supposition that Colonel Crackenthorpe still retains the functions of +that office. He was removed by the President of the United States, and +his successor was appointed and sworn in by the Federal judge early +this morning.” He paused, and folding up the paper on which he had been +writing, placed it in the hands of the deputy. “And this,” he continued +in the same even voice, “constitutes you his deputy, and will enable you +to carry out your duty in coming here.” + +“What the devil does this mean, sir? Who are you?” gasped Colonel +Starbottle, recoiling suddenly from the man at his side. + +“I am the new United States Marshal for the Southern District of +California.” + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Unsuspected and astounding as the revelation was to Clarence, its +strange reception by the conspirators seemed to him as astounding. +He had started forward, half expecting that the complacent and +self-confessed spy would be immolated by his infuriated dupes. But to +his surprise the shock seemed to have changed their natures, and given +them the dignity they had lacked. The excitability, irritation, and +recklessness which had previously characterized them had disappeared. +The deputy and his posse, who had advanced to the assistance of their +revealed chief, met with no resistance. They had evidently, as if with +one accord, drawn away from Judge Beeswinger, leaving a cleared space +around him, and regarded their captors with sullen contemptuous silence. +It was only broken by Colonel Starbottle:-- + +“Your duty commands you, sir, to use all possible diligence in bringing +us before the Federal judge of this district--unless your master in +Washington has violated the Constitution so far as to remove him, too!” + +“I understand you perfectly,” returned Judge Beeswinger, with unchanged +composure; “and as you know that Judge Wilson unfortunately cannot be +removed except through a regular course of impeachment, I suppose you +may still count upon his Southern sympathies to befriend you. With that +I have nothing to do; my duty is complete when my deputy has brought you +before him and I have stated the circumstances of the arrest.” + +“I congratulate you, sir,” said Captain Pinckney, with an ironical +salute, “on your prompt reward for your treachery to the South, and your +equally prompt adoption of the peculiar tactics of your friends in the +way in which you have entered this house.” + +“I am sorry I cannot congratulate YOU, sir,” returned Judge Beeswinger +gravely, “on breaking your oath to the government which has educated and +supported you and given you the epaulettes you disgrace. Nor shall I +discuss 'treachery' with the man who has not only violated the trust of +his country, but even the integrity of his friend's household. It is for +that reason that I withhold the action of this warrant in so far as +it affects the persons of the master and mistress of this home. I am +satisfied that Mr. Brant has been as ignorant of what has been done +here as I am that his wife has been only the foolish dupe of a double +traitor!” + +“Silence!” + +The words broke simultaneously from the lips of Clarence and Captain +Pinckney. They stood staring at each other--the one pale, the other +crimson--as Mrs. Brant, apparently oblivious of the significance of +their united adjuration, turned to Judge Beeswinger in the fury of her +still stifled rage and mortification. + +“Keep your mercy for your fellow-spy,” she said, with a contemptuous +gesture towards her husband; “I go with these gentlemen!” + +“You will not,” said Clarence quietly, “until I have said a word to you +alone.” He laid his hand firmly upon her wrist. + +The deputy and his prisoners filed slowly out of the courtyard together, +the latter courteously saluting Mrs. Brant as they passed, but turning +from Judge Beeswinger in contemptuous silence. The judge followed them +to the gate, but there he paused. Turning to Mrs. Brant, who was still +half struggling in the strong grip of her husband, he said,-- + +“Any compunction I may have had in misleading you by accepting your +invitation here I dismissed after I had entered this house. And I +trust,” he added, turning to Clarence sternly, “I leave you the master +of it!” + +As the gate closed behind him, Clarence locked it. When his wife turned +upon him angrily, he said quietly,-- + +“I have no intention of restraining your liberty a moment after our +interview is over, but until then I do not intend to be disturbed.” + +She threw herself disdainfully back in her chair, her hands clasped in +her lap in half-contemptuous resignation, with her eyes upon her long +slim arched feet crossed before her. Even in her attitude there was +something of her old fascination which, however, now seemed to sting +Clarence to the quick. + +“I have nothing to say to you in regard to what has just passed in this +house, except that as long as I remain even nominally its master it +shall not be repeated. Although I shall no longer attempt to influence +or control your political sympathies, I shall not allow you to indulge +them where in any way they seem to imply my sanction. But so little do +I oppose your liberty, that you are free to rejoin your political +companions whenever you choose to do so on your own responsibility. But +I must first know from your own lips whether your sympathies are purely +political--or a name for something else?” + +She had alternately flushed and paled, although still keeping her +scornful attitude as he went on, but there was no mistaking the +genuineness of her vague wonderment at his concluding words. + +“I don't understand you,” she said, lifting her eyes to his in a moment +of cold curiosity. “What do you mean?” + +“What do I mean? What did Judge Beeswinger mean when he called Captain +Pinckney a double traitor?” he said roughly. + +She sprang to her feet with flashing eyes. “And you--YOU! dare to repeat +the cowardly lie of a confessed spy. This, then, is what you wished to +tell me--this the insult for which you have kept me here; because you +are incapable of understanding unselfish patriotism or devotion--even +to your own cause--you dare to judge me by your own base, Yankee-trading +standards. Yes, it is worthy of you!” She walked rapidly up and down, +and then suddenly faced him. “I understand it all; I appreciate your +magnanimity now. You are willing I should join the company of these +chivalrous gentlemen in order to give color to your calumnies! Say at +once that it was you who put up this spy to correspond with me--to come +here--in order to entrap me. Yes entrap me--I--who a moment ago stood up +for you before these gentlemen, and said you could not lie. Bah!” + +Struck only by the wild extravagance of her speech and temper, Clarence +did not know that when women are most illogical they are apt to be most +sincere, and from a man's standpoint her unreasoning deductions appeared +to him only as an affectation to gain time for thought, or a theatrical +display, like Susy's. And he was turning half contemptuously away, when +she again faced him with flashing eyes. + +“Well, hear me! I accept; I leave here at once, to join my own people, +my own friends--those who understand me--put what construction on it +that you choose. Do your worst; you cannot do more to separate us than +you have done just now.” + +She left him, and ran up the steps with a singular return of her old +occasional nymph-like nimbleness--the movement of a woman who had never +borne children--and a swish of her long skirts that he remembered +for many a day after, as she disappeared in the corridor. He remained +looking after her--indignant, outraged, and unconvinced. There was a +rattling at the gate. + +He remembered he had locked it. He opened it to the flushed pink cheeks +and dancing eyes of Susy. The rain was still dripping from her wet cloak +as she swung it from her shoulders. + +“I know it all!--all that's happened,” she burst out with half-girlish +exuberance and half the actress's declamation. “We met them all in the +road--posse and prisoners. Chief Thompson knew me and told me all. And +so you've done it--and you're master in your old house again. Clarence, +old boy! Jim said you wouldn't do it--said you'd weaken on account of +her! But I said 'No.' I knew you better, old Clarence, and I saw it in +your face, for all your stiffness! ha! But for all that I was mighty +nervous and uneasy, and I just made Jim send an excuse to the theatre +and we rushed it down here! Lordy! but it looks natural to see the old +house again! And she--you packed her off with the others--didn't you? +Tell me, Clarence,” in her old appealing voice, “you shook her, too!” + +Dazed and astounded, and yet experiencing a vague sense of relief with +something like his old tenderness towards the willful woman before him, +he had silently regarded her until her allusion to his wife recalled him +to himself. + +“Hush!” he said quickly, with a glance towards the corridor. + +“Ah!” said Susy, with a malicious smile, “then that's why Captain +Pinckney was lingering in the rear with the deputy.” + +“Silence!” repeated Clarence sternly. “Go in there,” pointing to the +garden room below the balcony, “and wait there with your husband.” + +He half led, half pushed her into the room which had been his business +office, and returned to the patio. A hesitating voice from the balcony +said, “Clarence!” + +It was his wife's voice, but modified and gentler--more like her +voice as he had first heard it, or as if it had been chastened by some +reminiscence of those days. It was his wife's face, too, that looked +down on his--paler than he had seen it since he entered the house. She +was shawled and hooded, carrying a traveling-bag in her hand. + +“I am going, Clarence,” she said, pausing before him, with gentle +gravity, “but not in anger. I even ask you to forgive me for the foolish +words that I think your still more foolish accusation”--she smiled +faintly--“dragged from me. I am going because I know that I have +brought--and that while I am here I shall always be bringing--upon you +the imputation and even the responsibility of my own faith! While I am +proud to own it,--and if needs be suffer for it,--I have no right to +ruin your prospects, or even make you the victim of the slurs that +others may cast upon me. Let us part as friends--separated only by our +different political faiths, but keeping all other faiths together--until +God shall settle the right of this struggle. Perhaps it may be soon--I +sometimes think it may be years of agony for all; but until then, +good-by.” + +She had slowly descended the steps to the patio, looking handsomer than +he had ever seen her, and as if sustained and upheld by the enthusiasm +of her cause. Her hand was outstretched towards his--his heart beat +violently--in another moment he might have forgotten all and clasped her +to his breast. Suddenly she stopped, her outstretched arm stiffened, her +finger pointed to the chair on which Susy's cloak was hanging. + +“What's that?” she said in a sharp, high, metallic voice. “Who is here? +Speak!” + +“Susy,” said Clarence. + +She cast a scathing glance round the patio, and then settled her +piercing eyes on Clarence with a bitter smile. + +“Already!” + +Clarence felt the blood rush to his face as he stammered, “She knew what +was happening here, and came to give you warning.” + +“Liar!” + +“Stop!” said Clarence, with a white face. “She came to tell me that +Captain Pinckney was still lingering for you in the road.” + +He threw open the gate to let her pass. As she swept out she lifted +her hand. As he closed the gate there were the white marks of her four +fingers on his cheek. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +For once Susy had not exaggerated. Captain Pinckney WAS lingering, with +the deputy who had charge of him, on the trail near the casa. It had +already been pretty well understood by both captives and captors that +the arrest was simply a legal demonstration; that the sympathizing +Federal judge would undoubtedly order the discharge of the prisoners on +their own recognizances, and it was probable that the deputy saw no harm +in granting Pinckney's request--which was virtually only a delay in +his liberation. It was also possible that Pinckney had worked upon the +chivalrous sympathies of the man by professing his disinclination +to leave their devoted colleague, Mrs. Brant, at the mercy of her +antagonistic and cold-blooded husband at such a crisis, and it is to be +feared also that Clarence, as a reputed lukewarm partisan, excited no +personal sympathy, even from his own party. Howbeit, the deputy agreed +to delay Pinckney's journey for a parting interview with his fair +hostess. + +How far this expressed the real sentiments of Captain Pinckney was never +known. Whether his political association with Mrs. Brant had developed +into a warmer solicitude, understood or ignored by her,--what were his +hopes and aspirations regarding her future,--were by the course of fate +never disclosed. A man of easy ethics, but rigid artificialities of +honor, flattered and pampered by class prejudice, a so-called “man of +the world,” with no experience beyond his own limited circle, yet brave +and devoted to that, it were well perhaps to leave this last act of his +inefficient life as it was accepted by the deputy. + +Dismounting he approached the house from the garden. He was already +familiar with the low arched doorway which led to the business room, and +from which he could gain admittance to the patio, but it so chanced that +he entered the dark passage at the moment that Clarence had thrust Susy +into the business room, and heard its door shut sharply. For an instant +he believed that Mrs. Brant had taken refuge there, but as he cautiously +moved forward he heard her voice in the patio beyond. Its accents +struck him as pleading; an intense curiosity drew him further along the +passage. Suddenly her voice seemed to change to angry denunciation, +and the word “Liar” rang upon his ears. It was followed by his own name +uttered sardonically by Clarence, the swift rustle of a skirt, the clash +of the gate, and then--forgetting everything, he burst into the patio. + +Clarence was just turning from the gate with the marks of his wife's +hand still red on his white cheek. He saw Captain Pinckney's eyes upon +it, and the faint, half-malicious, half-hysteric smile upon his lips. +But without a start or gesture of surprise he locked the gate, and +turning to him, said with frigid significance,-- + +“I thank you for returning so promptly, and for recognizing the only +thing I now require at your hand.” + +But Captain Pinckney had recovered his supercilious ease with the +significant demand. + +“You seem to have had something already from another's hand, sir, but I +am at your service,” he said lightly. + +“You will consider that I have accepted it from you,” said Clarence, +drawing closer to him with a rigid face. “I suppose it will not be +necessary for me to return it--to make you understand me.” + +“Go on,” said Pinckney, flushing slightly. “Make your terms; I am +ready.” + +“But I'm not,” said the unexpected voice of the deputy at the grille of +the gateway. “Excuse my interfering, gentlemen, but this sort o' thing +ain't down in my schedule. I've let this gentleman,” pointing to Captain +Pinckney, “off for a minit to say 'good-by' to a lady, who I reckon has +just ridden off in her buggy with her servant without saying by your +leave, but I didn't calkelate to let him inter another business, which, +like as not, may prevent me from delivering his body safe and sound into +court. You hear me!” As Clarence opened the gate he added, “I don't want +ter spoil sport between gents, but it's got to come in after I've done +my duty.” + +“I'll meet you, sir, anywhere, and with what weapons you choose,” said +Pinckney, turning angrily upon Clarence, “as soon as this farce--for +which you and your friends are responsible--is over.” He was furious at +the intimation that Mrs. Brant had escaped him. + +A different thought was in the husband's mind. “But what assurance +have I that you are going on with the deputy?” he said with purposely +insulting deliberation. + +“My word, sir,” said Captain Pinckney sharply. + +“And if that ain't enuff, there's mine!” said the deputy. “For if this +gentleman swerves to the right or left betwixt this and Santa Inez, I'll +blow a hole through him myself. And that,” he added deprecatingly, “is +saying a good deal for a man who doesn't want to spoil sport, and for +the matter of that is willing to stand by and see fair play done at +Santa Inez any time to-morrow before breakfast.” + +“Then I can count on you,” said Clarence, with a sudden impulse +extending his hand. + +The man hesitated a moment and then grasped it. + +“Well, I wasn't expecting that,” he said slowly; “but you look as if you +meant business, and if you ain't got anybody else to see you through, +I'm thar! I suppose this gentleman will have his friends.” + +“I shall be there at six with my seconds,” said Pinckney curtly. “Lead +on.” + +The gate closed behind them. Clarence stood looking around the empty +patio and the silent house, from which it was now plain that the +servants had been withdrawn to insure the secrecy of the conspiracy. +Cool and collected as he knew he was, he remained for a moment in +hesitation. Then the sound of voices came to his ear from the garden +room, the light frivolity of Susy's laugh and Hooker's huskier accents. +He had forgotten they were there--he had forgotten their existence! + +Trusting still to his calmness, he called to Hooker in his usual +voice. That gentleman appeared with a face which his attempts to make +unconcerned and impassive had, however, only deepened into funereal +gravity. + +“I have something to attend to,” said Clarence, with a faint smile, “and +I must ask you and Susy to excuse me for a little while. She knows the +house perfectly, and will call the servants from the annex to provide +you both with refreshment until I join you a little later.” Satisfied +from Hooker's manner that they knew nothing of his later interview with +Pinckney, he turned away and ascended to his own room. + +There he threw himself into an armchair by the dim light of a single +candle as if to reflect. But he was conscious, even then, of his own +calmness and want of excitement, and that no reflection was necessary. +What he had done and what he intended to do was quite clear, there was +no alternative suggested or to be even sought after. He had that sense +of relief which comes with the climax of all great struggles, even of +defeat. + +He had never known before how hopeless and continuous had been that +struggle until now it was over. He had no fear of tomorrow, he would +meet it as he had to-day, with the same singular consciousness of being +equal to the occasion. There was even no necessity of preparation for +it; his will, leaving his fortune to his wife,--which seemed a slight +thing now in this greater separation,--was already in his safe in San +Francisco, his pistols were in the next room. He was even slightly +disturbed by his own insensibility, and passed into his wife's bedroom +partly in the hope of disturbing his serenity by some memento of their +past. There was no disorder of flight--everything was in its place, +except the drawer of her desk, which was still open, as if she had taken +something from it as an afterthought. There were letters and papers +there, some of his own and some in Captain Pinckney's handwriting. It +did not occur to him to look at them--even to justify himself, or excuse +her. He knew that his hatred of Captain Pinckney was not so much that he +believed him her lover, as his sudden conviction that she was like him! +He was the male of her species--a being antagonistic to himself, whom +he could fight, and crush, and revenge himself upon. But most of all he +loathed his past, not on account of her, but of his own weakness that +had made him her dupe and a misunderstood man to his friends. He had +been derelict of duty in his unselfish devotion to her; he had stifled +his ambition, and underrated his own possibilities. No wonder that +others had accepted him at his own valuation. Clarence Brant was a +modest man, but the egotism of modesty is more fatal than that of +pretension, for it has the haunting consciousness of superior virtue. + +He re-entered his own room and again threw himself into his chair. His +calm was being succeeded by a physical weariness; he remembered he had +not slept the night before, and he ought to take some rest to be +fresh in the early morning. Yet he must also show himself before his +self-invited guests,--Susy and her husband,--or their suspicions would +be aroused. He would try to sleep for a little while in the chair before +he went downstairs again. He closed his eyes oddly enough on a dim +dreamy recollection of Susy in the old days, in the little madrono +hollow where she had once given him a rendezvous. He forgot the maturer +and critical uneasiness with which he had then received her coquettish +and willful advances, which he now knew was the effect of the growing +dominance of Mrs. Peyton over him, and remembered only her bright, +youthful eyes, and the kisses he had pressed upon her soft fragrant +cheek. The faintness he had felt when waiting in the old rose garden, +a few hours ago, seemed to steal on him once more, and to lapse into a +pleasant drowsiness. He even seemed again to inhale the perfume of the +roses. + +“Clarence!” + +He started. He had been sleeping, but the voice sounded strangely real. + +A light, girlish laugh followed. He sprang to his feet. It was Susy +standing beside him--and Susy even as she looked in the old days! + +For with a flash of her old audacity, aided by her familiar knowledge of +the house and the bunch of household keys she had found, which dangled +from her girdle, as in the old fashion, she had disinterred one of her +old frocks from a closet, slipped it on, and unloosening her brown hair +had let it fall in rippling waves down her back. It was Susy in her old +girlishness, with the instinct of the grown actress in the arrangement +of her short skirt over her pretty ankles and the half-conscious pose +she had taken. + +“Poor dear old Clarence,” she said, with dancing eyes; “I might have +won a dozen pairs of gloves from you while you slept there. But you're +tired, dear old boy, and you've had a hard time of it. No matter; you've +shown yourself a man at last, and I'm proud of you.” + +Half ashamed of the pleasure he felt even in his embarrassment, Clarence +stammered, “But this change--this dress.” + +Susy clapped her hands like a child. “I knew it would surprise you! It's +an old frock I wore the year I went away with auntie. I knew where it +was hidden, and fished it out again with these keys, Clarence; it seemed +so like old times. Lord! when I was with the old servants again, and +you didn't come down, I just felt as if I'd never been away, and I just +rampaged free. It seemed to me, don't you know, not as if I'd just come, +but as if I'd always been right here, and it was you who'd just come. +Don't you understand! Just as you came when me and Mary Rogers +were here; don't you remember her, Clarence, and how she used to do +'gooseberry' for us? Well, just like that. So I said to Jim, 'I don't +know you any more--get!' and I just slipped on this frock and ordered +Manuela around as I used to do--and she in fits of laughter; I reckon, +Clarence, she hasn't laughed as much since I left. And then I thought of +you--perhaps worried and flustered as yet over things, and the change, +and I just slipped into the kitchen and I told old fat Conchita to make +some of these tortillas you know,--with sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on +top,--and I tied on an apron and brought 'em up to you on a tray with +a glass of that old Catalan wine you used to like. Then I sorter felt +frightened when I got here, and I didn't hear any noise, and I put the +tray down in the hall and peeped in and found you asleep. Sit still, +I'll fetch em.” + +She tripped out into the passage, returning with the tray, which she put +on the table beside Clarence, and then standing back a little and with +her hands tucked soubrette fashion in the tiny pockets of her apron, +gazed at him with a mischievous smile. + +It was impossible not to smile back as he nibbled the crisp Mexican +cake and drank the old mission wine. And Susy's tongue trilled an +accompaniment to his thanks. + +“Lord! it seems so nice to be here--just you and me, Clarence--like in +the old days--with nobody naggin' and swoopin' round after you. Don't +be greedy, Clarence, but give me a cake.” She took one and finished the +dregs of his glass. + +Then sitting on the arm of his chair, she darted a violet ray of half +reproach and half mischievousness into his amused and retrospective +eyes. “There used to be room for two in that chair, Klarns.” + +The use of the old childish diminutive for his name seemed to him +natural as her familiarity, and he moved a little sideways to make +room for her with an instinct of pleasure, but the same sense of +irresponsibility that had characterized his reflections. Nevertheless, +he looked critically into the mischievous eyes, and said quietly,-- + +“Where is your husband?” + +There was no trace of embarrassment, apology, or even of consciousness +in her pretty face as she replied, passing her hand lightly through his +hair,-- + +“Oh, Jim? I've packed him off!” + +“Packed him off!” echoed Clarence, slightly astonished. + +“Yes, to Fair Plains, full tilt after your wife's buggy. You see, +Clarence, after the old cat--that's your wife, please--left, I wanted to +make sure she had gone, and wasn't hangin' round to lead you off again +with your leg tied to her apron string like a chicken's! No! I said to +Jim, 'Just you ride after her until you see she's safe and sound in +the down coach from Fair Plains without her knowin' it, and if she's +inclined to hang back or wobble any, you post back here and let me +know!' I told him I would stay and look after you to see you didn't bolt +too!” She laughed, and then added, “But I didn't think I should +fall into the old ways so soon, and have such a nice time. Did you, +Clarence?” + +She looked so irresponsible, sitting there with her face near his, +and so childishly, or perhaps thoughtlessly, happy, that he could only +admire her levity, and even the slight shock that her flippant allusion +to his wife had given him seemed to him only a weakness of his own. +After all, was not hers the true philosophy? Why should not these bright +eyes see things more clearly than his own? Nevertheless, with his eyes +still fixed upon them, he continued,-- + +“And Jim was willing to go?” + +She stopped, with her fingers still lifting a lock of his hair. “Why, +yes, you silly--why shouldn't he? I'd like to see him refuse. Why, Lord! +Jim will do anything I ask him.” She put down the lock of hair, and +suddenly looking full into his eyes, said, “That's just the difference +between him and me, and you and--that woman!” + +“Then you love him!” + +“About as much as you love her,” she said, with an unaffected laugh; +“only he don't wind me around his finger.” + +No doubt she was right for all her thoughtlessness, and yet he was going +to fight about that woman to-morrow! No--he forgot; he was going to +fight Captain Pinckney because he was like her! + +Susy had put her finger on the crease between his brows which this +supposition had made, and tried to rub it out. + +“You know it as well as I do, Clarence,” she said, with a pretty +wrinkling of her own brows, which was her nearest approach to +thoughtfulness. “You know you never really liked her, only you thought +her ways were grander and more proper than mine, and you know you were +always a little bit of a snob and a prig too--dear boy. And Mrs. Peyton +was--bless my soul!--a Benham and a planter's daughter, and I--I was +only a picked-up orphan! That's where Jim is better than you--now sit +still, goosey!--even if I don't like him as much. Oh, I know what you're +always thinking, you're thinking we're both exaggerated and theatrical, +ain't you? But don't you think it's a heap better to be exaggerated and +theatrical about things that are just sentimental and romantic than to +be so awfully possessed and overcome about things that are only real? +There, you needn't stare at me so! It's true. You've had your fill of +grandeur and propriety, and--here you are. And,” she added with a little +chuckle, as she tucked up her feet and leaned a little closer to him, +“here's ME.” + +He did not speak, but his arm quite unconsciously passed round her small +waist. + +“You see, Clarence,” she went on with equal unconsciousness of the act, +“you ought never to have let me go--never! You ought to have kept me +here--or run away with me. And you oughtn't to have tried to make me +proper. And you oughtn't to have driven me to flirt with that horrid +Spaniard, and you oughtn't to have been so horribly cold and severe when +I did. And you oughtn't to have made me take up with Jim, who was the +only one who thought me his equal. I might have been very silly and +capricious; I might have been very vain, but my vanity isn't a bit worse +than your pride; my love of praise and applause in the theatre isn't a +bit more horrid than your fears of what people might think of you or me. +That's gospel truth, isn't it, Clarence? Tell me! Don't look that way +and this--look at ME! I ain't poisonous, Clarence. Why, one of your +cheeks is redder than the other, Clarence; that's the one that's turned +from me. Come,” she went on, taking the lapels of his coat between her +hands and half shaking him, half drawing him nearer her bright face. +“Tell me--isn't it true?” + +“I was thinking of you just now when I fell asleep, Susy,” he said. He +did not know why he said it; he had not intended to tell her, he had +only meant to avoid a direct answer to her question; yet even now he +went on. “And I thought of you when I was out there in the rose garden +waiting to come in here.” + +“You did?” she said, drawing in her breath. A wave of delicate pink +color came up to her very eyes, it seemed to him as quickly and as +innocently as when she was a girl. “And what DID you think, Klarns,” she +half whispered--“tell me.” + +He did not speak, but answered her blue eyes and then her lips, as her +arms slipped quite naturally around his neck. + +***** + +The dawn was breaking as Clarence and Jim Hooker emerged together from +the gate of the casa. Mr. Hooker looked sleepy. He had found, after his +return from Fair Plains, that his host had an early engagement at +Santa Inez, and he had insisted upon rising to see him off. It was with +difficulty, indeed, that Clarence could prevent his accompanying him. +Clarence had not revealed to Susy the night before the real object of +his journey, nor did Hooker evidently suspect it, yet when the former +had mounted his horse, he hesitated for an instant, extending his hand. + +“If I should happen to be detained,” he began with a half smile. + +But Jim was struggling with a yawn. “That's all right--don't mind us,” + he said, stretching his arms. Clarence's hesitating hand dropped to his +side, and with a light reckless laugh and a half sense of providential +relief he galloped away. + +What happened immediately thereafter during his solitary ride to +Santa Inez, looking back upon it in after years, seemed but a confused +recollection, more like a dream. The long stretches of vague distance, +gradually opening clearer with the rising sun in an unclouded sky; +the meeting with a few early or belated travelers and his unconscious +avoidance of them, as if they might know of his object; the black +shadows of foreshortened cattle rising before him on the plain and +arousing the same uneasy sensation of their being waylaying men; the +wondering recognition of houses and landmarks he had long been familiar +with; his purposeless attempts to recall the circumstances in which +he had known them--all these were like a dream. So, too, were the +recollections of the night before, the episode with Susy, already +mingled and blended with the memory of their previous past; his futile +attempts to look forward to the future, always, however, abandoned +with relief at the thought that the next few hours might make them +unnecessary. So also was the sudden realization that Santa Inez was +before him, when he had thought he was not yet halfway there, and as +he dismounted before the Court House his singular feeling--followed, +however, by no fear or distress--was that he had come so early to the +rendezvous that he was not yet quite prepared for it. + +This same sense of unreality pervaded his meeting with the deputy +sheriff, at the news that the Federal judge had, as was expected, +dismissed the prisoners on their own recognizances, and that Captain +Pinckney was at the hotel at breakfast. In the like abstracted manner he +replied to the one or two questions of the deputy, exhibited the pistols +he had brought with him, and finally accompanied him to a little meadow +hidden by trees, below the hotel, where the other principal and his +seconds were awaiting them. And here he awoke--clear-eyed, keen, +forceful, and intense! + +So stimulated were his faculties that his sense of hearing in its +acuteness took in every word of the conversation between the seconds, +a few paces distant. He heard his adversary's seconds say carelessly +to the deputy sheriff, “I presume this is a case where there will be no +apology or mediation,” and the deputy's reply, “I reckon my man means +business, but he seems a little queer.” He heard the other second laugh, +and say lightly, “They're apt to be so when it's their first time out,” + followed by the more anxious aside of the other second as the deputy +turned away,--“Yes, but by G-d I don't like his looks!” His sense of +sight was also so acute that having lost the choice of position, when +the coin was tossed, and being turned with his face to the sun, even +through the glare he saw, with unerring distinctness of outline, the +black-coated figure of his opponent moved into range--saw the perfect +outline of his features, and how the easy, supercilious smile, as he +threw away his cigar, appeared to drop out of his face with a kind of +vacant awe as he faced him. He felt his nerves become as steel as the +counting began, and at the word “three,” knew he had fired by the recoil +of the pistol in his leveled hand, simultaneously with its utterance. +And at the same moment, still standing like a rock, he saw his +adversary miserably collapse, his legs grotesquely curving inwards +under him,--without even the dignity of death in his fall,--and so sink +helplessly like a felled bull to the ground. Still erect, and lowering +only the muzzle of his pistol, as a thin feather of smoke curled up its +shining side, he saw the doctor and seconds run quickly to the heap, try +to lift its limp impotence into shape, and let it drop again with the +words, “Right through the forehead, by G-d!” + +“You've done for him,” said the deputy, turning to Clarence with a +singular look of curiosity, “and I reckon you had better get out of this +mighty quick. They didn't expect it; they're just ragin'; they may round +on you--and”--he added, more slowly, “they seem to have just found out +who you are.” + +Even while he was speaking, Clarence, with his quickened ear, heard the +words, “One of Hamilton Brant's pups” “Just like his father,” from +the group around the dead man. He did not hesitate, but walked coolly +towards them. Yet a certain fierce pride--which he had never known +before--stirred in his veins as their voices hushed and they half +recoiled before him. + +“Am I to understand from my second, gentlemen,” he said, looking round +the group, “that you are not satisfied?” + +“The fight was square enough,” said Pinckney's second in some +embarrassment, “but I reckon that he,” pointing to the dead man, “did +not know who you were.” + +“Do you mean that he did not know that I was the son of a man proficient +in the use of arms?” + +“I reckon that's about it,” returned the second, glancing at the others. + +“I am glad to say, sir, that I have a better opinion of his courage,” + said Clarence, lifting his hat to the dead body as he turned away. + +Yet he was conscious of no remorse, concern, or even pity in his act. +Perhaps this was visible in his face, for the group appeared awed by +this perfection of the duelist's coolness, and even returned his formal +parting salutation with a vague and timid respect. He thanked the +deputy, regained the hotel, saddled his horse and galloped away. + +But not towards the Rancho. Now that he could think of his future, that +had no place in his reflections; even the episode of Susy was forgotten +in the new and strange conception of himself and his irresponsibility +which had come upon him with the killing of Pinckney and the words +of his second. It was his dead father who had stiffened his arm and +directed the fatal shot! It was hereditary influences--which others +had been so quick to recognize--that had brought about this completing +climax of his trouble. How else could he account for it that he--a +conscientious, peaceful, sensitive man, tender and forgiving as he had +believed himself to be--could now feel so little sorrow or compunction +for his culminating act? He had read of successful duelists who were +haunted by remorse for their first victim; who retained a terrible +consciousness of the appearance of the dead man; he had no such feeling; +he had only a grim contentment in the wiped-out inefficient life, +and contempt for the limp and helpless body. He suddenly recalled his +callousness as a boy when face to face with the victims of the Indian +massacre, his sense of fastidious superciliousness in the discovery of +the body of Susy's mother!--surely it was the cold blood of his father +influencing him ever thus. What had he to do with affection, with +domestic happiness, with the ordinary ambitions of man's life--whose +blood was frozen at its source! Yet even with this very thought came +once more the old inconsistent tenderness he had as a boy lavished upon +the almost unknown and fugitive father who had forsaken his childish +companionship, and remembered him only by secret gifts. He remembered +how he had worshiped him even while the pious padres at San Jose were +endeavoring to eliminate this terrible poison from his blood and combat +his hereditary instinct in his conflicts with his school-fellows. And it +was a part of this inconsistency that, riding away from the scene of his +first bloodshed, his eyes were dimmed with moisture, not for his victim, +but for the one being who he believed had impelled him to the act. + +This and more was in his mind during his long ride to Fair Plains, his +journey by coach to the Embarcadero, his midnight passage across the +dark waters of the bay, and his re-entrance to San Francisco, but what +should be his future was still unsettled. + +As he wound round the crest of Russian Hill and looked down again upon +the awakened city, he was startled to see that it was fluttering and +streaming with bunting. From every public building and hotel, from +the roofs of private houses, and even the windows of lonely dwellings, +flapped and waved the striped and starry banner. The steady breath of +the sea carried it out from masts and yards of ships at their wharves, +from the battlements of the forts Alcatraz and Yerba Bueno. He +remembered that the ferryman had told him that the news from Fort Sumter +had swept the city with a revulsion of patriotic sentiment, and that +there was no doubt that the State was saved to the Union. He looked +down upon it with haggard, bewildered eyes, and then a strange gasp +and fullness of the throat! For afar a solitary bugle had blown the +“reveille” at Fort Alcatraz. + + + +PART II. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Night at last, and the stir and tumult of a great fight over. Even the +excitement that had swept this portion of the battlefield--only a small +section of a vaster area of struggle--into which a brigade had marched, +held its own, been beaten back, recovered its ground, and pursuing, +had passed out of it forever, leaving only its dead behind, and knowing +nothing more of that struggle than its own impact and momentum--even +this wild excitement had long since evaporated with the stinging smoke +of gunpowder, the acrid smell of burning rags from the clothing of a +dead soldier fired by a bursting shell, or the heated reek of sweat and +leather. A cool breath that seemed to bring back once more the odor of +the upturned earthworks along the now dumb line of battle began to move +from the suggestive darkness beyond. + +But into that awful penetralia of death and silence there was no +invasion--there had been no retreat. A few of the wounded had been +brought out, under fire, but the others had been left with the dead for +the morning light and succor. For it was known that in that horrible +obscurity, riderless horses, frantic with the smell of blood, galloped +wildly here and there, or, maddened by wounds, plunged furiously at +the intruder; that the wounded soldier, still armed, could not always +distinguish friend from foe or from the ghouls of camp followers who +stripped the dead in the darkness and struggled with the dying. A shot +or two heard somewhere in that obscurity counted as nothing with the +long fusillade that had swept it in the daytime; the passing of a single +life, more or less, amounted to little in the long roll-call of the +day's slaughter. + +But with the first beams of the morning sun--and the slowly moving +“relief detail” from the camp--came a weird half-resurrection of that +ghastly field. Then it was that the long rays of sunlight, streaming +away a mile beyond the battle line, pointed out the first harvest of +the dead where the reserves had been posted. There they lay in heaps +and piles, killed by solid shot or bursting shells that had leaped the +battle line to plunge into the waiting ranks beyond. As the sun lifted +higher its beams fell within the range of musketry fire, where the dead +lay thicker,--even as they had fallen when killed outright,--with arms +extended and feet at all angles to the field. As it touched these dead +upturned faces, strangely enough it brought out no expression of pain or +anguish--but rather as if death had arrested them only in surprise and +awe. It revealed on the lips of those who had been mortally wounded +and had turned upon their side the relief which death had brought their +suffering, sometimes shown in a faint smile. Mounting higher, it glanced +upon the actual battle line, curiously curving for the shelter of walls, +fences, and breastworks, and here the dead lay, even as when they +lay and fired, their faces prone in the grass but their muskets still +resting across the breastworks. Exposed to grape and canister from the +battery on the ridge, death had come to them mercifully also--through +the head and throat. And now the whole field lay bare in the +sunlight, broken with grotesque shadows cast from sitting, crouching, +half-recumbent but always rigid figures, which might have been effigies +on their own monuments. One half-kneeling soldier, with head bowed +between his stiffened hands, might have stood for a carven figure of +Grief at the feet of his dead comrade. A captain, shot through the brain +in the act of mounting a wall, lay sideways half across it, his lips +parted with a word of command; his sword still pointing over the barrier +the way that they should go. + +But it was not until the sun had mounted higher that it struck the +central horror of the field and seemed to linger there in dazzling +persistence, now and then returning to it in startling flashes that it +might be seen of men and those who brought succor. A tiny brook had run +obliquely near the battle line. It was here that, the night before +the battle, friend and foe had filled their canteens side by side with +soldierly recklessness--or perhaps a higher instinct--purposely ignoring +each other's presence; it was here that the wounded had afterwards +crept, crawled, and dragged themselves, here they had pushed, wrangled, +striven, and fought for a draught of that precious fluid which assuaged +the thirst of their wounds--or happily put them out of their misery +forever; here overborne, crushed, suffocated by numbers, pouring their +own blood into the flood, and tumbling after it with their helpless +bodies, they dammed the stream, until recoiling, red and angry, it had +burst its banks and overflowed the cotton-field in a broad pool that now +sparkled in the sunlight. But below this human dam--a mile away--where +the brook still crept sluggishly, the ambulance horses sniffed and +started from it. + +The detail moved on slowly, doing their work expeditiously, and +apparently callously, but really only with that mechanical movement +that saves emotion. Only once they were moved to an outbreak of +indignation,--the discovery of the body of an officer whose pockets +were turned inside out, but whose hand was still tightly grasped on his +buttoned waistcoat, as if resisting the outrage that had been done +while still in life. As the men disengaged the stiffened hand something +slipped from the waistcoat to the ground. The corporal picked it up and +handed it to his officer. It was a sealed packet. The officer received +it with the carelessness which long experience of these pathetic +missives from the dying to their living relations had induced, and +dropped it in the pocket of his tunic, with the half-dozen others that +he had picked up that morning, and moved on with the detail. A little +further on they halted, in the attitude of attention, as a mounted +officer appeared, riding slowly down the line. + +There was something more than the habitual respect of their superior in +their faces as he came forward. For it was the general who had commanded +the brigade the day before,--the man who had leaped with one bound into +the foremost rank of military leaders. It was his invincible spirit +that had led the advance, held back defeat against overwhelming numbers, +sustained the rally, impressed his subordinate officers with his own +undeviating purpose, and even infused them with an almost superstitious +belief in his destiny of success. It was this man who had done what +it was deemed impossible to do,--what even at the time it was thought +unwise and unstrategic to do,--who had held a weak position, of +apparently no importance, under the mandate of an incomprehensible order +from his superior, which at best asked only for a sacrifice and was +rewarded with a victory. He had decimated his brigade, but the wounded +and dying had cheered him as he passed, and the survivors had pursued +the enemy until the bugle called them back. For such a record he looked +still too young and scholarly, albeit his handsome face was dark and +energetic, and his manner taciturn. + +His quick eye had already caught sight of the rifled body of the +officer, and contracted. As the captain of the detail saluted him he +said curtly,-- + +“I thought the orders were to fire upon any one desecrating the dead?” + +“They are, General; but the hyenas don't give us a chance. That's all +yonder poor fellow saved from their claws,” replied the officer, as he +held up the sealed packet. “It has no address.” + +The general took it, examined the envelope, thrust it into his belt, and +said,-- + +“I will take charge of it.” + +The sound of horses' hoofs came from the rocky roadside beyond the +brook. Both men turned. A number of field officers were approaching. + +“The division staff,” said the captain, in a lower voice, falling back. + +They came slowly forward, a central figure on a gray horse leading +here--as in history. A short, thick-set man with a grizzled beard +closely cropped around an inscrutable mouth, and the serious formality +of a respectable country deacon in his aspect, which even the +major-generals blazon on the shoulder-strap of his loose tunic on his +soldierly seat in the saddle could not entirely obliterate. He had +evidently perceived the general of brigade, and quickened his horse as +the latter drew up. The staff followed more leisurely, but still with +some curiosity, to witness the meeting of the first general of the army +with the youngest. The division general saluted, but almost instantly +withdrew his leathern gauntlet, and offered his bared hand to the +brigadier. The words of heroes are scant. The drawn-up detail, the +waiting staff listened. This was all they heard:-- + +“Halleck tells me you're from California?” + +“Yes, General.” + +“Ah! I lived there, too, in the early days.” + +“Wonderful country. Developed greatly since my time, I suppose?” + +“Yes, General.” + +“Great resources; finest wheat-growing country in the world, sir. You +don't happen to know what the actual crop was this year?” + +“Hardly, General! but something enormous.” + +“Yes, I have always said it would be. Have a cigar?” + +He handed his cigar-case to the brigadier. Then he took one himself, +lighted it at the smouldering end of the one he had taken from his +mouth, was about to throw the stump carelessly down, but, suddenly +recollecting himself, leaned over his horse, and dropped it carefully +a few inches away from the face of a dead soldier. Then, straightening +himself in the saddle, he shoved his horse against the brigadier, moving +him a little further on, while a slight movement of his hand kept the +staff from following. + +“A heavy loss here!” + +“I'm afraid so, General.” + +“It couldn't be helped. We had to rush in your brigade to gain time, and +occupy the enemy, until we could change front.” + +The young general looked at the shrewd, cold eyes of his chief. + +“Change front?” he echoed. + +“Yes. Before a gun was fired, we discovered that the enemy was in +complete possession of all our plans, and knew every detail of our +forward movement. All had to be changed.” + +The younger man now instantly understood the incomprehensible order of +the day before. + +The general of division continued, with his first touch of official +formality,-- + +“You understand, therefore, General Brant, that in the face of this +extraordinary treachery, the utmost vigilance is required, and a +complete surveillance of your camp followers and civilians, to detect +the actual spy within our lines, or the traitor we are harboring, +who has become possessed of this information. You will overhaul your +brigade, and weed out all suspects, and in the position which you are +to take to-morrow, and the plantation you will occupy, you will see that +your private quarters, as well as your lines, are cleared of all but +those you can vouch for.” + +He reined in his horse, again extended his hand, saluted, and rejoined +his staff. + +Brigadier-General Clarence Brant remained for a moment with his head +bent in thoughtful contemplation of the coolness of his veteran chief +under this exciting disclosure, and the strategy with which he had +frustrated the traitor's success. Then his eye caught the sealed packet +in his belt. He mechanically drew it out, and broke the seal. The +envelope was filled with papers and memorandums. But as he looked at +them his face darkened and his brow knit. He glanced quickly around him. +The staff had trotted away; the captain and his detail were continuing +their work at a little distance. He took a long breath, for he was +holding in his hand a tracing of their camp, even of the position he was +to occupy tomorrow, and a detailed account of the movements, plans, and +force of the whole division as had been arranged in council of war the +day before the battle! But there was no indication of the writer or his +intentions. + +He thrust the papers hurriedly back into the envelope, but placed it, +this time, in his breast. He galloped towards the captain. + +“Let me see again the officer from whom you took that packet!” + +The captain led him to where the body lay, with others, extended more +decently on the grass awaiting removal. General Brant with difficulty +repressed an ejaculation. + +“Why, it's one of our own men,” he said quickly. + +“Yes, General. They say it's Lieutenant Wainwright, a regular, of the +paymaster general's department.” + +“Then what was he doing here?” asked General Brant sternly. + +“I can't make out, sir, unless he went into the last advance as a +volunteer. Wanted to see the fight, I suppose. He was a dashing fellow, +a West Pointer,--and a Southerner, too,--a Virginian.” + +“A Southerner!” echoed Brant quickly. + +“Yes, sir.” + +“Search him again,” said Brant quietly. He had recovered his usual +coolness, and as the captain again examined the body, he took out his +tablets and wrote a few lines. It was an order to search the quarters +of Lieutenant Wainwright and bring all papers, letters, and documents to +him. He then beckoned one of the detail towards him. “Take that to the +provost marshal at once. Well, Captain,” he added calmly, as the officer +again approached him, “what do you find?” + +“Only this, sir,” returned the captain, with a half smile, producing a +small photograph. “I suppose it was overlooked, too.” + +He handed it to Brant. + +There was a sudden fixing of his commanding officer's eyes, but his face +did not otherwise change. + +“It's the usual find, General. Always a photograph! But this time a +handsome woman!” + +“Very,” said Clarence Brant quietly. It was the portrait of his own +wife. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Nevertheless, so complete was his control of voice and manner that, as +he rode on to his quarters, no one would have dreamed that General Brant +had just looked upon the likeness of the wife from whom he had parted in +anger four years ago. Still less would they have suspected the strange +fear that came upon him that in some way she was connected with the +treachery he had just discovered. He had heard from her only once, and +then through her late husband's lawyer, in regard to her Californian +property, and believed that she had gone to her relations in Alabama, +where she had identified herself with the Southern cause, even to the +sacrifice of her private fortune. He had heard her name mentioned in the +Southern press as a fascinating society leader, and even coadjutrix +of Southern politicians,--but he had no reason to believe that she had +taken so active or so desperate a part in the struggle. He tried to +think that his uneasiness sprang from his recollection of the previous +treachery of Captain Pinckney, and the part that she had played in the +Californian conspiracy, although he had long since acquitted her of the +betrayal of any nearer trust. But there was a fateful similarity in +the two cases. There was no doubt that this Lieutenant Wainwright was +a traitor in the camp,--that he had succumbed to the usual sophistry of +his class in regard to his superior allegiance to his native State. But +was there the inducement of another emotion, or was the photograph only +the souvenir of a fascinating priestess of rebellion, whom the dead +man had met? There was perhaps less of feeling than scorn in the first +suggestion, but he was nevertheless relieved when the provost marshal +found no other incriminating papers in Wainwright's effects. Nor did +he reveal to the division general the finding of the photograph. It was +sufficient to disclose the work of the traitor without adding what might +be a clue to his wife's participation in it, near or remote. There was +risk enough in the former course,--which his duty made imperative. He +hardly dared to think of the past day's slaughter, which--there was no +doubt now--had been due to the previous work of the spy, and how his +brigade had been selected--by the irony of Fate--to suffer for and yet +retrieve it. If she had had a hand in this wicked plot, ought he to +spare her? Or was his destiny and hers to be thus monstrously linked +together? + +Luckily, however, the expiation of the chief offender and the timely +discovery of his papers enabled the division commander to keep the +affair discreetly silent, and to enjoin equal secrecy on the part of +Brant. The latter, however, did not relax his vigilance, and after the +advance the next day he made a minute inspection of the ground he was +to occupy, its approaches and connections with the outlying country, +and the rebel lines; increased the stringency of picket and sentry +regulations, and exercised a rigid surveillance of non-combatants +and civilians within the lines, even to the lowest canteener or camp +follower. Then he turned his attention to the house he was to occupy as +his headquarters. + +It was a fine specimen of the old colonial planter's house, with its +broad veranda, its great detached offices and negro quarters, and had, +thus far, escaped the ravages and billeting of the war. It had been +occupied by its owner up to a few days before the engagement, and so +great had been the confidence of the enemy in their success that it had +been used as the Confederate headquarters on the morning of the decisive +battle. Jasmine and rose, unstained by the sulphur of gunpowder, +twined around its ruined columns and half hid the recessed windows; +the careless flower garden was still in its unkempt and unplucked +luxuriance; the courtyard before the stables alone showed marks of the +late military occupancy, and was pulverized by the uneasy horse-hoofs of +the waiting staff. But the mingled impress of barbaric prodigality with +patriarchal simplicity was still there in the domestic arrangements of +a race who lived on half equal familiarity with strangers and their own +servants. + +The negro servants still remained, with a certain cat-like fidelity +to the place, and adapted themselves to the Northern invaders with +a childlike enjoyment of the novelty of change. Brant, nevertheless, +looked them over with an experienced eye, and satisfied himself of their +trustworthiness; there was the usual number of “boys,” gray-haired and +grizzled in body service, and the “mammys” and “aunties” of the kitchen. +There were two or three rooms in the wing which still contained private +articles, pictures and souvenirs of the family, and a “young lady's” + boudoir, which Brant, with characteristic delicacy, kept carefully +isolated and intact from his military household, and accessible only to +the family servants. The room he had selected for himself was nearest +it,--a small, plainly furnished apartment, with an almost conventual +simplicity in its cold, white walls and draperies, and the narrow, +nun-like bed. It struck him that it might have belonged to some prim +elder daughter or maiden aunt, who had acted as housekeeper, as it +commanded the wing and servants' offices, with easy access to the +central hall. + +There followed a week of inactivity in which Brant felt a singular +resemblance in this Southern mansion to the old casa at Robles. The +afternoon shadows of the deep verandas recalled the old monastic gloom +of the Spanish house, which even the presence of a lounging officer or +waiting orderly could not entirely dissipate, and the scent of the rose +and jasmine from his windows overcame him with sad memories. He began +to chafe under this inaction, and long again for the excitement of the +march and bivouac, in which, for the past four years, he had buried his +past. + +He was sitting one afternoon alone before his reports and dispatches, +when this influence seemed so strong that he half impulsively laid them +aside to indulge in along reverie. He was recalling his last day +at Robles, the early morning duel with Pinckney, the return to San +Francisco, and the sudden resolution which sent him that day across the +continent to offer his services to the Government. He remembered +his delay in the Western town, where a volunteer regiment was being +recruited, his entrance into it as a private, his rapid selection, +through the force of his sheer devotion and intelligent concentration, +to the captaincy of his company; his swift promotion on hard-fought +fields to the head of the regiment, and the singular success that had +followed his resistless energy, which left him no time to think of +anything but his duty. The sudden intrusion of his wife upon his career +now, even in this accidental and perhaps innocent way, had seriously +unsettled him. + +The shadows were growing heavier and deeper, it lacked only a few +moments of the sunset bugle, when he was recalled to himself by that +singular instinctive consciousness, common to humanity, of being +intently looked at. He turned quickly,--the door behind him closed +softly. He rose and slipped into the hall. The tall figure of a woman +was going down the passage. She was erect and graceful; but, as she +turned towards the door leading to the offices, he distinctly saw the +gaudily turbaned head and black silhouette of a negress. Nevertheless, +he halted a moment at the door of the next room. + +“See who that woman is who has just passed, Mr. Martin. She doesn't seem +to belong to the house.” + +The young officer rose, put on his cap, and departed. In a few moments +he returned. + +“Was she tall, sir, of a good figure, and very straight?” + +“Yes.” + +“She is a servant of our neighbors, the Manlys, who occasionally visits +the servants here. A mulatto, I think.” + +Brant reflected. Many of the mulattoes and negresses were of good +figure, and the habit of carrying burdens on their heads gave them a +singularly erect carriage. + +The lieutenant looked at his chief. + +“Have you any orders to give concerning her, General?” + +“No,” said Brant, after a moment's pause, and turned away. + +The officer smiled. It seemed a good story to tell at mess of this human +weakness of his handsome, reserved, and ascetic-looking leader. + +A few mornings afterwards Brant was interrupted over his reports by the +almost abrupt entrance of the officer of the day. His face was flushed, +and it was evident that only the presence of his superior restrained his +excitement. He held a paper in his hand. + +“A lady presents this order and pass from Washington, countersigned by +the division general.” + +“A lady?” + +“Yes, sir, she is dressed as such. But she has not only declined the +most ordinary civilities and courtesies we have offered her, but she +has insulted Mr. Martin and myself grossly, and demands to be shown to +you--alone.” + +Brant took the paper. It was a special order from the President, passing +Miss Matilda Faulkner through the Federal lines to visit her uncle's +home, known as “Gray Oaks,” now held and occupied as the headquarters of +Brant's Brigade, in order to arrange for the preservation and disposal +of certain family effects and private property that still remained +there, or to take and carry away such property; and invoking all +necessary aid and assistance from the United States forces in such +occupancy. It was countersigned by the division commander. It was +perfectly regular and of undoubted authenticity. He had heard of passes +of this kind,--the terror of the army,--issued in Washington under some +strange controlling influence and against military protest; but he did +not let his subordinate see the uneasiness with which it filled him. + +“Show her in,” he said quietly. + +But she had already entered, brushing scornfully past the officer, and +drawing her skirt aside, as if contaminated: a very pretty Southern +girl, scornful and red-lipped, clad in a gray riding-habit, and still +carrying her riding-whip clenched ominously in her slim, gauntleted +hand! + +“You have my permit in your hand,” she said brusquely, hardly raising +her eyes to Brant. “I suppose it's all straight enough,--and even if it +isn't, I don't reckon to be kept waiting with those hirelings.” + +“Your 'permit' is 'straight' enough, Miss Faulkner,” said Brant, slowly +reading her name from the document before him. “But, as it does not seem +to include permission to insult my officers, you will perhaps allow them +first to retire.” + +He made a sign to the officer, who passed out of the door. + +As it closed, he went on, in a gentle but coldly unimpassioned voice,-- + +“I perceive you are a Southern lady, and therefore I need not remind you +that it is not considered good form to treat even the slaves of those +one does not like uncivilly, and I must, therefore, ask you to keep your +active animosity for myself.” + +The young girl lifted her eyes. She had evidently not expected to meet +a man so young, so handsome, so refined, and so coldly invincible in +manner. Still less was she prepared for that kind of antagonism. In +keeping up her preconcerted attitude towards the “Northern hireling,” + she had been met with official brusqueness, contemptuous silence, or +aggrieved indignation,--but nothing so exasperating as this. She even +fancied that this elegant but sardonic-looking soldier was mocking her. +She bit her red lip, but, with a scornful gesture of her riding-whip, +said,-- + +“I reckon that your knowledge of Southern ladies is, for certain +reasons, not very extensive.” + +“Pardon me; I have had the honor of marrying one.” + +Apparently more exasperated than before, she turned upon him abruptly. + +“You say my pass is all right. Then I presume I may attend to the +business that brought me here.” + +“Certainly; but you will forgive me if I imagined that an expression of +contempt for your hosts was a part of it.” + +He rang a bell on the table. It was responded to by an orderly. + +“Send all the household servants here.” + +The room was presently filled with the dusky faces of the negro +retainers. Here and there was the gleaming of white teeth, but a +majority of the assembly wore the true negro serious acceptance of the +importance of “an occasion.” One or two even affected an official and +soldierly bearing. And, as he fully expected, there were several glances +of significant recognition of the stranger. + +“You will give,” said Brant sternly, “every aid and attention to the +wants of this young lady, who is here to represent the interests of your +old master. As she will be entirely dependent upon you in all things +connected with her visit here, see to it that she does not have to +complain to me of any inattention,--or be obliged to ask for other +assistance.” + +As Miss Faulkner, albeit a trifle paler in the cheek, but as scornful as +ever, was about to follow the servants from the room, Brant stopped her, +with a coldly courteous gesture. + +“You will understand, therefore, Miss Faulkner, that you have your wish, +and that you will not be exposed to any contact with the members of my +military family, nor they with you.” + +“Am I then to be a prisoner in this house--and under a free pass of +your--President?” she said indignantly. + +“By no means! You are free to come and go, and see whom you please. I +have no power to control your actions. But I have the power to control +theirs.” + +She swept furiously from the room. + +“That is quite enough to fill her with a desire to flirt with every man +here,” said Brant to himself, with a faint smile; “but I fancy they have +had a taste enough of her quality.” + +Nevertheless he sat down and wrote a few lines to the division +commander, pointing out that he had already placed the owner's private +property under strict surveillance, that it was cared for and perfectly +preserved by the household servants, and that the pass was evidently +obtained as a subterfuge. + +To this he received a formal reply, regretting that the authorities at +Washington still found it necessary to put this kind of risk and burden +on the army in the field, but that the order emanated from the highest +authority, and must be strictly obeyed. At the bottom of the page was a +characteristic line in pencil in the general's own hand--“Not the kind +that is dangerous.” + +A flush mounted Brant's cheeks, as if it contained not only a hidden, +but a personal significance. He had thought of his own wife! + +Singularly enough, a day or two later, at dinner, the conversation +turned upon the intense sectional feeling of Southern women, probably +induced by their late experiences. Brant, at the head of the table, in +his habitual abstraction, was scarcely following the somewhat excited +diction of Colonel Strangeways, one of his staff. + +“No, sir,” reiterated that indignant warrior, “take my word for it! A +Southern woman isn't to be trusted on this point, whether as a sister, +sweetheart, or wife. And when she is trusted, she's bound to get the +better of the man in any of those relations!” + +The dead silence that followed, the ominous joggle of a glass at the +speaker's elbow, the quick, sympathetic glance that Brant instinctively +felt was directed at his own face, and the abrupt change of subject, +could not but arrest his attention, even if he had overlooked the +speech. His face, however, betrayed nothing. It had never, however, +occurred to him before that his family affairs might be known--neither +had he ever thought of keeping them a secret. It seemed so purely a +personal and private misfortune, that he had never dreamed of its having +any public interest. And even now he was a little ashamed of what he +believed was his sensitiveness to mere conventional criticism, which, +with the instinct of a proud man, he had despised. + +He was not far wrong in his sardonic intuition of the effect of his +prohibition upon Miss Faulkner's feelings. Certainly that young lady, +when not engaged in her mysterious occupation of arranging her uncle's +effects, occasionally was seen in the garden, and in the woods beyond. +Although her presence was the signal for the “oblique” of any lounging +“shoulder strap,” or the vacant “front” of a posted sentry, she seemed +to regard their occasional proximity with less active disfavor. Once, +when she had mounted the wall to gather a magnolia blossom, the chair by +which she had ascended rolled over, leaving her on the wall. At a +signal from the guard-room, two sappers and miners appeared carrying +a scaling-ladder, which they placed silently against the wall, and as +silently withdrew. On another occasion, the same spirited young lady, +whom Brant was satisfied would have probably imperiled her life under +fire in devotion to her cause, was brought ignominiously to bay in the +field by that most appalling of domestic animals, the wandering and +untrammeled cow! Brant could not help smiling as he heard the quick, +harsh call to “Turn out, guard,” saw the men march stolidly with fixed +bayonets to the vicinity of the affrighted animal, who fled, leaving +the fair stranger to walk shamefacedly to the house. He was surprised, +however, that she should have halted before his door, and with tremulous +indignation, said,-- + +“I thank you, sir, for your chivalrousness in turning a defenseless +woman into ridicule.” + +“I regret, Miss Faulkner,” began Brant gravely, “that you should believe +that I am able to control the advances of farmyard cattle as easily +as”--But he stopped, as he saw that the angry flash of her blue eyes, +as she darted past him, was set in tears. A little remorseful on the +following day, he added a word to his ordinary cap-lifting when she +went by, but she retained a reproachful silence. Later in the day, he +received from her servant a respectful request for an interview, and +was relieved to find that she entered his presence with no trace of her +former aggression, but rather with the resignation of a deeply injured, +yet not entirely unforgiving, woman. + +“I thought,” she began coldly, “that I ought to inform you that I +would probably be able to conclude my business here by the day after +to-morrow, and that you would then be relieved of my presence. I am +aware--indeed,” she added, bitterly, “I could scarcely help perceiving, +that it has been an exceedingly irksome one.” + +“I trust,” began Brant coldly, “that no gentleman of my command has”-- + +“No!” + +She interrupted him quickly, with a return of her former manner, and a +passionate sweep of the hand. + +“Do you suppose for a moment that I am speaking--that I am even +thinking--of them? What are they to me?” + +“Thank you. I am glad to know that they are nothing; and that I may +now trust that you have consulted my wishes, and have reserved your +animosity solely for me,” returned Brant quietly. “That being so, I see +no reason for your hurrying your departure in the least.” + +She rose instantly. + +“I have,” she said slowly, controlling herself with a slight effort, +“found some one who will take my duty off my hands. She is a servant of +one of your neighbors,--who is an old friend of my uncle's. The woman is +familiar with the house, and our private property. I will give her full +instructions to act for me, and even an authorization in writing, if you +prefer it. She is already in the habit of coming here; but her visits +will give you very little trouble. And, as she is a slave, or, as you +call it, I believe, a chattel, she will be already quite accustomed +to the treatment which her class are in the habit of receiving from +Northern hands.” + +Without waiting to perceive the effect of her Parthian shot, she swept +proudly out of the room. + +“I wonder what she means,” mused Brant, as her quick step died away in +the passage. “One thing is certain,--a woman like that is altogether too +impulsive for a spy.” + +Later, in the twilight, he saw her walking in the garden. There was a +figure at her side. A little curious, he examined it more closely from +his window. It was already familiar to him,--the erect, shapely form +of his neighbor's servant. A thoughtful look passed over his face as he +muttered,--“So this is to be her deputy.” + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Called to a general council of officers at divisional headquarters the +next day, Brant had little time for further speculation regarding +his strange guest, but a remark from the division commander, that he +preferred to commit the general plan of a movement then under discussion +to their memories rather than to written orders in the ordinary routine, +seemed to show that his chief still suspected the existence of a spy. +He, therefore, told him of his late interview with Miss Faulkner, and +her probable withdrawal in favor of a mulatto neighbor. The division +commander received the information with indifference. + +“They're much too clever to employ a hussy like that, who shows her +hand at every turn, either as a spy or a messenger of spies,--and the +mulattoes are too stupid, to say nothing of their probable fidelity +to us. No, General, if we are watched, it is by an eagle, and not a +mocking-bird. Miss Faulkner has nothing worse about her than her tongue; +and there isn't the nigger blood in the whole South that would risk a +noose for her, or for any of their masters or mistresses!” + +It was, therefore, perhaps, with some mitigation of his usual critical +severity that he saw her walking before him alone in the lane as he +rode home to quarters. She was apparently lost in a half-impatient, +half-moody reverie, which even the trotting hoof-beats of his own and +his orderly's horse had not disturbed. From time to time she struck the +myrtle hedge beside her with the head of a large flower which hung +by its stalk from her listless hands, or held it to her face as if +to inhale its perfume. Dismissing his orderly by a side path, he rode +gently forward, but, to his surprise, without turning, or seeming to be +aware of his presence, she quickened her pace, and even appeared to look +from side to side for some avenue of escape. If only to mend matters, he +was obliged to ride quickly forward to her side, where he threw himself +from his horse, flung the reins on his arm, and began to walk beside +her. She at first turned a slightly flushed cheek away from him, and +then looked up with a purely simulated start of surprise. + +“I am afraid,” he said gently, “that I am the first to break my own +orders in regard to any intrusion on your privacy. But I wanted to ask +you if I could give you any aid whatever in the change you think of +making.” + +He was quite sincere,--had been touched by her manifest disturbance, +and, despite his masculine relentlessness of criticism, he had an +intuition of feminine suffering that was in itself feminine. + +“Meaning, that you are in a hurry to get rid of me,” she said curtly, +without raising her eyes. + +“Meaning that I only wish to expedite a business which I think is +unpleasant to you, but which I believe you have undertaken from +unselfish devotion.” + +The scant expression of a reserved nature is sometimes more attractive +to women than the most fluent vivacity. Possibly there was also a +melancholy grace in this sardonic soldier's manner that affected her, +for she looked up, and said impulsively,-- + +“You think so?” + +But he met her eager eyes with some surprise. + +“I certainly do,” he replied more coldly. “I can imagine your feelings +on finding your uncle's home in the possession of your enemies, and your +presence under the family roof only a sufferance. I can hardly believe +it a pleasure to you, or a task you would have accepted for yourself +alone.” + +“But,” she said, turning towards him wickedly, “what if I did it only to +excite my revenge; what if I knew it would give me courage to incite my +people to carry war into your own homes; to make you of the North feel +as I feel, and taste our bitterness?” + +“I could easily understand that, too,” he returned, with listless +coldness, “although I don't admit that revenge is an unmixed pleasure, +even to a woman.” + +“A woman!” she repeated indignantly. “There is no sex in a war like +this.” + +“You are spoiling your flower,” he said quietly. “It is very pretty, and +a native one, too; not an invader, or even transplanted. May I look at +it?” + +She hesitated, half recoiling for an instant, and her hand trembled. +Then, suddenly and abruptly she said, with a hysteric little laugh, +“Take it, then,” and almost thrust it in his hand. + +It certainly was a pretty flower, not unlike a lily in appearance, with +a bell-like cup and long anthers covered with a fine pollen, like red +dust. As he lifted it to his face, to inhale its perfume, she uttered a +slight cry, and snatched it from his hand. + +“There!” she said, with the same nervous laugh. “I knew you would; I +ought to have warned you. The pollen comes off so easily, and leaves a +stain. And you've got some on your cheek. Look!” she continued, taking +her handkerchief from her pocket and wiping his cheek; “see there!” The +delicate cambric showed a blood-red streak. + +“It grows in a swamp,” she continued, in the same excited strain; “we +call it dragon's teeth,--like the kind that was sown in the story, you +know. We children used to find it, and then paint our faces and lips +with it. We called it our rouge. I was almost tempted to try it again +when I found it just now. It took me back so to the old times.” + +Following her odd manner rather than her words, as she turned her face +towards him suddenly, Brant was inclined to think that she had tried it +already, so scarlet was her cheek. But it presently paled again under +his cold scrutiny. + +“You must miss the old times,” he said calmly. “I am afraid you found +very little of them left, except in these flowers.” + +“And hardly these,” she said bitterly. “Your troops had found a way +through the marsh, and had trampled down the bushes.” + +Brant's brow clouded. He remembered that the brook, which had run red +during the fight, had lost itself in this marsh. It did not increase his +liking for this beautiful but blindly vicious animal at his side, and +even his momentary pity for her was fading fast. She was incorrigible. +They walked on for a few moments in silence. + +“You said,” she began at last, in a gentler and even hesitating voice, +“that your wife was a Southern woman.” + +He checked an irritated start with difficulty. + +“I believe I did,” he said coldly, as if he regretted it. + +“And of course you taught her YOUR gospel,--the gospel according to +St. Lincoln. Oh, I know,” she went on hurriedly, as if conscious of his +irritation and seeking to allay it. “She was a woman and loved you, and +thought with your thoughts and saw only with your eyes. Yes, that's the +way with us,--I suppose we all do it!” she added bitterly. + +“She had her own opinions,” said Brant briefly, as he recovered himself. + +Nevertheless, his manner so decidedly closed all further discussion that +there was nothing left for the young girl but silence. But it was broken +by her in a few moments in her old contemptuous voice and manner. + +“Pray don't trouble yourself to accompany me any further, General Brant. +Unless, of course, you are afraid I may come across some of your--your +soldiers. I promise you I won't eat them.” + +“I am afraid you must suffer my company a little longer, Miss Faulkner, +on account of those same soldiers,” returned Brant gravely. “You may not +know that this road, in which I find you, takes you through a cordon +of pickets. If you were alone you would be stopped, questioned, and, +failing to give the password, you would be detained, sent to the +guard-house, and”--he stopped, and fixed his eyes on her keenly as he +added, “and searched.” + +“You would not dare to search a woman!” she said indignantly, although +her flush gave way to a slight pallor. + +“You said just now that there should be no sex in a war like this,” + returned Brant carelessly, but without abating his scrutinizing gaze. + +“Then it IS war?” she said quickly, with a white, significant face. + +His look of scrutiny turned to one of puzzled wonder. But at the same +moment there was the flash of a bayonet in the hedge, a voice called +“Halt!” and a soldier stepped into the road. + +General Brant advanced, met the salute of the picket with a few formal +words, and then turned towards his fair companion, as another soldier +and a sergeant joined the group. + +“Miss Faulkner is new to the camp, took the wrong turning, and was +unwittingly leaving the lines when I joined her.” He fixed his eyes +intently on her now colorless face, but she did not return his look. +“You will show her the shortest way to quarters,” he continued, to the +sergeant, “and should she at any time again lose her way, you will again +conduct her home,--but without detaining or reporting her.” + +He lifted his cap, remounted his horse, and rode away, as the young +girl, with a proud, indifferent step, moved down the road with the +sergeant. A mounted officer passed him and saluted,--it was one of his +own staff. From some strange instinct, he knew that he had witnessed the +scene, and from some equally strange intuition he was annoyed by it. But +he continued his way, visiting one or two outposts, and returned by a +long detour to his quarters. As he stepped upon the veranda he saw Miss +Faulkner at the bottom of the garden talking with some one across the +hedge. By the aid of his glass he could recognize the shapely figure +of the mulatto woman which he had seen before. But by its aid he also +discovered that she was carrying a flower exactly like the one which +Miss Faulkner still held in her hand. Had she been with Miss Faulkner in +the lane, and if so, why had she disappeared when he came up? Impelled +by something stronger than mere curiosity, he walked quickly down +the garden, but she evidently had noticed him, for she as quickly +disappeared. Not caring to meet Miss Faulkner again, he retraced his +steps, resolving that he would, on the first opportunity, personally +examine and interrogate this new visitor. For if she were to take Miss +Faulkner's place in a subordinate capacity, this precaution was clearly +within his rights. + +He re-entered his room and seated himself at his desk before the +dispatches, orders, and reports awaiting him. He found himself, however, +working half mechanically, and recurring to his late interview with Miss +Faulkner in the lane. If she had any inclination to act the spy, or +to use her position here as a means of communicating with the enemy's +lines, he thought he had thoroughly frightened her. Nevertheless, now, +for the first time, he was inclined to accept his chief's opinion of +her. She was not only too clumsy and inexperienced, but she totally +lacked the self-restraint of a spy. Her nervous agitation in the lane +was due to something more disturbing than his mere possible intrusion +upon her confidences with the mulatto. The significance of her question, +“Then it IS war?” was at best a threat, and that implied hesitation. He +recalled her strange allusion to his wife; was it merely the outcome +of his own foolish confession on their first interview, or was it a +concealed ironical taunt? Being satisfied, however, that she was not +likely to imperil his public duty in any way, he was angry with himself +for speculating further. But, although he still felt towards her the +same antagonism she had at first provoked, he was conscious that she was +beginning to exercise a strange fascination over him. + +Dismissing her at last with an effort, he finished his work and then +rose, and unlocking a closet, took out a small dispatch-box, to which +he intended to intrust a few more important orders and memoranda. As +he opened it with a key on his watch-chain, he was struck with a faint +perfume that seemed to come from it,--a perfume that he remembered. Was +it the smell of the flower that Miss Faulkner carried, or the scent of +the handkerchief with which she had wiped his cheek, or a mingling of +both? Or was he under some spell to think of that wretched girl, and her +witch-like flower? He leaned over the box and suddenly started. Upon +the outer covering of a dispatch was a singular blood-red streak! +He examined it closely,--it was the powdery stain of the lily +pollen,--exactly as he had seen it on her handkerchief. + +There could be no mistake. He passed his finger over the stain; he could +still feel the slippery, infinitesimal powder of the pollen. It was not +there when he had closed the box that morning; it was impossible that +it should be there unless the box had been opened in his absence. He +re-examined the contents of the box; the papers were all there. More +than that, they were papers of no importance except to him personally; +contained no plans nor key to any military secret; he had been far too +wise to intrust any to the accidents of this alien house. The prying +intruder, whoever it was, had gained nothing! But there was unmistakably +the attempt! And the existence of a would-be spy within the purlieus of +the house was equally clear. + +He called an officer from the next room. + +“Has any one been here since my absence?” + +“No, General.” + +“Has any one passed through the hall?” + +He had fully anticipated the answer, as the subaltern replied, “Only the +women servants.” + +He re-entered the room. Closing the door, he again carefully examined +the box, his table, the papers upon it, the chair before it, and even +the Chinese matting on the floor, for any further indication of the +pollen. It hardly seemed possible that any one could have entered +the room with the flower in their hand without scattering some of the +tell-tale dust elsewhere; it was too large a flower to be worn on the +breast or in the hair. Again, no one would have dared to linger there +long enough to have made an examination of the box, with an officer in +the next room, and the sergeant passing. The box had been removed, and +the examination made elsewhere! + +An idea seized him. Miss Faulkner was still absent, the mulatto had +apparently gone home. He quickly mounted the staircase, but instead of +entering his room, turned suddenly aside into the wing which had been +reserved. The first door yielded as he turned its knob gently and +entered a room which he at once recognized as the “young lady's +boudoir.” But the dusty and draped furniture had been rearranged and +uncovered, and the apartment bore every sign of present use. Yet, +although there was unmistakable evidence of its being used by a person +of taste and refinement, he was surprised to see that the garments +hanging in an open press were such as were used by negro servants, and +that a gaudy handkerchief such as housemaids used for turbans was lying +on the pretty silk coverlet. He did not linger over these details, but +cast a rapid glance round the room. Then his eyes became fixed on a +fanciful writing-desk, which stood by the window. For, in a handsome +vase placed on its level top, and drooping on a portfolio below, hung a +cluster of the very flowers that Miss Faulkner had carried! + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +It seemed plain to Brant that the dispatch-box had been conveyed here +and opened for security on this desk, and in the hurry of examining +the papers the flower had been jostled and the fallen grains of pollen +overlooked by the spy. There were one or two freckles of red on the +desk, which made this accident appear the more probable. But he was +equally struck by another circumstance. The desk stood immediately +before the window. As he glanced mechanically from it, he was surprised +to see that it commanded an extensive view of the slope below the +eminence on which the house stood, even beyond his furthest line of +pickets. The vase of flowers, each of which was nearly as large as a +magnolia blossom, and striking in color, occupied a central position +before it, and no doubt could be quite distinctly seen from a distance. +From this circumstance he could not resist the strong impression that +this fateful and extraordinary blossom, carried by Miss Faulkner and the +mulatto, and so strikingly “in evidence” at the window, was in some +way a signal. Obeying an impulse which he was conscious had a half +superstitious foundation, he carefully lifted the vase from its position +before the window, and placed it on a side table. Then he cautiously +slipped from the room. + +But he could not easily shake off the perplexity which the occurrence +had caused, although he was satisfied that it was fraught with no +military or strategic danger to his command, and that the unknown spy +had obtained no information whatever. Yet he was forced to admit to +himself that he was more concerned in his attempts to justify the +conduct of Miss Faulkner with this later revelation. It was quite +possible that the dispatch-box had been purloined by some one else +during her absence from the house, as the presence of the mulatto +servant in his room would have been less suspicious than hers. There +was really little evidence to connect Miss Faulkner with the actual +outrage,--rather might not the real spy have taken advantage of her +visit here, to throw suspicion upon her? He remembered her singular +manner,--the strange inconsistency with which she had forced this flower +upon him. She would hardly have done so had she been conscious of its +having so serious an import. Yet, what was the secret of her manifest +agitation? A sudden inspiration flashed across his mind; a smile came +upon his lips. She was in love! The enemy's line contained some sighing +Strephon of a young subaltern with whom she was in communication, and +for whom she had undertaken this quest. The flower was their language of +correspondence, no doubt. It explained also the young girl's animosity +against the younger officers,--his adversaries; against himself,--their +commander. He had previously wondered why, if she were indeed a spy, she +had not chosen, upon some equally specious order from Washington, +the headquarters of the division commander, whose secrets were more +valuable. This was explained by the fact that she was nearer the lines +and her lover in her present abode. He had no idea that he was making +excuses for her,--he believed himself only just. The recollection of +what she had said of the power of love, albeit it had hurt him cruelly +at the time, was now clearer to him, and even seemed to mitigate her +offense. She would be here but a day or two longer; he could afford to +wait without interrogating her. + +But as to the real intruder, spy or thief,--that was another affair, and +quickly settled. He gave an order to the officer of the day peremptorily +forbidding the entrance of alien servants or slaves within the precincts +of the headquarters. Any one thus trespassing was to be brought before +him. The officer looked surprised, he even fancied disappointed. The +graces of the mulatto woman's figure had evidently not been thrown away +upon his subalterns. + +An hour or two later, when he was mounting his horse for a round of +inspection, he was surprised to see Miss Faulkner, accompanied by the +mulatto woman, running hurriedly to the house. He had forgotten his late +order until he saw the latter halted by the sentries, but the young girl +came flying on, regardless of her companion. Her skirt was held in one +hand, her straw hat had fallen back in her flight, and was caught only +by a ribbon around her swelling throat, and her loosened hair lay in a +black rippled loop on one shoulder. For an instant Brant thought that +she was seeking him in indignation at his order, but a second look at +her set face, eager eyes, and parted scarlet lips, showed him that she +had not even noticed him in the concentration of her purpose. She swept +by him into the hall, he heard the swish of her skirt and rapid feet on +the stairs,--she was gone. What had happened, or was this another of her +moods? + +But he was called to himself by the apparition of a corporal standing +before him, with the mulatto woman,--the first capture under his order. +She was tall, well-formed, but unmistakably showing the negro type, even +in her small features. Her black eyes were excited, but unintelligent; +her manner dogged, but with the obstinacy of half-conscious stupidity. +Brant felt not only disappointed, but had a singular impression that she +was not the same woman that he had first seen. Yet there was the tall, +graceful figure, the dark profile, and the turbaned head that he had +once followed down the passage by his room. + +Her story was as stupidly simple. She had known “Missy” from a chile! +She had just traipsed over to see her that afternoon; they were walking +together when the sojers stopped her. She had never been stopped before, +even by “the patter rollers.” * Her old massa (Manly) had gib leaf to go +see Miss Tilly, and hadn't said nuffin about no “orders.” + + * i. e., patrols,--a civic home-guard in the South that kept + surveillance of slaves. + +More annoyed than he cared to confess, Brant briefly dismissed her with +a warning. As he cantered down the slope the view of the distant pickets +recalled the window in the wing, and he turned in his saddle to look at +it. There it was--the largest and most dominant window in that part of +the building--and within it, a distinct and vivid object almost filling +the opening, was the vase of flowers, which he had a few hours ago +removed, RESTORED TO ITS ORIGINAL POSITION! He smiled. The hurried +entrance and consternation of Miss Faulkner were now fully explained. +He had interrupted some impassioned message, perhaps even countermanded +some affectionate rendezvous beyond the lines. And it seemed to settle +the fact that it was she who had done the signaling! But would not this +also make her cognizant of the taking of the dispatch-box? He reflected, +however, that the room was apparently occupied by the mulatto woman--he +remembered the calico dresses and turban on the bed--and it was possible +that Miss Faulkner had only visited it for the purpose of signaling +to her lover. Although this circumstance did not tend to make his mind +easier, it was, however, presently diverted by a new arrival and a +strange recognition. + +As he rode through the camp a group of officers congregated before a +large mess tent appeared to be highly amused by the conversation--half +monologue and half harangue of a singular-looking individual who stood +in the centre. He wore a “slouch” hat, to the band of which he had +imparted a military air by the addition of a gold cord, but the brim was +caught up at the side in a peculiarly theatrical and highly artificial +fashion. A heavy cavalry sabre depended from a broad-buckled belt under +his black frock coat, with the addition of two revolvers--minus their +holsters--stuck on either side of the buckle, after the style of a stage +smuggler. A pair of long enameled leather riding boots, with the tops +turned deeply over, as if they had once done duty for the representative +of a cavalier, completed his extraordinary equipment. The group were so +absorbed in him that they did not perceive the approach of their chief +and his orderly; and Brant, with a sign to the latter, halted only a few +paces from this central figure. His speech was a singular mingling +of high-flown and exalted epithets, with inexact pronunciation and +occasional lapses of Western slang. + +“Well, I ain't purtendin' to any stratutegical smartness, and I didn't +gradooate at West Point as one of those Apocryphal Engineers; I don't +do much talking about 'flank' movements or 'recognizances in force' or +'Ekellon skirmishing,' but when it comes down to square Ingin fightin', +I reckon I kin have my say. There are men who don't know the Army +Contractor,” he added darkly, “who mebbe have heard of 'Red Jim.' I +don't mention names, gentlemen, but only the other day a man that +you all know says to me, 'If I only knew what you do about scoutin' I +wouldn't be wanting for information as I do.' I ain't goin' to say who +it was, or break any confidences between gentlemen by saying how many +stars he had on his shoulder strap; but he was a man who knew what he +was saying. And I say agin, gentlemen, that the curse of the Northern +Army is the want of proper scoutin'. What was it caused Bull's +Run?--Want o' scoutin'. What was it rolled up Pope?--Want o' scoutin'. +What caused the slaughter at the Wilderness?--Want o' scoutin'--Ingin +scoutin'! Why, only the other day, gentlemen, I was approached to know +what I'd take to organize a scoutin' force. And what did I say?--'No, +General; it ain't because I represent one of the largest Army Beef +Contracts in this country,' says I. 'It ain't because I belong, so to +speak, to the “Sinews of War;” but because I'd want about ten thousand +trained Ingins from the Reservations!' And the regular West Point, +high-toned, scientific inkybus that weighs so heavily on our army don't +see it--and won't have it! Then Sherman, he sez to me”-- + +But here a roar of laughter interrupted him, and in the cross fire of +sarcastic interrogations that began Brant saw, with relief, a chance +of escape. For in the voice, manner, and, above all, the characteristic +temperament of the stranger, he had recognized his old playmate and the +husband of Susy,--the redoubtable Jim Hooker! There was no mistaking +that gloomy audacity; that mysterious significance; that magnificent +lying. But even at that moment Clarence Brant's heart had gone out, with +all his old loyalty of feeling, towards his old companion. He knew that +a public recognition of him then and there would plunge Hooker into +confusion; he felt keenly the ironical plaudits and laughter of his +officers over the manifest weakness and vanity of the ex-teamster, +ex-rancher, ex-actor, and husband of his old girl sweetheart, and would +have spared him the knowledge that he had overheard it. Turning hastily +to the orderly, he bade him bring the stranger to his headquarters, and +rode away unperceived. + +He had heard enough, however, to account for his presence there, and the +singular chance that had brought them again together. He was evidently +one of those large civil contractors of supplies whom the Government was +obliged to employ, who visited the camp half officially, and whom the +army alternately depended upon and abused. Brant had dealt with his +underlings in the Commissariat, and even now remembered that he had +heard he was coming, but had overlooked the significance of his name. +But how he came to leave his theatrical profession, how he had attained +a position which implied a command of considerable capital--for many of +the contractors had already amassed large fortunes--and what had become +of Susy and her ambitions in this radical change of circumstances, were +things still to be learned. In his own changed conditions he had seldom +thought of her; it was with a strange feeling of irritation and half +responsibility that he now recalled their last interview and the emotion +to which he had yielded. + +He had not long to wait. He had scarcely regained the quarters at his +own private office before he heard the step of the orderly upon the +veranda and the trailing clank of Hooker's sabre. He did not know, +however, that Hooker, without recognizing his name, had received the +message as a personal tribute, and had left his sarcastic companions +triumphantly, with the air of going to a confidential interview, to +which his well-known military criticism had entitled him. It was with +a bearing of gloomy importance and his characteristic, sullen, sidelong +glance that he entered the apartment and did not look up until Brant had +signaled the orderly to withdraw, and closed the door behind him. And +then he recognized his old boyish companion--the preferred favorite of +fortune! + +For a moment he gasped with astonishment. For a moment gloomy +incredulity, suspicion, delight, pride, admiration, even affection, +struggled for mastery in his sullen, staring eyes and open, twitching +mouth. For here was Clarence Brant, handsomer than ever, more superior +than ever, in the majesty of uniform and authority which fitted him--the +younger man--by reason of his four years of active service, with the +careless ease and bearing of the veteran! Here was the hero whose name +was already so famous that the mere coincidence of it with that of the +modest civilian he had known would have struck him as preposterous. +Yet here he was--supreme, and dazzling--surrounded by the pomp and +circumstance of war--into whose reserved presence he, Jim Hooker, had +been ushered with the formality of challenge, saluting, and presented +bayonets! + +Luckily, Brant had taken advantage of his first gratified ejaculation to +shake him warmly by the hand, and then, with both hands laid familiarly +on his shoulder, force him down into a chair. Luckily, for by that time +Jim Hooker had, with characteristic gloominess, found time to taste the +pangs of envy--an envy the more keen since, in spite of his success as a +peaceful contractor, he had always secretly longed for military display +and distinction. He looked at the man who had achieved it, as he firmly +believed, by sheer luck and accident, and his eyes darkened. Then, +with characteristic weakness and vanity, he began to resist his first +impressions of Clarence's superiority, and to air his own importance. +He leaned heavily back in the chair in which he had been thus genially +forced, drew off his gauntlet and attempted to thrust it through his +belt, as he had seen Brant do, but failed on account of his pistols +already occupying that position, dropped it, got his sword between +his legs in attempting to pick it up, and then leaned back again, with +half-closed eyes serenely indifferent of his old companion's smiling +face. + +“I reckon,” he began slowly, with a slightly patronizing air, “that we'd +have met, sooner or later, at Washington, or at Grant's headquarters, +for Hooker, Meacham & Co. go everywhere, and are about as well known as +major-generals, to say nothin',” he went on, with a sidelong glance at +Brant's shoulder-straps, “of brigadiers; and it's rather strange--only, +of course, you're kind of fresh in the service--that you ain't heard of +me afore.” + +“But I'm very glad to hear of you now, Jim,” said Brant, smiling, +“and from your own lips--which I am also delighted to find,” he added +mischievously, “are still as frankly communicative on that topic as of +old. But I congratulate you, old fellow, on your good fortune. When did +you leave the stage?” + +Mr. Hooker frowned slightly. + +“I never was really on the stage, you know,” he said, waving his hand +with assumed negligence. “Only went on to please my wife. Mrs. Hooker +wouldn't act with vulgar professionals, don't you see! I was really +manager most of the time, and lessee of the theatre. Went East when +the war broke out, to offer my sword and knowledge of Ingin fightin' to +Uncle Sam! Drifted into a big pork contract at St. Louis, with Fremont. +Been at it ever since. Offered a commission in the reg'lar service lots +o' times. Refused.” + +“Why?” asked Brant demurely. + +“Too much West Point starch around to suit ME,” returned Hooker darkly. +“And too many spies!” + +“Spies?” echoed Brant abstractedly, with a momentary reminiscence of +Miss Faulkner. + +“Yes, spies,” continued Hooker, with dogged mystery. “One half of +Washington is watching t'other half, and, from the President's wife +down, most of the women are secesh!” + +Brant suddenly fixed his keen eyes on his guest. But the next moment he +reflected that this was only Jim Hooker's usual speech, and possessed no +ulterior significance. He smiled again, and said, more gently,-- + +“And how is Mrs. Hooker?” + +Mr. Hooker fixed his eyes on the ceiling, rose, and pretended to look +out of the window; then, taking his seat again by the table, as if +fronting an imaginary audience, and pulling slowly at his gauntlets +after the usual theatrical indication of perfect sangfroid, said,-- + +“There ain't any!” + +“Good heavens!” said Brant, with genuine emotion. “I beg your pardon. +Really, I”-- + +“Mrs. Hooker and me are divorced,” continued Hooker, slightly changing +his attitude, and leaning heavily on his sabre, with his eyes still on +his fanciful audience. “There was, you understand”--lightly tossing his +gauntlet aside--“incompatibility of temper--and--we--parted! Ha!” + +He uttered a low, bitter, scornful laugh, which, however, produced the +distinct impression in Brant's mind that up to that moment he had never +had the slightest feeling in the matter whatever. + +“You seemed to be on such good terms with each other!” murmured Brant +vaguely. + +“Seemed!” said Hooker bitterly, glancing sardonically at an ideal second +row in the pit before him, “yes--seemed! There were other differences, +social and political. You understand that; you have suffered, too.” He +reached out his hand and pressed Brant's, in heavy effusiveness. “But,” + he continued haughtily, lightly tossing his glove again, “we are also +men of the world; we let that pass.” + +And it was possible that he found the strain of his present attitude too +great, for he changed to an easier position. + +“But,” said Brant curiously, “I always thought that Mrs. Hooker was +intensely Union and Northern?” + +“Put on!” said Hooker, in his natural voice. + +“But you remember the incident of the flag?” persisted Brant. + +“Mrs. Hooker was always an actress,” said Hooker significantly. +“But,” he added cheerfully, “Mrs. Hooker is now the wife of Senator +Boompointer, one of the wealthiest and most powerful Republicans in +Washington--carries the patronage of the whole West in his vest pocket.” + +“Yet, if she is not a Republican, why did she”--began Brant. + +“For a purpose,” replied Hooker darkly. “But,” he added again, with +greater cheerfulness, “she belongs to the very elite of Washington +society. Goes to all the foreign ambassadors' balls, and is a power +at the White House. Her picture is in all the first-class illustrated +papers.” + +The singular but unmistakable pride of the man in the importance of the +wife from whom he was divorced, and for whom he did not care, would have +offended Brant's delicacy, or at least have excited his ridicule, but +for the reason that he was more deeply stung by Hooker's allusion to his +own wife and his degrading similitude of their two conditions. But he +dismissed the former as part of Hooker's invincible and still boyish +extravagance, and the latter as part of his equally characteristic +assumption. Perhaps he was conscious, too, notwithstanding the lapse +of years and the condonation of separation and forgetfulness, that he +deserved little delicacy from the hands of Susy's husband. Nevertheless, +he dreaded to hear him speak again of her; and the fear was realized in +a question. + +“Does she know you are here?” + +“Who?” said Brant curtly. + +“Your wife. That is--I reckon she's your wife still, eh?” + +“Yes; but I do not know what she knows,” returned Brant quietly. He had +regained his self-composure. + +“Susy,--Mrs. Senator Boompointer, that is,”--said Hooker, with an +apparent dignity in his late wife's new title, “allowed that she'd gone +abroad on a secret mission from the Southern Confederacy to them crowned +heads over there. She was good at ropin' men in, you know. Anyhow, Susy, +afore she was Mrs. Boompointer, was dead set on findin' out where she +was, but never could. She seemed to drop out of sight a year ago. Some +said one thing, and some said another. But you can bet your bottom +dollar that Mrs. Senator Boompointer, who knows how to pull all the +wires in Washington, will know, if any one does.” + +“But is Mrs. Boompointer really disaffected, and a Southern +sympathizer?” said Brant, “or is it only caprice or fashion?” + +While speaking he had risen, with a half-abstracted face, and had gone +to the window, where he stood in a listening attitude. Presently he +opened the window, and stepped outside. Hooker wonderingly followed him. +One or two officers had already stepped out of their rooms, and were +standing upon the veranda; another had halted in the path. Then one +quickly re-entered the house, reappeared with his cap and sword in his +hand, and ran lightly toward the guard-house. A slight crackling noise +seemed to come from beyond the garden wall. + +“What's up?” said Hooker, with staring eyes. + +“Picket firing!” + +The crackling suddenly became a long rattle. Brant re-entered the room, +and picked up his hat. + +“You'll excuse me for a few moments.” + +A faint sound, soft yet full, and not unlike a bursting bubble, made the +house appear to leap elastically, like the rebound of a rubber ball. + +“What's that?” gasped Hooker. + +“Cannon, out of range!” + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +In another instant bugles were ringing through the camp, with the +hurrying hoofs of mounted officers and the trampling of forming men. The +house itself was almost deserted. Although the single cannon-shot had +been enough to show that it was no mere skirmishing of pickets, Brant +still did not believe in any serious attack of the enemy. His position, +as in the previous engagement, had no strategic importance to them; they +were no doubt only making a feint against it to conceal some advance +upon the centre of the army two miles away. Satisfied that he was in +easy supporting distance of his division commander, he extended his line +along the ridge, ready to fall back in that direction, while retarding +their advance and masking the position of his own chief. He gave a few +orders necessary to the probable abandonment of the house, and then +returned to it. Shot and shell were already dropping in the field below. +A thin ridge of blue haze showed the line of skirmish fire. A small +conical, white cloud, like a bursting cotton-pod, revealed an open +battery in the willow-fringed meadow. Yet the pastoral peacefulness +of the house was unchanged. The afternoon sun lay softly on its deep +verandas; the pot pourri incense of fallen rose-leaves haunted it still. + +He entered his room through the French window on the veranda, when the +door leading from the passage was suddenly flung open, and Miss Faulkner +swept quickly inside, closed the door behind her, and leaned back +against it, panting and breathless. + +Clarence was startled, and for a moment ashamed. He had suddenly +realized that in the excitement he had entirely forgotten her and +the dangers to which she might be exposed. She had probably heard the +firing, her womanly fears had been awakened; she had come to him for +protection. But as he turned towards her with a reassuring smile, he +was shocked to see that her agitation and pallor were far beyond any +physical cause. She motioned him desperately to shut the window by which +he had entered, and said, with white lips,-- + +“I must speak with you alone!” + +“Certainly. But there is no immediate danger to you even here--and I can +soon put you beyond the reach of any possible harm.” + +“Harm--to me! God! if it were only that!” + +He stared at her uneasily. + +“Listen,” she said gaspingly, “listen to me! Then hate, despise me--kill +me if you will. For you are betrayed and ruined--cut off and surrounded! +It has been helped on by me, but I swear to you the blow did not come +from MY hand. I would have saved you. God only knows how it happened--it +was Fate!” + +In an instant Brant saw the whole truth instinctively and clearly. But +with the revelation came the usual calmness and perfect self-possession +which never yet had failed him in any emergency. With the sound of the +increasing cannonade and its shifting position made clearer to his ears, +the view of his whole threatened position spread out like a map before +his eyes, the swift calculation of the time his men could hold the ridge +in his mind--even a hurried estimate of the precious moments he could +give to the wretched woman before him--he even then, gravely and gently, +led her to a chair and said in a calm voice,-- + +“That is not enough! Speak slowly, plainly. I must know everything. How +and in what way have you betrayed me?” + +She looked at him imploringly--reassured, yet awed by his gentleness. + +“You won't believe me; you cannot believe me! for I do not even know. +I have taken and exchanged letters--whose contents I never saw--between +the Confederates and a spy who comes to this house, but who is far +away by this time. I did it because I thought you hated and despised me +because I thought it was my duty to help my cause--because you said it +was 'war' between us--but I never spied on you. I swear it.” + +“Then how do you know of this attack?” he said calmly. + +She brightened, half timidly, half hopefully. + +“There is a window in the wing of this house that overlooks the slope +near the Confederate lines. There was a signal placed in it--not by +me--but I know it meant that as long as it was there the plot, whatever +it was, was not ripe, and that no attack would be made on you as long as +it was visible. That much I know,--that much the spy had to tell me, for +we both had to guard that room in turns. I wanted to keep this dreadful +thing off--until”--her voice trembled, “until,” she added hurriedly, +seeing his calm eyes were reading her very soul, “until I went away--and +for that purpose I withheld some of the letters that were given me. But +this morning, while I was away from the house, I looked back and saw +that the signal was no longer there. Some one had changed it. I ran +back, but I was too late--God help me!--as you see.” + +The truth flashed upon Brant. It was his own hand that had precipitated +the attack. But a larger truth came to him now, like a dazzling +inspiration. If he had thus precipitated the attack before they were +ready, there was a chance that it was imperfect, and there was still +hope. But there was no trace of this visible in his face as he fixed his +eyes calmly on hers, although his pulses were halting in expectancy as +he said-- + +“Then the spy had suspected you, and changed it.” + +“Oh, no,” she said eagerly, “for the spy was with me and was frightened +too. We both ran back together--you remember--she was stopped by the +patrol!” + +She checked herself suddenly, but too late. Her cheeks blazed, her +head sank, with the foolish identification of the spy into which her +eagerness had betrayed her. + +But Brant appeared not to notice it. He was, in fact, puzzling his +brain to conceive what information the stupid mulatto woman could +have obtained here. His strength, his position was no secret to the +enemy--there was nothing to gain from him. She must have been, like the +trembling, eager woman before him, a mere tool of others. + +“Did this woman live here?” he said. + +“No,” she said. “She lived with the Manlys, but had friends whom she +visited at your general's headquarters.” + +With difficulty Brant suppressed a start. It was clear to him now. The +information had been obtained at the division headquarters, and passed +through his camp as being nearest the Confederate lines. But what was +the information--and what movement had he precipitated? It was clear +that this woman did not know. He looked at her keenly. A sudden +explosion shook the house,--a drift of smoke passed the window,--a shell +had burst in the garden. + +She had been gazing at him despairingly, wistfully--but did not blanch +or start. + +An idea took possession of him. He approached her, and took her cold +hand. A half-smile parted her pale lips. + +“You have courage--you have devotion,” he said gravely. “I believe you +regret the step you have taken. If you could undo what you have done, +even at peril to yourself, dare you do it?” + +“Yes,” she said breathlessly. + +“You are known to the enemy. If I am surrounded, you could pass through +their lines unquestioned?” + +“Yes,” she said eagerly. + +“A note from me would pass you again through the pickets of our +headquarters. But you would bear a note to the general that no eyes but +his must see. It would not implicate you or yours; would only be a word +of warning.” + +“And you,” she said quickly, “would be saved! They would come to your +assistance! You would not then be taken?” + +He smiled gently. + +“Perhaps--who knows!” + +He sat down and wrote hurriedly. + +“This,” he said, handing her a slip of paper, “is a pass. You will use +it beyond your own lines. This note,” he continued, handing her a +sealed envelope, “is for the general. No one else must see it or know of +it--not even your lover, should you meet him!” + +“My lover!” she said indignantly, with a flash of her old savagery; +“what do you mean? I have no lover!” + +Brant glanced at her flushed face. + +“I thought,” he said quietly, “that there was some one you cared for in +yonder lines--some one you wrote to. It would have been an excuse”-- + +He stopped, as her face paled again, and her hands dropped heavily at +her side. + +“Good God!--you thought that, too! You thought that I would sacrifice +you for another man!” + +“Pardon me,” said Brant quickly. “I was foolish. But whether your +lover is a man or a cause, you have shown a woman's devotion. And, in +repairing your fault, you are showing more than a woman's courage now.” + +To his surprise, the color had again mounted her pretty cheeks, and even +a flash of mischief shone in her blue eyes. + +“It would have been an excuse,” she murmured, “yes--to save a man, +surely!” Then she said quickly, “I will go. At once! I am ready!” + +“One moment,” he said gravely. “Although this pass and an escort insure +your probable safe conduct, this is 'war' and danger! You are still a +spy! Are you ready to go?” + +“I am,” she said proudly, tossing back a braid of her fallen hair. Yet +a moment after she hesitated. Then she said, in a lower voice, “Are you +ready to forgive?” + +“In either case,” he said, touched by her manner; “and God speed you!” + +He extended his hand, and left a slight pressure on her cold fingers. +But they slipped quickly from his grasp, and she turned away with a +heightened color. + +He stepped to the door. One or two aides-de-camp, withheld by his order +against intrusion, were waiting eagerly with reports. The horse of a +mounted field officer was pawing the garden turf. The officers stared at +the young girl. + +“Take Miss Faulkner, with a flag, to some safe point of the enemy's +line. She is a non-combatant of their own, and will receive their +protection.” + +He had scarcely exchanged a dozen words with the aides-de-camp before +the field officer hurriedly entered. Taking Brant aside, he said +quickly,-- + +“Pardon me, General; but there is a strong feeling among the men that +this attack is the result of some information obtained by the enemy. +You must know that the woman you have just given a safeguard to is +suspected, and the men are indignant.” + +“The more reason why she should be conveyed beyond any consequences of +their folly, Major,” said Brant frigidly, “and I look to you for her +safe convoy. There is nothing in this attack to show that the enemy has +received any information regarding us. But I would suggest that it would +be better to see that my orders are carried out regarding the slaves and +non-combatants who are passing our lines from divisional headquarters, +where valuable information may be obtained, than in the surveillance of +a testy and outspoken girl.” + +An angry flush crossed the major's cheek as he saluted and fell back, +and Brant turned to the aide-de-camp. The news was grave. The column +of the enemy was moving against the ridge--it was no longer possible +to hold it--and the brigade was cut off from its communication with the +divisional headquarters, although as yet no combined movement was made +against it. Brant's secret fears that it was an intended impact against +the centre were confirmed. Would his communication to the divisional +commander pass through the attacking column in time? + +Yet one thing puzzled him. The enemy, after forcing his flank, had shown +no disposition, even with their overwhelming force, to turn aside and +crush him. He could easily have fallen back, when it was possible to +hold the ridge no longer, without pursuit. His other flank and rear were +not threatened, as they might have been, by the division of so large an +attacking column, which was moving steadily on towards the ridge. It was +this fact that seemed to show a failure or imperfection in the enemy's +plan. It was possible that his precipitation of the attack by the +changed signal had been the cause of it. Doubtless some provision had +been made to attack him in flank and rear, but in the unexpected hurry +of the onset it had to be abandoned. He could still save himself, as his +officers knew; but his conviction that he might yet be able to support +his divisional commander by holding his position doggedly, but coolly +awaiting his opportunity, was strong. More than that, it was his +temperament and instinct. + +Harrying them in flank and rear, contesting the ground inch by inch, +and holding his own against the artillery sent to dislodge him, or the +outriding cavalry that, circling round, swept through his open ranks, he +saw his files melt away beside this steady current without flinching. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Yet all along the fateful ridge--now obscured and confused with +thin crossing smoke-drifts from file-firing, like partly rubbed-out +slate-pencil marks; or else, when cleared of those drifts, presenting +only an indistinguishable map of zigzag lines of straggling wagons and +horses, unintelligible to any eye but his--the singular magnetism of the +chief was felt everywhere: whether it was shown in the quick closing +in of resistance to some sharper onset of the enemy or the more dogged +stand of inaction under fire, his power was always dominant. A word +or two of comprehensive direction sent through an aide-de-camp, or the +sudden relief of his dark, watchful, composed face uplifted above a +line of bayonets, never failed in their magic. Like all born leaders, +he seemed in these emergencies to hold a charmed life--infecting his +followers with a like disbelief in death; men dropped to right and left +of him with serene assurance in their ghastly faces or a cry of life and +confidence in their last gasp. Stragglers fell in and closed up +under his passing glance; a hopeless, inextricable wrangle around an +overturned caisson, at a turn of the road, resolved itself into an +orderly, quiet, deliberate clearing away of the impediment before the +significant waiting of that dark, silent horseman. + +Yet under this imperturbable mask he was keenly conscious of everything; +in that apparent concentration there was a sharpening of all his senses +and his impressibility: he saw the first trace of doubt or alarm in the +face of a subaltern to whom he was giving an order; the first touch of +sluggishness in a re-forming line; the more significant clumsiness of +a living evolution that he knew was clogged by the dead bodies of +comrades; the ominous silence of a breastwork; the awful inertia of some +rigidly kneeling files beyond, which still kept their form but never +would move again; the melting away of skirmish points; the sudden gaps +here and there; the sickening incurving of what a moment before had been +a straight line--all these he saw in all their fatal significance. But +even at this moment, coming upon a hasty barricade of overset commissary +wagons, he stopped to glance at a familiar figure he had seen but +an hour ago, who now seemed to be commanding a group of collected +stragglers and camp followers. Mounted on a wheel, with a revolver in +each hand and a bowie knife between his teeth--theatrical even in his +paroxysm of undoubted courage--glared Jim Hooker. And Clarence Brant, +with the whole responsibility of the field on his shoulders, even at +that desperate moment, found himself recalling a vivid picture of the +actor Hooker personating the character of “Red Dick” in “Rosalie, the +Prairie Flower,” as he had seen him in a California theatre five years +before. + +It wanted still an hour of the darkness that would probably close the +fight of that day. Could he hold out, keeping his offensive position so +long? A hasty council with his officers showed him that the weakness +of their position had already infected them. They reminded him that +his line of retreat was still open--that in the course of the night the +enemy, although still pressing towards the division centre, might yet +turn and outflank him--or that their strangely delayed supports might +come up before morning. Brant's glass, however, remained fixed on the +main column, still pursuing its way along the ridge. It struck him +suddenly, however, that the steady current had stopped, spread out along +the crest on both sides, and was now at right angles with its previous +course. There had been a check! The next moment the thunder of guns +along the whole horizon, and the rising cloud of smoke, revealed a +line of battle. The division centre was engaged. The opportunity he had +longed for had come--the desperate chance to throw himself on their rear +and cut his way through to the division--but it had come too late! He +looked at his shattered ranks--scarce a regiment remained. Even as +a demonstration, the attack would fail against the enemy's superior +numbers. Nothing clearly was left to him now but to remain where he +was--within supporting distance, and await the issue of the fight +beyond. He was putting up his glass, when the dull boom of cannon in +the extreme western limit of the horizon attracted his attention. By the +still gleaming sky he could see a long gray line stealing up from +the valley from the distant rear of the headquarters to join the main +column. They were the missing supports! His heart leaped. He held the +key of the mystery now. The one imperfect detail of the enemy's plan was +before him. The supports, coming later from the west, had only seen +the second signal from the window--when Miss Faulkner had replaced +the vase--and had avoided his position. It was impossible to limit the +effect of this blunder. If the young girl who had thus saved him had +reached the division commander with his message in time, he might +be forewarned, and even profit by it. His own position would be less +precarious, as the enemy, already engaged in front, would be unable to +recover their position in the rear and correct the blunder. The bulk +of their column had already streamed past him. If defeated, there +was always the danger that it might be rolled back upon him--but he +conjectured that the division commander would attempt to prevent the +junction of the supports with the main column by breaking between them, +crowding them from the ridge, and joining him. As the last stragglers +of the rear guard swept by, Brant's bugles were already recalling the +skirmishers. He redoubled his pickets, and resolved to wait and watch. + +And there was the more painful duty of looking after the wounded and the +dead. The larger rooms of the headquarters had already been used as a +hospital. Passing from cot to cot, recognizing in the faces now drawn +with agony, or staring in vacant unconsciousness, the features that he +had seen only a few hours before flushed with enthusiasm and excitement, +something of his old doubting, questioning nature returned. Was there +no way but this? How far was HE--moving among them unscathed and +uninjured--responsible? + +And if not he--who then? His mind went back bitterly to the old days of +the conspiracy--to the inception of that struggle which was bearing +such ghastly fruit. He thought of his traitorous wife, until he felt +his cheeks tingle, and he was fain to avert his eyes from those of his +prostrate comrades, in a strange fear that, with the clairvoyance of +dying men, they should read his secret. + +It was past midnight when, without undressing, he threw himself upon his +bed in the little convent-like cell to snatch a few moments of sleep. +Its spotless, peaceful walls and draperies affected him strangely, as if +he had brought into its immaculate serenity the sanguine stain of war. +He was awakened suddenly from a deep slumber by an indefinite sense +of alarm. His first thought was that he had been summoned to repel +an attack. He sat up and listened; everything was silent except the +measured tread of the sentry on the gravel walk below. But the door was +open. He sprang to his feet and slipped into the gallery in time to see +the tall figure of a woman glide before the last moonlit window at its +farthest end. He could not see her face--but the characteristic turbaned +head of the negro race was plainly visible. + +He did not care to follow her or even to alarm the guard. If it were the +spy or one of her emissaries, she was powerless now to do any harm, and +under his late orders and the rigorous vigilance of his sentinels she +could not leave the lines--or, indeed, the house. She probably knew +this as well as he did; it was, therefore, no doubt only an accidental +intrusion of one of the servants. He re-entered the room, and stood for +a few moments by the window, looking over the moonlit ridge. The sounds +of distant cannon had long since ceased. Wide awake, and refreshed by +the keen morning air, which alone of all created things seemed to have +shaken the burden of the dreadful yesterday from its dewy wings, he +turned away and lit a candle on the table. As he was rebuckling his +sword belt he saw a piece of paper lying on the foot of the bed from +which he had just risen. Taking it to the candle, he read in a roughly +scrawled hand: + +“You are asleep when you should be on the march. You have no time to +lose. Before daybreak the supports of the column you have been foolishly +resisting will be upon you.--From one who would save YOU, but hates your +cause.” + +A smile of scorn passed his lips. The handwriting was unknown and +evidently disguised. The purport of the message had not alarmed him; but +suddenly a suspicion flashed upon him--that it came from Miss Faulkner! +She had failed in her attempt to pass through the enemy's lines--or she +had never tried to. She had deceived him--or had thought better of her +chivalrous impulse, and now sought to mitigate her second treachery by +this second warning. And he had let her messenger escape him! + +He hurriedly descended the stairs. The sound of voices was approaching +him. He halted, and recognized the faces of the brigade surgeon and one +of his aides-de-camp. + +“We were hesitating whether to disturb you, general, but it may be an +affair of some importance. Under your orders a negro woman was just +now challenged stealing out of the lines. Attempting to escape, she was +chased, there was a struggle and scramble over the wall, and she fell, +striking her head. She was brought into the guardhouse unconscious.” + +“Very good. I will see her,” said Brant, with a feeling of relief. + +“One moment, general. We thought you would perhaps prefer to see her +alone,” said the surgeon, “for when I endeavored to bring her to, and +was sponging her face and head to discover her injuries, her color came +off! She was a white woman--stained and disguised as a mulatto.” + +For an instant Brant's heart sank. It was Miss Faulkner. + +“Did you recognize her?” he said, glancing from the one to the other. +“Have you seen her here before?” + +“No, sir,” replied the aide-de-camp. “But she seemed to be quite a +superior woman--a lady, I should say.” + +Brant breathed more freely. + +“Where is she now?” he asked. + +“In the guardhouse. We thought it better not to bring her into hospital, +among the men, until we had your orders.” + +“You have done well,” returned Brant gravely. “And you will keep this to +yourselves for the present; but see that she is brought here quietly and +with as little publicity as possible. Put her in my room above, which I +give up to her and any necessary attendant. But you will look carefully +after her, doctor,”--he turned to the surgeon,--“and when she recovers +consciousness let me know.” + +He moved away. Although attaching little importance to the mysterious +message, whether sent by Miss Faulkner or emanating from the stranger +herself, which, he reasoned, was based only upon a knowledge of the +original plan of attack, he nevertheless quickly dispatched a small +scouting party in the direction from which the attack might come, with +orders to fall back and report at once. With a certain half irony of +recollection he had selected Jim Hooker to accompany the party as a +volunteer. This done, he returned to the gallery. The surgeon met him at +the door. + +“The indications of concussion are passing away,” he said, “but she +seems to be suffering from the exhaustion following some great nervous +excitement. You may go in--she may rally from it at any moment.” + +With the artificial step and mysterious hush of the ordinary visitor to +a sick bed, Brant entered the room. But some instinct greater than this +common expression of humanity held him suddenly in awe. The room seemed +no longer his--it had slipped back into that austere conventual privacy +which had first impressed him. Yet he hesitated; another strange +suggestion--it seemed almost a vague recollection--overcame him like +some lingering perfume, far off and pathetic, in its dying familiarity. +He turned his eyes almost timidly towards the bed. The coverlet was +drawn up near the throat of the figure to replace the striped cotton +gown stained with blood and dust, which had been hurriedly torn off +and thrown on a chair. The pale face, cleansed of blood and disguising +color, the long hair, still damp from the surgeon's sponge, lay rigidly +back on the pillow. Suddenly this man of steady nerve uttered a faint +cry, and, with a face as white as the upturned one before him, fell on +his knees beside the bed. For the face that lay there was his wife's! + +Yes, hers! But the beautiful hair that she had gloried in--the hair that +in his youth he had thought had once fallen like a benediction on his +shoulder--was streaked with gray along the blue-veined hollows of the +temples; the orbits of those clear eyes, beneath their delicately arched +brows, were ringed with days of suffering; only the clear-cut profile, +even to the delicate imperiousness of lips and nostril, was still there +in all its beauty. The coverlet had slipped from her shoulder; its +familiar cold contour startled him. He remembered how, in their early +married days, he had felt the sanctity of that Diana-like revelation, +and the still nymph-like austerity which clung to this strange, +childless woman. He even fancied that he breathed again the subtle +characteristic perfume of the laces, embroideries, and delicate +enwrappings in her chamber at Robles. Perhaps it was the intensity of +his gaze--perhaps it was the magnetism of his presence--but her lips +parted with a half sigh, half moan. Her head, although her eyes were +still closed, turned on the pillow instinctively towards him. He rose +from his knees. Her eyes opened slowly. As the first glare of wonderment +cleared from them, they met him--in the old antagonism of spirit. Yet +her first gesture was a pathetic feminine movement with both hands to +arrange her straggling hair. It brought her white fingers, cleaned +of their disguising stains, as a sudden revelation to her of what had +happened; she instantly slipped them back under the coverlet again. +Brant did not speak, but with folded arms stood gazing upon her. And it +was her voice that first broke the silence. + +“You have recognized me? Well, I suppose you know all,” she said, with a +weak half-defiance. + +He bowed his head. He felt as yet he could not trust his voice, and +envied her her own. + +“I may sit up, mayn't I?” She managed, by sheer force of will, to +struggle to a sitting posture. Then, as the coverlet slipped from the +bare shoulder, she said, as she drew it, with a shiver of disgust, +around her again,-- + +“I forgot that you strip women, you Northern soldiers! But I forgot, +too,” she added, with a sarcastic smile, “that you are also my husband, +and I am in your room.” + +The contemptuous significance of her speech dispelled the last lingering +remnant of Brant's dream. In a voice as dry as her own, he said,-- + +“I am afraid you will now have to remember only that I am a Northern +general, and you a Southern spy.” + +“So be it,” she said gravely. Then impulsively, “But I have not spied on +YOU.” + +Yet, the next moment, she bit her lips as if the expression had +unwittingly escaped her; and with a reckless shrug of her shoulders she +lay back on her pillow. + +“It matters not,” said Brant coldly. “You have used this house and those +within it to forward your designs. It is not your fault that you found +nothing in the dispatch-box you opened.” + +She stared at him quickly; then shrugged her shoulders again. + +“I might have known she was false to me,” she said bitterly, “and that +you would wheedle her soul away as you have others. Well, she betrayed +me! For what?” + +A flush passed over Brant's face. But with an effort he contained +himself. + +“It was the flower that betrayed you! The flower whose red dust fell in +the box when you opened it on the desk by the window in yonder room--the +flower that stood in the window as a signal--the flower I myself +removed, and so spoiled the miserable plot that your friends concocted.” + +A look of mingled terror and awe came into her face. + +“YOU changed the signal!” she repeated dazedly; then, in a lower +voice, “that accounts for it all!” But the next moment she turned +again fiercely upon him. “And you mean to tell me that she didn't help +you--that she didn't sell me--your wife--to you for--for what was it? A +look--a kiss!” + +“I mean to say that she did not know the signal was changed, and that +she herself restored it to its place. It is no fault of hers nor yours +that I am not here a prisoner.” + +She passed her thin hand dazedly across her forehead. + +“I see,” she muttered. Then again bursting out passionately, she +said--“Fool! you never would have been touched! Do you think that Lee +would have gone for you, with higher game in your division commander? +No! Those supports were a feint to draw him to your assistance while our +main column broke his centre. Yes, you may stare at me, Clarence Brant. +You are a good lawyer--they say a dashing fighter, too. I never thought +you a coward, even in your irresolution; but you are fighting with men +drilled in the art of war and strategy when you were a boy outcast on +the plains.” She stopped, closed her eyes, and then added, wearily--“But +that was yesterday--to-day, who knows? All may be changed. The supports +may still attack you. That was why I stopped to write you that note an +hour ago, when I believed I should be leaving here for ever. Yes, I did +it!” she went on, with half-wearied, half-dogged determination. “You may +as well know all. I had arranged to fly. Your pickets were to be drawn +by friends of mine, who were waiting for me beyond your lines. Well, I +lingered here when I saw you arrive--lingered to write you that note. +And--I was too late!” + +But Brant had been watching her varying expression, her kindling +eye, her strange masculine grasp of military knowledge, her soldierly +phraseology, all so new to her, that he scarcely heeded the feminine +ending of her speech. It seemed to him no longer the Diana of his +youthful fancy, but some Pallas Athene, who now looked up at him from +the pillow. He had never before fully believed in her unselfish devotion +to the cause until now, when it seemed to have almost unsexed her. In +his wildest comprehension of her he had never dreamed her a Joan of Arc, +and yet hers was the face which might have confronted him, exalted and +inspired, on the battlefield itself. He recalled himself with an effort. + +“I thank you for your would-be warning,” he said more gently, if not +so tenderly, “and God knows I wish your flight had been successful. But +even your warning is unnecessary, for the supports had already come up; +they had followed the second signal, and diverged to engage our division +on the left, leaving me alone. And their ruse of drawing our commander +to assist me would not have been successful, as I had suspected it, and +sent a message to him that I wanted no help.” + +It was the truth; it was the sole purport of the note he had sent +through Miss Faulkner. He would not have disclosed his sacrifice; but so +great was the strange domination of this woman still over him, that he +felt compelled to assert his superiority. She fixed her eyes upon him. + +“And Miss Faulkner took your message?” she said slowly. “Don't deny it! +No one else could have passed through our lines; and you gave her a +safe conduct through yours. Yes, I might have known it. And this was the +creature they sent me for an ally and confidant!” + +For an instant Brant felt the sting of this enforced contrast between +the two women. But he only said,-- + +“You forget that I did not know you were the spy, nor do I believe that +she suspected you were my wife.” + +“Why should she?” she said almost fiercely. “I am known among these +people only by the name of Benham---my maiden name. Yes!--you can take +me out, and shoot me under that name, without disgracing yours. Nobody +will know that the Southern spy was the wife of the Northern general! +You see, I have thought even of that!” + +“And thinking of that,” said Brant slowly, “you have put yourself--I +will not say in my power, for you are in the power of any man in this +camp who may know you, or even hear you speak. Well, let us understand +each other plainly. I do not know how great a sacrifice your devotion to +your cause demands of you; I do know what it seems to demand of me. Hear +me, then! I will do my best to protect you, and get you safely away from +here; but, failing that, I tell you plainly that I shall blow out your +brains and my own together.” + +She knew that he would do it. Yet her eyes suddenly beamed with a +new and awakening light; she put back her hair again, and half raised +herself upon the pillow, to gaze at his dark, set face. + +“And as I shall let no other life but ours be periled in this affair,” + he went on quietly, “and will accompany you myself in some disguise +beyond the lines, we will together take the risks--or the bullets of the +sentries that may save us both all further trouble. An hour or two more +will settle that. Until then your weak condition will excuse you from +any disturbance or intrusion here. The mulatto woman you have sometimes +personated may be still in this house; I will appoint her to attend +you. I suppose you can trust her, for you must personate her again, and +escape in her clothes, while she takes your place in this room as my +prisoner.” + +“Clarence!” + +Her voice had changed suddenly; it was no longer bitter and stridulous, +but low and thrilling as he had heard her call to him that night in the +patio of Robles. He turned quickly. She was leaning from the bed--her +thin, white hands stretched appealingly towards him. + +“Let us go together, Clarence,” she said eagerly. “Let us leave this +horrible place--these wicked, cruel people--forever. Come with me! Come +with me to my people--to my own faith--to my own house--which shall be +yours! Come with me to defend it with your good sword, Clarence, against +those vile invaders with whom you have nothing in common, and who are +the dirt under your feet. Yes, yes! I know it!--I have done you wrong--I +have lied to you when I spoke against your skill and power. You are a +hero--a born leader of men! I know it! Have I not heard it from the men +who have fought against you, and yet admired and understood you, ay, +better than your own?--gallant men, Clarence, soldiers bred who did not +know what you were to me nor how proud I was of you even while I hated +you? Come with me! Think what we would do together--with one faith--one +cause--one ambition! Think, Clarence, there is no limit you might +not attain! We are no niggards of our rewards and honors--we have +no hireling votes to truckle to--we know our friends! Even +I--Clarence--I”--there was a strange pathos in the sudden humility that +seemed to overcome her--“I have had my reward and known my power. I +have been sent abroad, in the confidence of the highest--to the highest. +Don't turn from me. I am offering you no bribe, Clarence, only your +deserts. Come with me. Leave these curs behind, and live the hero that +you are!” + +He turned his blazing eyes upon her. + +“If you were a man”--he began passionately, then stopped. + +“No! I am only a woman and must fight in a woman's way,” she interrupted +bitterly. “Yes! I intreat, I implore, I wheedle, I flatter, I fawn, I +lie! I creep where you stand upright, and pass through doors to which +you would not bow. You wear your blazon of honor on your shoulder; +I hide mine in a slave's gown. And yet I have worked and striven and +suffered! Listen, Clarence,” her voice again sank to its appealing +minor,--“I know what you men call 'honor,' that which makes you cling to +a merely spoken word, or an empty oath. Well, let that pass! I am weary; +I have done my share of this work, you have done yours. Let us both fly; +let us leave the fight to those who shall come after us, and let us +go together to some distant land where the sounds of these guns or the +blood of our brothers no longer cry out to us for vengeance! There are +those living here--I have met them, Clarence,” she went on hurriedly, +“who think it wrong to lift up fratricidal hands in the struggle, yet +who cannot live under the Northern yoke. They are,” her voice hesitated, +“good men and women--they are respected--they are”-- + +“Recreants and slaves, before whom you, spy as you are--stand a queen!” + broke in Brant, passionately. He stopped and turned towards the window. +After a pause he came back again towards the bed--paused again and then +said in a lower voice--“Four years ago, Alice, in the patio of our house +at Robles, I might have listened to this proposal, and--I tremble to +think--I might have accepted it! I loved you; I was as weak, as selfish, +as unreflecting, my life was as purposeless--but for you--as the +creatures you speak of. But give me now, at least, the credit of a +devotion to my cause equal to your own--a credit which I have never +denied you! For the night that you left me, I awoke to a sense of my own +worthlessness and degradation--perhaps I have even to thank you for that +awakening--and I realized the bitter truth. But that night I found my +true vocation--my purpose, my manhood”-- + +A bitter laugh came from the pillow on which she had languidly thrown +herself. + +“I believe I left you with Mrs. Hooker--spare me the details.” + +The blood rushed to Brant's face and then receded as suddenly. + +“You left me with Captain Pinckney, who had tempted you, and whom I +killed!” he said furiously. + +They were both staring savagely at each other. Suddenly he said, “Hush!” + and sprang towards the door, as the sound of hurried footsteps echoed +along the passage. But he was too late; it was thrown open to the +officer of the guard, who appeared, standing on the threshold. + +“Two Confederate officers arrested hovering around our pickets. They +demand to see you.” + +Before Brant could interpose, two men in riding cloaks of Confederate +gray stepped into the room with a jaunty and self-confident air. + +“Not DEMAND, general,” said the foremost, a tall, distinguished-looking +man, lifting his hand with a graceful deprecating air. “In fact, too +sorry to bother you with an affair of no importance except to ourselves. +A bit of after-dinner bravado brought us in contact with your pickets, +and, of course, we had to take the consequences. Served us right, and we +were lucky not to have got a bullet through us. Gad! I'm afraid my +men would have been less discreet! I am Colonel Lagrange, of the +5th Tennessee; my young friend here is Captain Faulkner, of the 1st +Kentucky. Some excuse for a youngster like him--none for me! I”-- + +He stopped, for his eyes suddenly fell upon the bed and its occupant. +Both he and his companion started. But to the natural, unaffected dismay +of a gentleman who had unwittingly intruded upon a lady's bedchamber, +Brant's quick eye saw a more disastrous concern superadded. Colonel +Lagrange was quick to recover himself, as they both removed their caps. + +“A thousand pardons,” he said, hurriedly stepping backwards to the door. +“But I hardly need say to a fellow-officer, general, that we had no idea +of making so gross an intrusion! We heard some cock-and-bull story of +your being occupied--cross-questioning an escaped or escaping nigger--or +we should never have forced ourselves upon you.” + +Brant glanced quickly at his wife. Her face had apparently become rigid +on the entrance of the two men; her eyes were coldly fixed upon the +ceiling. He bowed formally, and, with a wave of his hand towards the +door, said,-- + +“I will hear your story below, gentleman.” + +He followed them from the room, stopped to quietly turn the key in the +lock, and then motioned them to precede him down the staircase. + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Not a word was exchanged till they had reached the lower landing and +Brant's private room. Dismissing his subaltern and orderly with a +sign, Brant turned towards his prisoners. The jaunty ease, but not the +self-possession, had gone from Lagrange's face; the eyes of Captain +Faulkner were fixed on his older companion with a half-humorous look of +perplexity. + +“I am afraid I can only repeat, general, that our foolhardy freak has +put us in collision with your sentries,” said Lagrange, with a slight +hauteur, that replaced his former jauntiness; “and we were very properly +made prisoners. If you will accept my parole, I have no doubt our +commander will proceed to exchange a couple of gallant fellows of yours, +whom I have had the honor of meeting within our own lines, and whom you +must miss probably more than I fear our superiors miss us.” + +“Whatever brought you here, gentlemen,” said Brant drily, “I am +glad, for your sakes, that you are in uniform, although it does not, +unfortunately, relieve me of an unpleasant duty.” + +“I don't think I understand you,” returned Lagrange, coldly. + +“If you had not been in uniform, you would probably have been shot down +as spies, without the trouble of capture,” said Brant quietly. + +“Do you mean to imply, sir”--began Lagrange sternly. + +“I mean to say that the existence of a Confederate spy between this +camp and the division headquarters is sufficiently well known to us to +justify the strongest action.” + +“And pray, how can that affect us?” said Lagrange haughtily. + +“I need not inform so old a soldier as Colonel Lagrange that the aiding, +abetting, and even receiving information from a spy or traitor within +one's lines is an equally dangerous service.” + +“Perhaps you would like to satisfy yourself, General,” said Colonel +Lagrange, with an ironical laugh. “Pray do not hesitate on account of +our uniform. Search us if you like.” + +“Not on entering my lines, Colonel,” replied Brant, with quiet +significance. + +Lagrange's cheek flushed. But he recovered himself quickly, and with a +formal bow said,-- + +“You will, then, perhaps, let us know your pleasure?” + +“My DUTY, Colonel, is to keep you both close prisoners here until I have +an opportunity to forward you to the division commander, with a report +of the circumstances of your arrest. That I propose to do. How soon I +may have that opportunity, or if I am ever to have it,” continued Brant, +fixing his clear eyes significantly on Lagrange, “depends upon the +chances of war, which you probably understand as well as I do.” + +“We should never think of making any calculation on the action of an +officer of such infinite resources as General Brant,” said Lagrange +ironically. + +“You will, no doubt, have an opportunity of stating your own case to the +division commander,” continued Brant, with an unmoved face. “And,” he +continued, turning for the first time to Captain Faulkner, “when you +tell the commander what I believe to be the fact--from your name and +resemblance--that you are a relation of the young lady who for the +last three weeks has been an inmate of this house under a pass from +Washington, you will, I have no doubt, favorably explain your own +propinquity to my lines.” + +“My sister Tilly!” said the young officer impulsively. “But she is no +longer here. She passed through the lines back to Washington yesterday. +No,” he added, with a light laugh, “I'm afraid that excuse won't count +for to-day.” + +A sudden frown upon the face of the elder officer, added to the perfect +ingenuousness of Faulkner's speech, satisfied Brant that he had not only +elicited the truth, but that Miss Faulkner had been successful. But he +was sincere in his suggestion that her relationship to the young officer +would incline the division commander to look leniently upon his fault, +for he was conscious of a singular satisfaction in thus being able to +serve her. Of the real object of the two men before him he had no doubt. +They were “the friends” of his wife, who were waiting for her outside +the lines! Chance alone had saved her from being arrested with them, +with the consequent exposure of her treachery before his own men, who, +as yet, had no proof of her guilt, nor any suspicion of her actual +identity. Meanwhile his own chance of conveying her with safety beyond +his lines was not affected by the incident; the prisoners dare not +reveal what they knew of her, and it was with a grim triumph that he +thought of compassing her escape without their aid. Nothing of this, +however, was visible in his face, which the younger man watched with a +kind of boyish curiosity, while Colonel Lagrange regarded the ceiling +with a politely repressed yawn. “I regret,” concluded Brant, as he +summoned the officer of the guard, “that I shall have to deprive you of +each other's company during the time you are here; but I shall see that +you, separately, want for nothing in your confinement.” + +“If this is with a view to separate interrogatory, general, I can retire +now,” said Lagrange, rising, with ironical politeness. + +“I believe I have all the information I require,” returned Brant, with +undisturbed composure. Giving the necessary orders to his subaltern, he +acknowledged with equal calm the formal salutes of the two prisoners as +they were led away, and returned quickly to his bedroom above. He paused +instinctively for a moment before the closed door, and listened. There +was no sound from within. He unlocked the door, and opened it. + +So quiet was the interior that for an instant, without glancing at +the bed, he cast a quick look at the window, which, till then, he had +forgotten, and which he remembered gave upon the veranda roof. But it +was still closed, and as he approached the bed, he saw his wife still +lying there, in the attitude in which he had left her. But her eyes were +ringed, and slightly filmed, as if with recent tears. + +It was perhaps this circumstance that softened his voice, still harsh +with command, as he said,-- + +“I suppose you knew those two men?” + +“Yes.” + +“And that I have put it out of their power to help you?” + +“I do.” + +There was something so strangely submissive in her voice that he again +looked suspiciously at her. But he was shocked to see that she was quite +pale now, and that the fire had gone out of her dark eyes. + +“Then I may tell you what is my plan to save you. But, first, you must +find this mulatto woman who has acted as your double.” + +“She is here.” + +“Here?” + +“Yes.” + +“How do you know it?” he asked, in quick suspicion. + +“She was not to leave this place until she knew I was safe within our +lines. I have some friends who are faithful to me.” After a pause she +added, “She has been here already.” + +He looked at her, startled. “Impossible--I”-- + +“You locked the door. Yes! but she has a second key. And even if she had +not, there is another entrance from that closet. You do not know this +house: you have been here two weeks; I spent two years of my life, as a +girl, in this room.” + +An indescribable sensation came over him; he remembered how he had felt +when he first occupied it; this was followed by a keen sense of shame +on reflecting that he had been, ever since, but a helpless puppet in the +power of his enemies, and that she could have escaped if she would, even +now. + +“Perhaps,” he said grimly, “you have already arranged your plans?” + +She looked at him with a singular reproachfulness even in her +submission. + +“I have only told her to be ready to change clothes with me and help me +color my face and hands at the time appointed. I have left the rest to +you.” + +“Then this is my plan. I have changed only a detail. You and she must +both leave this house at the same time, by different exits, but one of +them must be private--and unknown to my men. Do you know of such a one?” + +“Yes,” she said, “in the rear of the negro quarters.” + +“Good,” he replied, “that will be your way out. She will leave here, +publicly, through the parade, armed with a pass from me. She will be +overhauled and challenged by the first sentry near the guardhouse, below +the wall. She will be subjected to some delay and scrutiny, which she +will, however, be able to pass better than you would. This will create +the momentary diversion that we require. In the mean time, you will have +left the house by the rear, and you will then keep in the shadow of the +hedge until you can drop down along the Run, where it empties into the +swamp. That,” he continued, fixing his keen eyes upon her, “is the one +weak point in the position of this place that is neither overlooked nor +defended. But perhaps,” he added again grimly, “you already know it.” + +“It is the marsh where the flowers grow, near the path where you met +Miss Faulkner. I had crossed the marsh to give her a letter,” she said +slowly. + +A bitter smile came over Brant's face, but passed as quickly. + +“Enough,” he said quietly, “I will meet you beside the Run, and cross +the marsh with you until you are within hailing distance of your lines. +I will be in plain clothes, Alice,” he went on slowly, “for it will not +be the commander of this force who accompanies you, but your husband, +and, without disgracing his uniform, he will drop to your level; for the +instant he passes his own lines, in disguise, he will become, like you, +a spy, and amenable to its penalties.” + +Her eyes seemed suddenly to leap up to his with that strange look of +awakening and enthusiasm which he had noted before. And in its complete +prepossession of all her instincts she rose from the bed, unheeding her +bared arms and shoulders and loosened hair, and stood upright before +him. For an instant husband and wife regarded each other as unreservedly +as in their own chamber at Robles. + +“When shall I go?” + +He glanced through the window already growing lighter with the +coming dawn. The relief would pass in a few moments; the time seemed +propitious. + +“At once,” he said. “I will send Rose to you.” + +But his wife had already passed into the closet, and was tapping upon +some inner door. He heard the sound of hinges turning and the rustling +of garments. She reappeared, holding the curtains of the closet together +with her hand, and said,-- + +“Go! When she comes to your office for the pass, you will know that I +have gone.” + +He turned away. + +“Stop!” she said faintly. + +He turned back. Her expression had again changed. Her face was deadly +pale; a strange tremor seemed to have taken possession of her. Her hands +dropped from the curtain. Her beautiful arms moved slightly forward; +it seemed to him that she would in the next moment have extended them +towards him. But even then she said hurriedly, “Go! Go!” and slipped +again behind the curtains. + +He quickly descended the stairs as the sound of trampling feet on the +road, and the hurried word of command, announced the return of the +scouting party. The officer had little report to make beyond the fact +that a morning mist, creeping along the valley, prevented any further +observation, and bade fair to interrupt their own communications with +the camp. Everything was quiet in the west, although the enemy's lines +along the ridge seemed to have receded. + +Brant had listened impatiently, for a new idea had seized him. Hooker +was of the party, and was the one man in whom he could partly confide, +and obtain a disguise. He at once made his way to the commissary +wagons--one of which he knew Hooker used as a tent. Hastily telling him +that he wished to visit the pickets without recognition, he induced him +to lend him his slouched hat and frock coat, leaving with him his own +distinguishing tunic, hat, and sword. He resisted the belt and pistols +which Hooker would have forced upon him. As he left the wagon he +was amusedly conscious that his old companion was characteristically +examining the garments he had left behind with mingled admiration and +envy. But he did not know, as he slipped out of the camp, that Mr. +Hooker was quietly trying them on, before a broken mirror in the +wagon-head! + +The gray light of that summer morning was already so strong that, to +avoid detection, he quickly dropped into the shadow of the gully that +sloped towards the Run. The hot mist which the scouts had seen was now +lying like a tranquil sea between him and the pickets of the enemy's +rear-guard, which it seemed to submerge, and was clinging in moist +tenuous swathes--like drawn-out cotton wool--along the ridge, half +obliterating its face. From the valley in the rear it was already +stealing in a thin white line up the slope like the advance of a ghostly +column, with a stealthiness that, in spite of himself, touched him with +superstitious significance. A warm perfume, languid and treacherous--as +from the swamp magnolia--seemed to rise from the half-hidden marsh. +An ominous silence, that appeared to be a part of this veiling of all +things under the clear opal-tinted sky above, was so little like +the hush of rest and peace, that he half-yearned for the outburst of +musketry and tumult of attack that might dispel it. All that he had ever +heard or dreamed of the insidious South, with its languid subtleties of +climate and of race, seemed to encompass him here. + +But the next moment he saw the figure he was waiting for stealing +towards him from the shadow of the gulley beneath the negro quarters. + +Even in that uncertain light there was no mistaking the tall figure, +the gaudily striped clinging gown and turbaned head. And then a strange +revulsion of feeling, quite characteristic of the emotional side of his +singular temperament, overcame him. He was taking leave of his wife--the +dream of his youth--perhaps forever! It should be no parting in anger as +at Robles; it should be with a tenderness that would blot out their past +in their separate memories--God knows! it might even be that a parting +at that moment was a joining of them in eternity. In his momentary +exaltation it even struck him that it was a duty, no less sacred, no +less unselfish than the one to which he had devoted his life. The light +was growing stronger; he could hear voices in the nearest picket line, +and the sound of a cough in the invading mist. He made a hurried sign to +the on-coming figure to follow him, ran ahead, and halted at last in +the cover of a hackmatack bush. Still gazing forward over the marsh, +he stealthily held out his hand behind him as the rustling skirt came +nearer. At last his hand was touched--but even at that touch he started +and turned quickly. + +It was not his wife, but Rose!--her mulatto double! Her face was rigid +with fright, her beady eyes staring in their china sockets, her white +teeth chattering. Yet she would have spoken. + +“Hush!” he said, clutching her hand, in a fierce whisper. “Not a word!” + +She was holding something white in her fingers; he snatched it quickly. +It was a note from his wife--not in the disguised hand of her first +warning, but in one that he remembered as if it were a voice from their +past. + +“Forgive me for disobeying you to save you from capture, disgrace, or +death--which would have come to you where you were going! I have taken +Rose's pass. You need not fear that your honor will suffer by it, for if +I am stopped I shall confess that I took it from her. Think no more of +me, Clarence, but only of yourself. You are in danger.” + +He crushed the letter in his hand. + +“Tell me,” he said in a fierce whisper, seizing her arm, “and speak low. +When did you leave her?” + +“Sho'ly just now!” gasped the frightened woman. + +He flung her aside. There might be still time to overtake and save her +before she reached the picket lines. He ran up the gully, and out on to +the slope towards the first guard-post. But a familiar challenge reached +his ear, and his heart stopped beating. + +“Who goes there?” + +There was a pause, a rattle of arms voices--another pause--and Brant +stood breathlessly listening. Then the voice rose again slowly and +clearly: “Pass the mulatto woman!” + +Thank God! she was saved! But the thought had scarcely crossed his mind +before it seemed to him that a blinding crackle of sparks burst out +along the whole slope below the wall, a characteristic yell which he +knew too well rang in his ears, and an undulating line of dusty figures +came leaping like gray wolves out of the mist upon his pickets. He heard +the shouts of his men falling back as they fired; the harsh commands +of a few officers hurrying to their posts, and knew that he had been +hopelessly surprised and surrounded! + +He ran forward among his disorganized men. To his consternation no one +seemed to heed him! Then the remembrance of his disguise flashed upon +him. But he had only time to throw away his hat and snatch a sword from +a falling lieutenant, before a scorching flash seemed to pass before +his eyes and burn through his hair, and he dropped like a log beside his +subaltern. + +***** + +An aching under the bandage around his head where a spent bullet had +grazed his scalp, and the sound of impossible voices in his ears were +all he knew as he struggled slowly back to consciousness again. Even +then it still seemed a delusion,--for he was lying on a cot in his own +hospital, yet with officers of the division staff around him, and the +division commander himself standing by his side, and regarding him +with an air of grave but not unkindly concern. But the wounded man felt +instinctively that it was not the effect of his physical condition, and +a sense of shame came suddenly over him, which was not dissipated by +his superior's words. For, motioning the others aside, the major-general +leaned over his cot, and said,-- + +“Until a few moments ago, the report was that you had been captured +in the first rush of the rear-guard which we were rolling up for your +attack, and when you were picked up, just now, in plain clothes on the +slope, you were not recognized. The one thing seemed to be as improbable +as the other,” he added significantly. + +The miserable truth flashed across Brant's mind. Hooker must have been +captured in his clothes--perhaps in some extravagant sally--and had not +been recognized in the confusion by his own officers. Nevertheless, he +raised his eyes to his superior. + +“You got my note?” + +The general's brow darkened. + +“Yes,” he said slowly, “but finding you thus unprepared--I had been +thinking just now that you had been deceived by that woman--or by +others--and that it was a clumsy forgery.” He stopped, and seeing the +hopeless bewilderment in the face of the wounded man, added more kindly: +“But we will not talk of that in your present condition. The doctor says +a few hours will put you straight again. Get strong, for I want you to +lose no time--for your own sake--to report yourself at Washington.” + +“Report myself--at Washington!” repeated Brant slowly. + +“That was last night's order,” said the commander, with military +curtness. Then he burst out: “I don't understand it, Brant! I believe +you have been misunderstood, misrepresented, perhaps maligned and I +shall make it MY business to see the thing through--but those are +the Department orders. And for the present--I am sorry to say you are +relieved of your command.” + +He turned away, and Brant closed his eyes. With them it seemed to +him that he closed his career. No one would ever understand his +explanation--even had he been tempted to give one, and he knew he never +would. Everything was over now! Even this wretched bullet had not struck +him fairly, and culminated his fate as it might! For an instant, he +recalled his wife's last offer to fly with him beyond the seas--beyond +this cruel injustice--but even as he recalled it, he knew that flight +meant the worst of all--a half-confession! But she had escaped! Thank +God for that! Again and again in his hopeless perplexity this comfort +returned to him,--he had saved her; he had done his duty. And harping +upon this in his strange fatalism, it at last seemed to him that this +was for what he had lived--for what he had suffered--for what he had +fitly ended his career. Perhaps it was left for him now to pass +his remaining years in forgotten exile--even as his father had--his +father!--his breath came quickly at the thought--God knows! perhaps as +wrongfully accused! It may have been a Providence that she had borne him +no child, to whom this dreadful heritage could be again transmitted. + +There was something of this strange and fateful resignation in his face, +a few hours later, when he was able to be helped again into the saddle. +But he could see in the eyes of the few comrades who commiseratingly +took leave of him, a vague, half-repressed awe of some indefinite +weakness in the man, that mingled with their heartfelt parting with a +gallant soldier. Yet even this touched him no longer. He cast a glance +at the house and the room where he had parted from her, at the slope +from which she had passed--and rode away. + +And then, as his figure disappeared down the road, the restrained +commentary of wonder, surmise, and criticism broke out:-- + +“It must have been something mighty bad, for the old man, who swears +by him, looked rather troubled. And it was deuced queer, you know, this +changing clothes with somebody, just before this surprise!” + +“Nonsense! It's something away back of that! Didn't you hear the old man +say that the orders for him to report himself came from Washington LAST +NIGHT? No!”--the speaker lowered his voice--“Strangeways says that he +had regularly sold himself out to one of them d----d secesh woman spies! +It's the old Marc Antony business over again!” + +“Now I think of it,” said a younger subaltern, “he did seem mightily +taken with one of those quadroons or mulattoes he issued orders against. +I suppose that was a blind for us! I remember the first day he saw her; +he was regularly keen to know all about her.” + +Major Curtis gave a short laugh. + +“That mulatto, Martin, was a white woman, burnt-corked! She was trying +to get through the lines last night, and fell off a wall or got a knock +on the head from a sentry's carbine. When she was brought in, Doctor +Simmons set to washing the blood off her face; the cork came off and the +whole thing came out. Brant hushed it up--and the woman, too--in his own +quarters! It's supposed now that she got away somehow in the rush!” + +“It goes further back than that, gentlemen,” said the adjutant +authoritatively. “They say his wife was a howling secessionist, four +years ago, in California, was mixed up in a conspiracy, and he had to +leave on account of it. Look how thick he and that Miss Faulkner became, +before he helped HER off!” + +“That's your jealousy, Tommy; she knew he was, by all odds, the biggest +man here, and a good deal more, too, and you had no show!” + +In the laugh that followed, it would seem that Brant's eulogy had been +spoken and forgotten. But as Lieutenant Martin was turning away, a +lingering corporal touched his cap. + +“You were speaking of those prowling mulattoes, sir. You know the +general passed one out this morning.” + +“So I have heard.” + +“I reckon she didn't get very far. It was just at the time that we were +driven in by their first fire, and I think she got her share of it, too. +Do you mind walking this way, sir!” + +The lieutenant did not mind, although he rather languidly followed. +When they had reached the top of the gully, the corporal pointed to +what seemed to be a bit of striped calico hanging on a thorn bush in the +ravine. + +“That's her,” said the corporal. “I know the dress; I was on guard when +she was passed. The searchers, who were picking up our men, haven't got +to her yet; but she ain't moved or stirred these two hours. Would you +like to go down and see her?” + +The lieutenant hesitated. He was young, and slightly fastidious as +to unnecessary unpleasantness. He believed he would wait until the +searchers brought her up, when the corporal might call him. + +The mist came up gloriously from the swamp like a golden halo. And +as Clarence Brant, already forgotten, rode moodily through it towards +Washington, hugging to his heart the solitary comfort of his great +sacrifice, his wife, Alice Brant, for whom he had made it, was lying +in the ravine, dead and uncared for. Perhaps it was part of the +inconsistency of her sex that she was pierced with the bullets of those +she had loved, and was wearing the garments of the race that she had +wronged. + + + +PART III. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +It was sunset of a hot day at Washington. Even at that hour the broad +avenues, which diverged from the Capitol like the rays of another sun, +were fierce and glittering. The sterile distances between glowed +more cruelly than ever, and pedestrians, keeping in the scant shade, +hesitated on the curbstones before plunging into the Sahara-like +waste of crossings. The city seemed deserted. Even that vast army of +contractors, speculators, place-hunters, and lobbyists, which hung on +the heels of the other army, and had turned this pacific camp of the +nation into a battlefield of ignoble conflict and contention--more +disastrous than the one to the South--had slunk into their holes in +hotel back bedrooms, in shady barrooms, or in the negro quarters of +Georgetown, as if the majestic, white-robed Goddess enthroned upon the +dome of the Capitol had at last descended among them and was smiting to +right and left with the flat and flash of her insufferable sword. + +Into this stifling atmosphere of greed and corruption Clarence Brant +stepped from the shadow of the War Department. For the last three weeks +he had haunted its ante-rooms and audience-chambers, in the vain hope +of righting himself before his superiors, who were content, without +formulating charges against him, to keep him in this disgrace of +inaction and the anxiety of suspense. Unable to ascertain the details +of the accusation, and conscious of his own secret, he was debarred +the last resort of demanding a court-martial, which he knew could only +exonerate him by the exposure of the guilt of his wife, whom he still +hoped had safely escaped. His division commander, in active operations +in the field, had no time to help him at Washington. Elbowed aside by +greedy contractors, forestalled by selfish politicians, and disdaining +the ordinary method of influence, he had no friend to turn to. In his +few years of campaigning he had lost his instinct of diplomacy, without +acquiring a soldier's bluntness. + +The nearly level rays of the sun forced him at last to turn aside into +one of the openings of a large building--a famous caravansary of that +hotel-haunted capital, and he presently found himself in the +luxurious bar-room, fragrant with mint, and cool with ice-slabs piled +symmetrically on its marble counters. A few groups of men were seeking +coolness at small tables with glasses before them and palm-leaf fans in +their hands, but a larger and noisier assemblage was collected before +the bar, where a man, collarless and in his shirt-sleeves, with his +back to the counter, was pretentiously addressing them. Brant, who had +moodily dropped into a chair in the corner, after ordering a cooling +drink as an excuse for his temporary refuge from the stifling street, +half-regretted his enforced participation in their conviviality. But +a sudden lowering of the speaker's voice into a note of gloomy +significance seemed familiar to him. He glanced at him quickly, from the +shadow of his corner. He was not mistaken--it was Jim Hooker! + +For the first time in his life, Brant wished to evade him. In the days +of his own prosperity his heart had always gone out towards this old +companion of his boyhood; in his present humiliation his presence jarred +upon him. He would have slipped away, but to do so he would have had to +pass before the counter again, and Hooker, with the self-consciousness +of a story-teller, had an eye on his audience. Brant, with a palm-leaf +fan before his face, was obliged to listen. + +“Yes, gentlemen,” said Hooker, examining his glass dramatically, “when +a man's been cooped up in a Rebel prison, with a death line before him +that he's obliged to cross every time he wants a square drink, it seems +sort of like a dream of his boyhood to be standin' here comf'ble before +his liquor, alongside o' white men once more. And when he knows he's bin +put to all that trouble jest to save the reputation of another man, and +the secrets of a few high and mighty ones, it's almost enough to make +his liquor go agin him.” He stopped theatrically, seemed to choke +emotionally over his brandy squash, but with a pause of dramatic +determination finally dashed it down. “No, gentlemen,” he continued +gloomily, “I don't say what I'm back in Washington FOR--I don't say what +I've been sayin' to myself when I've bin picking the weevils outer my +biscuits in Libby Prison--but ef you don't see some pretty big men in +the War Department obliged to climb down in the next few days, my name +ain't Jim Hooker, of Hooker, Meacham & Co., Army Beef Contractors, and +the man who saved the fight at Gray Oaks!” + +The smile of satisfaction that went around his audience--an audience +quick to seize the weakness of any performance--might have startled +a vanity less oblivious than Hooker's; but it only aroused Brant's +indignation and pity, and made his position still more intolerable. But +Hooker, scornfully expectorating a thin stream of tobacco juice against +the spittoon, remained for an instant gloomily silent. + +“Tell us about the fight again,” said a smiling auditor. + +Hooker looked around the room with a certain dark suspiciousness, and +then, in an affected lower voice, which his theatrical experience made +perfectly audible, went on:-- + +“It ain't much to speak of, and if it wasn't for the principle of the +thing, I wouldn't be talking. A man who's seen Injin fightin' don't go +much on this here West Point fightin' by rule-of-three--but that ain't +here or there! Well, I'd bin out a-scoutin'--just to help the boys +along, and I was sittin' in my wagon about daybreak, when along comes a +brigadier-general, and he looks into the wagon flap. I oughter to tell +you first, gentlemen, that every minit he was expecting an attack--but +he didn't let on a hint of it to me. 'How are you, Jim?' said he. 'How +are you, general?' said I. 'Would you mind lendin' me your coat and +hat?' says he. 'I've got a little game here with our pickets, and I +don't want to be recognized.' 'Anything to oblige, general,' said I, and +with that I strips off my coat and hat, and he peels and puts them on. +'Nearly the same figure, Jim,' he says, lookin' at me, 'suppose you try +on my things and see.' With that he hands me his coat--full uniform, +by G-d!--with the little gold cords and laces and the epaulettes with a +star, and I puts it on--quite innocent-like. And then he says, handin' +me his sword and belt, 'Same inches round the waist, I reckon,' and I +puts that on too. 'You may as well keep 'em on till I come back,' says +he, 'for it's mighty damp and malarious at this time around the swamp.' +And with that he lights out. Well, gentlemen, I hadn't sat there five +minutes before Bang! bang! rattle! rattle! kershiz! and I hears a yell. +I steps out of the wagon; everything's quite dark, but the rattle goes +on. Then along trots an orderly, leadin' a horse. 'Mount, general,' he +says, 'we're attacked--the rear-guard's on us!'” + +He paused, looked round his audience, and then in a lower voice, said +darkly,-- + +“I ain't a fool, an' in that minute a man's brain works at high +pressure, and I saw it all! I saw the little game of the brigadier to +skunk away in my clothes and leave me to be captured in his. But I ain't +a dog neither, and I mounted that horse, gentlemen, and lit out to where +the men were formin'! I didn't dare to speak, lest they should know me, +but I waved my sword, and by G-d! they followed me! And the next minit +we was in the thick of it. I had my hat as full of holes as that ice +strainer; I had a dozen bullets through my coat, the fringe of my +epaulettes was shot away, but I kept the boys at their work--and we +stopped 'em! Stopped 'em, gentlemen, until we heard the bugles of the +rest of our division, that all this time had been rolling that blasted +rear-guard over on us! And it saved the fight; but the next minute the +Johnny Rebs made a last dash and cut me off--and there I was--by G-d, a +prisoner! Me that had saved the fight!” + +A ripple of ironical applause went round as Hooker gloomily drained his +glass, and then held up his hand in scornful deprecation. + +“I said I was a prisoner, gentlemen,” he went on bitterly; “but that +ain't all! I asked to see Johnston, told him what I had done, and +demanded to be exchanged for a general officer. He said, 'You be +d----d.' I then sent word to the division commander-in-chief, and told +him how I had saved Gray Oaks when his brigadier ran away, and he said, +'You be d----d.' I've bin 'You be d----d' from the lowest non-com. +to the commander-in-chief, and when I was at last exchanged, I was +exchanged, gentlemen, for two mules and a broken wagon. But I'm here, +gentlemen--as I was thar!” + +“Why don't you see the President about it?” asked a bystander, in +affected commiseration. + +Mr. Hooker stared contemptuously at the suggestion, and expectorated his +scornful dissent. + +“Not much!” he said. “But I'm going to see the man that carries him and +his Cabinet in his breeches-pocket--Senator Boompointer.” + +“Boompointer's a big man,” continued his auditor doubtfully. “Do you +know him?” + +“Know him?” Mr. Hooker laughed a bitter, sardonic laugh. “Well, +gentlemen, I ain't the kind o' man to go in for family influence; but,” + he added, with gloomy elevation, “considering he's an intimate relation +of mine, BY MARRIAGE, I should say I did.” + +Brant heard no more; the facing around of his old companion towards the +bar gave him that opportunity of escaping he had been waiting for. The +defection of Hooker and his peculiar inventions were too characteristic +of him to excite surprise, and, although they no longer awakened his +good-humored tolerance, they were powerless to affect him in his greater +trouble. Only one thing he learned--that Hooker knew nothing of his wife +being in camp as a spy--the incident would have been too tempting to +have escaped his dramatic embellishment. And the allusion to Senator +Boompointer, monstrous as it seemed in Hooker's mouth, gave him a grim +temptation. He had heard of Boompointer's wonderful power; he believed +that Susy would and could help him--Clarence--whether she did or did not +help Hooker. But the next moment he dismissed the idea, with a flushing +cheek. How low had he already sunk, even to think of it! + +It had been once or twice in his mind to seek the President, and, under +a promise of secrecy, reveal a part of his story. He had heard many +anecdotes of his goodness of heart and generous tolerance of all things, +but with this was joined--so said contemporaneous history--a flippancy +of speech and a brutality of directness from which Clarence's +sensibility shrank. Would he see anything in his wife but a common spy +on his army; would he see anything in him but the weak victim, like many +others, of a scheming woman? Stories current in camp and Congress of the +way that this grim humorist had, with an apposite anecdote or a rugged +illustration, brushed away the most delicate sentiment or the subtlest +poetry, even as he had exposed the sham of Puritanic morality or of +Epicurean ethics. Brant had even solicited an audience, but had retired +awkwardly, and with his confidence unspoken, before the dark, humorous +eyes, that seemed almost too tolerant of his grievance. He had been +to levees, and his heart had sunk equally before the vulgar crowd, who +seemed to regard this man as their own buffoon, and the pompousness of +position, learning and dignity, which he seemed to delight to shake and +disturb. + +One afternoon, a few days later, in sheer listlessness of purpose, +he found himself again at the White House. The President was giving +audience to a deputation of fanatics, who, with a pathetic simplicity +almost equal to his own pathetic tolerance, were urging upon this ruler +of millions the policy of an insignificant score, and Brant listened to +his patient, practical response of facts and logic, clothed in +simple but sinewy English, up to the inevitable climax of humorous +illustration, which the young brigadier could now see was necessary to +relieve the grimness of his refusal. For the first time Brant felt +the courage to address him, and resolved to wait until the deputation +retired. As they left the gallery he lingered in the ante-room for +the President to appear. But, as he did not come, afraid of losing his +chances, he returned to the gallery. Alone in his privacy and shadow, +the man he had just left was standing by a column, in motionless +abstraction, looking over the distant garden. But the kindly, humorous +face was almost tragic with an intensity of weariness! Every line of +those strong, rustic features was relaxed under a burden which even +the long, lank, angular figure--overgrown and unfinished as his own +West--seemed to be distorted in its efforts to adjust itself to; while +the dark, deep-set eyes were abstracted with the vague prescience of the +prophet and the martyr. Shocked at that sudden change, Brant felt his +cheek burn with shame. And he was about to break upon that wearied man's +unbending; he was about to add his petty burden to the shoulders of this +Western Atlas. He drew back silently, and descended the stairs. + +But before he had left the house, while mingling with the crowd in one +of the larger rooms, he saw the President reappear beside an important, +prosperous-looking figure, on whom the kindly giant was now smiling with +humorous toleration. He noticed the divided attention of the crowd; the +name of Senator Boompointer was upon every lip; he was nearly face to +face with that famous dispenser of place and preferment--this +second husband of Susy! An indescribable feeling--half cynical, half +fateful--came over him. He would not have been surprised to see Jim +Hooker join the throng, which now seemed to him to even dwarf the lonely +central figure that had so lately touched him! He wanted to escape it +all! + +But his fate brought him to the entrance at the same moment that +Boompointer was leaving it, and that distinguished man brushed hastily +by him as a gorgeous carriage, drawn by two spirited horses, and driven +by a resplendent negro coachman, dashed up. It was the Boompointer +carriage. + +A fashionably-dressed, pretty woman, who, in style, bearing, opulent +contentment, and ingenuous self-consciousness, was in perfect keeping +with the slight ostentation of the equipage, was its only occupant. As +Boompointer stepped into the vehicle, her blue eyes fell for an instant +on Brant. A happy, childlike pink flush came into her cheeks, and a +violet ray of recognition and mischief darted from her eyes to his. For +it was Susy. + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +When Brant returned to his hotel there was an augmented respect in the +voice of the clerk as he handed him a note with the remark that it had +been left by Senator Boompointer's coachman. He had no difficulty in +recognizing Susy's peculiarly Brobdingnagian school-girl hand. + +“Kla'uns, I call it real mean! I believe you just HOPED I wouldn't know +you. If you're a bit like your old self you'll come right off here--this +very night! I've got a big party on--but we can talk somewhere between +the acts! Haven't I growed? Tell me! And my! what a gloomy swell the +young brigadier is! The carriage will come for you--so you have no +excuse.” + +The effect of this childish note upon Brant was strangely out of +proportion to its triviality. But then it was Susy's very triviality--so +expressive of her characteristic irresponsibility--which had always +affected him at such moments. Again, as at Robles, he felt it react +against his own ethics. Was she not right in her delightful materialism? +Was she not happier than if she had been consistently true to Mrs. +Peyton, to the convent, to the episode of her theatrical career, to Jim +Hooker--even to himself? And did he conscientiously believe that Hooker +or himself had suffered from her inconsistency? No! From all that he +had heard, she was a suitable helpmate to the senator, in her social +attractiveness, her charming ostentations, her engaging vanity +that disarmed suspicion, and her lack of responsibility even in her +partisanship. Nobody ever dared to hold the senator responsible for her +promises, even while enjoying the fellowship of both, and it is +said that the worthy man singularly profited by it. Looking upon the +invitation as a possible distraction to his gloomy thoughts, Brant +resolved to go. + +The moon was high as the carriage whirled him out of the still stifling +avenues towards the Soldiers' Home--a sylvan suburb frequented by +cabinet ministers and the President--where the good Senator had +“decreed,” like Kubla Khan, “a stately pleasure dome,” to entertain his +friends and partisans. As they approached the house, the trembling light +like fireflies through the leaves, the warm silence broken only by a +military band playing a drowsy waltz on the veranda, and the heavy odors +of jessamine in the air, thrilled Brant with a sense of shame as +he thought of his old comrades in the field. But this was presently +dissipated by the uniforms that met him in the hall, with the presence +of some of his distinguished superiors. At the head of the stairs, +with a circling background of the shining crosses and ribbons of the +diplomatic corps, stood Susy--her bare arms and neck glittering with +diamonds, her face radiant with childlike vivacity. A significant +pressure of her little glove as he made his bow seemed to be his only +welcome, but a moment later she caught his arm. “You've yet to +know HIM,” she said in a half whisper; “he thinks a good deal of +himself--just like Jim. But he makes others believe it, and that's where +poor Jim slipped up.” She paused before the man thus characteristically +disposed of, and presented Brant. It was the man he had seen +before--material, capable, dogmatic. A glance from his shrewd +eyes--accustomed to the weighing of men's weaknesses and ambitions--and +a few hurried phrases, apparently satisfied him that Brant was not just +then important or available to him, and the two men, a moment later, +drifted easily apart. Brant sauntered listlessly through the crowded +rooms, half remorsefully conscious that he had taken some irrevocable +step, and none the less assured by the presence of two or three +reporters and correspondents who were dogging his steps, or the glance +of two or three pretty women whose curiosity had evidently been aroused +by the singular abstraction of this handsome, distinguished, but +sardonic-looking officer. But the next moment he was genuinely moved. + +A tall young woman had just glided into the centre of the room with an +indolent yet supple gracefulness that seemed familiar to him. A change +in her position suddenly revealed her face. It was Miss Faulkner. +Previously he had known her only in the riding habit of Confederate gray +which she had at first affected, or in the light muslin morning dress +she had worn at Gray Oaks. It seemed to him, to-night, that the studied +elegance of her full dress became her still more; that the pretty +willfulness of her chin and shoulders was chastened and modified by the +pearls round her fair throat. Suddenly their eyes met; her face paled +visibly; he fancied that she almost leaned against her companion for +support; then she met his glance again with a face into which the color +had as suddenly rushed, but with eyes that seemed to be appealing to him +even to the point of pain and fright. Brant was not conceited; he could +see that the girl's agitation was not the effect of any mere personal +influence in his recognition, but of something else. He turned hastily +away; when he looked around again she was gone. + +Nevertheless he felt filled with a vague irritation. Did she think him +such a fool as to imperil her safety by openly recognizing her without +her consent? Did she think that he would dare to presume upon the +service she had done him? Or, more outrageous thought, had she heard of +his disgrace, known its cause, and feared that he would drag her into +a disclosure to save himself? No, no; she could not think that! She had +perhaps regretted what she had done in a freak of girlish chivalry; she +had returned to her old feelings and partisanship; she was only startled +at meeting the single witness of her folly. Well, she need not fear! +He would as studiously avoid her hereafter, and she should know it. And +yet--yes, there was a “yet.” For he could not forget--indeed, in the +past three weeks it had been more often before him than he cared to +think--that she was the one human being who had been capable of a great +act of self-sacrifice for him--her enemy, her accuser, the man who had +scarcely treated her civilly. He was ashamed to remember now that this +thought had occurred to him at the bedside of his wife--at the hour of +her escape--even on the fatal slope on which he had been struck down. +And now this fond illusion must go with the rest--the girl who had +served him so loyally was ashamed of it! A bitter smile crossed his +face. + +“Well, I don't wonder! Here are all the women asking me who is that +good-looking Mephistopheles, with the burning eyes, who is prowling +around my rooms as if searching for a victim. Why, you're smiling for +all the world like poor Jim when he used to do the Red Avenger.” + +Susy's voice--and illustration--recalled him to himself. + +“Furious I may be,” he said with a gentler smile, although his eyes +still glittered, “furious that I have to wait until the one woman I came +to see--the one woman I have not seen for so long, while these puppets +have been nightly dancing before her--can give me a few moments from +them, to talk of the old days.” + +In his reaction he was quite sincere, although he felt a slight sense +of remorse as he saw the quick, faint color rise, as in those old days, +even through the to-night's powder of her cheek. + +“That's like the old Kla'uns,” she said, with a slight pressure of his +arm, “but we will not have a chance to speak until later. When they are +nearly all gone, you'll take me to get a little refreshment, and we'll +have a chat in the conservatory. But you must drop that awfully wicked +look and make yourself generally agreeable to those women until then.” + +It was, perhaps, part of this reaction which enabled him to obey his +hostess' commands with a certain recklessness that, however, seemed +to be in keeping with the previous Satanic reputation he had all +unconsciously achieved. The women listened to the cynical flippancy of +this good-looking soldier with an undisguised admiration which in +turn excited curiosity and envy from his own sex. He saw the whispered +questioning, the lifted eyebrows, scornful shrugging of shoulders--and +knew that the story of his disgrace was in the air. But I fear this +only excited him to further recklessness and triumph. Once he thought he +recognized Miss Faulkner's figure at a distance, and even fancied that +she had been watching him; but he only redoubled his attentions to the +fair woman beside him, and looked no more. + +Yet he was glad when the guests began to drop off, the great rooms +thinned, and Susy, appearing on the arm of her husband, coquettishly +reminded him of his promise. + +“For I want to talk to you of old times. General Brant,” she went on, +turning explanatorily to Boompointer, “married my adopted mother in +California--at Robles, a dear old place where I spent my earliest years. +So, you see, we are sort of relations by marriage,” she added, with +delightful naivete. + +Hooker's own vainglorious allusion to his relations to the man before +him flashed across Brant's mind, but it left now only a smile on his +lips. He felt he had already become a part of the irresponsible comedy +played around him. Why should he resist, or examine its ethics too +closely? He offered his arm to Susy as they descended the stairs, but, +instead of pausing in the supper-room, she simply passed through it with +a significant pressure on his arm, and, drawing aside a muslin curtain, +stepped into the moonlit conservatory. Behind the curtain there was a +small rustic settee; without releasing his arm she sat down, so that +when he dropped beside her, their hands met, and mutually clasped. + +“Now, Kla'uns,” she said, with a slight, comfortable shiver as she +nestled beside him, “it's a little like your chair down at old Robles, +isn't it?--tell me! And to think it's five years ago! But, Kla'uns, +what's the matter? You are changed,” she said, looking at his dark face +in the moonlight, “or you have something to tell me.” + +“I have.” + +“And it's something dreadful, I know!” she said, wrinkling her brows +with a pretty terror. “Couldn't you pretend you had told it to me, and +let us go on just the same? Couldn't you, Kla'uns? Tell me!” + +“I am afraid I couldn't,” he said, with a sad smile. + +“Is it about yourself, Kla'uns? You know,” she went on with cheerful +rapidity, “I know everything about you--I always did, you know--and I +don't care, and never did care, and it don't, and never did, make the +slightest difference to me. So don't tell it, and waste time, Kla'uns.” + +“It's not about me, but about my wife!” he said slowly. + +Her expression changed slightly + +“Oh, her!” she said after a pause. Then, half-resignedly, “Go on, +Kla'uns.” + +He began. He had a dozen times rehearsed to himself his miserable story, +always feeling it keenly, and even fearing that he might be carried away +by emotion or morbid sentiment in telling it to another. But, to his +astonishment, he found himself telling it practically, calmly, almost +cynically, to his old playmate, repressing the half devotion and even +tenderness that had governed him, from the time that his wife, disguised +as the mulatto woman, had secretly watched him at his office, to the +hour that he had passed through the lines. He withheld only the incident +of Miss Faulkner's complicity and sacrifice. + +“And she got away, after having kicked you out of your place, Kla'uns?” + said Susy, when he had ended. + +Clarence stiffened beside her. But he felt he had gone too far to +quarrel with his confidante. + +“She went away. I honestly believe we shall never meet again, or I +should not be telling you this!” + +“Kla'uns,” she said lightly, taking his hand again, “don't you believe +it! She won't let you go. You're one of those men that a woman, when +she's once hooked on to, won't let go of, even when she believes she no +longer loves him, or meets bigger and better men. I reckon it's because +you're so different from other men; maybe there are so many different +things about you to hook on to, and you don't slip off as easily as the +others. Now, if you were like old Peyton, her first husband, or like +poor Jim, or even my Boompointer, you'd be all right! No, my boy, all +we can do is to try to keep her from getting at you here. I reckon she +won't trust herself in Washington again in a hurry.” + +“But I cannot stay here; my career is in the field.” + +“Your career is alongside o' me, honey--and Boompointer. But nearer ME. +We'll fix all that. I heard something about your being in disgrace, but +the story was that you were sweet on some secesh girl down there, and +neglected your business, Kla'uns. But, Lordy! to think it was only your +own wife! Never mind; we'll straighten that out. We've had worse jobs +than that on. Why, there was that commissary who was buying up dead +horses at one end of the field, and selling them to the Government for +mess beef at the other; and there was that general who wouldn't make +an attack when it rained; and the other general--you know who I mean, +Kla'uns--who wouldn't invade the State where his sister lived; but we +straightened them out, somehow, and they were a heap worse than you. +We'll get you a position in the war department here, one of the bureau +offices, where you keep your rank and your uniform--you don't look bad +in it, Kla'uns--on better pay. And you'll come and see me, and we'll +talk over old times.” + +Brant felt his heart turn sick within him. But he was at her mercy now! +He said, with an effort,-- + +“But I've told you that my career--nay, my LIFE--now is in the field.” + +“Don't you be a fool, Kla'uns, and leave it there! You have done your +work of fighting--mighty good fighting, too,--and everybody knows it. +You've earned a change. Let others take your place.” + +He shuddered, as he remembered that his wife had made the same +appeal. Was he a fool then, and these two women--so totally unlike in +everything--right in this? + +“Come, Kla'uns,” said Susy, relapsing again against his shoulder. +“Now talk to me! You don't say what you think of me, of my home, of my +furniture, of my position--even of him! Tell me!” + +“I find you well, prosperous, and happy,” he said, with a faint smile. + +“Is that all? And how do I look?” + +She turned her still youthful, mischievous face towards him in the +moonlight. The witchery of her blue eyes was still there as of old, the +same frank irresponsibility beamed from them; her parted lips seemed to +give him back the breath of his youth. He started, but she did not. + +“Susy, dear!” + +It was her husband's voice. + +“I quite forgot,” the Senator went on, as he drew the curtain aside, +“that you are engaged with a friend; but Miss Faulkner is waiting to say +good-night, and I volunteered to find you.” + +“Tell her to wait a moment,” said Susy, with an impatience that was as +undisguised as it was without embarrassment or confusion. + +But Miss Faulkner, unconsciously following Mr. Boompointer, was already +upon them. For a moment the whole four were silent, although perfectly +composed. Senator Boompointer, unconscious of any infelicity in his +interruption, was calmly waiting. Clarence, opposed suddenly to the +young girl whom he believed was avoiding his recognition, rose, coldly +imperturbable. Miss Faulkner, looking taller and more erect in the long +folds of her satin cloak, neither paled nor blushed, as she regarded +Susy and Brant with a smile of well-bred apology. + +“I expect to leave Washington to-morrow, and may not be able to call +again,” she said, “or I would not have so particularly pressed a +leave-taking upon you.” + +“I was talking with my old friend, General Brant,” said Susy, more by +way of introduction than apology. + +Brant bowed. For an instant the clear eyes of Miss Faulkner slipped +icily across his as she made him an old-fashioned Southern courtesy, +and, taking Susy's arm, she left the room. Brant did not linger, but +took leave of his host almost in the same breath. At the front door a +well-appointed carriage of one of the Legations had just rolled into +waiting. He looked back; he saw Miss Faulkner, erect and looking like a +bride in her gauzy draperies, descending the stairs before the waiting +servants. He felt his heart beat strangely. He hesitated, recalled +himself with an effort, hurriedly stepped from the porch into the path, +as he heard the carriage door close behind him in the distance, and then +felt the dust from her horse's hoofs rise around him as she drove past +him and away. + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Although Brant was convinced as soon as he left the house that he +could not accept anything from the Boompointer influence, and that his +interview with Susy was fruitless, he knew that he must temporize. While +he did not believe that his old playmate would willingly betray him, he +was uneasy when he thought of the vanity and impulsiveness which might +compromise him--or of a possible jealousy that might seek revenge. Yet +he had no reason to believe that Susy's nature was jealous, or that she +was likely to have any cause; but the fact remained that Miss Faulkner's +innocent intrusion upon their tete-a-tete affected him more strongly +than anything else in his interview with Susy. Once out of the +atmosphere of that house, it struck him, too, that Miss Faulkner was +almost as much of an alien in it as himself. He wondered what she +had been doing there. Could it be possible that she was obtaining +information for the South? But he rejected the idea as quickly as it +had occurred to him. Perhaps there could be no stronger proof of the +unconscious influence the young girl already had over him. + +He remembered the liveries of the diplomatic carriage that had borne her +away, and ascertained without difficulty that her sister had married one +of the foreign ministers, and that she was a guest in his house. But he +was the more astonished to hear that she and her sister were considered +to be Southern Unionists--and were greatly petted in governmental +circles for their sacrificing fidelity to the flag. His informant, an +official in the State Department, added that Miss Matilda might have +been a good deal of a madcap at the outbreak of the war--for the sisters +had a brother in the Confederate service--but that she had changed +greatly, and, indeed, within a month. “For,” he added, “she was at the +White House for the first time last week, and they say the President +talked more to her than to any other woman.” + +The indescribable sensation with which this simple information filled +Brant startled him more than the news itself. Hope, joy, fear, distrust, +and despair, alternately distracted him. He recalled Miss Faulkner's +almost agonizing glance of appeal to him in the drawing-room at Susy's, +and it seemed to be equally consistent with the truth of what he had +just heard--or some monstrous treachery and deceit of which she might be +capable. Even now she might be a secret emissary of some spy within +the President's family; she might have been in correspondence with some +traitor in the Boompointer clique, and her imploring glance only the +result of a fear of exposure. Or, again, she might have truly recanted +after her escapade at Gray Oaks, and feared only his recollection of +her as go-between of spies. And yet both of these presumptions were +inconsistent with her conduct in the conservatory. It seemed impossible +that this impulsive woman, capable of doing what he had himself known +her to do, and equally sensitive to the shame or joy of such impulses, +should be the same conventional woman of society who had so coldly +recognized and parted from him. + +But this interval of doubt was transitory. The next day he received a +dispatch from the War Department, ordering him to report himself for +duty at once. With a beating heart he hurried to the Secretary. But +that official had merely left a memorandum with his assistant directing +General Brant to accompany some fresh levies to a camp of “organization” + near the front. Brant felt a chill of disappointment. Duties of this +kind had been left to dubious regular army veterans, hurriedly +displaced general officers, and favored detrimentals. But if it was not +restoration, it was no longer inaction, and it was at least a release +from Washington. + +It was also evidently the result of some influence--but hardly that +of the Boompointers, for he knew that Susy wished to keep him at +the Capital. Was there another power at work to send him away from +Washington? His previous doubts returned. Nor were they dissipated when +the chief of the bureau placed a letter before him with the remark that +it had been entrusted to him by a lady with the request that it should +be delivered only into his own hands. + +“She did not know your hotel address, but ascertained you were to call +here. She said it was of some importance. There is no mystery about it, +General,” continued the official with a mischievous glance at Brant's +handsome, perplexed face, “although it's from a very pretty woman--whom +we all know.” + +“Mrs. Boompointer?” suggested Brant, with affected lightness. + +It was a maladroit speech. The official's face darkened. + +“We have not yet become a Postal Department for the Boompointers, +General,” he said dryly, “however great their influence elsewhere. It +was from rather a different style of woman--Miss Faulkner. You will +receive your papers later at your hotel, and leave to-night.” + +Brant's unlucky slip was still potent enough to divert the official +attention, or he would have noticed the change in his visitor's face, +and the abruptness of his departure. + +Once in the street, Brant tore off the envelope. But beneath it was +another, on which was written in a delicate, refined hand: “Please do +not open this until you reach your destination.” + +Then she knew he was going! And perhaps this was her influence? All his +suspicions again returned. She knew he was going near the lines, and his +very appointment, through her power, might be a plot to serve her and +the enemy! Was this letter, which she was entrusting to him, the cover +of some missive to her Southern friends which she expected him to +carry--perhaps as a return for her own act of self-sacrifice? Was this +the appeal she had been making to his chivalry, his gratitude, his +honor? The perspiration stood in beads on his forehead. What defect lay +hidden in his nature that seemed to make him an easy victim of these +intriguing women? He had not even the excuse of gallantry; less +susceptible to the potencies of the sex than most men, he was still +compelled to bear that reputation. He remembered his coldness to Miss +Faulkner in the first days of their meeting, and her effect upon his +subalterns. Why had she selected him from among them--when she could +have modeled the others like wax to her purposes? Why? And yet with the +question came a possible answer that he hardly dared to think of--that +in its very vagueness seemed to fill him with a stimulating thrill and +hopefulness. He quickened his pace. He would take the letter, and yet be +master of himself when the time came to open it. + +That time came three days later, in his tent at Three Pines Crossing. As +he broke open the envelope, he was relieved to find that it contained +no other inclosure, and seemed intended only for himself. It began +abruptly:-- + +“When you read this, you will understand why I did not speak to you +when we met last night; why I even dreaded that you might speak to +me, knowing, as I did, what I ought to tell you at that place and +moment--something you could only know from me. I did not know you were +in Washington, although I knew you were relieved; I had no way of seeing +you or sending to you before, and I only came to Mrs. Boompointer's +party in the hope of hearing news of you. + +“You know that my brother was captured by your pickets in company with +another officer. He thinks you suspected the truth--that he and his +friend were hovering near your lines to effect the escape of the spy. +But he says that, although they failed to help her, she did escape, or +was passed through the lines by your connivance. He says that you seemed +to know her, that from what Rose--the mulatto woman--told him, you and +she were evidently old friends. I would not speak of this, nor intrude +upon your private affairs, only that I think you ought to know that I +had no knowledge of it when I was in your house, but believed her to be +a stranger to you. You gave me no intimation that you knew her, and I +believed that you were frank with me. But I should not speak of this +at all--for I believe that it would have made no difference to me in +repairing the wrong that I thought I had done you--only that, as I am +forced by circumstances to tell you the terrible ending of this story, +you ought to know it all. + +“My brother wrote to me that the evening after you left, the burying +party picked up the body of what they believed to be a mulatto woman +lying on the slope. It was not Rose, but the body of the very woman--the +real and only spy--whom you had passed through the lines. She was +accidentally killed by the Confederates in the first attack upon you, at +daybreak. But only my brother and his friend recognized her through her +blackened face and disguise, and on the plea that she was a servant of +one of their friends, they got permission from the division commander to +take her away, and she was buried by her friends and among her people in +the little cemetery of Three Pines Crossing, not far from where you have +gone. My brother thought that I ought to tell you this: it seems that +he and his friend had a strange sympathy for you in what they appear +to know or guess of your relations with that woman, and I think he was +touched by what he thought was your kindness and chivalry to him on +account of his sister. But I do not think he ever knew, or will know, +how great is the task that he has imposed upon me. + +“You know now, do you not, WHY I did not speak to you when we first met; +it seemed so impossible to do it in an atmosphere and a festivity that +was so incongruous with the dreadful message I was charged with. And +when I had to meet you later--perhaps I may have wronged you--but it +seemed to me that you were so preoccupied and interested with other +things that I might perhaps only be wearying you with something you +cared little for, or perhaps already knew and had quickly forgotten. + +“I had been wanting to say something else to you when I had got rid of +my dreadful message. I do not know if you still care to hear it. But +you were once generous enough to think that I had done you a service in +bringing a letter to your commander. Although I know better than anybody +else the genuine devotion to your duty that made you accept my poor +service, from all that I can hear, you have never had the credit of it. +Will you not try me again? I am more in favor here, and I might yet be +more successful in showing your superiors how true you have been to your +trust, even if you have little faith in your friend, Matilda Faulkner.” + +For a long time he remained motionless, with the letter in his hand. +Then he arose, ordered his horse, and galloped away. + +There was little difficulty in finding the cemetery of Three Pines +Crossing--a hillside slope, hearsed with pine and cypress, and starred +with white crosses, that in the distance looked like flowers. Still +less was there in finding the newer marble shaft among the older +lichen-spotted slabs, which bore the simple words: “Alice Benham, +Martyr.” A few Confederate soldiers, under still plainer and newer +wooden headstones, carved only with initials, lay at her feet. Brant +sank on his knees beside the grave, but he was shocked to see that the +base of the marble was stained with the red pollen of the fateful lily, +whose blossoms had been heaped upon her mound, but whose fallen petals +lay dark and sodden in decay. + +How long he remained there he did not know. And then a solitary bugle +from the camp seemed to summon him, as it had once before summoned him, +and he went away--as he had gone before--to a separation that he now +knew was for all time. + +Then followed a month of superintendence and drill, and the infusing +into the little camp under his instruction the spirit which seemed to +be passing out of his own life forever. Shut in by alien hills on the +borderland of the great struggle, from time to time reports reached +him of the bitter fighting, and almost disastrous successes of his old +division commander. Orders came from Washington to hurry the preparation +of his raw levies to the field, and a faint hope sprang up in his +mind. But following it came another dispatch ordering his return to the +Capital. + +He reached it with neither hope nor fear--so benumbed had become his +spirit under this last trial, and what seemed to be now the mockery of +this last sacrifice to his wife. Though it was no longer a question of +her life and safety, he knew that he could still preserve her memory +from stain by keeping her secret, even though its divulgings might clear +his own. For that reason, he had even hesitated to inform Susy of +her death, in the fear that, in her thoughtless irresponsibility and +impulsiveness, she might be tempted to use it in his favor. He had made +his late appointment a plea for her withholding any present efforts to +assist him. He even avoided the Boompointers' house, in what he believed +was partly a duty to the memory of his wife. But he saw no inconsistency +in occasionally extending his lonely walks to the vicinity of a foreign +Legation, or in being lifted with a certain expectation at the sight +of its liveries on the Avenue. There was a craving for sympathy in his +heart, which Miss Faulkner's letter had awakened. + +Meantime, he had reported himself for duty at the War Department--with +little hope, however, in that formality. But he was surprised the next +day when the chief of the bureau informed him that his claim was before +the President. + +“I was not aware that I had presented any claim,” he said, a little +haughtily. + +The bureau chief looked up with some surprise. This quiet, patient, +reserved man had puzzled him once or twice before. + +“Perhaps I should say 'case,' General,” he said, drily. “But the +personal interest of the highest executive in the land strikes me as +being desirable in anything.” + +“I only mean that I have obeyed the orders of the department in +reporting myself here, as I have done,” said Brant, with less feeling, +but none the less firmness; “and I should imagine it was not the duty +of a soldier to question them. Which I fancy a 'claim' or a 'case' would +imply.” + +He had no idea of taking this attitude before, but the disappointments +of the past month, added to this first official notice of his disgrace, +had brought forward that dogged, reckless, yet half-scornful obstinacy +that was part of his nature. + +The official smiled. + +“I suppose, then, you are waiting to hear from the President,” he said +drily. + +“I am awaiting orders from the department,” returned Brant quietly, +“but whether they originate in the President as commander-in-chief, or +not--it is not for me to inquire.” + +Even when he reached his hotel this half-savage indifference which had +taken the place of his former incertitude had not changed. It seemed to +him that he had reached the crisis of his life where he was no longer a +free agent, and could wait, superior alike to effort or expectation. And +it was with a merely dispassionate curiosity that he found a note the +next morning from the President's private secretary, informing him that +the President would see him early that day. + +A few hours later he was ushered through the public rooms of the White +House to a more secluded part of the household. The messenger stopped +before a modest door and knocked. It was opened by a tall figure--the +President himself. He reached out a long arm to Brant, who stood +hesitatingly on the threshold, grasped his hand, and led him into the +room. It had a single, large, elaborately draped window and a handsome +medallioned carpet, which contrasted with the otherwise almost appalling +simplicity of the furniture. A single plain angular desk, with a +blotting pad and a few sheets of large foolscap upon it, a waste-paper +basket and four plain armchairs, completed the interior with a contrast +as simple and homely as its long-limbed, black-coated occupant. +Releasing the hand of the general to shut a door which opened into +another apartment, the President shoved an armchair towards him and sank +somewhat wearily into another before the desk. But only for a moment; +the long shambling limbs did not seem to adjust themselves easily to +the chair; the high narrow shoulders drooped to find a more comfortable +lounging attitude, shifted from side to side, and the long legs moved +dispersedly. Yet the face that was turned towards Brant was humorous and +tranquil. + +“I was told I should have to send for you if I wished to see you,” he +said smilingly. + +Already mollified, and perhaps again falling under the previous +influence of this singular man, Brant began somewhat hesitatingly to +explain. + +But the President checked him gently,-- + +“You don't understand. It was something new to my experience here to +find an able-bodied American citizen with an honest genuine grievance +who had to have it drawn from him like a decayed tooth. But you have +been here before. I seem to remember your face.” + +Brant's reserve had gone. He admitted that he had twice sought an +audience--but-- + +“You dodged the dentist! That was wrong.” As Brant made a slight +movement of deprecation the President continued: “I understand! Not from +fear of giving pain to yourself but to others. I don't know that THAT +is right, either. A certain amount of pain must be suffered in this +world--even by one's enemies. Well, I have looked into your case, +General Brant.” He took up a piece of paper from his desk, scrawled with +two or three notes in pencil. “I think this is the way it stands. You +were commanding a position at Gray Oaks when information was received +by the department that, either through neglect or complicity, spies were +passing through your lines. There was no attempt to prove your neglect; +your orders, the facts of your personal care and precaution, were all +before the department. But it was also shown that your wife, from whom +you were only temporarily separated, was a notorious secessionist; that, +before the war, you yourself were suspected, and that, therefore, you +were quite capable of evading your own orders, which you may have +only given as a blind. On this information you were relieved by the +department of your command. Later on it was discovered that the spy was +none other than your own wife, disguised as a mulatto; that, after her +arrest by your own soldiers, you connived at her escape--and this was +considered conclusive proof of--well, let us say--your treachery.” + +“But I did not know it was my wife until she was arrested,” said Brant +impulsively. + +The President knitted his eyebrows humorously. + +“Don't let us travel out of the record, General. You're as bad as the +department. The question was one of your personal treachery, but you +need not accept the fact that you were justly removed because your wife +was a spy. Now, General, I am an old lawyer, and I don't mind telling +you that in Illinois we wouldn't hang a yellow dog on that evidence +before the department. But when I was asked to look into the matter by +your friends, I discovered something of more importance to you. I +had been trying to find a scrap of evidence that would justify the +presumption that you had sent information to the enemy. I found that it +was based upon the fact of the enemy being in possession of knowledge at +the first battle at Gray Oaks, which could only have been obtained +from our side, and which led to a Federal disaster; that you, however, +retrieved by your gallantry. I then asked the secretary if he was +prepared to show that you had sent the information with that view, or +that you had been overtaken by a tardy sense of repentance. He preferred +to consider my suggestion as humorous. But the inquiry led to my further +discovery that the only treasonable correspondence actually in evidence +was found upon the body of a trusted Federal officer, and had been +forwarded to the division commander. But there was no record of it in +the case.” + +“Why, I forwarded it myself,” said Brant eagerly. + +“So the division commander writes,” said the President, smiling, “and he +forwarded it to the department. But it was suppressed in some way. Have +you any enemies, General Brant?” + +“Not that I know of.” + +“Then you probably have. You are young and successful. Think of the +hundred other officers who naturally believe themselves better than you +are, and haven't a traitorous wife. Still, the department may have made +an example of you for the benefit of the only man who couldn't profit by +it.” + +“Might it not have been, sir, that this suppression was for the good +report of the service--as the chief offender was dead?” + +“I am glad to hear you say so, General, for it is the argument I have +used successfully in behalf of your wife.” + +“Then you know it all, sir?” said Brant after a gloomy pause. + +“All, I think. Come, General, you seemed just now to be uncertain about +your enemies. Let me assure you, you need not be so in regard to your +friends.” + +“I dare to hope I have found one, sir,” said Brant with almost boyish +timidity. + +“Oh, not me!” said the President, with a laugh of deprecation. “Some one +much more potent.” + +“May I know his name, Mr. President?” + +“No, for it is a woman. You were nearly ruined by one, General. I +suppose it's quite right that you should be saved by one. And, of +course, irregularly.” + +“A woman!” echoed Brant. + +“Yes; one who was willing to confess herself a worse spy than your +wife--a double traitor--to save you! Upon my word, General, I don't +know if the department was far wrong; a man with such an alternately +unsettling and convincing effect upon a woman's highest political +convictions should be under some restraint. Luckily the department knows +nothing of it.” + +“Nor would any one else have known from me,” said Brant eagerly. “I +trust that she did not think--that you, sir, did not for an instant +believe that I”-- + +“Oh dear, no! Nobody would have believed you! It was her free confidence +to me. That was what made the affair so difficult to handle. For even +her bringing your dispatch to the division commander looked bad for you; +and you know he even doubted its authenticity.” + +“Does she--does Miss Faulkner know the spy was my wife?” hesitated +Brant. + +The President twisted himself in his chair, so as to regard Brant more +gravely with his deep-set eyes, and then thoughtfully rubbed his leg. + +“Don't let us travel out of the record, General,” he said after a pause. +But as the color surged into Brant's cheek he raised his eyes to the +ceiling, and said, in half-humorous recollection,-- + +“No, I think THAT fact was first gathered from your other friend--Mr. +Hooker.” + +“Hooker!” said Brant, indignantly; “did he come here?” + +“Pray don't destroy my faith in Mr. Hooker, General,” said the +President, in half-weary, half-humorous deprecation. “Don't tell me +that any of his inventions are TRUE! Leave me at least that magnificent +liar--the one perfectly intelligible witness you have. For from the +time that he first appeared here with a grievance and a claim for +a commission, he has been an unspeakable joy to me and a convincing +testimony to you. Other witnesses have been partisans and prejudiced; +Mr. Hooker was frankly true to himself. How else should I have known of +the care you took to disguise yourself, save the honor of your uniform, +and run the risk of being shot as an unknown spy at your wife's side, +except from his magnificent version of HIS part in it? How else should +I have known the story of your discovery of the Californian conspiracy, +except from his supreme portrayal of it, with himself as the hero? No, +you must not forget to thank Mr. Hooker when you meet him. Miss Faulkner +is at present more accessible; she is calling on some members of my +family in the next room. Shall I leave you with her?” + +Brant rose with a pale face and a quickly throbbing heart as the +President, glancing at the clock, untwisted himself from the chair, and +shook himself out full length, and rose gradually to his feet. + +“Your wish for active service is granted, General Brant,” he said +slowly, “and you will at once rejoin your old division commander, who +is now at the head of the Tenth Army Corps. But,” he said, after a +deliberate pause, “there are certain rules and regulations of your +service that even I cannot, with decent respect to your department, +override. You will, therefore, understand that you cannot rejoin the +army in your former position.” + +The slight flush that came to Brant's cheek quickly passed. And there +was only the unmistakable sparkle of renewed youth in his frank eyes as +he said-- + +“Let me go to the front again, Mr. President, and I care not HOW.” + +The President smiled, and, laying his heavy hand on Brant's shoulder, +pushed him gently towards the door of the inner room. + +“I was only about to say,” he added, as he opened the door, “that +it would be necessary for you to rejoin your promoted commander as +a major-general. And,” he continued, lifting his voice, as he gently +pushed his guest into the room, “he hasn't even thanked me for it, Miss +Faulkner!” + +The door closed behind him, and he stood for a moment dazed, and still +hearing the distant voice of the President, in the room he had just +quitted, now welcoming a new visitor. But the room before him, opening +into a conservatory, was empty, save for a single figure that turned, +half timidly, half mischievously, towards him. The same quick, +sympathetic glance was in both their faces; the same timid, happy look +in both their eyes. He moved quickly to her side. + +“Then you knew that--that--woman was my wife?” he said, hurriedly, as he +grasped her hand. + +She cast a half-appealing look at his face--a half-frightened one around +the room and at the open door beyond. + +“Let us,” she said faintly, “go into the conservatory.” + +***** + +It is but a few years ago that the veracious chronicler of these pages +moved with a wondering crowd of sightseers in the gardens of the White +House. The war cloud had long since lifted and vanished; the Potomac +flowed peacefully by and on to where once lay the broad plantation of a +great Confederate leader--now a national cemetery that had gathered the +soldier dead of both sections side by side in equal rest and honor--and +the great goddess once more looked down serenely from the dome of the +white Capitol. The chronicler's attention was attracted by an erect, +handsome soldierly-looking man, with a beard and moustache slightly +streaked with gray, pointing out the various objects of interest to a +boy of twelve or fourteen at his side. + +“Yes; although, as I told you, this house belongs only to the President +of the United States and his family,” said the gentleman, smilingly, “in +that little conservatory I proposed to your mother.” + +“Oh! Clarence, how can you!” said the lady, reprovingly, “you know it +was LONG after that!” + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Clarence, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLARENCE *** + +***** This file should be named 2635-0.txt or 2635-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/3/2635/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/2635-0.zip b/2635-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4f6e8e --- /dev/null +++ b/2635-0.zip diff --git a/2635-h.zip b/2635-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfe9bfb --- /dev/null +++ b/2635-h.zip diff --git a/2635-h/2635-h.htm b/2635-h/2635-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b5e959 --- /dev/null +++ b/2635-h/2635-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6848 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Clarence, by Bret Harte + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Clarence, by Bret Harte + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Clarence + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 21, 2006 [EBook #2635] +Last Updated: March 4, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLARENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + CLARENCE + </h1> + <h2> + By Bret Harte + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART1"> <big><b>PART I.</b></big> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART3"> <big><b>PART II.</b></big> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER VII. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART3"> <big><b>PART III.</b></big> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART1" id="link2H_PART1"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + PART I. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <p> + As Clarence Brant, President of the Robles Land Company, and husband of + the rich widow of John Peyton, of the Robles Ranche, mingled with the + outgoing audience of the Cosmopolitan Theatre, at San Francisco, he + elicited the usual smiling nods and recognition due to his good looks and + good fortune. But as he hurriedly slipped through the still lingering + winter's rain into the smart coupe that was awaiting him, and gave the + order “Home,” the word struck him with a peculiarly ironical significance. + His home was a handsome one, and lacked nothing in appointment and + comfort, but he had gone to the theatre to evade its hollow loneliness. + Nor was it because his wife was not there, for he had a miserable + consciousness that her temporary absence had nothing to do with his + homelessness. The distraction of the theatre over, that dull, vague, but + aching sense of loneliness which was daily growing upon him returned with + greater vigor. + </p> + <p> + He leaned back in the coupe and gloomily reflected. + </p> + <p> + He had been married scarcely a year, yet even in the illusions of the + honeymoon the woman, older than himself, and the widow of his old patron, + had half unconsciously reasserted herself, and slipped back into the + domination of her old position. It was at first pleasant enough,—this + half-maternal protectorate which is apt to mingle even with the affections + of younger women,—and Clarence, in his easy, half-feminine intuition + of the sex, yielded, as the strong are apt to yield, through the very + consciousness of their own superiority. But this is a quality the weaker + are not apt to recognize, and the woman who has once tasted equal power + with her husband not only does not easily relegate it, but even makes its + continuance a test of the affections. The usual triumphant feminine + conclusion, “Then you no longer love me,” had in Clarence's brief + experience gone even further and reached its inscrutable climax, “Then I + no longer love you,” although shown only in a momentary hardening of the + eye and voice. And added to this was his sudden, but confused remembrance + that he had seen that eye and heard that voice in marital altercation + during Judge Peyton's life, and that he himself, her boy partisan, had + sympathized with her. Yet, strange to say, this had given him more pain + than her occasional other reversions to the past—to her old + suspicious of him when he was a youthful protege of her husband and a + presumed suitor of her adopted daughter Susy. High natures are more apt to + forgive wrong done to themselves than any abstract injustice. And her + capricious tyranny over her dependents and servants, or an unreasoning + enmity to a neighbor or friend, outraged his finer sense more than her own + misconception of himself. Nor did he dream that this was a thing most + women seldom understand, or, understanding, ever forgive. + </p> + <p> + The coupe rattled over the stones or swirled through the muddy pools of + the main thoroughfares. Newspaper and telegraphic offices were still + brilliantly lit, and crowds were gathered among the bulletin boards. He + knew that news had arrived from Washington that evening of the first + active outbreaks of secession, and that the city was breathless with + excitement. Had he not just come from the theatre, where certain + insignificant allusions in the play had been suddenly caught up and + cheered or hissed by hitherto unknown partisans, to the dumb astonishment + of a majority of the audience comfortably settled to money-getting and + their own affairs alone? Had he not applauded, albeit half-scornfully, the + pretty actress—his old playmate Susy—who had audaciously and + all incongruously waved the American flag in their faces? Yes! he had + known it; had lived for the last few weeks in an atmosphere electrically + surcharged with it—and yet it had chiefly affected him in his + personal homelessness. For his wife was a Southerner, a born slaveholder, + and a secessionist, whose noted prejudices to the North had even outrun + her late husband's politics. At first the piquancy and recklessness of her + opinionative speech amused him as part of her characteristic flavor, or as + a lingering youthfulness which the maturer intellect always pardons. He + had never taken her politics seriously—why should he? With her head + on his shoulder he had listened to her extravagant diatribes against the + North. He had forgiven her outrageous indictment of his caste and his + associates for the sake of the imperious but handsome lips that uttered + it. But when he was compelled to listen to her words echoed and repeated + by her friends and family; when he found that with the clannishness of her + race she had drawn closer to them in this controversy,—that she + depended upon them for her intelligence and information rather than upon + him,—he had awakened to the reality of his situation. He had borne + the allusions of her brother, whose old scorn for his dependent childhood + had been embittered by his sister's marriage and was now scarcely + concealed. Yet, while he had never altered his own political faith and + social creed in this antagonistic atmosphere, he had often wondered, with + his old conscientiousness and characteristic self-abnegation, whether his + own political convictions were not merely a revulsion from his domestic + tyranny and alien surroundings. + </p> + <p> + In the midst of this gloomy retrospect the coupe stopped with a jerk + before his own house. The door was quickly opened by a servant, who + appeared to be awaiting him. + </p> + <p> + “Some one to see you in the library, sir,” said the man, “and”—He + hesitated and looked towards the coupe. + </p> + <p> + “Well?” said Clarence impatiently. + </p> + <p> + “He said, sir, as how you were not to send away the carriage.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, and who is it?” demanded Clarence sharply. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Hooker. He said I was to say Jim Hooker.” + </p> + <p> + The momentary annoyance in Clarence's face changed to a look of reflective + curiosity. + </p> + <p> + “He said he knew you were at the theatre, and he would wait until you came + home,” continued the man, dubiously watching his master's face. “He don't + know you've come in, sir, and—and I can easily get rid of him.” + </p> + <p> + “No matter now. I'll see him, and,” added Clarence, with a faint smile, + “let the carriage wait.” + </p> + <p> + Yet, as he turned towards the library he was by no means certain that an + interview with the old associate of his boyhood under Judge Peyton's + guardianship would divert his mind. Yet he let no trace of his doubts nor + of his past gloom show in his face as he entered the room. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hooker was apparently examining the elegant furniture and luxurious + accommodation with his usual resentful enviousness. Clarence had got a + “soft thing.” That it was more or less the result of his “artfulness,” and + that he was unduly “puffed up” by it, was, in Hooker's characteristic + reasoning, equally clear. As his host smilingly advanced with outstretched + hand, Mr. Hooker's efforts to assume a proper abstraction of manner and + contemptuous indifference to Clarence's surroundings which should wound + his vanity ended in his lolling back at full length in the chair with his + eyes on the ceiling. But, remembering suddenly that he was really the + bearer of a message to Clarence, it struck him that his supine position + was, from a theatrical view-point, infelicitous. In his experiences of the + stage he had never delivered a message in that way. He rose awkwardly to + his feet. + </p> + <p> + “It was so good of you to wait,” said Clarence courteously. + </p> + <p> + “Saw you in the theatre,” said Hooker brusquely. “Third row in parquet. + Susy said it was you, and had suthin' to say to you. Suthin' you ought to + know,” he continued, with a slight return of his old mystery of manner + which Clarence so well remembered. “You saw HER—she fetched the + house with that flag business, eh? She knows which way the cat is going to + jump, you bet. I tell you, for all the blowing of these secessionists, the + Union's goin' to pay! Yes, sir!” He stopped, glanced round the handsome + room, and added darkly, “Mebbee better than this.” + </p> + <p> + With the memory of Hooker's characteristic fondness for mystery still in + his mind, Clarence overlooked the innuendo, and said smilingly,— + </p> + <p> + “Why didn't you bring Mrs. Hooker here? I should have been honored with + her company.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hooker frowned slightly at this seeming levity. + </p> + <p> + “Never goes out after a performance. Nervous exhaustion. Left her at our + rooms in Market Street. We can drive there in ten minutes. That's why I + asked to have the carriage wait.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence hesitated. Without caring in the least to renew the acquaintance + of his old playmate and sweetheart, a meeting that night in some vague way + suggested to him a providential diversion. Nor was he deceived by any + gravity in the message. With his remembrance of Susy's theatrical + tendencies, he was quite prepared for any capricious futile extravagance. + </p> + <p> + “You are sure we will not disturb her?” he said politely. + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence led the way to the carriage. If Mr. Hooker expected him during + the journey to try to divine the purport of Susy's message he was + disappointed. His companion did not allude to it. Possibly looking upon it + as a combined theatrical performance, Clarence preferred to wait for Susy + as the better actor. The carriage rolled rapidly through the now deserted + streets, and at last, under the directions of Mr. Hooker, who was leaning + half out of the window, it drew up at a middle-class restaurant, above + whose still lit and steaming windows were some ostentatiously public + apartments, accessible from a side entrance. As they ascended the + staircase together, it became evident that Mr. Hooker was scarcely more at + his ease in the character of host than he had been as guest. He stared + gloomily at a descending visitor, grunted audibly at a waiter in the + passage, and stopped before a door, where a recently deposited tray + displayed the half-eaten carcase of a fowl, an empty champagne bottle, two + half-filled glasses, and a faded bouquet. The whole passage was redolent + with a singular blending of damp cooking, stale cigarette smoke, and + patchouli. + </p> + <p> + Putting the tray aside with his foot, Mr. Hooker opened the door + hesitatingly and peered into the room, muttered a few indistinct words, + which were followed by a rapid rustling of skirts, and then, with his hand + still on the door-knob, turning to Clarence, who had discreetly halted on + the threshold, flung the door open theatrically and bade him enter. + </p> + <p> + “She is somewhere in the suite,” he added, with a large wave of the hand + towards a door that was still oscillating. “Be here in a minit.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence took in the apartment with a quiet glance. Its furniture had the + frayed and discolored splendors of a public parlor which had been + privately used and maltreated; there were stains in the large medallioned + carpet; the gilded veneer had been chipped from a heavy centre table, + showing the rough, white deal beneath, which gave it the appearance of a + stage “property;” the walls, paneled with gilt-framed mirrors, reflected + every domestic detail or private relaxation with shameless publicity. A + damp waterproof, shawl, and open newspaper were lying across the once + brilliant sofa; a powder-puff, a plate of fruit, and a play-book were on + the centre table, and on the marble-topped sideboard was Mr. Hooker's + second-best hat, with a soiled collar, evidently but lately exchanged for + the one he had on, peeping over its brim. The whole apartment seemed to + mingle the furtive disclosures of the dressing-room with the open + ostentations of the stage, with even a slight suggestion of the auditorium + in a few scattered programmes on the floor and chairs. + </p> + <p> + The inner door opened again with a slight theatrical start, and Susy, in + an elaborate dressing-gown, moved languidly into the room. She apparently + had not had time to change her underskirt, for there was the dust of the + stage on its delicate lace edging, as she threw herself into an armchair + and crossed her pretty slippered feet before her. Her face was pale, its + pallor incautiously increased by powder; and as Clarence looked at its + still youthful, charming outline, he was not perhaps sorry that the + exquisite pink and white skin beneath, which he had once kissed, was + hidden from that awakened recollection. Yet there was little trace of the + girlish Susy in the pretty, but prematurely jaded, actress before him, and + he felt momentarily relieved. It was her youth and freshness appealing to + his own youth and imagination that he had loved—not HER. Yet as she + greeted him with a slight exaggeration of glance, voice, and manner, he + remembered that even as a girl she was an actress. + </p> + <p> + Nothing of this, however, was in his voice and manner as he gently thanked + her for the opportunity of meeting her again. And he was frank, for the + diversion he had expected he had found; he even was conscious of thinking + more kindly of his wife who had supplanted her. + </p> + <p> + “I told Jim he must fetch you if he had to carry you,” she said, striking + the palm of her hand with her fan, and glancing at her husband. “I reckon + he guessed WHY, though I didn't tell him—I don't tell Jim + EVERYTHING.” + </p> + <p> + Here Jim rose, and looking at his watch, “guessed he'd run over to the + Lick House and get some cigars.” If he was acting upon some hint from his + wife, his simulation was so badly done that Clarence felt his first sense + of uneasiness. But as Hooker closed the door awkwardly and + unostentatiously behind him, Clarence smilingly said he had waited to hear + the message from her own lips. + </p> + <p> + “Jim only knows what he's heard outside: the talk of men, you know,—and + he hears a good deal of that—more, perhaps, than YOU do. It was that + which put me up to finding out the truth. And I didn't rest till I did. + I'm not to be fooled, Clarence,—you don't mind my calling you + Clarence now we're both married and done for,—and I'm not the kind + to be fooled by anybody from the Cow counties—and that's the Robles + Ranche. I'm a Southern woman myself from Missouri, but I'm for the Union + first, last, and all the time, and I call myself a match for any lazy, + dawdling, lash-swinging slaveholder and slaveholderess—whether + they're mixed blood, Heaven only knows, or what—or their friends or + relations, or the dirty half-Spanish grandees and their mixed half-nigger + peons who truckle to them. You bet!” + </p> + <p> + His blood had stirred quickly at the mention of the Robles Ranche, but the + rest of Susy's speech was too much in the vein of her old extravagance to + touch him seriously. He found himself only considering how strange it was + that the old petulance and impulsiveness of her girlhood were actually + bringing back with them her pink cheeks and brilliant eyes. + </p> + <p> + “You surely didn't ask Jim to bring me here,” he said smilingly, “to tell + me that Mrs. Peyton”—he corrected himself hastily as a malicious + sparkle came into Susy's blue eyes—“that my wife was a Southern + woman, and probably sympathized with her class? Well, I don't know that I + should blame her for that any more than she should blame me for being a + Northern man and a Unionist.” + </p> + <p> + “And she doesn't blame you?” asked Susy sneeringly. + </p> + <p> + The color came slightly to Clarence's cheek, but before he could reply the + actress added,— + </p> + <p> + “No, she prefers to use you!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't think I understand you,” said Clarence, rising coldly. + </p> + <p> + “No, you don't understand HER!” retorted Susy sharply. “Look here, + Clarence Brant, you're right; I didn't ask you here to tell you—what + you and everybody knows—that your wife is a Southerner. I didn't ask + you here to tell you what everybody suspects—that she turns you + round her little finger. But I did ask you here to tell you what nobody, + not even you, suspects—but what I know!—and that is that she's + a TRAITOR—and more, a SPY!—and that I've only got to say the + word, or send that man Jim to say the word, to have her dragged out of her + Copperhead den at Robles Ranche and shut up in Fort Alcatraz this very + night!” + </p> + <p> + Still with the pink glowing in her rounding cheek, and eyes snapping like + splintered sapphires, she rose to her feet, with her pretty shoulders + lifted, her small hands and white teeth both tightly clenched, and took a + step towards him. Even in her attitude there was a reminiscence of her + willful childhood, although still blended with the provincial actress whom + he had seen on the stage only an hour ago. Thoroughly alarmed at her + threat, in his efforts to conceal his feelings he was not above a weak + retaliation. Stepping back, he affected to regard her with a critical + admiration that was only half simulated, and said with a smile,— + </p> + <p> + “Very well done—but you have forgotten the flag.” + </p> + <p> + She did not flinch. Rather accepting the sarcasm as a tribute to her art, + she went on with increasing exaggeration: “No, it is YOU who have + forgotten the flag—forgotten your country, your people, your manhood—everything + for that high-toned, double-dyed old spy and traitress! For while you are + standing here, your wife is gathering under her roof at Robles a gang of + spies and traitors like herself—secession leaders and their bloated, + drunken 'chivalry'! Yes, you may smile your superior smile, but I tell + you, Clarence Brant, that with all your smartness and book learning you + know no more of what goes on around you than a child. But others do! This + conspiracy is known to the government, the Federal officers have been + warned; General Sumner has been sent out here—and his first act was + to change the command at Fort Alcatraz, and send your wife's Southern + friend—Captain Pinckney—to the right about! Yes—everything + is known but ONE thing, and that is WHERE and HOW this precious crew meet! + That I alone know, and that I've told you!” + </p> + <p> + “And I suppose,” said Clarence, with an unchanged smile, “that this + valuable information came from your husband—my old friend, Jim + Hooker?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” she answered sharply, “it comes from Cencho—one of your own + peons—who is more true to you and the old Rancho than YOU have ever + been. He saw what was going on, and came to me, to warn you!” + </p> + <p> + “But why not to me directly?” asked Clarence, with affected incredulity. + </p> + <p> + “Ask him!” she said viciously. “Perhaps he didn't want to warn the master + against the mistress. Perhaps he thought WE are still friends. Perhaps”—she + hesitated with a lower voice and a forced smile—“perhaps he used to + see us together in the old times.” + </p> + <p> + “Very likely,” said Clarence quietly. “And for the sake of those old + times, Susy,” he went on, with a singular gentleness that was quite + distinct from his paling face and set eyes, “I am going to forget all that + you have just said of me and mine, in all the old willfulness and + impatience that I see you still keep—with all your old prettiness.” + He took his hat from the table and gravely held out his hand. + </p> + <p> + She was frightened for a moment with his impassive abstraction. In the old + days she had known it—had believed it was his dogged “obstinacy”—but + she knew the hopelessness of opposing it. Yet with feminine persistency + she again threw herself against it, as against a wall. + </p> + <p> + “You don't believe me! Well, go and see for yourself. They are at Robles + NOW. If you catch the early morning stage at Santa Clara you will come + upon them before they disperse. Dare you try it?” + </p> + <p> + “Whatever I do,” he returned smilingly, “I shall always be grateful to you + for giving me this opportunity of seeing you again AS YOU WERE. Make my + excuses to your husband. Good-night.” + </p> + <p> + “Clarence!” + </p> + <p> + But he had already closed the door behind him. His face did not relax its + expression nor change as he looked again at the tray with its broken + viands before the door, the worn, stained hall carpet, or the waiter who + shuffled past him. He was apparently as critically conscious of them and + of the close odors of the hall, and the atmosphere of listless decay and + faded extravagance around him, as before the interview. But if the woman + he had just parted from had watched him she would have supposed he still + utterly disbelieved her story. Yet he was conscious that all that he saw + was a part of his degradation, for he had believed every word she had + uttered. Through all her extravagance, envy, and revengefulness he saw the + central truth—that he had been deceived—not by his wife, but + by himself! He had suspected all this before. This was what had been + really troubling him—this was what he had put aside, rather than his + faith, not in her, but in his ideal. He remembered letters that had passed + between her and Captain Pinckney—letters that she had openly sent to + notorious Southern leaders; her nervous anxiety to remain at the Rancho; + the innuendoes and significant glances of friends which he had put aside—as + he had this woman's message! Susy had told him nothing new of his wife—but + the truth of HIMSELF! And the revelation came from people who he was + conscious were the inferiors of himself and his wife. To an independent, + proud, and self-made man it was the culminating stroke. + </p> + <p> + In the same abstracted voice he told the coachman to drive home. The + return seemed interminable—though he never shifted his position. Yet + when he drew up at his own door and looked at his watch he found he had + been absent only half an hour. Only half an hour! As he entered the house + he turned with the same abstraction towards a mirror in the hall, as if he + expected to see some outward and visible change in himself in that time. + Dismissing his servants to bed, he went into his dressing-room, completely + changed his attire, put on a pair of long riding-boots, and throwing a + serape over his shoulders, paused a moment, took a pair of small + “Derringer” pistols from a box, put them in his pockets, and then slipped + cautiously down the staircase. A lack of confidence in his own domestics + had invaded him for the first time. The lights were out. He silently + opened the door and was in the street. + </p> + <p> + He walked hastily a few squares to a livery stable whose proprietor he + knew. His first inquiry was for one “Redskin,” a particular horse; the + second for its proprietor. Happily both were in. The proprietor asked no + question of a customer of Clarence's condition. The horse, half Spanish, + powerful and irascible, was quickly saddled. As Clarence mounted, the man + in an impulse of sociability said,— + </p> + <p> + “Saw you at the theatre to-night, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” returned Clarence, quietly gathering up the reins. + </p> + <p> + “Rather a smart trick of that woman with the flag,” he went on + tentatively. Then, with a possible doubt of his customer's politics, he + added with a forced smile, “I reckon it's all party fuss, though; there + ain't any real danger.” + </p> + <p> + But fast as Clarence might ride the words lingered in his ears. He saw + through the man's hesitation; he, too, had probably heard that Clarence + Brant weakly sympathized with his wife's sentiments, and dared not speak + fully. And he understood the cowardly suggestion that there was “no real + danger.” It had been Clarence's one fallacy. He had believed the public + excitement was only a temporary outbreak of partisan feeling, soon to + subside. Even now he was conscious that he was less doubtful of the + integrity of the Union than of his own household. It was not the devotion + of the patriot, but the indignation of an outraged husband, that was + spurring him on. + </p> + <p> + He knew that if he reached Woodville by five o'clock he could get ferried + across the bay at the Embarcadero, and catch the down coach to Fair + Plains, whence he could ride to the Rancho. As the coach did not connect + directly with San Francisco, the chance of his surprising them was + greater. Once clear of the city outskirts, he bullied Redskin into + irascible speed, and plunged into the rainy darkness of the highroad. The + way was familiar. For a while he was content to feel the buffeting, caused + by his rapid pace, of wind and rain against his depressed head and + shoulders in a sheer brutal sense of opposition and power, or to relieve + his pent-up excitement by dashing through overflowed gullies in the road + or across the quaggy, sodden edges of meadowland, until he had controlled + Redskin's rebellious extravagance into a long steady stride. Then he + raised his head and straightened himself on the saddle, to think. But to + no purpose. He had no plan; everything would depend upon the situation; + the thought of forestalling any action of the conspirators, by warning or + calling in the aid of the authorities, for an instant crossed his mind, + but was as instantly dismissed. He had but an instinct—to see with + his own eyes what his reason told him was true. Day was breaking through + drifting scud and pewter-colored clouds as he reached Woodville ferry, + checkered with splashes of the soil and the spume of his horse, from whose + neck and flanks the sweat rolled like lather. Yet he was not conscious how + intent had been his purpose until he felt a sudden instinctive shock on + seeing that the ferryboat was gone. For an instant his wonderful + self-possession abandoned him; he could only gaze vacantly at the + leaden-colored bay, without a thought or expedient. But in another moment + he saw that the boat was returning from the distance. Had he lost his only + chance? He glanced hurriedly at his watch; he had come more quickly than + he imagined; there would still be time. He beckoned impatiently to the + ferryman; the boat—a ship's pinnace, with two men in it—crept + in with exasperating slowness. At last the two rowers suddenly leaped + ashore. + </p> + <p> + “Ye might have come before, with the other passenger. We don't reckon to + run lightnin' trips on this ferry.” + </p> + <p> + But Clarence was himself again. “Twenty dollars for two more oars in that + boat,” he said quietly, “and fifty if you get me over in time to catch the + down stage.” + </p> + <p> + The man glanced at Clarence's eyes. “Run up and rouse out Jake and Sam,” + he said to the other boatman; then more leisurely, gazing at his + customer's travel-stained equipment, he said, “There must have been a heap + o' passengers got left by last night's boat. You're the second man that + took this route in a hurry.” + </p> + <p> + At any other time the coincidence might have struck Clarence. But he only + answered curtly, “Unless we are under way in ten minutes you will find I + am NOT the second man, and that our bargain's off.” + </p> + <p> + But here two men emerged from the shanty beside the ferryhouse, and + tumbled sleepily into the boat. Clarence seized an extra pair of sculls + that were standing against the shed, and threw them into the stern. “I + don't mind taking a hand myself for exercise,” he said quietly. + </p> + <p> + The ferryman glanced again at Clarence's travel-worn figure and determined + eyes with mingled approval and surprise. He lingered a moment with his + oars lifted, looking at his passenger. “It ain't no business o' mine, + young man,” he said deliberately, “but I reckon you understand me when I + say that I've just taken another man over there.” + </p> + <p> + “I do,” said Clarence impatiently. + </p> + <p> + “And you still want to go?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” replied Clarence, with a cold stare, taking up his oars. + </p> + <p> + The man shrugged his shoulders, bent himself for the stroke, and the boat + sprung forward. The others rowed strongly and rapidly, the tough ashen + blades springing like steel from the water, the heavy boat seeming to leap + in successive bounds until they were fairly beyond the curving inshore + current and clearing the placid, misty surface of the bay. Clarence did + not speak, but bent abstractedly over his oar; the ferryman and his crew + rowed in equal panting silence; a few startled ducks whirred before them, + but dropped again to rest. In half an hour they were at the Embarcadero. + The time was fairly up. Clarence's eyes were eagerly bent for the first + appearance of the stage-coach around the little promontory; the ferryman + was as eagerly scanning the bare, empty street of the still sleeping + settlement. + </p> + <p> + “I don't see him anywhere,” said the ferryman with a glance, half of + astonishment and half of curiosity, at his solitary passenger. + </p> + <p> + “See whom?” asked Clarence carelessly, as he handed the man his promised + fee. + </p> + <p> + “The other man I ferried over to catch the stage. He must have gone on + without waiting. You're in luck, young fellow!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand you,” said Clarence impatiently. “What has your + previous passenger to do with me?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I reckon you know best. He's the kind of man, gin'rally speaking, + that other men, in a pow'ful hurry, don't care to meet—and, az a + rule, don't FOLLER arter. It's gin'rally the other way.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” inquired Clarence sternly. “Of whom are you speaking?” + </p> + <p> + “The Chief of Police of San Francisco!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. + </h2> + <p> + The laugh that instinctively broke from Clarence's lips was so sincere and + unaffected that the man was disconcerted, and at last joined in it, a + little shamefacedly. The grotesque blunder of being taken as a fugitive + from justice relieved Clarence's mind from its acute tension,—he was + momentarily diverted,—and it was not until the boatman had departed, + and he was again alone, that it seemed to have any collateral + significance. Then an uneasy recollection of Susy's threat that she had + the power to put his wife in Fort Alcatraz came across him. Could she have + already warned the municipal authorities and this man? But he quickly + remembered that any action from such a warning could only have been taken + by the United States Marshal, and not by a civic official, and dismissed + the idea. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, when the stage with its half-spent lamps still burning dimly + against the morning light swept round the curve and rolled heavily up to + the rude shanty which served as coach-office, he became watchful. A single + yawning individual in its doorway received a few letters and parcels, but + Clarence was evidently the ONLY waiting passenger. Any hope that he might + have entertained that his mysterious predecessor would emerge from some + seclusion at that moment was disappointed. As he entered the coach he made + a rapid survey of his fellow-travelers, but satisfied himself that the + stranger was not among them. They were mainly small traders or farmers, a + miner or two, and apparently a Spanish-American of better degree and + personality. Possibly the circumstance that men of this class usually + preferred to travel on horseback and were rarely seen in public + conveyances attracted his attention, and their eyes met more than once in + mutual curiosity. Presently Clarence addressed a remark to the stranger in + Spanish; he replied fluently and courteously, but at the next + stopping-place he asked a question of the expressman in an unmistakable + Missouri accent. Clarence's curiosity was satisfied; he was evidently one + of those early American settlers who had been so long domiciled in + Southern California as to adopt the speech as well as the habiliments of + the Spaniard. + </p> + <p> + The conversation fell upon the political news of the previous night, or + rather seemed to be lazily continued from some previous, more excited + discussion, in which one of the contestants—a red-bearded miner—had + subsided into an occasional growl of surly dissent. It struck Clarence + that the Missourian had been an amused auditor and even, judging from a + twinkle in his eye, a mischievous instigator of the controversy. He was + not surprised, therefore, when the man turned to him with a certain + courtesy and said,— + </p> + <p> + “And what, sir, is the political feeling in YOUR district?” + </p> + <p> + But Clarence was in no mood to be drawn out, and replied, almost curtly, + that as he had come only from San Francisco, they were probably as well + informed on that subject as himself. A quick and searching glance from the + stranger's eye made him regret his answer, but in the silence that ensued + the red-bearded miner, evidently still rankling at heart, saw his + opportunity. Slapping his huge hands on his knees, and leaning far forward + until he seemed to plunge his flaming beard, like a firebrand, into the + controversy, he said grimly,— + </p> + <p> + “Well, I kin tell you, gen'l'men, THIS. It ain't goin' to be no matter + wot's the POLITICAL FEELING here or thar—it ain't goin' to be no + matter wot's the State's rights and wot's Fed'ral rights—it ain't + goin' to be no question whether the gov'ment's got the right to relieve + its own soldiers that those Secesh is besieging in Fort Sumter or whether + they haven't—but the first gun that's fired at the flag blows the + chains off every d—n nigger south of Mason and Dixon's line! You + hear me! I'm shoutin'! And whether you call yourselves 'Secesh' or 'Union' + or 'Copperhead' or 'Peace men,' you've got to face it!” + </p> + <p> + There was an angry start in one or two of the seats; one man caught at the + swinging side-strap and half rose, a husky voice began, “It's a d——d”—and + then all as suddenly subsided. Every eye was turned to an insignificant + figure in the back seat. It was a woman, holding a child on her lap, and + gazing out of the window with her sex's profound unconcern in politics. + Clarence understood the rude chivalry of the road well enough to + comprehend that this unconscious but omnipotent figure had more than once + that day controlled the passions of the disputants. They dropped back + weakly to their seats, and their mutterings rolled off in the rattle of + the wheels. Clarence glanced at the Missourian; he was regarding the + red-bearded miner with a singular curiosity. + </p> + <p> + The rain had ceased, but the afternoon shadows were deepening when they at + last reached Fair Plains, where Clarence expected to take horse to the + Rancho. He was astonished, however, to learn that all the horses in the + stable were engaged, but remembering that some of his own stock were in + pasturage with a tenant at Fair Plains, and that he should probably have a + better selection, he turned his steps thither. Passing out of the + stable-yard he recognized the Missourian's voice in whispered conversation + with the proprietor, but the two men withdrew into the shadow as he + approached. An ill-defined uneasiness came over him; he knew the + proprietor, who also seemed to know the Missourian, and this evident + avoidance of him was significant. Perhaps his reputation as a doubtful + Unionist had preceded him, but this would not account for their conduct in + a district so strongly Southern in sympathy as Fair Plains. More impressed + by the occurrence than he cared to admit, when at last, after some delay, + he had secured his horse, and was once more in the saddle, he kept a sharp + lookout for his quondam companion. But here another circumstance added to + his suspicions: there was a main road leading to Santa Inez, the next + town, and the Rancho, and this Clarence had purposely taken in order to + watch the Missourian; but there was also a cutoff directly to the Rancho, + known only to the habitues of the Rancho. After a few moments' rapid + riding on a mustang much superior to any in the hotel stables, he was + satisfied that the stranger must have taken the cut-off. Putting spurs to + his horse he trusted still to precede him to the Rancho—if that were + his destination. + </p> + <p> + As he dashed along the familiar road, by a strange perversity of fancy, + instead of thinking of his purpose, he found himself recalling the first + time he had ridden that way in the flush of his youth and hopefulness. The + girl-sweetheart he was then going to rejoin was now the wife of another; + the woman who had been her guardian was now his own wife. He had accepted + without a pang the young girl's dereliction, but it was through her + revelation that he was now about to confront the dereliction of his own + wife. And this was the reward of his youthful trust and loyalty! A bitter + laugh broke from his lips. It was part of his still youthful self-delusion + that he believed himself wiser and stronger for it. + </p> + <p> + It was quite dark when he reached the upper field or first terrace of the + Rancho. He could see the white walls of the casa rising dimly out of the + green sea of early wild grasses, like a phantom island. It was here that + the cut-off joined the main road—now the only one that led to the + casa. He was satisfied that no one could have preceded him from Fair + Plains; but it was true that he must take precautions against his own + discovery. Dismounting near a clump of willows, he unsaddled and unbridled + his horse, and with a cut of the riata over its haunches sent it flying + across the field in the direction of a band of feeding mustangs, which it + presently joined. Then, keeping well in the shadow of a belt of + shrub-oaks, he skirted the long lesser terraces of the casa, intending to + approach the house by way of the old garden and corral. A drizzling rain, + occasionally driven by the wind into long, misty, curtain-like waves, + obscured the prospect and favored his design. He reached the low adobe + wall of the corral in safety; looking over he could detect, in spite of + the darkness, that a number of the horses were of alien brands, and even + recognized one or two from the Santa Inez district. The vague outline of + buggies and carryalls filled the long shed beside the stables. There WAS + company at the casa—so far Susy was right! + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, lingering still by the wall of the old garden for the + deepening of night, his nervous feverishness was again invaded and + benumbed by sullen memories. There was the opening left by the old grille + in the wall, behind which Mrs. Peyton stood on the morning when he thought + he was leaving the ranch forever; where he had first clasped her in his + arms, and stayed. A turn of the head, a moment's indecision, a single + glance of a languorous eye, had brought this culmination. And now he stood + again before that ruined grille, his house and lands, even his NAME, + misused by a mad, scheming enthusiast, and himself a creeping spy of his + own dishonor! He turned with a bitter smile again to the garden. A few + dark red Castilian roses still leaned forward and swayed in the wind with + dripping leaves. It was here that the first morning of his arrival he had + kissed Susy; the perfume and color of her pink skin came back to him with + a sudden shock as he stood there; he caught at a flower, drew it towards + him, inhaled its odor in a long breath that left him faint and leaning + against the wall. Then again he smiled, but this time more wickedly—in + what he believed his cynicism had sprung up the first instinct of revenge! + </p> + <p> + It was now dark enough for him to venture across the carriage road and + make his way to the rear of the house. His first characteristic instinct + had been to enter openly at his own front gate, but the terrible + temptation to overhear and watch the conspiracy unobserved—that + fascination common to deceived humanity to witness its own shame—had + now grown upon him. He knew that a word or gesture of explanation, + apology, appeal, or even terror from his wife would check his rage and + weaken his purpose. His perfect knowledge of the house and the security of + its inmates would enable him from some obscure landing or gallery to + participate in any secret conclave they might hold in the patio—the + only place suitable for so numerous a rendezvous. The absence of light in + the few external windows pointed to this central gathering. And he had + already conceived his plan of entrance. + </p> + <p> + Gaining the rear wall of the casa he began cautiously to skirt its brambly + base until he had reached a long, oven-like window half obliterated by a + monstrous passion vine. It was the window of what had once been Mrs. + Peyton's boudoir; the window by which he had once forced an entrance to + the house when it was in the hands of squatters, the window from which + Susy had signaled her Spanish lover, the window whose grating had broken + the neck of Judge Peyton's presumed assassin. But these recollections no + longer delayed him; the moment for action had arrived. He knew that since + the tragedy the boudoir had been dismantled and shunned; the servants + believed it to be haunted by the assassin's ghost. With the aid of the + passion vine the ingress was easy; the interior window was open; the + rustle of dead leaves on the bare floor as he entered, and the whir of a + frightened bird by his ear, told the story of its desolation and the + source of the strange noises that had been heard there. The door leading + to the corridor was lightly bolted, merely to keep it from rattling in the + wind. Slipping the bolt with the blade of his pocket-knife he peered into + the dark passage. The light streaming under a door to the left, and the + sound of voices, convinced him that his conjecture was right, and the + meeting was gathered on the broad balconies around the patio. He knew that + a narrow gallery, faced with Venetian blinds to exclude the sun, looked + down upon them. He managed to gain it without discovery; luckily the + blinds were still down; between their slats, himself invisible, he could + hear and see everything that occurred. + </p> + <p> + Yet even at this supreme moment the first thing that struck him was the + almost ludicrous contrast between the appearance of the meeting and its + tremendous object. Whether he was influenced by any previous boyish + conception of a clouded and gloomy conspiracy he did not know, but he was + for an instant almost disconcerted by the apparent levity and festivity of + the conclave. Decanters and glasses stood on small tables before them; + nearly all were drinking and smoking. They comprised fifteen or twenty + men, some of whose faces were familiar to him elsewhere as Southern + politicians; a few, he was shocked to see, were well-known Northern + Democrats. Occupying a characteristically central position was the famous + Colonel Starbottle, of Virginia. Jaunty and youthful-looking in his + mask-like, beardless face, expansive and dignified in his middle-aged port + and carriage, he alone retained some of the importance—albeit + slightly theatrical and affected—of the occasion. Clarence in his + first hurried glance had not observed his wife, and for a moment had felt + relieved; but as Colonel Starbottle arose at that moment, and with a + studiously chivalrous and courtly manner turned to his right, he saw that + she was sitting at the further end of the balcony, and that a man whom he + recognized as Captain Pinckney was standing beside her. The blood quickly + tightened around his heart, but left him cold and observant. + </p> + <p> + “It was seldom, indeed,” remarked Colonel Starbottle, placing his fat + fingers in the frill of his shirt front, “that a movement like this was + graced with the actual presence of a lofty, inspiring, yet delicate spirit—a + Boadicea—indeed, he might say a Joan of Arc—in the person of + their charming hostess, Mrs. Brant. Not only were they favored by her + social and hospitable ministration, but by her active and enthusiastic + cooperation in the glorious work they had in hand. It was through her + correspondence and earnest advocacy that they were to be favored to-night + with the aid and counsel of one of the most distinguished and powerful men + in the Southern district of California, Judge Beeswinger, of Los Angeles. + He had not the honor of that gentleman's personal acquaintance; he + believed he was not far wrong in saying that this was also the misfortune + of every gentleman present; but the name itself was a tower of strength. + He would go further, and say that Mrs. Brant herself was personally + unacquainted with him, but it was through the fervor, poetry, grace, and + genius of her correspondence with that gentleman that they were to have + the honor of his presence that very evening. It was understood that + advices had been received of his departure, and that he might be expected + at Robles at any moment.” + </p> + <p> + “But what proof have we of Judge Beeswinger's soundness?” said a lazy + Southern voice at the conclusion of Colonel Starbottle's periods. “Nobody + here seems to know him by sight: is it not risky to admit a man to our + meeting whom we are unable to identify?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon nobody but a fool or some prying mudsill of a Yankee would trust + his skin here,” returned another; “and if he did we'd know what to do with + him.” + </p> + <p> + But Clarence's attention was riveted on his wife, and the significant + speech passed him as unheeded as had the colonel's rhetoric. She was + looking very handsome and slightly flushed, with a proud light in her eyes + that he had never seen before. Absorbed in the discussion, she seemed to + be paying little attention to Captain Pinckney as she rose suddenly to her + feet. + </p> + <p> + “Judge Beeswinger will be attended here by Mr. MacNiel, of the Fair Plains + Hotel, who will vouch for him and introduce him,” she said in a clear + voice, which rang with an imperiousness that Clarence well remembered. + “The judge was to arrive by the coach from Martinez to Fair Plains, and is + due now.” + </p> + <p> + “Is there no GENTLEMAN to introduce him? Must we take him on the word of a + common trader—by Jove! a whiskey-seller?” continued the previous + voice sneeringly. + </p> + <p> + “On the word of a lady, Mr. Brooks,” said Captain Pinckney, with a slight + gesture towards Mrs. Brant—“who answers for both.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence had started slightly at his wife's voice and the information it + conveyed. His fellow-passenger, and the confidant of MacNiel, was the man + they were expecting! If they had recognized him, Clarence, would they not + warn the company of his proximity? He held his breath as the sound of + voices came from the outer gate of the courtyard. Mrs. Brant rose; at the + same moment the gate swung open, and a man entered. It WAS the Missourian. + </p> + <p> + He turned with old-fashioned courtesy to the single woman standing on the + balcony. + </p> + <p> + “My fair correspondent, I believe! I am Judge Beeswinger. Your agent, + MacNiel, passed me through your guards at the gate, but I did not deem it + advisable to bring him into this assembly of gentlemen without your + further consideration. I trust I was right.” + </p> + <p> + The quiet dignity and self-possession, the quaint, old-fashioned colonial + precision of speech, modified by a soft Virginian intonation, and, above + all, some singular individuality of the man himself, produced a profound + sensation, and seemed to suddenly give the gathering an impressiveness it + had lacked before. For an instant Clarence forgot himself and his personal + wrongs in the shock of indignation he felt at this potent addition to the + ranks of his enemies. He saw his wife's eyes sparkle with pride over her + acquisition, and noticed that Pinckney cast a disturbed glance at the + newcomer. + </p> + <p> + The stranger ascended the few steps to the balcony and took Mrs. Brant's + hand with profound courtesy. “Introduce me to my colleagues—distinctly + and separately. It behooves a man at such a moment to know to whom he + entrusts his life and honor, and the life and honor of his cause.” + </p> + <p> + It was evidently no mere formal courtesy to the stranger. As he stepped + forward along the balcony, and under Mrs. Brant's graceful guidance was + introduced to each of the members, he not only listened with scrupulous + care and attention to the name and profession of each man, but bent upon + him a clear, searching glance that seemed to photograph him in his memory. + With two exceptions. He passed Colonel Starbottle's expanding shirt frill + with a bow of elaborate precision, and said, “Colonel Starbottle's fame + requires neither introduction nor explanation.” He stopped before Captain + Pinckney and paused. + </p> + <p> + “An officer of the United States army, I believe, sir?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Educated at West Point, I think, by the government, to whom you have + taken the oath of allegiance?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Very good, sir,” said the stranger, turning away. + </p> + <p> + “You have forgotten one other fact, sir,” said Pinckney, with a slightly + supercilious air. + </p> + <p> + “Indeed! What is it?” + </p> + <p> + “I am, first of all, a native of the State of South Carolina!” + </p> + <p> + A murmur of applause and approval ran round the balcony. Captain Pinckney + smiled and exchanged glances with Mrs. Brant, but the stranger quietly + returned to the central table beside Colonel Starbottle. “I am not only an + unexpected delegate to this august assembly, gentlemen,” he began gravely, + “but I am the bearer of perhaps equally unexpected news. By my position in + the Southern district I am in possession of dispatches received only this + morning by pony express. Fort Sumter has been besieged. The United States + flag, carrying relief to the beleaguered garrison, has been fired upon by + the State of South Carolina.” + </p> + <p> + A burst of almost hysteric applause and enthusiasm broke from the + assembly, and made the dim, vault-like passages and corridors of the casa + ring. Cheer after cheer went up to the veiled gallery and the misty sky + beyond. Men mounted on the tables and waved their hands frantically, and + in the midst of this bewildering turbulence of sound and motion Clarence + saw his wife mounted on a chair, with burning cheeks and flashing eyes, + waving her handkerchief like an inspired priestess. Only the stranger, + still standing beside Colonel Starbottle, remained unmoved and impassive. + Then, with an imperative gesture, he demanded a sudden silence. + </p> + <p> + “Convincing and unanimous as this demonstration is, gentlemen,” he began + quietly, “it is my duty, nevertheless, to ask you if you have seriously + considered the meaning of the news I have brought. It is my duty to tell + you that it means civil war. It means the clash of arms between two + sections of a mighty country; it means the disruption of friends, the + breaking of family ties, the separation of fathers and sons, of brothers + and sisters—even, perhaps, to the disseverment of husband and wife!” + </p> + <p> + “It means the sovereignty of the South—and the breaking of a + covenant with lowborn traders and abolitionists,” said Captain Pinckney. + </p> + <p> + “If there are any gentlemen present,” continued the stranger, without + heeding the interruption, “who have pledged this State to the support of + the South in this emergency, or to the establishment of a Pacific republic + in aid and sympathy with it, whose names are on this paper”—he + lifted a sheet of paper lying before Colonel Starbottle—“but who now + feel that the gravity of the news demands a more serious consideration of + the purpose, they are at liberty to withdraw from the meeting, giving + their honor, as Southern gentlemen, to keep the secret intact.” + </p> + <p> + “Not if I know it,” interrupted a stalwart Kentuckian, as he rose to his + feet and strode down the steps to the patio. “For,” he added, placing his + back against the gateway, “I'll shoot the first coward that backs out + now.” + </p> + <p> + A roar of laughter and approval followed, but was silenced again by the + quiet, unimpassioned voice of the stranger. “If, on the other hand,” he + went on calmly, “you all feel that this news is the fitting culmination + and consecration of the hopes, wishes, and plans of this meeting, you will + assert it again, over your own signatures, to Colonel Starbottle at this + table.” + </p> + <p> + When the Kentuckian had risen, Clarence had started from his concealment; + when he now saw the eager figures pressing forward to the table he + hesitated no longer. Slipping along the passage, he reached the staircase + which led to the corridor in the rear of the balcony. Descending this + rapidly, he not only came upon the backs of the excited crowd around the + table, but even elbowed one of the conspirators aside without being + noticed. His wife, who had risen from her chair at the end of the balcony, + was already moving towards the table. With a quick movement he seized her + wrist, and threw her back in the chair again. A cry broke from her lips as + she recognized him, but still holding her wrist, he stepped quickly + between her and the astonished crowd. There was a moment of silence, then + the cry of “Spy!” and “Seize him!” rose quickly, but above all the voice + and figure of the Missourian was heard commanding them to stand back. + Turning to Clarence, he said quietly,— + </p> + <p> + “I should know your face, sir. Who are you?” + </p> + <p> + “The husband of this woman and the master of this house,” said Clarence as + quietly, but in a voice he hardly recognized as his own. + </p> + <p> + “Stand aside from her, then—unless you are hoping that her danger + may protect YOU!” said the Kentuckian, significantly drawing his revolver. + </p> + <p> + But Mrs. Brant sprang suddenly to her feet beside Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “We are neither of us cowards, Mr. Brooks—though he speaks the truth—and—more + shame to me”—she added, with a look of savage scorn at Clarence—“IS + MY HUSBAND!” + </p> + <p> + “What is your purpose in coming here?” continued Judge Beeswinger, with + his eyes fixed on Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “I have given you all the information,” said Clarence quietly, “that is + necessary to make you, as a gentleman, leave this house at once—and + that is my purpose. It is all the information you will get from me as long + as you and your friends insult my roof with your uninvited presence. What + I may have to say to you and each of you hereafter—what I may choose + to demand of you, according to your own code of honor,”—he fixed his + eyes on Captain Pinckney's,—“is another question, and one not + usually discussed before a lady.” + </p> + <p> + “Pardon me. A moment—a single moment.” + </p> + <p> + It was the voice of Colonel Starbottle; it was the frilled shirt front, + the lightly buttoned blue coat with its expanding lapels, like bursting + petals, and the smiling mask of that gentleman rising above the table and + bowing to Clarence Brant and his wife with infinite courtesy. “The—er—humiliating + situation in which we find ourselves, gentlemen,—the reluctant + witnesses of—er—what we trust is only a temporary disagreement + between our charming hostess and the—er—gentleman whom she + recognized under the highest title to our consideration,—is + distressing to us all, and would seem to amply justify that gentleman's + claims to a personal satisfaction, which I know we would all delight to + give. But that situation rests upon the supposition that our gathering + here was of a purely social or festive nature! It may be,” continued the + colonel with a blandly reflective air, “that the spectacle of these + decanters and glasses, and the nectar furnished us by our Hebe-like + hostess” (he lifted a glass of whiskey and water to his lips while he + bowed to Mrs. Brant gracefully), “has led the gentleman to such a + deduction. But when I suggest to him that our meeting was of a business, + or private nature, it strikes me that the question of intrusion may be + fairly divided between him and ourselves. We may be even justified, in + view of that privacy, in asking him if his—er—entrance to this + house was—er—coincident with his appearance among us.” + </p> + <p> + “With my front door in possession of strangers,” said Clarence, more in + reply to a sudden contemptuous glance from his wife than Starbottle's + insinuation, “I entered the house through the window.” + </p> + <p> + “Of my boudoir, where another intruder once broke his neck,” interrupted + his wife with a mocking laugh. + </p> + <p> + “Where I once helped this lady to regain possession of her house when it + was held by another party of illegal trespassers, who, however, were + content to call themselves 'jumpers,' and did not claim the privacy of + gentlemen.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean to imply, sir,” began Colonel Starbottle haughtily, “that”— + </p> + <p> + “I mean to imply, sir,” said Clarence with quiet scorn, “that I have + neither the wish to know nor the slightest concern in any purpose that + brought you here, and that when you quit the house you take your secrets + and your privacy with you intact, without let or hindrance from me.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean to say, Mr. Brant,” said Judge Beeswinger, suppressing the + angry interruption of his fellows with a dominant wave of his hand, as he + fixed his eyes on Clarence keenly, “that you have no sympathy with your + wife's political sentiments?” + </p> + <p> + “I have already given you the information necessary to make you quit this + house, and that is all you have a right to know,” returned Clarence with + folded arms. + </p> + <p> + “But I can answer for him,” said Mrs. Brant, rising, with a quivering + voice and curling lip. “There IS no sympathy between us. We are as far + apart as the poles. We have nothing in common but this house and his + name.” + </p> + <p> + “But you are husband and wife, bound together by a sacred compact.” + </p> + <p> + “A compact!” echoed Mrs. Brant, with a bitter laugh. “Yes, the compact + that binds South Carolina to the nigger-worshipping Massachusetts. The + compact that links together white and black, the gentleman and the trader, + the planter and the poor white—the compact of those UNITED States. + Bah! THAT has been broken, and so can this.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence's face paled. But before he could speak there was a rapid + clattering at the gate and a dismounted vaquero entered excitedly. Turning + to Mrs. Brant he said hurriedly, “Mother of God! the casa is surrounded by + a rabble of mounted men, and there is one among them even now who demands + admittance in the name of the Law.” + </p> + <p> + “This is your work,” said Brooks, facing Clarence furiously. “You have + brought them with you, but, by God, they shall not save you!” He would + have clutched Clarence, but the powerful arm of Judge Beeswinger + intervened. Nevertheless, he still struggled to reach Clarence, appealing + to the others: “Are you fools to stand there and let him triumph! Don't + you see the cowardly Yankee trick he's played upon us?” + </p> + <p> + “He has not,” said Mrs. Brant haughtily. “I have no reason to love him or + his friends; but I know he does not lie.” + </p> + <p> + “Gentlemen!—gentlemen!” implored Colonel Starbottle with beaming and + unctuous persuasion, “may I—er—remark—that all this is + far from the question? Are we to be alarmed because an unknown rabble, no + matter whence they come, demand entrance here in the name of the Law? I am + not aware of any law of the State of California that we are infringing. By + all means admit them.” + </p> + <p> + The gate was thrown open. A single thick-set man, apparently unarmed and + dressed like an ordinary traveler, followed by half a dozen other equally + unpretentious-looking men, entered. The leader turned to the balcony. + </p> + <p> + “I am the Chief of Police of San Francisco. I have warrants for the arrest + of Colonel Culpepper Starbottle, Joshua Brooks, Captain Pinckney, Clarence + Brant and Alice his wife, and others charged with inciting to riot and + unlawful practice calculated to disturb the peace of the State of + California and its relations with the Federal government,” said the + leader, in a dry official voice. + </p> + <p> + Clarence started. In spite of its monotonous utterance it was the voice of + the red-bearded controversialist of the stage-coach. But where were his + characteristic beard and hair? Involuntarily Clarence glanced at Judge + Beeswinger; that gentleman was quietly regarding the stranger with an + impassive face that betrayed no recognition whatever. + </p> + <p> + “But the city of San Francisco has no jurisdiction here,” said Colonel + Starbottle, turning a bland smile towards his fellow-members. “I am—er—sorry + to inform you that you are simply trespassing, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “I am here also as deputy sheriff,” returned the stranger coolly. “We were + unable to locate the precise place of this meeting, although we knew of + its existence. I was sworn in this morning at Santa Inez by the judge of + this district, and these gentlemen with me are my posse.” + </p> + <p> + There was a quick movement of resistance by the members, which was, + however, again waived blandly aside by Colonel Starbottle. Leaning forward + in a slightly forensic attitude, with his fingers on the table and a shirt + frill that seemed to have become of itself erectile, he said, with pained + but polite precision, “I grieve to have to state, sir, that even that + position is utterly untenable here. I am a lawyer myself, as my friend + here, Judge Beeswinger—eh? I beg your pardon!” + </p> + <p> + The officer of the law had momentarily started, with his eyes fixed on + Judge Beeswinger, who, however, seemed to be quietly writing at the table. + </p> + <p> + “As Judge Beeswinger,” continued Colonel Starbottle, “will probably tell + you and as a jurist himself, he will also probably agree with me when I + also inform you that, as the United States government is an aggrieved + party, it is a matter for the Federal courts to prosecute, and that the + only officer we can recognize is the United States Marshal for the + district. When I add that the marshal, Colonel Crackenthorpe, is one of my + oldest friends, and an active sympathizer with the South in the present + struggle, you will understand that any action from him in this matter is + exceedingly improbable.” + </p> + <p> + The general murmur of laughter, relief, and approval was broken by the + quiet voice of Judge Beeswinger. + </p> + <p> + “Let me see your warrant, Mr. Deputy Sheriff.” + </p> + <p> + The officer approached him with a slightly perplexed and constrained air, + and exhibited the paper. Judge Beeswinger handed it back to him. “Colonel + Starbottle is quite right in his contention,” he said quietly; “the only + officer that this assembly can recognize is the United States Marshal or + his legal deputy. But Colonel Starbottle is wrong in his supposition that + Colonel Crackenthorpe still retains the functions of that office. He was + removed by the President of the United States, and his successor was + appointed and sworn in by the Federal judge early this morning.” He + paused, and folding up the paper on which he had been writing, placed it + in the hands of the deputy. “And this,” he continued in the same even + voice, “constitutes you his deputy, and will enable you to carry out your + duty in coming here.” + </p> + <p> + “What the devil does this mean, sir? Who are you?” gasped Colonel + Starbottle, recoiling suddenly from the man at his side. + </p> + <p> + “I am the new United States Marshal for the Southern District of + California.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. + </h2> + <p> + Unsuspected and astounding as the revelation was to Clarence, its strange + reception by the conspirators seemed to him as astounding. He had started + forward, half expecting that the complacent and self-confessed spy would + be immolated by his infuriated dupes. But to his surprise the shock seemed + to have changed their natures, and given them the dignity they had lacked. + The excitability, irritation, and recklessness which had previously + characterized them had disappeared. The deputy and his posse, who had + advanced to the assistance of their revealed chief, met with no + resistance. They had evidently, as if with one accord, drawn away from + Judge Beeswinger, leaving a cleared space around him, and regarded their + captors with sullen contemptuous silence. It was only broken by Colonel + Starbottle:— + </p> + <p> + “Your duty commands you, sir, to use all possible diligence in bringing us + before the Federal judge of this district—unless your master in + Washington has violated the Constitution so far as to remove him, too!” + </p> + <p> + “I understand you perfectly,” returned Judge Beeswinger, with unchanged + composure; “and as you know that Judge Wilson unfortunately cannot be + removed except through a regular course of impeachment, I suppose you may + still count upon his Southern sympathies to befriend you. With that I have + nothing to do; my duty is complete when my deputy has brought you before + him and I have stated the circumstances of the arrest.” + </p> + <p> + “I congratulate you, sir,” said Captain Pinckney, with an ironical salute, + “on your prompt reward for your treachery to the South, and your equally + prompt adoption of the peculiar tactics of your friends in the way in + which you have entered this house.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sorry I cannot congratulate YOU, sir,” returned Judge Beeswinger + gravely, “on breaking your oath to the government which has educated and + supported you and given you the epaulettes you disgrace. Nor shall I + discuss 'treachery' with the man who has not only violated the trust of + his country, but even the integrity of his friend's household. It is for + that reason that I withhold the action of this warrant in so far as it + affects the persons of the master and mistress of this home. I am + satisfied that Mr. Brant has been as ignorant of what has been done here + as I am that his wife has been only the foolish dupe of a double traitor!” + </p> + <p> + “Silence!” + </p> + <p> + The words broke simultaneously from the lips of Clarence and Captain + Pinckney. They stood staring at each other—the one pale, the other + crimson—as Mrs. Brant, apparently oblivious of the significance of + their united adjuration, turned to Judge Beeswinger in the fury of her + still stifled rage and mortification. + </p> + <p> + “Keep your mercy for your fellow-spy,” she said, with a contemptuous + gesture towards her husband; “I go with these gentlemen!” + </p> + <p> + “You will not,” said Clarence quietly, “until I have said a word to you + alone.” He laid his hand firmly upon her wrist. + </p> + <p> + The deputy and his prisoners filed slowly out of the courtyard together, + the latter courteously saluting Mrs. Brant as they passed, but turning + from Judge Beeswinger in contemptuous silence. The judge followed them to + the gate, but there he paused. Turning to Mrs. Brant, who was still half + struggling in the strong grip of her husband, he said,— + </p> + <p> + “Any compunction I may have had in misleading you by accepting your + invitation here I dismissed after I had entered this house. And I trust,” + he added, turning to Clarence sternly, “I leave you the master of it!” + </p> + <p> + As the gate closed behind him, Clarence locked it. When his wife turned + upon him angrily, he said quietly,— + </p> + <p> + “I have no intention of restraining your liberty a moment after our + interview is over, but until then I do not intend to be disturbed.” + </p> + <p> + She threw herself disdainfully back in her chair, her hands clasped in her + lap in half-contemptuous resignation, with her eyes upon her long slim + arched feet crossed before her. Even in her attitude there was something + of her old fascination which, however, now seemed to sting Clarence to the + quick. + </p> + <p> + “I have nothing to say to you in regard to what has just passed in this + house, except that as long as I remain even nominally its master it shall + not be repeated. Although I shall no longer attempt to influence or + control your political sympathies, I shall not allow you to indulge them + where in any way they seem to imply my sanction. But so little do I oppose + your liberty, that you are free to rejoin your political companions + whenever you choose to do so on your own responsibility. But I must first + know from your own lips whether your sympathies are purely political—or + a name for something else?” + </p> + <p> + She had alternately flushed and paled, although still keeping her scornful + attitude as he went on, but there was no mistaking the genuineness of her + vague wonderment at his concluding words. + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand you,” she said, lifting her eyes to his in a moment of + cold curiosity. “What do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “What do I mean? What did Judge Beeswinger mean when he called Captain + Pinckney a double traitor?” he said roughly. + </p> + <p> + She sprang to her feet with flashing eyes. “And you—YOU! dare to + repeat the cowardly lie of a confessed spy. This, then, is what you wished + to tell me—this the insult for which you have kept me here; because + you are incapable of understanding unselfish patriotism or devotion—even + to your own cause—you dare to judge me by your own base, + Yankee-trading standards. Yes, it is worthy of you!” She walked rapidly up + and down, and then suddenly faced him. “I understand it all; I appreciate + your magnanimity now. You are willing I should join the company of these + chivalrous gentlemen in order to give color to your calumnies! Say at once + that it was you who put up this spy to correspond with me—to come + here—in order to entrap me. Yes entrap me—I—who a moment + ago stood up for you before these gentlemen, and said you could not lie. + Bah!” + </p> + <p> + Struck only by the wild extravagance of her speech and temper, Clarence + did not know that when women are most illogical they are apt to be most + sincere, and from a man's standpoint her unreasoning deductions appeared + to him only as an affectation to gain time for thought, or a theatrical + display, like Susy's. And he was turning half contemptuously away, when + she again faced him with flashing eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Well, hear me! I accept; I leave here at once, to join my own people, my + own friends—those who understand me—put what construction on + it that you choose. Do your worst; you cannot do more to separate us than + you have done just now.” + </p> + <p> + She left him, and ran up the steps with a singular return of her old + occasional nymph-like nimbleness—the movement of a woman who had + never borne children—and a swish of her long skirts that he + remembered for many a day after, as she disappeared in the corridor. He + remained looking after her—indignant, outraged, and unconvinced. + There was a rattling at the gate. + </p> + <p> + He remembered he had locked it. He opened it to the flushed pink cheeks + and dancing eyes of Susy. The rain was still dripping from her wet cloak + as she swung it from her shoulders. + </p> + <p> + “I know it all!—all that's happened,” she burst out with + half-girlish exuberance and half the actress's declamation. “We met them + all in the road—posse and prisoners. Chief Thompson knew me and told + me all. And so you've done it—and you're master in your old house + again. Clarence, old boy! Jim said you wouldn't do it—said you'd + weaken on account of her! But I said 'No.' I knew you better, old + Clarence, and I saw it in your face, for all your stiffness! ha! But for + all that I was mighty nervous and uneasy, and I just made Jim send an + excuse to the theatre and we rushed it down here! Lordy! but it looks + natural to see the old house again! And she—you packed her off with + the others—didn't you? Tell me, Clarence,” in her old appealing + voice, “you shook her, too!” + </p> + <p> + Dazed and astounded, and yet experiencing a vague sense of relief with + something like his old tenderness towards the willful woman before him, he + had silently regarded her until her allusion to his wife recalled him to + himself. + </p> + <p> + “Hush!” he said quickly, with a glance towards the corridor. + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said Susy, with a malicious smile, “then that's why Captain Pinckney + was lingering in the rear with the deputy.” + </p> + <p> + “Silence!” repeated Clarence sternly. “Go in there,” pointing to the + garden room below the balcony, “and wait there with your husband.” + </p> + <p> + He half led, half pushed her into the room which had been his business + office, and returned to the patio. A hesitating voice from the balcony + said, “Clarence!” + </p> + <p> + It was his wife's voice, but modified and gentler—more like her + voice as he had first heard it, or as if it had been chastened by some + reminiscence of those days. It was his wife's face, too, that looked down + on his—paler than he had seen it since he entered the house. She was + shawled and hooded, carrying a traveling-bag in her hand. + </p> + <p> + “I am going, Clarence,” she said, pausing before him, with gentle gravity, + “but not in anger. I even ask you to forgive me for the foolish words that + I think your still more foolish accusation”—she smiled faintly—“dragged + from me. I am going because I know that I have brought—and that + while I am here I shall always be bringing—upon you the imputation + and even the responsibility of my own faith! While I am proud to own it,—and + if needs be suffer for it,—I have no right to ruin your prospects, + or even make you the victim of the slurs that others may cast upon me. Let + us part as friends—separated only by our different political faiths, + but keeping all other faiths together—until God shall settle the + right of this struggle. Perhaps it may be soon—I sometimes think it + may be years of agony for all; but until then, good-by.” + </p> + <p> + She had slowly descended the steps to the patio, looking handsomer than he + had ever seen her, and as if sustained and upheld by the enthusiasm of her + cause. Her hand was outstretched towards his—his heart beat + violently—in another moment he might have forgotten all and clasped + her to his breast. Suddenly she stopped, her outstretched arm stiffened, + her finger pointed to the chair on which Susy's cloak was hanging. + </p> + <p> + “What's that?” she said in a sharp, high, metallic voice. “Who is here? + Speak!” + </p> + <p> + “Susy,” said Clarence. + </p> + <p> + She cast a scathing glance round the patio, and then settled her piercing + eyes on Clarence with a bitter smile. + </p> + <p> + “Already!” + </p> + <p> + Clarence felt the blood rush to his face as he stammered, “She knew what + was happening here, and came to give you warning.” + </p> + <p> + “Liar!” + </p> + <p> + “Stop!” said Clarence, with a white face. “She came to tell me that + Captain Pinckney was still lingering for you in the road.” + </p> + <p> + He threw open the gate to let her pass. As she swept out she lifted her + hand. As he closed the gate there were the white marks of her four fingers + on his cheek. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. + </h2> + <p> + For once Susy had not exaggerated. Captain Pinckney WAS lingering, with + the deputy who had charge of him, on the trail near the casa. It had + already been pretty well understood by both captives and captors that the + arrest was simply a legal demonstration; that the sympathizing Federal + judge would undoubtedly order the discharge of the prisoners on their own + recognizances, and it was probable that the deputy saw no harm in granting + Pinckney's request—which was virtually only a delay in his + liberation. It was also possible that Pinckney had worked upon the + chivalrous sympathies of the man by professing his disinclination to leave + their devoted colleague, Mrs. Brant, at the mercy of her antagonistic and + cold-blooded husband at such a crisis, and it is to be feared also that + Clarence, as a reputed lukewarm partisan, excited no personal sympathy, + even from his own party. Howbeit, the deputy agreed to delay Pinckney's + journey for a parting interview with his fair hostess. + </p> + <p> + How far this expressed the real sentiments of Captain Pinckney was never + known. Whether his political association with Mrs. Brant had developed + into a warmer solicitude, understood or ignored by her,—what were + his hopes and aspirations regarding her future,—were by the course + of fate never disclosed. A man of easy ethics, but rigid artificialities + of honor, flattered and pampered by class prejudice, a so-called “man of + the world,” with no experience beyond his own limited circle, yet brave + and devoted to that, it were well perhaps to leave this last act of his + inefficient life as it was accepted by the deputy. + </p> + <p> + Dismounting he approached the house from the garden. He was already + familiar with the low arched doorway which led to the business room, and + from which he could gain admittance to the patio, but it so chanced that + he entered the dark passage at the moment that Clarence had thrust Susy + into the business room, and heard its door shut sharply. For an instant he + believed that Mrs. Brant had taken refuge there, but as he cautiously + moved forward he heard her voice in the patio beyond. Its accents struck + him as pleading; an intense curiosity drew him further along the passage. + Suddenly her voice seemed to change to angry denunciation, and the word + “Liar” rang upon his ears. It was followed by his own name uttered + sardonically by Clarence, the swift rustle of a skirt, the clash of the + gate, and then—forgetting everything, he burst into the patio. + </p> + <p> + Clarence was just turning from the gate with the marks of his wife's hand + still red on his white cheek. He saw Captain Pinckney's eyes upon it, and + the faint, half-malicious, half-hysteric smile upon his lips. But without + a start or gesture of surprise he locked the gate, and turning to him, + said with frigid significance,— + </p> + <p> + “I thank you for returning so promptly, and for recognizing the only thing + I now require at your hand.” + </p> + <p> + But Captain Pinckney had recovered his supercilious ease with the + significant demand. + </p> + <p> + “You seem to have had something already from another's hand, sir, but I am + at your service,” he said lightly. + </p> + <p> + “You will consider that I have accepted it from you,” said Clarence, + drawing closer to him with a rigid face. “I suppose it will not be + necessary for me to return it—to make you understand me.” + </p> + <p> + “Go on,” said Pinckney, flushing slightly. “Make your terms; I am ready.” + </p> + <p> + “But I'm not,” said the unexpected voice of the deputy at the grille of + the gateway. “Excuse my interfering, gentlemen, but this sort o' thing + ain't down in my schedule. I've let this gentleman,” pointing to Captain + Pinckney, “off for a minit to say 'good-by' to a lady, who I reckon has + just ridden off in her buggy with her servant without saying by your + leave, but I didn't calkelate to let him inter another business, which, + like as not, may prevent me from delivering his body safe and sound into + court. You hear me!” As Clarence opened the gate he added, “I don't want + ter spoil sport between gents, but it's got to come in after I've done my + duty.” + </p> + <p> + “I'll meet you, sir, anywhere, and with what weapons you choose,” said + Pinckney, turning angrily upon Clarence, “as soon as this farce—for + which you and your friends are responsible—is over.” He was furious + at the intimation that Mrs. Brant had escaped him. + </p> + <p> + A different thought was in the husband's mind. “But what assurance have I + that you are going on with the deputy?” he said with purposely insulting + deliberation. + </p> + <p> + “My word, sir,” said Captain Pinckney sharply. + </p> + <p> + “And if that ain't enuff, there's mine!” said the deputy. “For if this + gentleman swerves to the right or left betwixt this and Santa Inez, I'll + blow a hole through him myself. And that,” he added deprecatingly, “is + saying a good deal for a man who doesn't want to spoil sport, and for the + matter of that is willing to stand by and see fair play done at Santa Inez + any time to-morrow before breakfast.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I can count on you,” said Clarence, with a sudden impulse extending + his hand. + </p> + <p> + The man hesitated a moment and then grasped it. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I wasn't expecting that,” he said slowly; “but you look as if you + meant business, and if you ain't got anybody else to see you through, I'm + thar! I suppose this gentleman will have his friends.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall be there at six with my seconds,” said Pinckney curtly. “Lead + on.” + </p> + <p> + The gate closed behind them. Clarence stood looking around the empty patio + and the silent house, from which it was now plain that the servants had + been withdrawn to insure the secrecy of the conspiracy. Cool and collected + as he knew he was, he remained for a moment in hesitation. Then the sound + of voices came to his ear from the garden room, the light frivolity of + Susy's laugh and Hooker's huskier accents. He had forgotten they were + there—he had forgotten their existence! + </p> + <p> + Trusting still to his calmness, he called to Hooker in his usual voice. + That gentleman appeared with a face which his attempts to make unconcerned + and impassive had, however, only deepened into funereal gravity. + </p> + <p> + “I have something to attend to,” said Clarence, with a faint smile, “and I + must ask you and Susy to excuse me for a little while. She knows the house + perfectly, and will call the servants from the annex to provide you both + with refreshment until I join you a little later.” Satisfied from Hooker's + manner that they knew nothing of his later interview with Pinckney, he + turned away and ascended to his own room. + </p> + <p> + There he threw himself into an armchair by the dim light of a single + candle as if to reflect. But he was conscious, even then, of his own + calmness and want of excitement, and that no reflection was necessary. + What he had done and what he intended to do was quite clear, there was no + alternative suggested or to be even sought after. He had that sense of + relief which comes with the climax of all great struggles, even of defeat. + </p> + <p> + He had never known before how hopeless and continuous had been that + struggle until now it was over. He had no fear of tomorrow, he would meet + it as he had to-day, with the same singular consciousness of being equal + to the occasion. There was even no necessity of preparation for it; his + will, leaving his fortune to his wife,—which seemed a slight thing + now in this greater separation,—was already in his safe in San + Francisco, his pistols were in the next room. He was even slightly + disturbed by his own insensibility, and passed into his wife's bedroom + partly in the hope of disturbing his serenity by some memento of their + past. There was no disorder of flight—everything was in its place, + except the drawer of her desk, which was still open, as if she had taken + something from it as an afterthought. There were letters and papers there, + some of his own and some in Captain Pinckney's handwriting. It did not + occur to him to look at them—even to justify himself, or excuse her. + He knew that his hatred of Captain Pinckney was not so much that he + believed him her lover, as his sudden conviction that she was like him! He + was the male of her species—a being antagonistic to himself, whom he + could fight, and crush, and revenge himself upon. But most of all he + loathed his past, not on account of her, but of his own weakness that had + made him her dupe and a misunderstood man to his friends. He had been + derelict of duty in his unselfish devotion to her; he had stifled his + ambition, and underrated his own possibilities. No wonder that others had + accepted him at his own valuation. Clarence Brant was a modest man, but + the egotism of modesty is more fatal than that of pretension, for it has + the haunting consciousness of superior virtue. + </p> + <p> + He re-entered his own room and again threw himself into his chair. His + calm was being succeeded by a physical weariness; he remembered he had not + slept the night before, and he ought to take some rest to be fresh in the + early morning. Yet he must also show himself before his self-invited + guests,—Susy and her husband,—or their suspicions would be + aroused. He would try to sleep for a little while in the chair before he + went downstairs again. He closed his eyes oddly enough on a dim dreamy + recollection of Susy in the old days, in the little madrono hollow where + she had once given him a rendezvous. He forgot the maturer and critical + uneasiness with which he had then received her coquettish and willful + advances, which he now knew was the effect of the growing dominance of + Mrs. Peyton over him, and remembered only her bright, youthful eyes, and + the kisses he had pressed upon her soft fragrant cheek. The faintness he + had felt when waiting in the old rose garden, a few hours ago, seemed to + steal on him once more, and to lapse into a pleasant drowsiness. He even + seemed again to inhale the perfume of the roses. + </p> + <p> + “Clarence!” + </p> + <p> + He started. He had been sleeping, but the voice sounded strangely real. + </p> + <p> + A light, girlish laugh followed. He sprang to his feet. It was Susy + standing beside him—and Susy even as she looked in the old days! + </p> + <p> + For with a flash of her old audacity, aided by her familiar knowledge of + the house and the bunch of household keys she had found, which dangled + from her girdle, as in the old fashion, she had disinterred one of her old + frocks from a closet, slipped it on, and unloosening her brown hair had + let it fall in rippling waves down her back. It was Susy in her old + girlishness, with the instinct of the grown actress in the arrangement of + her short skirt over her pretty ankles and the half-conscious pose she had + taken. + </p> + <p> + “Poor dear old Clarence,” she said, with dancing eyes; “I might have won a + dozen pairs of gloves from you while you slept there. But you're tired, + dear old boy, and you've had a hard time of it. No matter; you've shown + yourself a man at last, and I'm proud of you.” + </p> + <p> + Half ashamed of the pleasure he felt even in his embarrassment, Clarence + stammered, “But this change—this dress.” + </p> + <p> + Susy clapped her hands like a child. “I knew it would surprise you! It's + an old frock I wore the year I went away with auntie. I knew where it was + hidden, and fished it out again with these keys, Clarence; it seemed so + like old times. Lord! when I was with the old servants again, and you + didn't come down, I just felt as if I'd never been away, and I just + rampaged free. It seemed to me, don't you know, not as if I'd just come, + but as if I'd always been right here, and it was you who'd just come. + Don't you understand! Just as you came when me and Mary Rogers were here; + don't you remember her, Clarence, and how she used to do 'gooseberry' for + us? Well, just like that. So I said to Jim, 'I don't know you any more—get!' + and I just slipped on this frock and ordered Manuela around as I used to + do—and she in fits of laughter; I reckon, Clarence, she hasn't + laughed as much since I left. And then I thought of you—perhaps + worried and flustered as yet over things, and the change, and I just + slipped into the kitchen and I told old fat Conchita to make some of these + tortillas you know,—with sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top,—and + I tied on an apron and brought 'em up to you on a tray with a glass of + that old Catalan wine you used to like. Then I sorter felt frightened when + I got here, and I didn't hear any noise, and I put the tray down in the + hall and peeped in and found you asleep. Sit still, I'll fetch em.” + </p> + <p> + She tripped out into the passage, returning with the tray, which she put + on the table beside Clarence, and then standing back a little and with her + hands tucked soubrette fashion in the tiny pockets of her apron, gazed at + him with a mischievous smile. + </p> + <p> + It was impossible not to smile back as he nibbled the crisp Mexican cake + and drank the old mission wine. And Susy's tongue trilled an accompaniment + to his thanks. + </p> + <p> + “Lord! it seems so nice to be here—just you and me, Clarence—like + in the old days—with nobody naggin' and swoopin' round after you. + Don't be greedy, Clarence, but give me a cake.” She took one and finished + the dregs of his glass. + </p> + <p> + Then sitting on the arm of his chair, she darted a violet ray of half + reproach and half mischievousness into his amused and retrospective eyes. + “There used to be room for two in that chair, Klarns.” + </p> + <p> + The use of the old childish diminutive for his name seemed to him natural + as her familiarity, and he moved a little sideways to make room for her + with an instinct of pleasure, but the same sense of irresponsibility that + had characterized his reflections. Nevertheless, he looked critically into + the mischievous eyes, and said quietly,— + </p> + <p> + “Where is your husband?” + </p> + <p> + There was no trace of embarrassment, apology, or even of consciousness in + her pretty face as she replied, passing her hand lightly through his hair,— + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Jim? I've packed him off!” + </p> + <p> + “Packed him off!” echoed Clarence, slightly astonished. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, to Fair Plains, full tilt after your wife's buggy. You see, + Clarence, after the old cat—that's your wife, please—left, I + wanted to make sure she had gone, and wasn't hangin' round to lead you off + again with your leg tied to her apron string like a chicken's! No! I said + to Jim, 'Just you ride after her until you see she's safe and sound in the + down coach from Fair Plains without her knowin' it, and if she's inclined + to hang back or wobble any, you post back here and let me know!' I told + him I would stay and look after you to see you didn't bolt too!” She + laughed, and then added, “But I didn't think I should fall into the old + ways so soon, and have such a nice time. Did you, Clarence?” + </p> + <p> + She looked so irresponsible, sitting there with her face near his, and so + childishly, or perhaps thoughtlessly, happy, that he could only admire her + levity, and even the slight shock that her flippant allusion to his wife + had given him seemed to him only a weakness of his own. After all, was not + hers the true philosophy? Why should not these bright eyes see things more + clearly than his own? Nevertheless, with his eyes still fixed upon them, + he continued,— + </p> + <p> + “And Jim was willing to go?” + </p> + <p> + She stopped, with her fingers still lifting a lock of his hair. “Why, yes, + you silly—why shouldn't he? I'd like to see him refuse. Why, Lord! + Jim will do anything I ask him.” She put down the lock of hair, and + suddenly looking full into his eyes, said, “That's just the difference + between him and me, and you and—that woman!” + </p> + <p> + “Then you love him!” + </p> + <p> + “About as much as you love her,” she said, with an unaffected laugh; “only + he don't wind me around his finger.” + </p> + <p> + No doubt she was right for all her thoughtlessness, and yet he was going + to fight about that woman to-morrow! No—he forgot; he was going to + fight Captain Pinckney because he was like her! + </p> + <p> + Susy had put her finger on the crease between his brows which this + supposition had made, and tried to rub it out. + </p> + <p> + “You know it as well as I do, Clarence,” she said, with a pretty wrinkling + of her own brows, which was her nearest approach to thoughtfulness. “You + know you never really liked her, only you thought her ways were grander + and more proper than mine, and you know you were always a little bit of a + snob and a prig too—dear boy. And Mrs. Peyton was—bless my + soul!—a Benham and a planter's daughter, and I—I was only a + picked-up orphan! That's where Jim is better than you—now sit still, + goosey!—even if I don't like him as much. Oh, I know what you're + always thinking, you're thinking we're both exaggerated and theatrical, + ain't you? But don't you think it's a heap better to be exaggerated and + theatrical about things that are just sentimental and romantic than to be + so awfully possessed and overcome about things that are only real? There, + you needn't stare at me so! It's true. You've had your fill of grandeur + and propriety, and—here you are. And,” she added with a little + chuckle, as she tucked up her feet and leaned a little closer to him, + “here's ME.” + </p> + <p> + He did not speak, but his arm quite unconsciously passed round her small + waist. + </p> + <p> + “You see, Clarence,” she went on with equal unconsciousness of the act, + “you ought never to have let me go—never! You ought to have kept me + here—or run away with me. And you oughtn't to have tried to make me + proper. And you oughtn't to have driven me to flirt with that horrid + Spaniard, and you oughtn't to have been so horribly cold and severe when I + did. And you oughtn't to have made me take up with Jim, who was the only + one who thought me his equal. I might have been very silly and capricious; + I might have been very vain, but my vanity isn't a bit worse than your + pride; my love of praise and applause in the theatre isn't a bit more + horrid than your fears of what people might think of you or me. That's + gospel truth, isn't it, Clarence? Tell me! Don't look that way and this—look + at ME! I ain't poisonous, Clarence. Why, one of your cheeks is redder than + the other, Clarence; that's the one that's turned from me. Come,” she went + on, taking the lapels of his coat between her hands and half shaking him, + half drawing him nearer her bright face. “Tell me—isn't it true?” + </p> + <p> + “I was thinking of you just now when I fell asleep, Susy,” he said. He did + not know why he said it; he had not intended to tell her, he had only + meant to avoid a direct answer to her question; yet even now he went on. + “And I thought of you when I was out there in the rose garden waiting to + come in here.” + </p> + <p> + “You did?” she said, drawing in her breath. A wave of delicate pink color + came up to her very eyes, it seemed to him as quickly and as innocently as + when she was a girl. “And what DID you think, Klarns,” she half whispered—“tell + me.” + </p> + <p> + He did not speak, but answered her blue eyes and then her lips, as her + arms slipped quite naturally around his neck. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + The dawn was breaking as Clarence and Jim Hooker emerged together from the + gate of the casa. Mr. Hooker looked sleepy. He had found, after his return + from Fair Plains, that his host had an early engagement at Santa Inez, and + he had insisted upon rising to see him off. It was with difficulty, + indeed, that Clarence could prevent his accompanying him. Clarence had not + revealed to Susy the night before the real object of his journey, nor did + Hooker evidently suspect it, yet when the former had mounted his horse, he + hesitated for an instant, extending his hand. + </p> + <p> + “If I should happen to be detained,” he began with a half smile. + </p> + <p> + But Jim was struggling with a yawn. “That's all right—don't mind + us,” he said, stretching his arms. Clarence's hesitating hand dropped to + his side, and with a light reckless laugh and a half sense of providential + relief he galloped away. + </p> + <p> + What happened immediately thereafter during his solitary ride to Santa + Inez, looking back upon it in after years, seemed but a confused + recollection, more like a dream. The long stretches of vague distance, + gradually opening clearer with the rising sun in an unclouded sky; the + meeting with a few early or belated travelers and his unconscious + avoidance of them, as if they might know of his object; the black shadows + of foreshortened cattle rising before him on the plain and arousing the + same uneasy sensation of their being waylaying men; the wondering + recognition of houses and landmarks he had long been familiar with; his + purposeless attempts to recall the circumstances in which he had known + them—all these were like a dream. So, too, were the recollections of + the night before, the episode with Susy, already mingled and blended with + the memory of their previous past; his futile attempts to look forward to + the future, always, however, abandoned with relief at the thought that the + next few hours might make them unnecessary. So also was the sudden + realization that Santa Inez was before him, when he had thought he was not + yet halfway there, and as he dismounted before the Court House his + singular feeling—followed, however, by no fear or distress—was + that he had come so early to the rendezvous that he was not yet quite + prepared for it. + </p> + <p> + This same sense of unreality pervaded his meeting with the deputy sheriff, + at the news that the Federal judge had, as was expected, dismissed the + prisoners on their own recognizances, and that Captain Pinckney was at the + hotel at breakfast. In the like abstracted manner he replied to the one or + two questions of the deputy, exhibited the pistols he had brought with + him, and finally accompanied him to a little meadow hidden by trees, below + the hotel, where the other principal and his seconds were awaiting them. + And here he awoke—clear-eyed, keen, forceful, and intense! + </p> + <p> + So stimulated were his faculties that his sense of hearing in its + acuteness took in every word of the conversation between the seconds, a + few paces distant. He heard his adversary's seconds say carelessly to the + deputy sheriff, “I presume this is a case where there will be no apology + or mediation,” and the deputy's reply, “I reckon my man means business, + but he seems a little queer.” He heard the other second laugh, and say + lightly, “They're apt to be so when it's their first time out,” followed + by the more anxious aside of the other second as the deputy turned away,—“Yes, + but by G-d I don't like his looks!” His sense of sight was also so acute + that having lost the choice of position, when the coin was tossed, and + being turned with his face to the sun, even through the glare he saw, with + unerring distinctness of outline, the black-coated figure of his opponent + moved into range—saw the perfect outline of his features, and how + the easy, supercilious smile, as he threw away his cigar, appeared to drop + out of his face with a kind of vacant awe as he faced him. He felt his + nerves become as steel as the counting began, and at the word “three,” + knew he had fired by the recoil of the pistol in his leveled hand, + simultaneously with its utterance. And at the same moment, still standing + like a rock, he saw his adversary miserably collapse, his legs grotesquely + curving inwards under him,—without even the dignity of death in his + fall,—and so sink helplessly like a felled bull to the ground. Still + erect, and lowering only the muzzle of his pistol, as a thin feather of + smoke curled up its shining side, he saw the doctor and seconds run + quickly to the heap, try to lift its limp impotence into shape, and let it + drop again with the words, “Right through the forehead, by G-d!” + </p> + <p> + “You've done for him,” said the deputy, turning to Clarence with a + singular look of curiosity, “and I reckon you had better get out of this + mighty quick. They didn't expect it; they're just ragin'; they may round + on you—and”—he added, more slowly, “they seem to have just + found out who you are.” + </p> + <p> + Even while he was speaking, Clarence, with his quickened ear, heard the + words, “One of Hamilton Brant's pups” “Just like his father,” from the + group around the dead man. He did not hesitate, but walked coolly towards + them. Yet a certain fierce pride—which he had never known before—stirred + in his veins as their voices hushed and they half recoiled before him. + </p> + <p> + “Am I to understand from my second, gentlemen,” he said, looking round the + group, “that you are not satisfied?” + </p> + <p> + “The fight was square enough,” said Pinckney's second in some + embarrassment, “but I reckon that he,” pointing to the dead man, “did not + know who you were.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean that he did not know that I was the son of a man proficient + in the use of arms?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon that's about it,” returned the second, glancing at the others. + </p> + <p> + “I am glad to say, sir, that I have a better opinion of his courage,” said + Clarence, lifting his hat to the dead body as he turned away. + </p> + <p> + Yet he was conscious of no remorse, concern, or even pity in his act. + Perhaps this was visible in his face, for the group appeared awed by this + perfection of the duelist's coolness, and even returned his formal parting + salutation with a vague and timid respect. He thanked the deputy, regained + the hotel, saddled his horse and galloped away. + </p> + <p> + But not towards the Rancho. Now that he could think of his future, that + had no place in his reflections; even the episode of Susy was forgotten in + the new and strange conception of himself and his irresponsibility which + had come upon him with the killing of Pinckney and the words of his + second. It was his dead father who had stiffened his arm and directed the + fatal shot! It was hereditary influences—which others had been so + quick to recognize—that had brought about this completing climax of + his trouble. How else could he account for it that he—a + conscientious, peaceful, sensitive man, tender and forgiving as he had + believed himself to be—could now feel so little sorrow or + compunction for his culminating act? He had read of successful duelists + who were haunted by remorse for their first victim; who retained a + terrible consciousness of the appearance of the dead man; he had no such + feeling; he had only a grim contentment in the wiped-out inefficient life, + and contempt for the limp and helpless body. He suddenly recalled his + callousness as a boy when face to face with the victims of the Indian + massacre, his sense of fastidious superciliousness in the discovery of the + body of Susy's mother!—surely it was the cold blood of his father + influencing him ever thus. What had he to do with affection, with domestic + happiness, with the ordinary ambitions of man's life—whose blood was + frozen at its source! Yet even with this very thought came once more the + old inconsistent tenderness he had as a boy lavished upon the almost + unknown and fugitive father who had forsaken his childish companionship, + and remembered him only by secret gifts. He remembered how he had + worshiped him even while the pious padres at San Jose were endeavoring to + eliminate this terrible poison from his blood and combat his hereditary + instinct in his conflicts with his school-fellows. And it was a part of + this inconsistency that, riding away from the scene of his first + bloodshed, his eyes were dimmed with moisture, not for his victim, but for + the one being who he believed had impelled him to the act. + </p> + <p> + This and more was in his mind during his long ride to Fair Plains, his + journey by coach to the Embarcadero, his midnight passage across the dark + waters of the bay, and his re-entrance to San Francisco, but what should + be his future was still unsettled. + </p> + <p> + As he wound round the crest of Russian Hill and looked down again upon the + awakened city, he was startled to see that it was fluttering and streaming + with bunting. From every public building and hotel, from the roofs of + private houses, and even the windows of lonely dwellings, flapped and + waved the striped and starry banner. The steady breath of the sea carried + it out from masts and yards of ships at their wharves, from the + battlements of the forts Alcatraz and Yerba Bueno. He remembered that the + ferryman had told him that the news from Fort Sumter had swept the city + with a revulsion of patriotic sentiment, and that there was no doubt that + the State was saved to the Union. He looked down upon it with haggard, + bewildered eyes, and then a strange gasp and fullness of the throat! For + afar a solitary bugle had blown the “reveille” at Fort Alcatraz. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART2" id="link2H_PART2"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART II. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <p> + Night at last, and the stir and tumult of a great fight over. Even the + excitement that had swept this portion of the battlefield—only a + small section of a vaster area of struggle—into which a brigade had + marched, held its own, been beaten back, recovered its ground, and + pursuing, had passed out of it forever, leaving only its dead behind, and + knowing nothing more of that struggle than its own impact and momentum—even + this wild excitement had long since evaporated with the stinging smoke of + gunpowder, the acrid smell of burning rags from the clothing of a dead + soldier fired by a bursting shell, or the heated reek of sweat and + leather. A cool breath that seemed to bring back once more the odor of the + upturned earthworks along the now dumb line of battle began to move from + the suggestive darkness beyond. + </p> + <p> + But into that awful penetralia of death and silence there was no invasion—there + had been no retreat. A few of the wounded had been brought out, under + fire, but the others had been left with the dead for the morning light and + succor. For it was known that in that horrible obscurity, riderless + horses, frantic with the smell of blood, galloped wildly here and there, + or, maddened by wounds, plunged furiously at the intruder; that the + wounded soldier, still armed, could not always distinguish friend from foe + or from the ghouls of camp followers who stripped the dead in the darkness + and struggled with the dying. A shot or two heard somewhere in that + obscurity counted as nothing with the long fusillade that had swept it in + the daytime; the passing of a single life, more or less, amounted to + little in the long roll-call of the day's slaughter. + </p> + <p> + But with the first beams of the morning sun—and the slowly moving + “relief detail” from the camp—came a weird half-resurrection of that + ghastly field. Then it was that the long rays of sunlight, streaming away + a mile beyond the battle line, pointed out the first harvest of the dead + where the reserves had been posted. There they lay in heaps and piles, + killed by solid shot or bursting shells that had leaped the battle line to + plunge into the waiting ranks beyond. As the sun lifted higher its beams + fell within the range of musketry fire, where the dead lay thicker,—even + as they had fallen when killed outright,—with arms extended and feet + at all angles to the field. As it touched these dead upturned faces, + strangely enough it brought out no expression of pain or anguish—but + rather as if death had arrested them only in surprise and awe. It revealed + on the lips of those who had been mortally wounded and had turned upon + their side the relief which death had brought their suffering, sometimes + shown in a faint smile. Mounting higher, it glanced upon the actual battle + line, curiously curving for the shelter of walls, fences, and breastworks, + and here the dead lay, even as when they lay and fired, their faces prone + in the grass but their muskets still resting across the breastworks. + Exposed to grape and canister from the battery on the ridge, death had + come to them mercifully also—through the head and throat. And now + the whole field lay bare in the sunlight, broken with grotesque shadows + cast from sitting, crouching, half-recumbent but always rigid figures, + which might have been effigies on their own monuments. One half-kneeling + soldier, with head bowed between his stiffened hands, might have stood for + a carven figure of Grief at the feet of his dead comrade. A captain, shot + through the brain in the act of mounting a wall, lay sideways half across + it, his lips parted with a word of command; his sword still pointing over + the barrier the way that they should go. + </p> + <p> + But it was not until the sun had mounted higher that it struck the central + horror of the field and seemed to linger there in dazzling persistence, + now and then returning to it in startling flashes that it might be seen of + men and those who brought succor. A tiny brook had run obliquely near the + battle line. It was here that, the night before the battle, friend and foe + had filled their canteens side by side with soldierly recklessness—or + perhaps a higher instinct—purposely ignoring each other's presence; + it was here that the wounded had afterwards crept, crawled, and dragged + themselves, here they had pushed, wrangled, striven, and fought for a + draught of that precious fluid which assuaged the thirst of their wounds—or + happily put them out of their misery forever; here overborne, crushed, + suffocated by numbers, pouring their own blood into the flood, and + tumbling after it with their helpless bodies, they dammed the stream, + until recoiling, red and angry, it had burst its banks and overflowed the + cotton-field in a broad pool that now sparkled in the sunlight. But below + this human dam—a mile away—where the brook still crept + sluggishly, the ambulance horses sniffed and started from it. + </p> + <p> + The detail moved on slowly, doing their work expeditiously, and apparently + callously, but really only with that mechanical movement that saves + emotion. Only once they were moved to an outbreak of indignation,—the + discovery of the body of an officer whose pockets were turned inside out, + but whose hand was still tightly grasped on his buttoned waistcoat, as if + resisting the outrage that had been done while still in life. As the men + disengaged the stiffened hand something slipped from the waistcoat to the + ground. The corporal picked it up and handed it to his officer. It was a + sealed packet. The officer received it with the carelessness which long + experience of these pathetic missives from the dying to their living + relations had induced, and dropped it in the pocket of his tunic, with the + half-dozen others that he had picked up that morning, and moved on with + the detail. A little further on they halted, in the attitude of attention, + as a mounted officer appeared, riding slowly down the line. + </p> + <p> + There was something more than the habitual respect of their superior in + their faces as he came forward. For it was the general who had commanded + the brigade the day before,—the man who had leaped with one bound + into the foremost rank of military leaders. It was his invincible spirit + that had led the advance, held back defeat against overwhelming numbers, + sustained the rally, impressed his subordinate officers with his own + undeviating purpose, and even infused them with an almost superstitious + belief in his destiny of success. It was this man who had done what it was + deemed impossible to do,—what even at the time it was thought unwise + and unstrategic to do,—who had held a weak position, of apparently + no importance, under the mandate of an incomprehensible order from his + superior, which at best asked only for a sacrifice and was rewarded with a + victory. He had decimated his brigade, but the wounded and dying had + cheered him as he passed, and the survivors had pursued the enemy until + the bugle called them back. For such a record he looked still too young + and scholarly, albeit his handsome face was dark and energetic, and his + manner taciturn. + </p> + <p> + His quick eye had already caught sight of the rifled body of the officer, + and contracted. As the captain of the detail saluted him he said curtly,— + </p> + <p> + “I thought the orders were to fire upon any one desecrating the dead?” + </p> + <p> + “They are, General; but the hyenas don't give us a chance. That's all + yonder poor fellow saved from their claws,” replied the officer, as he + held up the sealed packet. “It has no address.” + </p> + <p> + The general took it, examined the envelope, thrust it into his belt, and + said,— + </p> + <p> + “I will take charge of it.” + </p> + <p> + The sound of horses' hoofs came from the rocky roadside beyond the brook. + Both men turned. A number of field officers were approaching. + </p> + <p> + “The division staff,” said the captain, in a lower voice, falling back. + </p> + <p> + They came slowly forward, a central figure on a gray horse leading here—as + in history. A short, thick-set man with a grizzled beard closely cropped + around an inscrutable mouth, and the serious formality of a respectable + country deacon in his aspect, which even the major-generals blazon on the + shoulder-strap of his loose tunic on his soldierly seat in the saddle + could not entirely obliterate. He had evidently perceived the general of + brigade, and quickened his horse as the latter drew up. The staff followed + more leisurely, but still with some curiosity, to witness the meeting of + the first general of the army with the youngest. The division general + saluted, but almost instantly withdrew his leathern gauntlet, and offered + his bared hand to the brigadier. The words of heroes are scant. The + drawn-up detail, the waiting staff listened. This was all they heard:— + </p> + <p> + “Halleck tells me you're from California?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, General.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! I lived there, too, in the early days.” + </p> + <p> + “Wonderful country. Developed greatly since my time, I suppose?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, General.” + </p> + <p> + “Great resources; finest wheat-growing country in the world, sir. You + don't happen to know what the actual crop was this year?” + </p> + <p> + “Hardly, General! but something enormous.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I have always said it would be. Have a cigar?” + </p> + <p> + He handed his cigar-case to the brigadier. Then he took one himself, + lighted it at the smouldering end of the one he had taken from his mouth, + was about to throw the stump carelessly down, but, suddenly recollecting + himself, leaned over his horse, and dropped it carefully a few inches away + from the face of a dead soldier. Then, straightening himself in the + saddle, he shoved his horse against the brigadier, moving him a little + further on, while a slight movement of his hand kept the staff from + following. + </p> + <p> + “A heavy loss here!” + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid so, General.” + </p> + <p> + “It couldn't be helped. We had to rush in your brigade to gain time, and + occupy the enemy, until we could change front.” + </p> + <p> + The young general looked at the shrewd, cold eyes of his chief. + </p> + <p> + “Change front?” he echoed. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. Before a gun was fired, we discovered that the enemy was in complete + possession of all our plans, and knew every detail of our forward + movement. All had to be changed.” + </p> + <p> + The younger man now instantly understood the incomprehensible order of the + day before. + </p> + <p> + The general of division continued, with his first touch of official + formality,— + </p> + <p> + “You understand, therefore, General Brant, that in the face of this + extraordinary treachery, the utmost vigilance is required, and a complete + surveillance of your camp followers and civilians, to detect the actual + spy within our lines, or the traitor we are harboring, who has become + possessed of this information. You will overhaul your brigade, and weed + out all suspects, and in the position which you are to take to-morrow, and + the plantation you will occupy, you will see that your private quarters, + as well as your lines, are cleared of all but those you can vouch for.” + </p> + <p> + He reined in his horse, again extended his hand, saluted, and rejoined his + staff. + </p> + <p> + Brigadier-General Clarence Brant remained for a moment with his head bent + in thoughtful contemplation of the coolness of his veteran chief under + this exciting disclosure, and the strategy with which he had frustrated + the traitor's success. Then his eye caught the sealed packet in his belt. + He mechanically drew it out, and broke the seal. The envelope was filled + with papers and memorandums. But as he looked at them his face darkened + and his brow knit. He glanced quickly around him. The staff had trotted + away; the captain and his detail were continuing their work at a little + distance. He took a long breath, for he was holding in his hand a tracing + of their camp, even of the position he was to occupy tomorrow, and a + detailed account of the movements, plans, and force of the whole division + as had been arranged in council of war the day before the battle! But + there was no indication of the writer or his intentions. + </p> + <p> + He thrust the papers hurriedly back into the envelope, but placed it, this + time, in his breast. He galloped towards the captain. + </p> + <p> + “Let me see again the officer from whom you took that packet!” + </p> + <p> + The captain led him to where the body lay, with others, extended more + decently on the grass awaiting removal. General Brant with difficulty + repressed an ejaculation. + </p> + <p> + “Why, it's one of our own men,” he said quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, General. They say it's Lieutenant Wainwright, a regular, of the + paymaster general's department.” + </p> + <p> + “Then what was he doing here?” asked General Brant sternly. + </p> + <p> + “I can't make out, sir, unless he went into the last advance as a + volunteer. Wanted to see the fight, I suppose. He was a dashing fellow, a + West Pointer,—and a Southerner, too,—a Virginian.” + </p> + <p> + “A Southerner!” echoed Brant quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Search him again,” said Brant quietly. He had recovered his usual + coolness, and as the captain again examined the body, he took out his + tablets and wrote a few lines. It was an order to search the quarters of + Lieutenant Wainwright and bring all papers, letters, and documents to him. + He then beckoned one of the detail towards him. “Take that to the provost + marshal at once. Well, Captain,” he added calmly, as the officer again + approached him, “what do you find?” + </p> + <p> + “Only this, sir,” returned the captain, with a half smile, producing a + small photograph. “I suppose it was overlooked, too.” + </p> + <p> + He handed it to Brant. + </p> + <p> + There was a sudden fixing of his commanding officer's eyes, but his face + did not otherwise change. + </p> + <p> + “It's the usual find, General. Always a photograph! But this time a + handsome woman!” + </p> + <p> + “Very,” said Clarence Brant quietly. It was the portrait of his own wife. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. + </h2> + <p> + Nevertheless, so complete was his control of voice and manner that, as he + rode on to his quarters, no one would have dreamed that General Brant had + just looked upon the likeness of the wife from whom he had parted in anger + four years ago. Still less would they have suspected the strange fear that + came upon him that in some way she was connected with the treachery he had + just discovered. He had heard from her only once, and then through her + late husband's lawyer, in regard to her Californian property, and believed + that she had gone to her relations in Alabama, where she had identified + herself with the Southern cause, even to the sacrifice of her private + fortune. He had heard her name mentioned in the Southern press as a + fascinating society leader, and even coadjutrix of Southern politicians,—but + he had no reason to believe that she had taken so active or so desperate a + part in the struggle. He tried to think that his uneasiness sprang from + his recollection of the previous treachery of Captain Pinckney, and the + part that she had played in the Californian conspiracy, although he had + long since acquitted her of the betrayal of any nearer trust. But there + was a fateful similarity in the two cases. There was no doubt that this + Lieutenant Wainwright was a traitor in the camp,—that he had + succumbed to the usual sophistry of his class in regard to his superior + allegiance to his native State. But was there the inducement of another + emotion, or was the photograph only the souvenir of a fascinating + priestess of rebellion, whom the dead man had met? There was perhaps less + of feeling than scorn in the first suggestion, but he was nevertheless + relieved when the provost marshal found no other incriminating papers in + Wainwright's effects. Nor did he reveal to the division general the + finding of the photograph. It was sufficient to disclose the work of the + traitor without adding what might be a clue to his wife's participation in + it, near or remote. There was risk enough in the former course,—which + his duty made imperative. He hardly dared to think of the past day's + slaughter, which—there was no doubt now—had been due to the + previous work of the spy, and how his brigade had been selected—by + the irony of Fate—to suffer for and yet retrieve it. If she had had + a hand in this wicked plot, ought he to spare her? Or was his destiny and + hers to be thus monstrously linked together? + </p> + <p> + Luckily, however, the expiation of the chief offender and the timely + discovery of his papers enabled the division commander to keep the affair + discreetly silent, and to enjoin equal secrecy on the part of Brant. The + latter, however, did not relax his vigilance, and after the advance the + next day he made a minute inspection of the ground he was to occupy, its + approaches and connections with the outlying country, and the rebel lines; + increased the stringency of picket and sentry regulations, and exercised a + rigid surveillance of non-combatants and civilians within the lines, even + to the lowest canteener or camp follower. Then he turned his attention to + the house he was to occupy as his headquarters. + </p> + <p> + It was a fine specimen of the old colonial planter's house, with its broad + veranda, its great detached offices and negro quarters, and had, thus far, + escaped the ravages and billeting of the war. It had been occupied by its + owner up to a few days before the engagement, and so great had been the + confidence of the enemy in their success that it had been used as the + Confederate headquarters on the morning of the decisive battle. Jasmine + and rose, unstained by the sulphur of gunpowder, twined around its ruined + columns and half hid the recessed windows; the careless flower garden was + still in its unkempt and unplucked luxuriance; the courtyard before the + stables alone showed marks of the late military occupancy, and was + pulverized by the uneasy horse-hoofs of the waiting staff. But the mingled + impress of barbaric prodigality with patriarchal simplicity was still + there in the domestic arrangements of a race who lived on half equal + familiarity with strangers and their own servants. + </p> + <p> + The negro servants still remained, with a certain cat-like fidelity to the + place, and adapted themselves to the Northern invaders with a childlike + enjoyment of the novelty of change. Brant, nevertheless, looked them over + with an experienced eye, and satisfied himself of their trustworthiness; + there was the usual number of “boys,” gray-haired and grizzled in body + service, and the “mammys” and “aunties” of the kitchen. There were two or + three rooms in the wing which still contained private articles, pictures + and souvenirs of the family, and a “young lady's” boudoir, which Brant, + with characteristic delicacy, kept carefully isolated and intact from his + military household, and accessible only to the family servants. The room + he had selected for himself was nearest it,—a small, plainly + furnished apartment, with an almost conventual simplicity in its cold, + white walls and draperies, and the narrow, nun-like bed. It struck him + that it might have belonged to some prim elder daughter or maiden aunt, + who had acted as housekeeper, as it commanded the wing and servants' + offices, with easy access to the central hall. + </p> + <p> + There followed a week of inactivity in which Brant felt a singular + resemblance in this Southern mansion to the old casa at Robles. The + afternoon shadows of the deep verandas recalled the old monastic gloom of + the Spanish house, which even the presence of a lounging officer or + waiting orderly could not entirely dissipate, and the scent of the rose + and jasmine from his windows overcame him with sad memories. He began to + chafe under this inaction, and long again for the excitement of the march + and bivouac, in which, for the past four years, he had buried his past. + </p> + <p> + He was sitting one afternoon alone before his reports and dispatches, when + this influence seemed so strong that he half impulsively laid them aside + to indulge in along reverie. He was recalling his last day at Robles, the + early morning duel with Pinckney, the return to San Francisco, and the + sudden resolution which sent him that day across the continent to offer + his services to the Government. He remembered his delay in the Western + town, where a volunteer regiment was being recruited, his entrance into it + as a private, his rapid selection, through the force of his sheer devotion + and intelligent concentration, to the captaincy of his company; his swift + promotion on hard-fought fields to the head of the regiment, and the + singular success that had followed his resistless energy, which left him + no time to think of anything but his duty. The sudden intrusion of his + wife upon his career now, even in this accidental and perhaps innocent + way, had seriously unsettled him. + </p> + <p> + The shadows were growing heavier and deeper, it lacked only a few moments + of the sunset bugle, when he was recalled to himself by that singular + instinctive consciousness, common to humanity, of being intently looked + at. He turned quickly,—the door behind him closed softly. He rose + and slipped into the hall. The tall figure of a woman was going down the + passage. She was erect and graceful; but, as she turned towards the door + leading to the offices, he distinctly saw the gaudily turbaned head and + black silhouette of a negress. Nevertheless, he halted a moment at the + door of the next room. + </p> + <p> + “See who that woman is who has just passed, Mr. Martin. She doesn't seem + to belong to the house.” + </p> + <p> + The young officer rose, put on his cap, and departed. In a few moments he + returned. + </p> + <p> + “Was she tall, sir, of a good figure, and very straight?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “She is a servant of our neighbors, the Manlys, who occasionally visits + the servants here. A mulatto, I think.” + </p> + <p> + Brant reflected. Many of the mulattoes and negresses were of good figure, + and the habit of carrying burdens on their heads gave them a singularly + erect carriage. + </p> + <p> + The lieutenant looked at his chief. + </p> + <p> + “Have you any orders to give concerning her, General?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Brant, after a moment's pause, and turned away. + </p> + <p> + The officer smiled. It seemed a good story to tell at mess of this human + weakness of his handsome, reserved, and ascetic-looking leader. + </p> + <p> + A few mornings afterwards Brant was interrupted over his reports by the + almost abrupt entrance of the officer of the day. His face was flushed, + and it was evident that only the presence of his superior restrained his + excitement. He held a paper in his hand. + </p> + <p> + “A lady presents this order and pass from Washington, countersigned by the + division general.” + </p> + <p> + “A lady?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir, she is dressed as such. But she has not only declined the most + ordinary civilities and courtesies we have offered her, but she has + insulted Mr. Martin and myself grossly, and demands to be shown to you—alone.” + </p> + <p> + Brant took the paper. It was a special order from the President, passing + Miss Matilda Faulkner through the Federal lines to visit her uncle's home, + known as “Gray Oaks,” now held and occupied as the headquarters of Brant's + Brigade, in order to arrange for the preservation and disposal of certain + family effects and private property that still remained there, or to take + and carry away such property; and invoking all necessary aid and + assistance from the United States forces in such occupancy. It was + countersigned by the division commander. It was perfectly regular and of + undoubted authenticity. He had heard of passes of this kind,—the + terror of the army,—issued in Washington under some strange + controlling influence and against military protest; but he did not let his + subordinate see the uneasiness with which it filled him. + </p> + <p> + “Show her in,” he said quietly. + </p> + <p> + But she had already entered, brushing scornfully past the officer, and + drawing her skirt aside, as if contaminated: a very pretty Southern girl, + scornful and red-lipped, clad in a gray riding-habit, and still carrying + her riding-whip clenched ominously in her slim, gauntleted hand! + </p> + <p> + “You have my permit in your hand,” she said brusquely, hardly raising her + eyes to Brant. “I suppose it's all straight enough,—and even if it + isn't, I don't reckon to be kept waiting with those hirelings.” + </p> + <p> + “Your 'permit' is 'straight' enough, Miss Faulkner,” said Brant, slowly + reading her name from the document before him. “But, as it does not seem + to include permission to insult my officers, you will perhaps allow them + first to retire.” + </p> + <p> + He made a sign to the officer, who passed out of the door. + </p> + <p> + As it closed, he went on, in a gentle but coldly unimpassioned voice,— + </p> + <p> + “I perceive you are a Southern lady, and therefore I need not remind you + that it is not considered good form to treat even the slaves of those one + does not like uncivilly, and I must, therefore, ask you to keep your + active animosity for myself.” + </p> + <p> + The young girl lifted her eyes. She had evidently not expected to meet a + man so young, so handsome, so refined, and so coldly invincible in manner. + Still less was she prepared for that kind of antagonism. In keeping up her + preconcerted attitude towards the “Northern hireling,” she had been met + with official brusqueness, contemptuous silence, or aggrieved indignation,—but + nothing so exasperating as this. She even fancied that this elegant but + sardonic-looking soldier was mocking her. She bit her red lip, but, with a + scornful gesture of her riding-whip, said,— + </p> + <p> + “I reckon that your knowledge of Southern ladies is, for certain reasons, + not very extensive.” + </p> + <p> + “Pardon me; I have had the honor of marrying one.” + </p> + <p> + Apparently more exasperated than before, she turned upon him abruptly. + </p> + <p> + “You say my pass is all right. Then I presume I may attend to the business + that brought me here.” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly; but you will forgive me if I imagined that an expression of + contempt for your hosts was a part of it.” + </p> + <p> + He rang a bell on the table. It was responded to by an orderly. + </p> + <p> + “Send all the household servants here.” + </p> + <p> + The room was presently filled with the dusky faces of the negro retainers. + Here and there was the gleaming of white teeth, but a majority of the + assembly wore the true negro serious acceptance of the importance of “an + occasion.” One or two even affected an official and soldierly bearing. + And, as he fully expected, there were several glances of significant + recognition of the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “You will give,” said Brant sternly, “every aid and attention to the wants + of this young lady, who is here to represent the interests of your old + master. As she will be entirely dependent upon you in all things connected + with her visit here, see to it that she does not have to complain to me of + any inattention,—or be obliged to ask for other assistance.” + </p> + <p> + As Miss Faulkner, albeit a trifle paler in the cheek, but as scornful as + ever, was about to follow the servants from the room, Brant stopped her, + with a coldly courteous gesture. + </p> + <p> + “You will understand, therefore, Miss Faulkner, that you have your wish, + and that you will not be exposed to any contact with the members of my + military family, nor they with you.” + </p> + <p> + “Am I then to be a prisoner in this house—and under a free pass of + your—President?” she said indignantly. + </p> + <p> + “By no means! You are free to come and go, and see whom you please. I have + no power to control your actions. But I have the power to control theirs.” + </p> + <p> + She swept furiously from the room. + </p> + <p> + “That is quite enough to fill her with a desire to flirt with every man + here,” said Brant to himself, with a faint smile; “but I fancy they have + had a taste enough of her quality.” + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless he sat down and wrote a few lines to the division commander, + pointing out that he had already placed the owner's private property under + strict surveillance, that it was cared for and perfectly preserved by the + household servants, and that the pass was evidently obtained as a + subterfuge. + </p> + <p> + To this he received a formal reply, regretting that the authorities at + Washington still found it necessary to put this kind of risk and burden on + the army in the field, but that the order emanated from the highest + authority, and must be strictly obeyed. At the bottom of the page was a + characteristic line in pencil in the general's own hand—“Not the + kind that is dangerous.” + </p> + <p> + A flush mounted Brant's cheeks, as if it contained not only a hidden, but + a personal significance. He had thought of his own wife! + </p> + <p> + Singularly enough, a day or two later, at dinner, the conversation turned + upon the intense sectional feeling of Southern women, probably induced by + their late experiences. Brant, at the head of the table, in his habitual + abstraction, was scarcely following the somewhat excited diction of + Colonel Strangeways, one of his staff. + </p> + <p> + “No, sir,” reiterated that indignant warrior, “take my word for it! A + Southern woman isn't to be trusted on this point, whether as a sister, + sweetheart, or wife. And when she is trusted, she's bound to get the + better of the man in any of those relations!” + </p> + <p> + The dead silence that followed, the ominous joggle of a glass at the + speaker's elbow, the quick, sympathetic glance that Brant instinctively + felt was directed at his own face, and the abrupt change of subject, could + not but arrest his attention, even if he had overlooked the speech. His + face, however, betrayed nothing. It had never, however, occurred to him + before that his family affairs might be known—neither had he ever + thought of keeping them a secret. It seemed so purely a personal and + private misfortune, that he had never dreamed of its having any public + interest. And even now he was a little ashamed of what he believed was his + sensitiveness to mere conventional criticism, which, with the instinct of + a proud man, he had despised. + </p> + <p> + He was not far wrong in his sardonic intuition of the effect of his + prohibition upon Miss Faulkner's feelings. Certainly that young lady, when + not engaged in her mysterious occupation of arranging her uncle's effects, + occasionally was seen in the garden, and in the woods beyond. Although her + presence was the signal for the “oblique” of any lounging “shoulder + strap,” or the vacant “front” of a posted sentry, she seemed to regard + their occasional proximity with less active disfavor. Once, when she had + mounted the wall to gather a magnolia blossom, the chair by which she had + ascended rolled over, leaving her on the wall. At a signal from the + guard-room, two sappers and miners appeared carrying a scaling-ladder, + which they placed silently against the wall, and as silently withdrew. On + another occasion, the same spirited young lady, whom Brant was satisfied + would have probably imperiled her life under fire in devotion to her + cause, was brought ignominiously to bay in the field by that most + appalling of domestic animals, the wandering and untrammeled cow! Brant + could not help smiling as he heard the quick, harsh call to “Turn out, + guard,” saw the men march stolidly with fixed bayonets to the vicinity of + the affrighted animal, who fled, leaving the fair stranger to walk + shamefacedly to the house. He was surprised, however, that she should have + halted before his door, and with tremulous indignation, said,— + </p> + <p> + “I thank you, sir, for your chivalrousness in turning a defenseless woman + into ridicule.” + </p> + <p> + “I regret, Miss Faulkner,” began Brant gravely, “that you should believe + that I am able to control the advances of farmyard cattle as easily as”—But + he stopped, as he saw that the angry flash of her blue eyes, as she darted + past him, was set in tears. A little remorseful on the following day, he + added a word to his ordinary cap-lifting when she went by, but she + retained a reproachful silence. Later in the day, he received from her + servant a respectful request for an interview, and was relieved to find + that she entered his presence with no trace of her former aggression, but + rather with the resignation of a deeply injured, yet not entirely + unforgiving, woman. + </p> + <p> + “I thought,” she began coldly, “that I ought to inform you that I would + probably be able to conclude my business here by the day after to-morrow, + and that you would then be relieved of my presence. I am aware—indeed,” + she added, bitterly, “I could scarcely help perceiving, that it has been + an exceedingly irksome one.” + </p> + <p> + “I trust,” began Brant coldly, “that no gentleman of my command has”— + </p> + <p> + “No!” + </p> + <p> + She interrupted him quickly, with a return of her former manner, and a + passionate sweep of the hand. + </p> + <p> + “Do you suppose for a moment that I am speaking—that I am even + thinking—of them? What are they to me?” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you. I am glad to know that they are nothing; and that I may now + trust that you have consulted my wishes, and have reserved your animosity + solely for me,” returned Brant quietly. “That being so, I see no reason + for your hurrying your departure in the least.” + </p> + <p> + She rose instantly. + </p> + <p> + “I have,” she said slowly, controlling herself with a slight effort, + “found some one who will take my duty off my hands. She is a servant of + one of your neighbors,—who is an old friend of my uncle's. The woman + is familiar with the house, and our private property. I will give her full + instructions to act for me, and even an authorization in writing, if you + prefer it. She is already in the habit of coming here; but her visits will + give you very little trouble. And, as she is a slave, or, as you call it, + I believe, a chattel, she will be already quite accustomed to the + treatment which her class are in the habit of receiving from Northern + hands.” + </p> + <p> + Without waiting to perceive the effect of her Parthian shot, she swept + proudly out of the room. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder what she means,” mused Brant, as her quick step died away in the + passage. “One thing is certain,—a woman like that is altogether too + impulsive for a spy.” + </p> + <p> + Later, in the twilight, he saw her walking in the garden. There was a + figure at her side. A little curious, he examined it more closely from his + window. It was already familiar to him,—the erect, shapely form of + his neighbor's servant. A thoughtful look passed over his face as he + muttered,—“So this is to be her deputy.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. + </h2> + <p> + Called to a general council of officers at divisional headquarters the + next day, Brant had little time for further speculation regarding his + strange guest, but a remark from the division commander, that he preferred + to commit the general plan of a movement then under discussion to their + memories rather than to written orders in the ordinary routine, seemed to + show that his chief still suspected the existence of a spy. He, therefore, + told him of his late interview with Miss Faulkner, and her probable + withdrawal in favor of a mulatto neighbor. The division commander received + the information with indifference. + </p> + <p> + “They're much too clever to employ a hussy like that, who shows her hand + at every turn, either as a spy or a messenger of spies,—and the + mulattoes are too stupid, to say nothing of their probable fidelity to us. + No, General, if we are watched, it is by an eagle, and not a mocking-bird. + Miss Faulkner has nothing worse about her than her tongue; and there isn't + the nigger blood in the whole South that would risk a noose for her, or + for any of their masters or mistresses!” + </p> + <p> + It was, therefore, perhaps, with some mitigation of his usual critical + severity that he saw her walking before him alone in the lane as he rode + home to quarters. She was apparently lost in a half-impatient, half-moody + reverie, which even the trotting hoof-beats of his own and his orderly's + horse had not disturbed. From time to time she struck the myrtle hedge + beside her with the head of a large flower which hung by its stalk from + her listless hands, or held it to her face as if to inhale its perfume. + Dismissing his orderly by a side path, he rode gently forward, but, to his + surprise, without turning, or seeming to be aware of his presence, she + quickened her pace, and even appeared to look from side to side for some + avenue of escape. If only to mend matters, he was obliged to ride quickly + forward to her side, where he threw himself from his horse, flung the + reins on his arm, and began to walk beside her. She at first turned a + slightly flushed cheek away from him, and then looked up with a purely + simulated start of surprise. + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid,” he said gently, “that I am the first to break my own orders + in regard to any intrusion on your privacy. But I wanted to ask you if I + could give you any aid whatever in the change you think of making.” + </p> + <p> + He was quite sincere,—had been touched by her manifest disturbance, + and, despite his masculine relentlessness of criticism, he had an + intuition of feminine suffering that was in itself feminine. + </p> + <p> + “Meaning, that you are in a hurry to get rid of me,” she said curtly, + without raising her eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Meaning that I only wish to expedite a business which I think is + unpleasant to you, but which I believe you have undertaken from unselfish + devotion.” + </p> + <p> + The scant expression of a reserved nature is sometimes more attractive to + women than the most fluent vivacity. Possibly there was also a melancholy + grace in this sardonic soldier's manner that affected her, for she looked + up, and said impulsively,— + </p> + <p> + “You think so?” + </p> + <p> + But he met her eager eyes with some surprise. + </p> + <p> + “I certainly do,” he replied more coldly. “I can imagine your feelings on + finding your uncle's home in the possession of your enemies, and your + presence under the family roof only a sufferance. I can hardly believe it + a pleasure to you, or a task you would have accepted for yourself alone.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” she said, turning towards him wickedly, “what if I did it only to + excite my revenge; what if I knew it would give me courage to incite my + people to carry war into your own homes; to make you of the North feel as + I feel, and taste our bitterness?” + </p> + <p> + “I could easily understand that, too,” he returned, with listless + coldness, “although I don't admit that revenge is an unmixed pleasure, + even to a woman.” + </p> + <p> + “A woman!” she repeated indignantly. “There is no sex in a war like this.” + </p> + <p> + “You are spoiling your flower,” he said quietly. “It is very pretty, and a + native one, too; not an invader, or even transplanted. May I look at it?” + </p> + <p> + She hesitated, half recoiling for an instant, and her hand trembled. Then, + suddenly and abruptly she said, with a hysteric little laugh, “Take it, + then,” and almost thrust it in his hand. + </p> + <p> + It certainly was a pretty flower, not unlike a lily in appearance, with a + bell-like cup and long anthers covered with a fine pollen, like red dust. + As he lifted it to his face, to inhale its perfume, she uttered a slight + cry, and snatched it from his hand. + </p> + <p> + “There!” she said, with the same nervous laugh. “I knew you would; I ought + to have warned you. The pollen comes off so easily, and leaves a stain. + And you've got some on your cheek. Look!” she continued, taking her + handkerchief from her pocket and wiping his cheek; “see there!” The + delicate cambric showed a blood-red streak. + </p> + <p> + “It grows in a swamp,” she continued, in the same excited strain; “we call + it dragon's teeth,—like the kind that was sown in the story, you + know. We children used to find it, and then paint our faces and lips with + it. We called it our rouge. I was almost tempted to try it again when I + found it just now. It took me back so to the old times.” + </p> + <p> + Following her odd manner rather than her words, as she turned her face + towards him suddenly, Brant was inclined to think that she had tried it + already, so scarlet was her cheek. But it presently paled again under his + cold scrutiny. + </p> + <p> + “You must miss the old times,” he said calmly. “I am afraid you found very + little of them left, except in these flowers.” + </p> + <p> + “And hardly these,” she said bitterly. “Your troops had found a way + through the marsh, and had trampled down the bushes.” + </p> + <p> + Brant's brow clouded. He remembered that the brook, which had run red + during the fight, had lost itself in this marsh. It did not increase his + liking for this beautiful but blindly vicious animal at his side, and even + his momentary pity for her was fading fast. She was incorrigible. They + walked on for a few moments in silence. + </p> + <p> + “You said,” she began at last, in a gentler and even hesitating voice, + “that your wife was a Southern woman.” + </p> + <p> + He checked an irritated start with difficulty. + </p> + <p> + “I believe I did,” he said coldly, as if he regretted it. + </p> + <p> + “And of course you taught her YOUR gospel,—the gospel according to + St. Lincoln. Oh, I know,” she went on hurriedly, as if conscious of his + irritation and seeking to allay it. “She was a woman and loved you, and + thought with your thoughts and saw only with your eyes. Yes, that's the + way with us,—I suppose we all do it!” she added bitterly. + </p> + <p> + “She had her own opinions,” said Brant briefly, as he recovered himself. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, his manner so decidedly closed all further discussion that + there was nothing left for the young girl but silence. But it was broken + by her in a few moments in her old contemptuous voice and manner. + </p> + <p> + “Pray don't trouble yourself to accompany me any further, General Brant. + Unless, of course, you are afraid I may come across some of your—your + soldiers. I promise you I won't eat them.” + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid you must suffer my company a little longer, Miss Faulkner, on + account of those same soldiers,” returned Brant gravely. “You may not know + that this road, in which I find you, takes you through a cordon of + pickets. If you were alone you would be stopped, questioned, and, failing + to give the password, you would be detained, sent to the guard-house, and”—he + stopped, and fixed his eyes on her keenly as he added, “and searched.” + </p> + <p> + “You would not dare to search a woman!” she said indignantly, although her + flush gave way to a slight pallor. + </p> + <p> + “You said just now that there should be no sex in a war like this,” + returned Brant carelessly, but without abating his scrutinizing gaze. + </p> + <p> + “Then it IS war?” she said quickly, with a white, significant face. + </p> + <p> + His look of scrutiny turned to one of puzzled wonder. But at the same + moment there was the flash of a bayonet in the hedge, a voice called + “Halt!” and a soldier stepped into the road. + </p> + <p> + General Brant advanced, met the salute of the picket with a few formal + words, and then turned towards his fair companion, as another soldier and + a sergeant joined the group. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Faulkner is new to the camp, took the wrong turning, and was + unwittingly leaving the lines when I joined her.” He fixed his eyes + intently on her now colorless face, but she did not return his look. “You + will show her the shortest way to quarters,” he continued, to the + sergeant, “and should she at any time again lose her way, you will again + conduct her home,—but without detaining or reporting her.” + </p> + <p> + He lifted his cap, remounted his horse, and rode away, as the young girl, + with a proud, indifferent step, moved down the road with the sergeant. A + mounted officer passed him and saluted,—it was one of his own staff. + From some strange instinct, he knew that he had witnessed the scene, and + from some equally strange intuition he was annoyed by it. But he continued + his way, visiting one or two outposts, and returned by a long detour to + his quarters. As he stepped upon the veranda he saw Miss Faulkner at the + bottom of the garden talking with some one across the hedge. By the aid of + his glass he could recognize the shapely figure of the mulatto woman which + he had seen before. But by its aid he also discovered that she was + carrying a flower exactly like the one which Miss Faulkner still held in + her hand. Had she been with Miss Faulkner in the lane, and if so, why had + she disappeared when he came up? Impelled by something stronger than mere + curiosity, he walked quickly down the garden, but she evidently had + noticed him, for she as quickly disappeared. Not caring to meet Miss + Faulkner again, he retraced his steps, resolving that he would, on the + first opportunity, personally examine and interrogate this new visitor. + For if she were to take Miss Faulkner's place in a subordinate capacity, + this precaution was clearly within his rights. + </p> + <p> + He re-entered his room and seated himself at his desk before the + dispatches, orders, and reports awaiting him. He found himself, however, + working half mechanically, and recurring to his late interview with Miss + Faulkner in the lane. If she had any inclination to act the spy, or to use + her position here as a means of communicating with the enemy's lines, he + thought he had thoroughly frightened her. Nevertheless, now, for the first + time, he was inclined to accept his chief's opinion of her. She was not + only too clumsy and inexperienced, but she totally lacked the + self-restraint of a spy. Her nervous agitation in the lane was due to + something more disturbing than his mere possible intrusion upon her + confidences with the mulatto. The significance of her question, “Then it + IS war?” was at best a threat, and that implied hesitation. He recalled + her strange allusion to his wife; was it merely the outcome of his own + foolish confession on their first interview, or was it a concealed + ironical taunt? Being satisfied, however, that she was not likely to + imperil his public duty in any way, he was angry with himself for + speculating further. But, although he still felt towards her the same + antagonism she had at first provoked, he was conscious that she was + beginning to exercise a strange fascination over him. + </p> + <p> + Dismissing her at last with an effort, he finished his work and then rose, + and unlocking a closet, took out a small dispatch-box, to which he + intended to intrust a few more important orders and memoranda. As he + opened it with a key on his watch-chain, he was struck with a faint + perfume that seemed to come from it,—a perfume that he remembered. + Was it the smell of the flower that Miss Faulkner carried, or the scent of + the handkerchief with which she had wiped his cheek, or a mingling of + both? Or was he under some spell to think of that wretched girl, and her + witch-like flower? He leaned over the box and suddenly started. Upon the + outer covering of a dispatch was a singular blood-red streak! He examined + it closely,—it was the powdery stain of the lily pollen,—exactly + as he had seen it on her handkerchief. + </p> + <p> + There could be no mistake. He passed his finger over the stain; he could + still feel the slippery, infinitesimal powder of the pollen. It was not + there when he had closed the box that morning; it was impossible that it + should be there unless the box had been opened in his absence. He + re-examined the contents of the box; the papers were all there. More than + that, they were papers of no importance except to him personally; + contained no plans nor key to any military secret; he had been far too + wise to intrust any to the accidents of this alien house. The prying + intruder, whoever it was, had gained nothing! But there was unmistakably + the attempt! And the existence of a would-be spy within the purlieus of + the house was equally clear. + </p> + <p> + He called an officer from the next room. + </p> + <p> + “Has any one been here since my absence?” + </p> + <p> + “No, General.” + </p> + <p> + “Has any one passed through the hall?” + </p> + <p> + He had fully anticipated the answer, as the subaltern replied, “Only the + women servants.” + </p> + <p> + He re-entered the room. Closing the door, he again carefully examined the + box, his table, the papers upon it, the chair before it, and even the + Chinese matting on the floor, for any further indication of the pollen. It + hardly seemed possible that any one could have entered the room with the + flower in their hand without scattering some of the tell-tale dust + elsewhere; it was too large a flower to be worn on the breast or in the + hair. Again, no one would have dared to linger there long enough to have + made an examination of the box, with an officer in the next room, and the + sergeant passing. The box had been removed, and the examination made + elsewhere! + </p> + <p> + An idea seized him. Miss Faulkner was still absent, the mulatto had + apparently gone home. He quickly mounted the staircase, but instead of + entering his room, turned suddenly aside into the wing which had been + reserved. The first door yielded as he turned its knob gently and entered + a room which he at once recognized as the “young lady's boudoir.” But the + dusty and draped furniture had been rearranged and uncovered, and the + apartment bore every sign of present use. Yet, although there was + unmistakable evidence of its being used by a person of taste and + refinement, he was surprised to see that the garments hanging in an open + press were such as were used by negro servants, and that a gaudy + handkerchief such as housemaids used for turbans was lying on the pretty + silk coverlet. He did not linger over these details, but cast a rapid + glance round the room. Then his eyes became fixed on a fanciful + writing-desk, which stood by the window. For, in a handsome vase placed on + its level top, and drooping on a portfolio below, hung a cluster of the + very flowers that Miss Faulkner had carried! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. + </h2> + <p> + It seemed plain to Brant that the dispatch-box had been conveyed here and + opened for security on this desk, and in the hurry of examining the papers + the flower had been jostled and the fallen grains of pollen overlooked by + the spy. There were one or two freckles of red on the desk, which made + this accident appear the more probable. But he was equally struck by + another circumstance. The desk stood immediately before the window. As he + glanced mechanically from it, he was surprised to see that it commanded an + extensive view of the slope below the eminence on which the house stood, + even beyond his furthest line of pickets. The vase of flowers, each of + which was nearly as large as a magnolia blossom, and striking in color, + occupied a central position before it, and no doubt could be quite + distinctly seen from a distance. From this circumstance he could not + resist the strong impression that this fateful and extraordinary blossom, + carried by Miss Faulkner and the mulatto, and so strikingly “in evidence” + at the window, was in some way a signal. Obeying an impulse which he was + conscious had a half superstitious foundation, he carefully lifted the + vase from its position before the window, and placed it on a side table. + Then he cautiously slipped from the room. + </p> + <p> + But he could not easily shake off the perplexity which the occurrence had + caused, although he was satisfied that it was fraught with no military or + strategic danger to his command, and that the unknown spy had obtained no + information whatever. Yet he was forced to admit to himself that he was + more concerned in his attempts to justify the conduct of Miss Faulkner + with this later revelation. It was quite possible that the dispatch-box + had been purloined by some one else during her absence from the house, as + the presence of the mulatto servant in his room would have been less + suspicious than hers. There was really little evidence to connect Miss + Faulkner with the actual outrage,—rather might not the real spy have + taken advantage of her visit here, to throw suspicion upon her? He + remembered her singular manner,—the strange inconsistency with which + she had forced this flower upon him. She would hardly have done so had she + been conscious of its having so serious an import. Yet, what was the + secret of her manifest agitation? A sudden inspiration flashed across his + mind; a smile came upon his lips. She was in love! The enemy's line + contained some sighing Strephon of a young subaltern with whom she was in + communication, and for whom she had undertaken this quest. The flower was + their language of correspondence, no doubt. It explained also the young + girl's animosity against the younger officers,—his adversaries; + against himself,—their commander. He had previously wondered why, if + she were indeed a spy, she had not chosen, upon some equally specious + order from Washington, the headquarters of the division commander, whose + secrets were more valuable. This was explained by the fact that she was + nearer the lines and her lover in her present abode. He had no idea that + he was making excuses for her,—he believed himself only just. The + recollection of what she had said of the power of love, albeit it had hurt + him cruelly at the time, was now clearer to him, and even seemed to + mitigate her offense. She would be here but a day or two longer; he could + afford to wait without interrogating her. + </p> + <p> + But as to the real intruder, spy or thief,—that was another affair, + and quickly settled. He gave an order to the officer of the day + peremptorily forbidding the entrance of alien servants or slaves within + the precincts of the headquarters. Any one thus trespassing was to be + brought before him. The officer looked surprised, he even fancied + disappointed. The graces of the mulatto woman's figure had evidently not + been thrown away upon his subalterns. + </p> + <p> + An hour or two later, when he was mounting his horse for a round of + inspection, he was surprised to see Miss Faulkner, accompanied by the + mulatto woman, running hurriedly to the house. He had forgotten his late + order until he saw the latter halted by the sentries, but the young girl + came flying on, regardless of her companion. Her skirt was held in one + hand, her straw hat had fallen back in her flight, and was caught only by + a ribbon around her swelling throat, and her loosened hair lay in a black + rippled loop on one shoulder. For an instant Brant thought that she was + seeking him in indignation at his order, but a second look at her set + face, eager eyes, and parted scarlet lips, showed him that she had not + even noticed him in the concentration of her purpose. She swept by him + into the hall, he heard the swish of her skirt and rapid feet on the + stairs,—she was gone. What had happened, or was this another of her + moods? + </p> + <p> + But he was called to himself by the apparition of a corporal standing + before him, with the mulatto woman,—the first capture under his + order. She was tall, well-formed, but unmistakably showing the negro type, + even in her small features. Her black eyes were excited, but + unintelligent; her manner dogged, but with the obstinacy of half-conscious + stupidity. Brant felt not only disappointed, but had a singular impression + that she was not the same woman that he had first seen. Yet there was the + tall, graceful figure, the dark profile, and the turbaned head that he had + once followed down the passage by his room. + </p> + <p> + Her story was as stupidly simple. She had known “Missy” from a chile! She + had just traipsed over to see her that afternoon; they were walking + together when the sojers stopped her. She had never been stopped before, + even by “the patter rollers.” * Her old massa (Manly) had gib leaf to go + see Miss Tilly, and hadn't said nuffin about no “orders.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * i. e., patrols,—a civic home-guard in the South that kept + surveillance of slaves. +</pre> + <p> + More annoyed than he cared to confess, Brant briefly dismissed her with a + warning. As he cantered down the slope the view of the distant pickets + recalled the window in the wing, and he turned in his saddle to look at + it. There it was—the largest and most dominant window in that part + of the building—and within it, a distinct and vivid object almost + filling the opening, was the vase of flowers, which he had a few hours ago + removed, RESTORED TO ITS ORIGINAL POSITION! He smiled. The hurried + entrance and consternation of Miss Faulkner were now fully explained. He + had interrupted some impassioned message, perhaps even countermanded some + affectionate rendezvous beyond the lines. And it seemed to settle the fact + that it was she who had done the signaling! But would not this also make + her cognizant of the taking of the dispatch-box? He reflected, however, + that the room was apparently occupied by the mulatto woman—he + remembered the calico dresses and turban on the bed—and it was + possible that Miss Faulkner had only visited it for the purpose of + signaling to her lover. Although this circumstance did not tend to make + his mind easier, it was, however, presently diverted by a new arrival and + a strange recognition. + </p> + <p> + As he rode through the camp a group of officers congregated before a large + mess tent appeared to be highly amused by the conversation—half + monologue and half harangue of a singular-looking individual who stood in + the centre. He wore a “slouch” hat, to the band of which he had imparted a + military air by the addition of a gold cord, but the brim was caught up at + the side in a peculiarly theatrical and highly artificial fashion. A heavy + cavalry sabre depended from a broad-buckled belt under his black frock + coat, with the addition of two revolvers—minus their holsters—stuck + on either side of the buckle, after the style of a stage smuggler. A pair + of long enameled leather riding boots, with the tops turned deeply over, + as if they had once done duty for the representative of a cavalier, + completed his extraordinary equipment. The group were so absorbed in him + that they did not perceive the approach of their chief and his orderly; + and Brant, with a sign to the latter, halted only a few paces from this + central figure. His speech was a singular mingling of high-flown and + exalted epithets, with inexact pronunciation and occasional lapses of + Western slang. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I ain't purtendin' to any stratutegical smartness, and I didn't + gradooate at West Point as one of those Apocryphal Engineers; I don't do + much talking about 'flank' movements or 'recognizances in force' or + 'Ekellon skirmishing,' but when it comes down to square Ingin fightin', I + reckon I kin have my say. There are men who don't know the Army + Contractor,” he added darkly, “who mebbe have heard of 'Red Jim.' I don't + mention names, gentlemen, but only the other day a man that you all know + says to me, 'If I only knew what you do about scoutin' I wouldn't be + wanting for information as I do.' I ain't goin' to say who it was, or + break any confidences between gentlemen by saying how many stars he had on + his shoulder strap; but he was a man who knew what he was saying. And I + say agin, gentlemen, that the curse of the Northern Army is the want of + proper scoutin'. What was it caused Bull's Run?—Want o' scoutin'. + What was it rolled up Pope?—Want o' scoutin'. What caused the + slaughter at the Wilderness?—Want o' scoutin'—Ingin scoutin'! + Why, only the other day, gentlemen, I was approached to know what I'd take + to organize a scoutin' force. And what did I say?—'No, General; it + ain't because I represent one of the largest Army Beef Contracts in this + country,' says I. 'It ain't because I belong, so to speak, to the “Sinews + of War;” but because I'd want about ten thousand trained Ingins from the + Reservations!' And the regular West Point, high-toned, scientific inkybus + that weighs so heavily on our army don't see it—and won't have it! + Then Sherman, he sez to me”— + </p> + <p> + But here a roar of laughter interrupted him, and in the cross fire of + sarcastic interrogations that began Brant saw, with relief, a chance of + escape. For in the voice, manner, and, above all, the characteristic + temperament of the stranger, he had recognized his old playmate and the + husband of Susy,—the redoubtable Jim Hooker! There was no mistaking + that gloomy audacity; that mysterious significance; that magnificent + lying. But even at that moment Clarence Brant's heart had gone out, with + all his old loyalty of feeling, towards his old companion. He knew that a + public recognition of him then and there would plunge Hooker into + confusion; he felt keenly the ironical plaudits and laughter of his + officers over the manifest weakness and vanity of the ex-teamster, + ex-rancher, ex-actor, and husband of his old girl sweetheart, and would + have spared him the knowledge that he had overheard it. Turning hastily to + the orderly, he bade him bring the stranger to his headquarters, and rode + away unperceived. + </p> + <p> + He had heard enough, however, to account for his presence there, and the + singular chance that had brought them again together. He was evidently one + of those large civil contractors of supplies whom the Government was + obliged to employ, who visited the camp half officially, and whom the army + alternately depended upon and abused. Brant had dealt with his underlings + in the Commissariat, and even now remembered that he had heard he was + coming, but had overlooked the significance of his name. But how he came + to leave his theatrical profession, how he had attained a position which + implied a command of considerable capital—for many of the + contractors had already amassed large fortunes—and what had become + of Susy and her ambitions in this radical change of circumstances, were + things still to be learned. In his own changed conditions he had seldom + thought of her; it was with a strange feeling of irritation and half + responsibility that he now recalled their last interview and the emotion + to which he had yielded. + </p> + <p> + He had not long to wait. He had scarcely regained the quarters at his own + private office before he heard the step of the orderly upon the veranda + and the trailing clank of Hooker's sabre. He did not know, however, that + Hooker, without recognizing his name, had received the message as a + personal tribute, and had left his sarcastic companions triumphantly, with + the air of going to a confidential interview, to which his well-known + military criticism had entitled him. It was with a bearing of gloomy + importance and his characteristic, sullen, sidelong glance that he entered + the apartment and did not look up until Brant had signaled the orderly to + withdraw, and closed the door behind him. And then he recognized his old + boyish companion—the preferred favorite of fortune! + </p> + <p> + For a moment he gasped with astonishment. For a moment gloomy incredulity, + suspicion, delight, pride, admiration, even affection, struggled for + mastery in his sullen, staring eyes and open, twitching mouth. For here + was Clarence Brant, handsomer than ever, more superior than ever, in the + majesty of uniform and authority which fitted him—the younger man—by + reason of his four years of active service, with the careless ease and + bearing of the veteran! Here was the hero whose name was already so famous + that the mere coincidence of it with that of the modest civilian he had + known would have struck him as preposterous. Yet here he was—supreme, + and dazzling—surrounded by the pomp and circumstance of war—into + whose reserved presence he, Jim Hooker, had been ushered with the + formality of challenge, saluting, and presented bayonets! + </p> + <p> + Luckily, Brant had taken advantage of his first gratified ejaculation to + shake him warmly by the hand, and then, with both hands laid familiarly on + his shoulder, force him down into a chair. Luckily, for by that time Jim + Hooker had, with characteristic gloominess, found time to taste the pangs + of envy—an envy the more keen since, in spite of his success as a + peaceful contractor, he had always secretly longed for military display + and distinction. He looked at the man who had achieved it, as he firmly + believed, by sheer luck and accident, and his eyes darkened. Then, with + characteristic weakness and vanity, he began to resist his first + impressions of Clarence's superiority, and to air his own importance. He + leaned heavily back in the chair in which he had been thus genially + forced, drew off his gauntlet and attempted to thrust it through his belt, + as he had seen Brant do, but failed on account of his pistols already + occupying that position, dropped it, got his sword between his legs in + attempting to pick it up, and then leaned back again, with half-closed + eyes serenely indifferent of his old companion's smiling face. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon,” he began slowly, with a slightly patronizing air, “that we'd + have met, sooner or later, at Washington, or at Grant's headquarters, for + Hooker, Meacham & Co. go everywhere, and are about as well known as + major-generals, to say nothin',” he went on, with a sidelong glance at + Brant's shoulder-straps, “of brigadiers; and it's rather strange—only, + of course, you're kind of fresh in the service—that you ain't heard + of me afore.” + </p> + <p> + “But I'm very glad to hear of you now, Jim,” said Brant, smiling, “and + from your own lips—which I am also delighted to find,” he added + mischievously, “are still as frankly communicative on that topic as of + old. But I congratulate you, old fellow, on your good fortune. When did + you leave the stage?” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hooker frowned slightly. + </p> + <p> + “I never was really on the stage, you know,” he said, waving his hand with + assumed negligence. “Only went on to please my wife. Mrs. Hooker wouldn't + act with vulgar professionals, don't you see! I was really manager most of + the time, and lessee of the theatre. Went East when the war broke out, to + offer my sword and knowledge of Ingin fightin' to Uncle Sam! Drifted into + a big pork contract at St. Louis, with Fremont. Been at it ever since. + Offered a commission in the reg'lar service lots o' times. Refused.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” asked Brant demurely. + </p> + <p> + “Too much West Point starch around to suit ME,” returned Hooker darkly. + “And too many spies!” + </p> + <p> + “Spies?” echoed Brant abstractedly, with a momentary reminiscence of Miss + Faulkner. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, spies,” continued Hooker, with dogged mystery. “One half of + Washington is watching t'other half, and, from the President's wife down, + most of the women are secesh!” + </p> + <p> + Brant suddenly fixed his keen eyes on his guest. But the next moment he + reflected that this was only Jim Hooker's usual speech, and possessed no + ulterior significance. He smiled again, and said, more gently,— + </p> + <p> + “And how is Mrs. Hooker?” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hooker fixed his eyes on the ceiling, rose, and pretended to look out + of the window; then, taking his seat again by the table, as if fronting an + imaginary audience, and pulling slowly at his gauntlets after the usual + theatrical indication of perfect sangfroid, said,— + </p> + <p> + “There ain't any!” + </p> + <p> + “Good heavens!” said Brant, with genuine emotion. “I beg your pardon. + Really, I”— + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Hooker and me are divorced,” continued Hooker, slightly changing his + attitude, and leaning heavily on his sabre, with his eyes still on his + fanciful audience. “There was, you understand”—lightly tossing his + gauntlet aside—“incompatibility of temper—and—we—parted! + Ha!” + </p> + <p> + He uttered a low, bitter, scornful laugh, which, however, produced the + distinct impression in Brant's mind that up to that moment he had never + had the slightest feeling in the matter whatever. + </p> + <p> + “You seemed to be on such good terms with each other!” murmured Brant + vaguely. + </p> + <p> + “Seemed!” said Hooker bitterly, glancing sardonically at an ideal second + row in the pit before him, “yes—seemed! There were other + differences, social and political. You understand that; you have suffered, + too.” He reached out his hand and pressed Brant's, in heavy effusiveness. + “But,” he continued haughtily, lightly tossing his glove again, “we are + also men of the world; we let that pass.” + </p> + <p> + And it was possible that he found the strain of his present attitude too + great, for he changed to an easier position. + </p> + <p> + “But,” said Brant curiously, “I always thought that Mrs. Hooker was + intensely Union and Northern?” + </p> + <p> + “Put on!” said Hooker, in his natural voice. + </p> + <p> + “But you remember the incident of the flag?” persisted Brant. + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Hooker was always an actress,” said Hooker significantly. “But,” he + added cheerfully, “Mrs. Hooker is now the wife of Senator Boompointer, one + of the wealthiest and most powerful Republicans in Washington—carries + the patronage of the whole West in his vest pocket.” + </p> + <p> + “Yet, if she is not a Republican, why did she”—began Brant. + </p> + <p> + “For a purpose,” replied Hooker darkly. “But,” he added again, with + greater cheerfulness, “she belongs to the very elite of Washington + society. Goes to all the foreign ambassadors' balls, and is a power at the + White House. Her picture is in all the first-class illustrated papers.” + </p> + <p> + The singular but unmistakable pride of the man in the importance of the + wife from whom he was divorced, and for whom he did not care, would have + offended Brant's delicacy, or at least have excited his ridicule, but for + the reason that he was more deeply stung by Hooker's allusion to his own + wife and his degrading similitude of their two conditions. But he + dismissed the former as part of Hooker's invincible and still boyish + extravagance, and the latter as part of his equally characteristic + assumption. Perhaps he was conscious, too, notwithstanding the lapse of + years and the condonation of separation and forgetfulness, that he + deserved little delicacy from the hands of Susy's husband. Nevertheless, + he dreaded to hear him speak again of her; and the fear was realized in a + question. + </p> + <p> + “Does she know you are here?” + </p> + <p> + “Who?” said Brant curtly. + </p> + <p> + “Your wife. That is—I reckon she's your wife still, eh?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; but I do not know what she knows,” returned Brant quietly. He had + regained his self-composure. + </p> + <p> + “Susy,—Mrs. Senator Boompointer, that is,”—said Hooker, with + an apparent dignity in his late wife's new title, “allowed that she'd gone + abroad on a secret mission from the Southern Confederacy to them crowned + heads over there. She was good at ropin' men in, you know. Anyhow, Susy, + afore she was Mrs. Boompointer, was dead set on findin' out where she was, + but never could. She seemed to drop out of sight a year ago. Some said one + thing, and some said another. But you can bet your bottom dollar that Mrs. + Senator Boompointer, who knows how to pull all the wires in Washington, + will know, if any one does.” + </p> + <p> + “But is Mrs. Boompointer really disaffected, and a Southern sympathizer?” + said Brant, “or is it only caprice or fashion?” + </p> + <p> + While speaking he had risen, with a half-abstracted face, and had gone to + the window, where he stood in a listening attitude. Presently he opened + the window, and stepped outside. Hooker wonderingly followed him. One or + two officers had already stepped out of their rooms, and were standing + upon the veranda; another had halted in the path. Then one quickly + re-entered the house, reappeared with his cap and sword in his hand, and + ran lightly toward the guard-house. A slight crackling noise seemed to + come from beyond the garden wall. + </p> + <p> + “What's up?” said Hooker, with staring eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Picket firing!” + </p> + <p> + The crackling suddenly became a long rattle. Brant re-entered the room, + and picked up his hat. + </p> + <p> + “You'll excuse me for a few moments.” + </p> + <p> + A faint sound, soft yet full, and not unlike a bursting bubble, made the + house appear to leap elastically, like the rebound of a rubber ball. + </p> + <p> + “What's that?” gasped Hooker. + </p> + <p> + “Cannon, out of range!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. + </h2> + <p> + In another instant bugles were ringing through the camp, with the hurrying + hoofs of mounted officers and the trampling of forming men. The house + itself was almost deserted. Although the single cannon-shot had been + enough to show that it was no mere skirmishing of pickets, Brant still did + not believe in any serious attack of the enemy. His position, as in the + previous engagement, had no strategic importance to them; they were no + doubt only making a feint against it to conceal some advance upon the + centre of the army two miles away. Satisfied that he was in easy + supporting distance of his division commander, he extended his line along + the ridge, ready to fall back in that direction, while retarding their + advance and masking the position of his own chief. He gave a few orders + necessary to the probable abandonment of the house, and then returned to + it. Shot and shell were already dropping in the field below. A thin ridge + of blue haze showed the line of skirmish fire. A small conical, white + cloud, like a bursting cotton-pod, revealed an open battery in the + willow-fringed meadow. Yet the pastoral peacefulness of the house was + unchanged. The afternoon sun lay softly on its deep verandas; the pot + pourri incense of fallen rose-leaves haunted it still. + </p> + <p> + He entered his room through the French window on the veranda, when the + door leading from the passage was suddenly flung open, and Miss Faulkner + swept quickly inside, closed the door behind her, and leaned back against + it, panting and breathless. + </p> + <p> + Clarence was startled, and for a moment ashamed. He had suddenly realized + that in the excitement he had entirely forgotten her and the dangers to + which she might be exposed. She had probably heard the firing, her womanly + fears had been awakened; she had come to him for protection. But as he + turned towards her with a reassuring smile, he was shocked to see that her + agitation and pallor were far beyond any physical cause. She motioned him + desperately to shut the window by which he had entered, and said, with + white lips,— + </p> + <p> + “I must speak with you alone!” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly. But there is no immediate danger to you even here—and I + can soon put you beyond the reach of any possible harm.” + </p> + <p> + “Harm—to me! God! if it were only that!” + </p> + <p> + He stared at her uneasily. + </p> + <p> + “Listen,” she said gaspingly, “listen to me! Then hate, despise me—kill + me if you will. For you are betrayed and ruined—cut off and + surrounded! It has been helped on by me, but I swear to you the blow did + not come from MY hand. I would have saved you. God only knows how it + happened—it was Fate!” + </p> + <p> + In an instant Brant saw the whole truth instinctively and clearly. But + with the revelation came the usual calmness and perfect self-possession + which never yet had failed him in any emergency. With the sound of the + increasing cannonade and its shifting position made clearer to his ears, + the view of his whole threatened position spread out like a map before his + eyes, the swift calculation of the time his men could hold the ridge in + his mind—even a hurried estimate of the precious moments he could + give to the wretched woman before him—he even then, gravely and + gently, led her to a chair and said in a calm voice,— + </p> + <p> + “That is not enough! Speak slowly, plainly. I must know everything. How + and in what way have you betrayed me?” + </p> + <p> + She looked at him imploringly—reassured, yet awed by his gentleness. + </p> + <p> + “You won't believe me; you cannot believe me! for I do not even know. I + have taken and exchanged letters—whose contents I never saw—between + the Confederates and a spy who comes to this house, but who is far away by + this time. I did it because I thought you hated and despised me because I + thought it was my duty to help my cause—because you said it was + 'war' between us—but I never spied on you. I swear it.” + </p> + <p> + “Then how do you know of this attack?” he said calmly. + </p> + <p> + She brightened, half timidly, half hopefully. + </p> + <p> + “There is a window in the wing of this house that overlooks the slope near + the Confederate lines. There was a signal placed in it—not by me—but + I know it meant that as long as it was there the plot, whatever it was, + was not ripe, and that no attack would be made on you as long as it was + visible. That much I know,—that much the spy had to tell me, for we + both had to guard that room in turns. I wanted to keep this dreadful thing + off—until”—her voice trembled, “until,” she added hurriedly, + seeing his calm eyes were reading her very soul, “until I went away—and + for that purpose I withheld some of the letters that were given me. But + this morning, while I was away from the house, I looked back and saw that + the signal was no longer there. Some one had changed it. I ran back, but I + was too late—God help me!—as you see.” + </p> + <p> + The truth flashed upon Brant. It was his own hand that had precipitated + the attack. But a larger truth came to him now, like a dazzling + inspiration. If he had thus precipitated the attack before they were + ready, there was a chance that it was imperfect, and there was still hope. + But there was no trace of this visible in his face as he fixed his eyes + calmly on hers, although his pulses were halting in expectancy as he said— + </p> + <p> + “Then the spy had suspected you, and changed it.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no,” she said eagerly, “for the spy was with me and was frightened + too. We both ran back together—you remember—she was stopped by + the patrol!” + </p> + <p> + She checked herself suddenly, but too late. Her cheeks blazed, her head + sank, with the foolish identification of the spy into which her eagerness + had betrayed her. + </p> + <p> + But Brant appeared not to notice it. He was, in fact, puzzling his brain + to conceive what information the stupid mulatto woman could have obtained + here. His strength, his position was no secret to the enemy—there + was nothing to gain from him. She must have been, like the trembling, + eager woman before him, a mere tool of others. + </p> + <p> + “Did this woman live here?” he said. + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said. “She lived with the Manlys, but had friends whom she + visited at your general's headquarters.” + </p> + <p> + With difficulty Brant suppressed a start. It was clear to him now. The + information had been obtained at the division headquarters, and passed + through his camp as being nearest the Confederate lines. But what was the + information—and what movement had he precipitated? It was clear that + this woman did not know. He looked at her keenly. A sudden explosion shook + the house,—a drift of smoke passed the window,—a shell had + burst in the garden. + </p> + <p> + She had been gazing at him despairingly, wistfully—but did not + blanch or start. + </p> + <p> + An idea took possession of him. He approached her, and took her cold hand. + A half-smile parted her pale lips. + </p> + <p> + “You have courage—you have devotion,” he said gravely. “I believe + you regret the step you have taken. If you could undo what you have done, + even at peril to yourself, dare you do it?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she said breathlessly. + </p> + <p> + “You are known to the enemy. If I am surrounded, you could pass through + their lines unquestioned?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she said eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “A note from me would pass you again through the pickets of our + headquarters. But you would bear a note to the general that no eyes but + his must see. It would not implicate you or yours; would only be a word of + warning.” + </p> + <p> + “And you,” she said quickly, “would be saved! They would come to your + assistance! You would not then be taken?” + </p> + <p> + He smiled gently. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps—who knows!” + </p> + <p> + He sat down and wrote hurriedly. + </p> + <p> + “This,” he said, handing her a slip of paper, “is a pass. You will use it + beyond your own lines. This note,” he continued, handing her a sealed + envelope, “is for the general. No one else must see it or know of it—not + even your lover, should you meet him!” + </p> + <p> + “My lover!” she said indignantly, with a flash of her old savagery; “what + do you mean? I have no lover!” + </p> + <p> + Brant glanced at her flushed face. + </p> + <p> + “I thought,” he said quietly, “that there was some one you cared for in + yonder lines—some one you wrote to. It would have been an excuse”— + </p> + <p> + He stopped, as her face paled again, and her hands dropped heavily at her + side. + </p> + <p> + “Good God!—you thought that, too! You thought that I would sacrifice + you for another man!” + </p> + <p> + “Pardon me,” said Brant quickly. “I was foolish. But whether your lover is + a man or a cause, you have shown a woman's devotion. And, in repairing + your fault, you are showing more than a woman's courage now.” + </p> + <p> + To his surprise, the color had again mounted her pretty cheeks, and even a + flash of mischief shone in her blue eyes. + </p> + <p> + “It would have been an excuse,” she murmured, “yes—to save a man, + surely!” Then she said quickly, “I will go. At once! I am ready!” + </p> + <p> + “One moment,” he said gravely. “Although this pass and an escort insure + your probable safe conduct, this is 'war' and danger! You are still a spy! + Are you ready to go?” + </p> + <p> + “I am,” she said proudly, tossing back a braid of her fallen hair. Yet a + moment after she hesitated. Then she said, in a lower voice, “Are you + ready to forgive?” + </p> + <p> + “In either case,” he said, touched by her manner; “and God speed you!” + </p> + <p> + He extended his hand, and left a slight pressure on her cold fingers. But + they slipped quickly from his grasp, and she turned away with a heightened + color. + </p> + <p> + He stepped to the door. One or two aides-de-camp, withheld by his order + against intrusion, were waiting eagerly with reports. The horse of a + mounted field officer was pawing the garden turf. The officers stared at + the young girl. + </p> + <p> + “Take Miss Faulkner, with a flag, to some safe point of the enemy's line. + She is a non-combatant of their own, and will receive their protection.” + </p> + <p> + He had scarcely exchanged a dozen words with the aides-de-camp before the + field officer hurriedly entered. Taking Brant aside, he said quickly,— + </p> + <p> + “Pardon me, General; but there is a strong feeling among the men that this + attack is the result of some information obtained by the enemy. You must + know that the woman you have just given a safeguard to is suspected, and + the men are indignant.” + </p> + <p> + “The more reason why she should be conveyed beyond any consequences of + their folly, Major,” said Brant frigidly, “and I look to you for her safe + convoy. There is nothing in this attack to show that the enemy has + received any information regarding us. But I would suggest that it would + be better to see that my orders are carried out regarding the slaves and + non-combatants who are passing our lines from divisional headquarters, + where valuable information may be obtained, than in the surveillance of a + testy and outspoken girl.” + </p> + <p> + An angry flush crossed the major's cheek as he saluted and fell back, and + Brant turned to the aide-de-camp. The news was grave. The column of the + enemy was moving against the ridge—it was no longer possible to hold + it—and the brigade was cut off from its communication with the + divisional headquarters, although as yet no combined movement was made + against it. Brant's secret fears that it was an intended impact against + the centre were confirmed. Would his communication to the divisional + commander pass through the attacking column in time? + </p> + <p> + Yet one thing puzzled him. The enemy, after forcing his flank, had shown + no disposition, even with their overwhelming force, to turn aside and + crush him. He could easily have fallen back, when it was possible to hold + the ridge no longer, without pursuit. His other flank and rear were not + threatened, as they might have been, by the division of so large an + attacking column, which was moving steadily on towards the ridge. It was + this fact that seemed to show a failure or imperfection in the enemy's + plan. It was possible that his precipitation of the attack by the changed + signal had been the cause of it. Doubtless some provision had been made to + attack him in flank and rear, but in the unexpected hurry of the onset it + had to be abandoned. He could still save himself, as his officers knew; + but his conviction that he might yet be able to support his divisional + commander by holding his position doggedly, but coolly awaiting his + opportunity, was strong. More than that, it was his temperament and + instinct. + </p> + <p> + Harrying them in flank and rear, contesting the ground inch by inch, and + holding his own against the artillery sent to dislodge him, or the + outriding cavalry that, circling round, swept through his open ranks, he + saw his files melt away beside this steady current without flinching. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. + </h2> + <p> + Yet all along the fateful ridge—now obscured and confused with thin + crossing smoke-drifts from file-firing, like partly rubbed-out + slate-pencil marks; or else, when cleared of those drifts, presenting only + an indistinguishable map of zigzag lines of straggling wagons and horses, + unintelligible to any eye but his—the singular magnetism of the + chief was felt everywhere: whether it was shown in the quick closing in of + resistance to some sharper onset of the enemy or the more dogged stand of + inaction under fire, his power was always dominant. A word or two of + comprehensive direction sent through an aide-de-camp, or the sudden relief + of his dark, watchful, composed face uplifted above a line of bayonets, + never failed in their magic. Like all born leaders, he seemed in these + emergencies to hold a charmed life—infecting his followers with a + like disbelief in death; men dropped to right and left of him with serene + assurance in their ghastly faces or a cry of life and confidence in their + last gasp. Stragglers fell in and closed up under his passing glance; a + hopeless, inextricable wrangle around an overturned caisson, at a turn of + the road, resolved itself into an orderly, quiet, deliberate clearing away + of the impediment before the significant waiting of that dark, silent + horseman. + </p> + <p> + Yet under this imperturbable mask he was keenly conscious of everything; + in that apparent concentration there was a sharpening of all his senses + and his impressibility: he saw the first trace of doubt or alarm in the + face of a subaltern to whom he was giving an order; the first touch of + sluggishness in a re-forming line; the more significant clumsiness of a + living evolution that he knew was clogged by the dead bodies of comrades; + the ominous silence of a breastwork; the awful inertia of some rigidly + kneeling files beyond, which still kept their form but never would move + again; the melting away of skirmish points; the sudden gaps here and + there; the sickening incurving of what a moment before had been a straight + line—all these he saw in all their fatal significance. But even at + this moment, coming upon a hasty barricade of overset commissary wagons, + he stopped to glance at a familiar figure he had seen but an hour ago, who + now seemed to be commanding a group of collected stragglers and camp + followers. Mounted on a wheel, with a revolver in each hand and a bowie + knife between his teeth—theatrical even in his paroxysm of undoubted + courage—glared Jim Hooker. And Clarence Brant, with the whole + responsibility of the field on his shoulders, even at that desperate + moment, found himself recalling a vivid picture of the actor Hooker + personating the character of “Red Dick” in “Rosalie, the Prairie Flower,” + as he had seen him in a California theatre five years before. + </p> + <p> + It wanted still an hour of the darkness that would probably close the + fight of that day. Could he hold out, keeping his offensive position so + long? A hasty council with his officers showed him that the weakness of + their position had already infected them. They reminded him that his line + of retreat was still open—that in the course of the night the enemy, + although still pressing towards the division centre, might yet turn and + outflank him—or that their strangely delayed supports might come up + before morning. Brant's glass, however, remained fixed on the main column, + still pursuing its way along the ridge. It struck him suddenly, however, + that the steady current had stopped, spread out along the crest on both + sides, and was now at right angles with its previous course. There had + been a check! The next moment the thunder of guns along the whole horizon, + and the rising cloud of smoke, revealed a line of battle. The division + centre was engaged. The opportunity he had longed for had come—the + desperate chance to throw himself on their rear and cut his way through to + the division—but it had come too late! He looked at his shattered + ranks—scarce a regiment remained. Even as a demonstration, the + attack would fail against the enemy's superior numbers. Nothing clearly + was left to him now but to remain where he was—within supporting + distance, and await the issue of the fight beyond. He was putting up his + glass, when the dull boom of cannon in the extreme western limit of the + horizon attracted his attention. By the still gleaming sky he could see a + long gray line stealing up from the valley from the distant rear of the + headquarters to join the main column. They were the missing supports! His + heart leaped. He held the key of the mystery now. The one imperfect detail + of the enemy's plan was before him. The supports, coming later from the + west, had only seen the second signal from the window—when Miss + Faulkner had replaced the vase—and had avoided his position. It was + impossible to limit the effect of this blunder. If the young girl who had + thus saved him had reached the division commander with his message in + time, he might be forewarned, and even profit by it. His own position + would be less precarious, as the enemy, already engaged in front, would be + unable to recover their position in the rear and correct the blunder. The + bulk of their column had already streamed past him. If defeated, there was + always the danger that it might be rolled back upon him—but he + conjectured that the division commander would attempt to prevent the + junction of the supports with the main column by breaking between them, + crowding them from the ridge, and joining him. As the last stragglers of + the rear guard swept by, Brant's bugles were already recalling the + skirmishers. He redoubled his pickets, and resolved to wait and watch. + </p> + <p> + And there was the more painful duty of looking after the wounded and the + dead. The larger rooms of the headquarters had already been used as a + hospital. Passing from cot to cot, recognizing in the faces now drawn with + agony, or staring in vacant unconsciousness, the features that he had seen + only a few hours before flushed with enthusiasm and excitement, something + of his old doubting, questioning nature returned. Was there no way but + this? How far was HE—moving among them unscathed and uninjured—responsible? + </p> + <p> + And if not he—who then? His mind went back bitterly to the old days + of the conspiracy—to the inception of that struggle which was + bearing such ghastly fruit. He thought of his traitorous wife, until he + felt his cheeks tingle, and he was fain to avert his eyes from those of + his prostrate comrades, in a strange fear that, with the clairvoyance of + dying men, they should read his secret. + </p> + <p> + It was past midnight when, without undressing, he threw himself upon his + bed in the little convent-like cell to snatch a few moments of sleep. Its + spotless, peaceful walls and draperies affected him strangely, as if he + had brought into its immaculate serenity the sanguine stain of war. He was + awakened suddenly from a deep slumber by an indefinite sense of alarm. His + first thought was that he had been summoned to repel an attack. He sat up + and listened; everything was silent except the measured tread of the + sentry on the gravel walk below. But the door was open. He sprang to his + feet and slipped into the gallery in time to see the tall figure of a + woman glide before the last moonlit window at its farthest end. He could + not see her face—but the characteristic turbaned head of the negro + race was plainly visible. + </p> + <p> + He did not care to follow her or even to alarm the guard. If it were the + spy or one of her emissaries, she was powerless now to do any harm, and + under his late orders and the rigorous vigilance of his sentinels she + could not leave the lines—or, indeed, the house. She probably knew + this as well as he did; it was, therefore, no doubt only an accidental + intrusion of one of the servants. He re-entered the room, and stood for a + few moments by the window, looking over the moonlit ridge. The sounds of + distant cannon had long since ceased. Wide awake, and refreshed by the + keen morning air, which alone of all created things seemed to have shaken + the burden of the dreadful yesterday from its dewy wings, he turned away + and lit a candle on the table. As he was rebuckling his sword belt he saw + a piece of paper lying on the foot of the bed from which he had just + risen. Taking it to the candle, he read in a roughly scrawled hand: + </p> + <p> + “You are asleep when you should be on the march. You have no time to lose. + Before daybreak the supports of the column you have been foolishly + resisting will be upon you.—From one who would save YOU, but hates + your cause.” + </p> + <p> + A smile of scorn passed his lips. The handwriting was unknown and + evidently disguised. The purport of the message had not alarmed him; but + suddenly a suspicion flashed upon him—that it came from Miss + Faulkner! She had failed in her attempt to pass through the enemy's lines—or + she had never tried to. She had deceived him—or had thought better + of her chivalrous impulse, and now sought to mitigate her second treachery + by this second warning. And he had let her messenger escape him! + </p> + <p> + He hurriedly descended the stairs. The sound of voices was approaching + him. He halted, and recognized the faces of the brigade surgeon and one of + his aides-de-camp. + </p> + <p> + “We were hesitating whether to disturb you, general, but it may be an + affair of some importance. Under your orders a negro woman was just now + challenged stealing out of the lines. Attempting to escape, she was + chased, there was a struggle and scramble over the wall, and she fell, + striking her head. She was brought into the guardhouse unconscious.” + </p> + <p> + “Very good. I will see her,” said Brant, with a feeling of relief. + </p> + <p> + “One moment, general. We thought you would perhaps prefer to see her + alone,” said the surgeon, “for when I endeavored to bring her to, and was + sponging her face and head to discover her injuries, her color came off! + She was a white woman—stained and disguised as a mulatto.” + </p> + <p> + For an instant Brant's heart sank. It was Miss Faulkner. + </p> + <p> + “Did you recognize her?” he said, glancing from the one to the other. + “Have you seen her here before?” + </p> + <p> + “No, sir,” replied the aide-de-camp. “But she seemed to be quite a + superior woman—a lady, I should say.” + </p> + <p> + Brant breathed more freely. + </p> + <p> + “Where is she now?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “In the guardhouse. We thought it better not to bring her into hospital, + among the men, until we had your orders.” + </p> + <p> + “You have done well,” returned Brant gravely. “And you will keep this to + yourselves for the present; but see that she is brought here quietly and + with as little publicity as possible. Put her in my room above, which I + give up to her and any necessary attendant. But you will look carefully + after her, doctor,”—he turned to the surgeon,—“and when she + recovers consciousness let me know.” + </p> + <p> + He moved away. Although attaching little importance to the mysterious + message, whether sent by Miss Faulkner or emanating from the stranger + herself, which, he reasoned, was based only upon a knowledge of the + original plan of attack, he nevertheless quickly dispatched a small + scouting party in the direction from which the attack might come, with + orders to fall back and report at once. With a certain half irony of + recollection he had selected Jim Hooker to accompany the party as a + volunteer. This done, he returned to the gallery. The surgeon met him at + the door. + </p> + <p> + “The indications of concussion are passing away,” he said, “but she seems + to be suffering from the exhaustion following some great nervous + excitement. You may go in—she may rally from it at any moment.” + </p> + <p> + With the artificial step and mysterious hush of the ordinary visitor to a + sick bed, Brant entered the room. But some instinct greater than this + common expression of humanity held him suddenly in awe. The room seemed no + longer his—it had slipped back into that austere conventual privacy + which had first impressed him. Yet he hesitated; another strange + suggestion—it seemed almost a vague recollection—overcame him + like some lingering perfume, far off and pathetic, in its dying + familiarity. He turned his eyes almost timidly towards the bed. The + coverlet was drawn up near the throat of the figure to replace the striped + cotton gown stained with blood and dust, which had been hurriedly torn off + and thrown on a chair. The pale face, cleansed of blood and disguising + color, the long hair, still damp from the surgeon's sponge, lay rigidly + back on the pillow. Suddenly this man of steady nerve uttered a faint cry, + and, with a face as white as the upturned one before him, fell on his + knees beside the bed. For the face that lay there was his wife's! + </p> + <p> + Yes, hers! But the beautiful hair that she had gloried in—the hair + that in his youth he had thought had once fallen like a benediction on his + shoulder—was streaked with gray along the blue-veined hollows of the + temples; the orbits of those clear eyes, beneath their delicately arched + brows, were ringed with days of suffering; only the clear-cut profile, + even to the delicate imperiousness of lips and nostril, was still there in + all its beauty. The coverlet had slipped from her shoulder; its familiar + cold contour startled him. He remembered how, in their early married days, + he had felt the sanctity of that Diana-like revelation, and the still + nymph-like austerity which clung to this strange, childless woman. He even + fancied that he breathed again the subtle characteristic perfume of the + laces, embroideries, and delicate enwrappings in her chamber at Robles. + Perhaps it was the intensity of his gaze—perhaps it was the + magnetism of his presence—but her lips parted with a half sigh, half + moan. Her head, although her eyes were still closed, turned on the pillow + instinctively towards him. He rose from his knees. Her eyes opened slowly. + As the first glare of wonderment cleared from them, they met him—in + the old antagonism of spirit. Yet her first gesture was a pathetic + feminine movement with both hands to arrange her straggling hair. It + brought her white fingers, cleaned of their disguising stains, as a sudden + revelation to her of what had happened; she instantly slipped them back + under the coverlet again. Brant did not speak, but with folded arms stood + gazing upon her. And it was her voice that first broke the silence. + </p> + <p> + “You have recognized me? Well, I suppose you know all,” she said, with a + weak half-defiance. + </p> + <p> + He bowed his head. He felt as yet he could not trust his voice, and envied + her her own. + </p> + <p> + “I may sit up, mayn't I?” She managed, by sheer force of will, to struggle + to a sitting posture. Then, as the coverlet slipped from the bare + shoulder, she said, as she drew it, with a shiver of disgust, around her + again,— + </p> + <p> + “I forgot that you strip women, you Northern soldiers! But I forgot, too,” + she added, with a sarcastic smile, “that you are also my husband, and I am + in your room.” + </p> + <p> + The contemptuous significance of her speech dispelled the last lingering + remnant of Brant's dream. In a voice as dry as her own, he said,— + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid you will now have to remember only that I am a Northern + general, and you a Southern spy.” + </p> + <p> + “So be it,” she said gravely. Then impulsively, “But I have not spied on + YOU.” + </p> + <p> + Yet, the next moment, she bit her lips as if the expression had + unwittingly escaped her; and with a reckless shrug of her shoulders she + lay back on her pillow. + </p> + <p> + “It matters not,” said Brant coldly. “You have used this house and those + within it to forward your designs. It is not your fault that you found + nothing in the dispatch-box you opened.” + </p> + <p> + She stared at him quickly; then shrugged her shoulders again. + </p> + <p> + “I might have known she was false to me,” she said bitterly, “and that you + would wheedle her soul away as you have others. Well, she betrayed me! For + what?” + </p> + <p> + A flush passed over Brant's face. But with an effort he contained himself. + </p> + <p> + “It was the flower that betrayed you! The flower whose red dust fell in + the box when you opened it on the desk by the window in yonder room—the + flower that stood in the window as a signal—the flower I myself + removed, and so spoiled the miserable plot that your friends concocted.” + </p> + <p> + A look of mingled terror and awe came into her face. + </p> + <p> + “YOU changed the signal!” she repeated dazedly; then, in a lower voice, + “that accounts for it all!” But the next moment she turned again fiercely + upon him. “And you mean to tell me that she didn't help you—that she + didn't sell me—your wife—to you for—for what was it? A + look—a kiss!” + </p> + <p> + “I mean to say that she did not know the signal was changed, and that she + herself restored it to its place. It is no fault of hers nor yours that I + am not here a prisoner.” + </p> + <p> + She passed her thin hand dazedly across her forehead. + </p> + <p> + “I see,” she muttered. Then again bursting out passionately, she said—“Fool! + you never would have been touched! Do you think that Lee would have gone + for you, with higher game in your division commander? No! Those supports + were a feint to draw him to your assistance while our main column broke + his centre. Yes, you may stare at me, Clarence Brant. You are a good + lawyer—they say a dashing fighter, too. I never thought you a + coward, even in your irresolution; but you are fighting with men drilled + in the art of war and strategy when you were a boy outcast on the plains.” + She stopped, closed her eyes, and then added, wearily—“But that was + yesterday—to-day, who knows? All may be changed. The supports may + still attack you. That was why I stopped to write you that note an hour + ago, when I believed I should be leaving here for ever. Yes, I did it!” + she went on, with half-wearied, half-dogged determination. “You may as + well know all. I had arranged to fly. Your pickets were to be drawn by + friends of mine, who were waiting for me beyond your lines. Well, I + lingered here when I saw you arrive—lingered to write you that note. + And—I was too late!” + </p> + <p> + But Brant had been watching her varying expression, her kindling eye, her + strange masculine grasp of military knowledge, her soldierly phraseology, + all so new to her, that he scarcely heeded the feminine ending of her + speech. It seemed to him no longer the Diana of his youthful fancy, but + some Pallas Athene, who now looked up at him from the pillow. He had never + before fully believed in her unselfish devotion to the cause until now, + when it seemed to have almost unsexed her. In his wildest comprehension of + her he had never dreamed her a Joan of Arc, and yet hers was the face + which might have confronted him, exalted and inspired, on the battlefield + itself. He recalled himself with an effort. + </p> + <p> + “I thank you for your would-be warning,” he said more gently, if not so + tenderly, “and God knows I wish your flight had been successful. But even + your warning is unnecessary, for the supports had already come up; they + had followed the second signal, and diverged to engage our division on the + left, leaving me alone. And their ruse of drawing our commander to assist + me would not have been successful, as I had suspected it, and sent a + message to him that I wanted no help.” + </p> + <p> + It was the truth; it was the sole purport of the note he had sent through + Miss Faulkner. He would not have disclosed his sacrifice; but so great was + the strange domination of this woman still over him, that he felt + compelled to assert his superiority. She fixed her eyes upon him. + </p> + <p> + “And Miss Faulkner took your message?” she said slowly. “Don't deny it! No + one else could have passed through our lines; and you gave her a safe + conduct through yours. Yes, I might have known it. And this was the + creature they sent me for an ally and confidant!” + </p> + <p> + For an instant Brant felt the sting of this enforced contrast between the + two women. But he only said,— + </p> + <p> + “You forget that I did not know you were the spy, nor do I believe that + she suspected you were my wife.” + </p> + <p> + “Why should she?” she said almost fiercely. “I am known among these people + only by the name of Benham—-my maiden name. Yes!—you can take + me out, and shoot me under that name, without disgracing yours. Nobody + will know that the Southern spy was the wife of the Northern general! You + see, I have thought even of that!” + </p> + <p> + “And thinking of that,” said Brant slowly, “you have put yourself—I + will not say in my power, for you are in the power of any man in this camp + who may know you, or even hear you speak. Well, let us understand each + other plainly. I do not know how great a sacrifice your devotion to your + cause demands of you; I do know what it seems to demand of me. Hear me, + then! I will do my best to protect you, and get you safely away from here; + but, failing that, I tell you plainly that I shall blow out your brains + and my own together.” + </p> + <p> + She knew that he would do it. Yet her eyes suddenly beamed with a new and + awakening light; she put back her hair again, and half raised herself upon + the pillow, to gaze at his dark, set face. + </p> + <p> + “And as I shall let no other life but ours be periled in this affair,” he + went on quietly, “and will accompany you myself in some disguise beyond + the lines, we will together take the risks—or the bullets of the + sentries that may save us both all further trouble. An hour or two more + will settle that. Until then your weak condition will excuse you from any + disturbance or intrusion here. The mulatto woman you have sometimes + personated may be still in this house; I will appoint her to attend you. I + suppose you can trust her, for you must personate her again, and escape in + her clothes, while she takes your place in this room as my prisoner.” + </p> + <p> + “Clarence!” + </p> + <p> + Her voice had changed suddenly; it was no longer bitter and stridulous, + but low and thrilling as he had heard her call to him that night in the + patio of Robles. He turned quickly. She was leaning from the bed—her + thin, white hands stretched appealingly towards him. + </p> + <p> + “Let us go together, Clarence,” she said eagerly. “Let us leave this + horrible place—these wicked, cruel people—forever. Come with + me! Come with me to my people—to my own faith—to my own house—which + shall be yours! Come with me to defend it with your good sword, Clarence, + against those vile invaders with whom you have nothing in common, and who + are the dirt under your feet. Yes, yes! I know it!—I have done you + wrong—I have lied to you when I spoke against your skill and power. + You are a hero—a born leader of men! I know it! Have I not heard it + from the men who have fought against you, and yet admired and understood + you, ay, better than your own?—gallant men, Clarence, soldiers bred + who did not know what you were to me nor how proud I was of you even while + I hated you? Come with me! Think what we would do together—with one + faith—one cause—one ambition! Think, Clarence, there is no + limit you might not attain! We are no niggards of our rewards and honors—we + have no hireling votes to truckle to—we know our friends! Even I—Clarence—I”—there + was a strange pathos in the sudden humility that seemed to overcome her—“I + have had my reward and known my power. I have been sent abroad, in the + confidence of the highest—to the highest. Don't turn from me. I am + offering you no bribe, Clarence, only your deserts. Come with me. Leave + these curs behind, and live the hero that you are!” + </p> + <p> + He turned his blazing eyes upon her. + </p> + <p> + “If you were a man”—he began passionately, then stopped. + </p> + <p> + “No! I am only a woman and must fight in a woman's way,” she interrupted + bitterly. “Yes! I intreat, I implore, I wheedle, I flatter, I fawn, I lie! + I creep where you stand upright, and pass through doors to which you would + not bow. You wear your blazon of honor on your shoulder; I hide mine in a + slave's gown. And yet I have worked and striven and suffered! Listen, + Clarence,” her voice again sank to its appealing minor,—“I know what + you men call 'honor,' that which makes you cling to a merely spoken word, + or an empty oath. Well, let that pass! I am weary; I have done my share of + this work, you have done yours. Let us both fly; let us leave the fight to + those who shall come after us, and let us go together to some distant land + where the sounds of these guns or the blood of our brothers no longer cry + out to us for vengeance! There are those living here—I have met + them, Clarence,” she went on hurriedly, “who think it wrong to lift up + fratricidal hands in the struggle, yet who cannot live under the Northern + yoke. They are,” her voice hesitated, “good men and women—they are + respected—they are”— + </p> + <p> + “Recreants and slaves, before whom you, spy as you are—stand a + queen!” broke in Brant, passionately. He stopped and turned towards the + window. After a pause he came back again towards the bed—paused + again and then said in a lower voice—“Four years ago, Alice, in the + patio of our house at Robles, I might have listened to this proposal, and—I + tremble to think—I might have accepted it! I loved you; I was as + weak, as selfish, as unreflecting, my life was as purposeless—but + for you—as the creatures you speak of. But give me now, at least, + the credit of a devotion to my cause equal to your own—a credit + which I have never denied you! For the night that you left me, I awoke to + a sense of my own worthlessness and degradation—perhaps I have even + to thank you for that awakening—and I realized the bitter truth. But + that night I found my true vocation—my purpose, my manhood”— + </p> + <p> + A bitter laugh came from the pillow on which she had languidly thrown + herself. + </p> + <p> + “I believe I left you with Mrs. Hooker—spare me the details.” + </p> + <p> + The blood rushed to Brant's face and then receded as suddenly. + </p> + <p> + “You left me with Captain Pinckney, who had tempted you, and whom I + killed!” he said furiously. + </p> + <p> + They were both staring savagely at each other. Suddenly he said, “Hush!” + and sprang towards the door, as the sound of hurried footsteps echoed + along the passage. But he was too late; it was thrown open to the officer + of the guard, who appeared, standing on the threshold. + </p> + <p> + “Two Confederate officers arrested hovering around our pickets. They + demand to see you.” + </p> + <p> + Before Brant could interpose, two men in riding cloaks of Confederate gray + stepped into the room with a jaunty and self-confident air. + </p> + <p> + “Not DEMAND, general,” said the foremost, a tall, distinguished-looking + man, lifting his hand with a graceful deprecating air. “In fact, too sorry + to bother you with an affair of no importance except to ourselves. A bit + of after-dinner bravado brought us in contact with your pickets, and, of + course, we had to take the consequences. Served us right, and we were + lucky not to have got a bullet through us. Gad! I'm afraid my men would + have been less discreet! I am Colonel Lagrange, of the 5th Tennessee; my + young friend here is Captain Faulkner, of the 1st Kentucky. Some excuse + for a youngster like him—none for me! I”— + </p> + <p> + He stopped, for his eyes suddenly fell upon the bed and its occupant. Both + he and his companion started. But to the natural, unaffected dismay of a + gentleman who had unwittingly intruded upon a lady's bedchamber, Brant's + quick eye saw a more disastrous concern superadded. Colonel Lagrange was + quick to recover himself, as they both removed their caps. + </p> + <p> + “A thousand pardons,” he said, hurriedly stepping backwards to the door. + “But I hardly need say to a fellow-officer, general, that we had no idea + of making so gross an intrusion! We heard some cock-and-bull story of your + being occupied—cross-questioning an escaped or escaping nigger—or + we should never have forced ourselves upon you.” + </p> + <p> + Brant glanced quickly at his wife. Her face had apparently become rigid on + the entrance of the two men; her eyes were coldly fixed upon the ceiling. + He bowed formally, and, with a wave of his hand towards the door, said,— + </p> + <p> + “I will hear your story below, gentleman.” + </p> + <p> + He followed them from the room, stopped to quietly turn the key in the + lock, and then motioned them to precede him down the staircase. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. + </h2> + <p> + Not a word was exchanged till they had reached the lower landing and + Brant's private room. Dismissing his subaltern and orderly with a sign, + Brant turned towards his prisoners. The jaunty ease, but not the + self-possession, had gone from Lagrange's face; the eyes of Captain + Faulkner were fixed on his older companion with a half-humorous look of + perplexity. + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid I can only repeat, general, that our foolhardy freak has put + us in collision with your sentries,” said Lagrange, with a slight hauteur, + that replaced his former jauntiness; “and we were very properly made + prisoners. If you will accept my parole, I have no doubt our commander + will proceed to exchange a couple of gallant fellows of yours, whom I have + had the honor of meeting within our own lines, and whom you must miss + probably more than I fear our superiors miss us.” + </p> + <p> + “Whatever brought you here, gentlemen,” said Brant drily, “I am glad, for + your sakes, that you are in uniform, although it does not, unfortunately, + relieve me of an unpleasant duty.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't think I understand you,” returned Lagrange, coldly. + </p> + <p> + “If you had not been in uniform, you would probably have been shot down as + spies, without the trouble of capture,” said Brant quietly. + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean to imply, sir”—began Lagrange sternly. + </p> + <p> + “I mean to say that the existence of a Confederate spy between this camp + and the division headquarters is sufficiently well known to us to justify + the strongest action.” + </p> + <p> + “And pray, how can that affect us?” said Lagrange haughtily. + </p> + <p> + “I need not inform so old a soldier as Colonel Lagrange that the aiding, + abetting, and even receiving information from a spy or traitor within + one's lines is an equally dangerous service.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps you would like to satisfy yourself, General,” said Colonel + Lagrange, with an ironical laugh. “Pray do not hesitate on account of our + uniform. Search us if you like.” + </p> + <p> + “Not on entering my lines, Colonel,” replied Brant, with quiet + significance. + </p> + <p> + Lagrange's cheek flushed. But he recovered himself quickly, and with a + formal bow said,— + </p> + <p> + “You will, then, perhaps, let us know your pleasure?” + </p> + <p> + “My DUTY, Colonel, is to keep you both close prisoners here until I have + an opportunity to forward you to the division commander, with a report of + the circumstances of your arrest. That I propose to do. How soon I may + have that opportunity, or if I am ever to have it,” continued Brant, + fixing his clear eyes significantly on Lagrange, “depends upon the chances + of war, which you probably understand as well as I do.” + </p> + <p> + “We should never think of making any calculation on the action of an + officer of such infinite resources as General Brant,” said Lagrange + ironically. + </p> + <p> + “You will, no doubt, have an opportunity of stating your own case to the + division commander,” continued Brant, with an unmoved face. “And,” he + continued, turning for the first time to Captain Faulkner, “when you tell + the commander what I believe to be the fact—from your name and + resemblance—that you are a relation of the young lady who for the + last three weeks has been an inmate of this house under a pass from + Washington, you will, I have no doubt, favorably explain your own + propinquity to my lines.” + </p> + <p> + “My sister Tilly!” said the young officer impulsively. “But she is no + longer here. She passed through the lines back to Washington yesterday. + No,” he added, with a light laugh, “I'm afraid that excuse won't count for + to-day.” + </p> + <p> + A sudden frown upon the face of the elder officer, added to the perfect + ingenuousness of Faulkner's speech, satisfied Brant that he had not only + elicited the truth, but that Miss Faulkner had been successful. But he was + sincere in his suggestion that her relationship to the young officer would + incline the division commander to look leniently upon his fault, for he + was conscious of a singular satisfaction in thus being able to serve her. + Of the real object of the two men before him he had no doubt. They were + “the friends” of his wife, who were waiting for her outside the lines! + Chance alone had saved her from being arrested with them, with the + consequent exposure of her treachery before his own men, who, as yet, had + no proof of her guilt, nor any suspicion of her actual identity. Meanwhile + his own chance of conveying her with safety beyond his lines was not + affected by the incident; the prisoners dare not reveal what they knew of + her, and it was with a grim triumph that he thought of compassing her + escape without their aid. Nothing of this, however, was visible in his + face, which the younger man watched with a kind of boyish curiosity, while + Colonel Lagrange regarded the ceiling with a politely repressed yawn. “I + regret,” concluded Brant, as he summoned the officer of the guard, “that I + shall have to deprive you of each other's company during the time you are + here; but I shall see that you, separately, want for nothing in your + confinement.” + </p> + <p> + “If this is with a view to separate interrogatory, general, I can retire + now,” said Lagrange, rising, with ironical politeness. + </p> + <p> + “I believe I have all the information I require,” returned Brant, with + undisturbed composure. Giving the necessary orders to his subaltern, he + acknowledged with equal calm the formal salutes of the two prisoners as + they were led away, and returned quickly to his bedroom above. He paused + instinctively for a moment before the closed door, and listened. There was + no sound from within. He unlocked the door, and opened it. + </p> + <p> + So quiet was the interior that for an instant, without glancing at the + bed, he cast a quick look at the window, which, till then, he had + forgotten, and which he remembered gave upon the veranda roof. But it was + still closed, and as he approached the bed, he saw his wife still lying + there, in the attitude in which he had left her. But her eyes were ringed, + and slightly filmed, as if with recent tears. + </p> + <p> + It was perhaps this circumstance that softened his voice, still harsh with + command, as he said,— + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you knew those two men?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “And that I have put it out of their power to help you?” + </p> + <p> + “I do.” + </p> + <p> + There was something so strangely submissive in her voice that he again + looked suspiciously at her. But he was shocked to see that she was quite + pale now, and that the fire had gone out of her dark eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Then I may tell you what is my plan to save you. But, first, you must + find this mulatto woman who has acted as your double.” + </p> + <p> + “She is here.” + </p> + <p> + “Here?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “How do you know it?” he asked, in quick suspicion. + </p> + <p> + “She was not to leave this place until she knew I was safe within our + lines. I have some friends who are faithful to me.” After a pause she + added, “She has been here already.” + </p> + <p> + He looked at her, startled. “Impossible—I”— + </p> + <p> + “You locked the door. Yes! but she has a second key. And even if she had + not, there is another entrance from that closet. You do not know this + house: you have been here two weeks; I spent two years of my life, as a + girl, in this room.” + </p> + <p> + An indescribable sensation came over him; he remembered how he had felt + when he first occupied it; this was followed by a keen sense of shame on + reflecting that he had been, ever since, but a helpless puppet in the + power of his enemies, and that she could have escaped if she would, even + now. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” he said grimly, “you have already arranged your plans?” + </p> + <p> + She looked at him with a singular reproachfulness even in her submission. + </p> + <p> + “I have only told her to be ready to change clothes with me and help me + color my face and hands at the time appointed. I have left the rest to + you.” + </p> + <p> + “Then this is my plan. I have changed only a detail. You and she must both + leave this house at the same time, by different exits, but one of them + must be private—and unknown to my men. Do you know of such a one?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she said, “in the rear of the negro quarters.” + </p> + <p> + “Good,” he replied, “that will be your way out. She will leave here, + publicly, through the parade, armed with a pass from me. She will be + overhauled and challenged by the first sentry near the guardhouse, below + the wall. She will be subjected to some delay and scrutiny, which she + will, however, be able to pass better than you would. This will create the + momentary diversion that we require. In the mean time, you will have left + the house by the rear, and you will then keep in the shadow of the hedge + until you can drop down along the Run, where it empties into the swamp. + That,” he continued, fixing his keen eyes upon her, “is the one weak point + in the position of this place that is neither overlooked nor defended. But + perhaps,” he added again grimly, “you already know it.” + </p> + <p> + “It is the marsh where the flowers grow, near the path where you met Miss + Faulkner. I had crossed the marsh to give her a letter,” she said slowly. + </p> + <p> + A bitter smile came over Brant's face, but passed as quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Enough,” he said quietly, “I will meet you beside the Run, and cross the + marsh with you until you are within hailing distance of your lines. I will + be in plain clothes, Alice,” he went on slowly, “for it will not be the + commander of this force who accompanies you, but your husband, and, + without disgracing his uniform, he will drop to your level; for the + instant he passes his own lines, in disguise, he will become, like you, a + spy, and amenable to its penalties.” + </p> + <p> + Her eyes seemed suddenly to leap up to his with that strange look of + awakening and enthusiasm which he had noted before. And in its complete + prepossession of all her instincts she rose from the bed, unheeding her + bared arms and shoulders and loosened hair, and stood upright before him. + For an instant husband and wife regarded each other as unreservedly as in + their own chamber at Robles. + </p> + <p> + “When shall I go?” + </p> + <p> + He glanced through the window already growing lighter with the coming + dawn. The relief would pass in a few moments; the time seemed propitious. + </p> + <p> + “At once,” he said. “I will send Rose to you.” + </p> + <p> + But his wife had already passed into the closet, and was tapping upon some + inner door. He heard the sound of hinges turning and the rustling of + garments. She reappeared, holding the curtains of the closet together with + her hand, and said,— + </p> + <p> + “Go! When she comes to your office for the pass, you will know that I have + gone.” + </p> + <p> + He turned away. + </p> + <p> + “Stop!” she said faintly. + </p> + <p> + He turned back. Her expression had again changed. Her face was deadly + pale; a strange tremor seemed to have taken possession of her. Her hands + dropped from the curtain. Her beautiful arms moved slightly forward; it + seemed to him that she would in the next moment have extended them towards + him. But even then she said hurriedly, “Go! Go!” and slipped again behind + the curtains. + </p> + <p> + He quickly descended the stairs as the sound of trampling feet on the + road, and the hurried word of command, announced the return of the + scouting party. The officer had little report to make beyond the fact that + a morning mist, creeping along the valley, prevented any further + observation, and bade fair to interrupt their own communications with the + camp. Everything was quiet in the west, although the enemy's lines along + the ridge seemed to have receded. + </p> + <p> + Brant had listened impatiently, for a new idea had seized him. Hooker was + of the party, and was the one man in whom he could partly confide, and + obtain a disguise. He at once made his way to the commissary wagons—one + of which he knew Hooker used as a tent. Hastily telling him that he wished + to visit the pickets without recognition, he induced him to lend him his + slouched hat and frock coat, leaving with him his own distinguishing + tunic, hat, and sword. He resisted the belt and pistols which Hooker would + have forced upon him. As he left the wagon he was amusedly conscious that + his old companion was characteristically examining the garments he had + left behind with mingled admiration and envy. But he did not know, as he + slipped out of the camp, that Mr. Hooker was quietly trying them on, + before a broken mirror in the wagon-head! + </p> + <p> + The gray light of that summer morning was already so strong that, to avoid + detection, he quickly dropped into the shadow of the gully that sloped + towards the Run. The hot mist which the scouts had seen was now lying like + a tranquil sea between him and the pickets of the enemy's rear-guard, + which it seemed to submerge, and was clinging in moist tenuous swathes—like + drawn-out cotton wool—along the ridge, half obliterating its face. + From the valley in the rear it was already stealing in a thin white line + up the slope like the advance of a ghostly column, with a stealthiness + that, in spite of himself, touched him with superstitious significance. A + warm perfume, languid and treacherous—as from the swamp magnolia—seemed + to rise from the half-hidden marsh. An ominous silence, that appeared to + be a part of this veiling of all things under the clear opal-tinted sky + above, was so little like the hush of rest and peace, that he half-yearned + for the outburst of musketry and tumult of attack that might dispel it. + All that he had ever heard or dreamed of the insidious South, with its + languid subtleties of climate and of race, seemed to encompass him here. + </p> + <p> + But the next moment he saw the figure he was waiting for stealing towards + him from the shadow of the gulley beneath the negro quarters. + </p> + <p> + Even in that uncertain light there was no mistaking the tall figure, the + gaudily striped clinging gown and turbaned head. And then a strange + revulsion of feeling, quite characteristic of the emotional side of his + singular temperament, overcame him. He was taking leave of his wife—the + dream of his youth—perhaps forever! It should be no parting in anger + as at Robles; it should be with a tenderness that would blot out their + past in their separate memories—God knows! it might even be that a + parting at that moment was a joining of them in eternity. In his momentary + exaltation it even struck him that it was a duty, no less sacred, no less + unselfish than the one to which he had devoted his life. The light was + growing stronger; he could hear voices in the nearest picket line, and the + sound of a cough in the invading mist. He made a hurried sign to the + on-coming figure to follow him, ran ahead, and halted at last in the cover + of a hackmatack bush. Still gazing forward over the marsh, he stealthily + held out his hand behind him as the rustling skirt came nearer. At last + his hand was touched—but even at that touch he started and turned + quickly. + </p> + <p> + It was not his wife, but Rose!—her mulatto double! Her face was + rigid with fright, her beady eyes staring in their china sockets, her + white teeth chattering. Yet she would have spoken. + </p> + <p> + “Hush!” he said, clutching her hand, in a fierce whisper. “Not a word!” + </p> + <p> + She was holding something white in her fingers; he snatched it quickly. It + was a note from his wife—not in the disguised hand of her first + warning, but in one that he remembered as if it were a voice from their + past. + </p> + <p> + “Forgive me for disobeying you to save you from capture, disgrace, or + death—which would have come to you where you were going! I have + taken Rose's pass. You need not fear that your honor will suffer by it, + for if I am stopped I shall confess that I took it from her. Think no more + of me, Clarence, but only of yourself. You are in danger.” + </p> + <p> + He crushed the letter in his hand. + </p> + <p> + “Tell me,” he said in a fierce whisper, seizing her arm, “and speak low. + When did you leave her?” + </p> + <p> + “Sho'ly just now!” gasped the frightened woman. + </p> + <p> + He flung her aside. There might be still time to overtake and save her + before she reached the picket lines. He ran up the gully, and out on to + the slope towards the first guard-post. But a familiar challenge reached + his ear, and his heart stopped beating. + </p> + <p> + “Who goes there?” + </p> + <p> + There was a pause, a rattle of arms voices—another pause—and + Brant stood breathlessly listening. Then the voice rose again slowly and + clearly: “Pass the mulatto woman!” + </p> + <p> + Thank God! she was saved! But the thought had scarcely crossed his mind + before it seemed to him that a blinding crackle of sparks burst out along + the whole slope below the wall, a characteristic yell which he knew too + well rang in his ears, and an undulating line of dusty figures came + leaping like gray wolves out of the mist upon his pickets. He heard the + shouts of his men falling back as they fired; the harsh commands of a few + officers hurrying to their posts, and knew that he had been hopelessly + surprised and surrounded! + </p> + <p> + He ran forward among his disorganized men. To his consternation no one + seemed to heed him! Then the remembrance of his disguise flashed upon him. + But he had only time to throw away his hat and snatch a sword from a + falling lieutenant, before a scorching flash seemed to pass before his + eyes and burn through his hair, and he dropped like a log beside his + subaltern. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + An aching under the bandage around his head where a spent bullet had + grazed his scalp, and the sound of impossible voices in his ears were all + he knew as he struggled slowly back to consciousness again. Even then it + still seemed a delusion,—for he was lying on a cot in his own + hospital, yet with officers of the division staff around him, and the + division commander himself standing by his side, and regarding him with an + air of grave but not unkindly concern. But the wounded man felt + instinctively that it was not the effect of his physical condition, and a + sense of shame came suddenly over him, which was not dissipated by his + superior's words. For, motioning the others aside, the major-general + leaned over his cot, and said,— + </p> + <p> + “Until a few moments ago, the report was that you had been captured in the + first rush of the rear-guard which we were rolling up for your attack, and + when you were picked up, just now, in plain clothes on the slope, you were + not recognized. The one thing seemed to be as improbable as the other,” he + added significantly. + </p> + <p> + The miserable truth flashed across Brant's mind. Hooker must have been + captured in his clothes—perhaps in some extravagant sally—and + had not been recognized in the confusion by his own officers. + Nevertheless, he raised his eyes to his superior. + </p> + <p> + “You got my note?” + </p> + <p> + The general's brow darkened. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he said slowly, “but finding you thus unprepared—I had been + thinking just now that you had been deceived by that woman—or by + others—and that it was a clumsy forgery.” He stopped, and seeing the + hopeless bewilderment in the face of the wounded man, added more kindly: + “But we will not talk of that in your present condition. The doctor says a + few hours will put you straight again. Get strong, for I want you to lose + no time—for your own sake—to report yourself at Washington.” + </p> + <p> + “Report myself—at Washington!” repeated Brant slowly. + </p> + <p> + “That was last night's order,” said the commander, with military curtness. + Then he burst out: “I don't understand it, Brant! I believe you have been + misunderstood, misrepresented, perhaps maligned and I shall make it MY + business to see the thing through—but those are the Department + orders. And for the present—I am sorry to say you are relieved of + your command.” + </p> + <p> + He turned away, and Brant closed his eyes. With them it seemed to him that + he closed his career. No one would ever understand his explanation—even + had he been tempted to give one, and he knew he never would. Everything + was over now! Even this wretched bullet had not struck him fairly, and + culminated his fate as it might! For an instant, he recalled his wife's + last offer to fly with him beyond the seas—beyond this cruel + injustice—but even as he recalled it, he knew that flight meant the + worst of all—a half-confession! But she had escaped! Thank God for + that! Again and again in his hopeless perplexity this comfort returned to + him,—he had saved her; he had done his duty. And harping upon this + in his strange fatalism, it at last seemed to him that this was for what + he had lived—for what he had suffered—for what he had fitly + ended his career. Perhaps it was left for him now to pass his remaining + years in forgotten exile—even as his father had—his father!—his + breath came quickly at the thought—God knows! perhaps as wrongfully + accused! It may have been a Providence that she had borne him no child, to + whom this dreadful heritage could be again transmitted. + </p> + <p> + There was something of this strange and fateful resignation in his face, a + few hours later, when he was able to be helped again into the saddle. But + he could see in the eyes of the few comrades who commiseratingly took + leave of him, a vague, half-repressed awe of some indefinite weakness in + the man, that mingled with their heartfelt parting with a gallant soldier. + Yet even this touched him no longer. He cast a glance at the house and the + room where he had parted from her, at the slope from which she had passed—and + rode away. + </p> + <p> + And then, as his figure disappeared down the road, the restrained + commentary of wonder, surmise, and criticism broke out:— + </p> + <p> + “It must have been something mighty bad, for the old man, who swears by + him, looked rather troubled. And it was deuced queer, you know, this + changing clothes with somebody, just before this surprise!” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense! It's something away back of that! Didn't you hear the old man + say that the orders for him to report himself came from Washington LAST + NIGHT? No!”—the speaker lowered his voice—“Strangeways says + that he had regularly sold himself out to one of them d——d + secesh woman spies! It's the old Marc Antony business over again!” + </p> + <p> + “Now I think of it,” said a younger subaltern, “he did seem mightily taken + with one of those quadroons or mulattoes he issued orders against. I + suppose that was a blind for us! I remember the first day he saw her; he + was regularly keen to know all about her.” + </p> + <p> + Major Curtis gave a short laugh. + </p> + <p> + “That mulatto, Martin, was a white woman, burnt-corked! She was trying to + get through the lines last night, and fell off a wall or got a knock on + the head from a sentry's carbine. When she was brought in, Doctor Simmons + set to washing the blood off her face; the cork came off and the whole + thing came out. Brant hushed it up—and the woman, too—in his + own quarters! It's supposed now that she got away somehow in the rush!” + </p> + <p> + “It goes further back than that, gentlemen,” said the adjutant + authoritatively. “They say his wife was a howling secessionist, four years + ago, in California, was mixed up in a conspiracy, and he had to leave on + account of it. Look how thick he and that Miss Faulkner became, before he + helped HER off!” + </p> + <p> + “That's your jealousy, Tommy; she knew he was, by all odds, the biggest + man here, and a good deal more, too, and you had no show!” + </p> + <p> + In the laugh that followed, it would seem that Brant's eulogy had been + spoken and forgotten. But as Lieutenant Martin was turning away, a + lingering corporal touched his cap. + </p> + <p> + “You were speaking of those prowling mulattoes, sir. You know the general + passed one out this morning.” + </p> + <p> + “So I have heard.” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon she didn't get very far. It was just at the time that we were + driven in by their first fire, and I think she got her share of it, too. + Do you mind walking this way, sir!” + </p> + <p> + The lieutenant did not mind, although he rather languidly followed. When + they had reached the top of the gully, the corporal pointed to what seemed + to be a bit of striped calico hanging on a thorn bush in the ravine. + </p> + <p> + “That's her,” said the corporal. “I know the dress; I was on guard when + she was passed. The searchers, who were picking up our men, haven't got to + her yet; but she ain't moved or stirred these two hours. Would you like to + go down and see her?” + </p> + <p> + The lieutenant hesitated. He was young, and slightly fastidious as to + unnecessary unpleasantness. He believed he would wait until the searchers + brought her up, when the corporal might call him. + </p> + <p> + The mist came up gloriously from the swamp like a golden halo. And as + Clarence Brant, already forgotten, rode moodily through it towards + Washington, hugging to his heart the solitary comfort of his great + sacrifice, his wife, Alice Brant, for whom he had made it, was lying in + the ravine, dead and uncared for. Perhaps it was part of the inconsistency + of her sex that she was pierced with the bullets of those she had loved, + and was wearing the garments of the race that she had wronged. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART3" id="link2H_PART3"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART III. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <p> + It was sunset of a hot day at Washington. Even at that hour the broad + avenues, which diverged from the Capitol like the rays of another sun, + were fierce and glittering. The sterile distances between glowed more + cruelly than ever, and pedestrians, keeping in the scant shade, hesitated + on the curbstones before plunging into the Sahara-like waste of crossings. + The city seemed deserted. Even that vast army of contractors, speculators, + place-hunters, and lobbyists, which hung on the heels of the other army, + and had turned this pacific camp of the nation into a battlefield of + ignoble conflict and contention—more disastrous than the one to the + South—had slunk into their holes in hotel back bedrooms, in shady + barrooms, or in the negro quarters of Georgetown, as if the majestic, + white-robed Goddess enthroned upon the dome of the Capitol had at last + descended among them and was smiting to right and left with the flat and + flash of her insufferable sword. + </p> + <p> + Into this stifling atmosphere of greed and corruption Clarence Brant + stepped from the shadow of the War Department. For the last three weeks he + had haunted its ante-rooms and audience-chambers, in the vain hope of + righting himself before his superiors, who were content, without + formulating charges against him, to keep him in this disgrace of inaction + and the anxiety of suspense. Unable to ascertain the details of the + accusation, and conscious of his own secret, he was debarred the last + resort of demanding a court-martial, which he knew could only exonerate + him by the exposure of the guilt of his wife, whom he still hoped had + safely escaped. His division commander, in active operations in the field, + had no time to help him at Washington. Elbowed aside by greedy + contractors, forestalled by selfish politicians, and disdaining the + ordinary method of influence, he had no friend to turn to. In his few + years of campaigning he had lost his instinct of diplomacy, without + acquiring a soldier's bluntness. + </p> + <p> + The nearly level rays of the sun forced him at last to turn aside into one + of the openings of a large building—a famous caravansary of that + hotel-haunted capital, and he presently found himself in the luxurious + bar-room, fragrant with mint, and cool with ice-slabs piled symmetrically + on its marble counters. A few groups of men were seeking coolness at small + tables with glasses before them and palm-leaf fans in their hands, but a + larger and noisier assemblage was collected before the bar, where a man, + collarless and in his shirt-sleeves, with his back to the counter, was + pretentiously addressing them. Brant, who had moodily dropped into a chair + in the corner, after ordering a cooling drink as an excuse for his + temporary refuge from the stifling street, half-regretted his enforced + participation in their conviviality. But a sudden lowering of the + speaker's voice into a note of gloomy significance seemed familiar to him. + He glanced at him quickly, from the shadow of his corner. He was not + mistaken—it was Jim Hooker! + </p> + <p> + For the first time in his life, Brant wished to evade him. In the days of + his own prosperity his heart had always gone out towards this old + companion of his boyhood; in his present humiliation his presence jarred + upon him. He would have slipped away, but to do so he would have had to + pass before the counter again, and Hooker, with the self-consciousness of + a story-teller, had an eye on his audience. Brant, with a palm-leaf fan + before his face, was obliged to listen. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, gentlemen,” said Hooker, examining his glass dramatically, “when a + man's been cooped up in a Rebel prison, with a death line before him that + he's obliged to cross every time he wants a square drink, it seems sort of + like a dream of his boyhood to be standin' here comf'ble before his + liquor, alongside o' white men once more. And when he knows he's bin put + to all that trouble jest to save the reputation of another man, and the + secrets of a few high and mighty ones, it's almost enough to make his + liquor go agin him.” He stopped theatrically, seemed to choke emotionally + over his brandy squash, but with a pause of dramatic determination finally + dashed it down. “No, gentlemen,” he continued gloomily, “I don't say what + I'm back in Washington FOR—I don't say what I've been sayin' to + myself when I've bin picking the weevils outer my biscuits in Libby Prison—but + ef you don't see some pretty big men in the War Department obliged to + climb down in the next few days, my name ain't Jim Hooker, of Hooker, + Meacham & Co., Army Beef Contractors, and the man who saved the fight + at Gray Oaks!” + </p> + <p> + The smile of satisfaction that went around his audience—an audience + quick to seize the weakness of any performance—might have startled a + vanity less oblivious than Hooker's; but it only aroused Brant's + indignation and pity, and made his position still more intolerable. But + Hooker, scornfully expectorating a thin stream of tobacco juice against + the spittoon, remained for an instant gloomily silent. + </p> + <p> + “Tell us about the fight again,” said a smiling auditor. + </p> + <p> + Hooker looked around the room with a certain dark suspiciousness, and + then, in an affected lower voice, which his theatrical experience made + perfectly audible, went on:— + </p> + <p> + “It ain't much to speak of, and if it wasn't for the principle of the + thing, I wouldn't be talking. A man who's seen Injin fightin' don't go + much on this here West Point fightin' by rule-of-three—but that + ain't here or there! Well, I'd bin out a-scoutin'—just to help the + boys along, and I was sittin' in my wagon about daybreak, when along comes + a brigadier-general, and he looks into the wagon flap. I oughter to tell + you first, gentlemen, that every minit he was expecting an attack—but + he didn't let on a hint of it to me. 'How are you, Jim?' said he. 'How are + you, general?' said I. 'Would you mind lendin' me your coat and hat?' says + he. 'I've got a little game here with our pickets, and I don't want to be + recognized.' 'Anything to oblige, general,' said I, and with that I strips + off my coat and hat, and he peels and puts them on. 'Nearly the same + figure, Jim,' he says, lookin' at me, 'suppose you try on my things and + see.' With that he hands me his coat—full uniform, by G-d!—with + the little gold cords and laces and the epaulettes with a star, and I puts + it on—quite innocent-like. And then he says, handin' me his sword + and belt, 'Same inches round the waist, I reckon,' and I puts that on too. + 'You may as well keep 'em on till I come back,' says he, 'for it's mighty + damp and malarious at this time around the swamp.' And with that he lights + out. Well, gentlemen, I hadn't sat there five minutes before Bang! bang! + rattle! rattle! kershiz! and I hears a yell. I steps out of the wagon; + everything's quite dark, but the rattle goes on. Then along trots an + orderly, leadin' a horse. 'Mount, general,' he says, 'we're attacked—the + rear-guard's on us!'” + </p> + <p> + He paused, looked round his audience, and then in a lower voice, said + darkly,— + </p> + <p> + “I ain't a fool, an' in that minute a man's brain works at high pressure, + and I saw it all! I saw the little game of the brigadier to skunk away in + my clothes and leave me to be captured in his. But I ain't a dog neither, + and I mounted that horse, gentlemen, and lit out to where the men were + formin'! I didn't dare to speak, lest they should know me, but I waved my + sword, and by G-d! they followed me! And the next minit we was in the + thick of it. I had my hat as full of holes as that ice strainer; I had a + dozen bullets through my coat, the fringe of my epaulettes was shot away, + but I kept the boys at their work—and we stopped 'em! Stopped 'em, + gentlemen, until we heard the bugles of the rest of our division, that all + this time had been rolling that blasted rear-guard over on us! And it + saved the fight; but the next minute the Johnny Rebs made a last dash and + cut me off—and there I was—by G-d, a prisoner! Me that had + saved the fight!” + </p> + <p> + A ripple of ironical applause went round as Hooker gloomily drained his + glass, and then held up his hand in scornful deprecation. + </p> + <p> + “I said I was a prisoner, gentlemen,” he went on bitterly; “but that ain't + all! I asked to see Johnston, told him what I had done, and demanded to be + exchanged for a general officer. He said, 'You be d——d.' I + then sent word to the division commander-in-chief, and told him how I had + saved Gray Oaks when his brigadier ran away, and he said, 'You be d——d.' + I've bin 'You be d——d' from the lowest non-com. to the + commander-in-chief, and when I was at last exchanged, I was exchanged, + gentlemen, for two mules and a broken wagon. But I'm here, gentlemen—as + I was thar!” + </p> + <p> + “Why don't you see the President about it?” asked a bystander, in affected + commiseration. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hooker stared contemptuously at the suggestion, and expectorated his + scornful dissent. + </p> + <p> + “Not much!” he said. “But I'm going to see the man that carries him and + his Cabinet in his breeches-pocket—Senator Boompointer.” + </p> + <p> + “Boompointer's a big man,” continued his auditor doubtfully. “Do you know + him?” + </p> + <p> + “Know him?” Mr. Hooker laughed a bitter, sardonic laugh. “Well, gentlemen, + I ain't the kind o' man to go in for family influence; but,” he added, + with gloomy elevation, “considering he's an intimate relation of mine, BY + MARRIAGE, I should say I did.” + </p> + <p> + Brant heard no more; the facing around of his old companion towards the + bar gave him that opportunity of escaping he had been waiting for. The + defection of Hooker and his peculiar inventions were too characteristic of + him to excite surprise, and, although they no longer awakened his + good-humored tolerance, they were powerless to affect him in his greater + trouble. Only one thing he learned—that Hooker knew nothing of his + wife being in camp as a spy—the incident would have been too + tempting to have escaped his dramatic embellishment. And the allusion to + Senator Boompointer, monstrous as it seemed in Hooker's mouth, gave him a + grim temptation. He had heard of Boompointer's wonderful power; he + believed that Susy would and could help him—Clarence—whether + she did or did not help Hooker. But the next moment he dismissed the idea, + with a flushing cheek. How low had he already sunk, even to think of it! + </p> + <p> + It had been once or twice in his mind to seek the President, and, under a + promise of secrecy, reveal a part of his story. He had heard many + anecdotes of his goodness of heart and generous tolerance of all things, + but with this was joined—so said contemporaneous history—a + flippancy of speech and a brutality of directness from which Clarence's + sensibility shrank. Would he see anything in his wife but a common spy on + his army; would he see anything in him but the weak victim, like many + others, of a scheming woman? Stories current in camp and Congress of the + way that this grim humorist had, with an apposite anecdote or a rugged + illustration, brushed away the most delicate sentiment or the subtlest + poetry, even as he had exposed the sham of Puritanic morality or of + Epicurean ethics. Brant had even solicited an audience, but had retired + awkwardly, and with his confidence unspoken, before the dark, humorous + eyes, that seemed almost too tolerant of his grievance. He had been to + levees, and his heart had sunk equally before the vulgar crowd, who seemed + to regard this man as their own buffoon, and the pompousness of position, + learning and dignity, which he seemed to delight to shake and disturb. + </p> + <p> + One afternoon, a few days later, in sheer listlessness of purpose, he + found himself again at the White House. The President was giving audience + to a deputation of fanatics, who, with a pathetic simplicity almost equal + to his own pathetic tolerance, were urging upon this ruler of millions the + policy of an insignificant score, and Brant listened to his patient, + practical response of facts and logic, clothed in simple but sinewy + English, up to the inevitable climax of humorous illustration, which the + young brigadier could now see was necessary to relieve the grimness of his + refusal. For the first time Brant felt the courage to address him, and + resolved to wait until the deputation retired. As they left the gallery he + lingered in the ante-room for the President to appear. But, as he did not + come, afraid of losing his chances, he returned to the gallery. Alone in + his privacy and shadow, the man he had just left was standing by a column, + in motionless abstraction, looking over the distant garden. But the + kindly, humorous face was almost tragic with an intensity of weariness! + Every line of those strong, rustic features was relaxed under a burden + which even the long, lank, angular figure—overgrown and unfinished + as his own West—seemed to be distorted in its efforts to adjust + itself to; while the dark, deep-set eyes were abstracted with the vague + prescience of the prophet and the martyr. Shocked at that sudden change, + Brant felt his cheek burn with shame. And he was about to break upon that + wearied man's unbending; he was about to add his petty burden to the + shoulders of this Western Atlas. He drew back silently, and descended the + stairs. + </p> + <p> + But before he had left the house, while mingling with the crowd in one of + the larger rooms, he saw the President reappear beside an important, + prosperous-looking figure, on whom the kindly giant was now smiling with + humorous toleration. He noticed the divided attention of the crowd; the + name of Senator Boompointer was upon every lip; he was nearly face to face + with that famous dispenser of place and preferment—this second + husband of Susy! An indescribable feeling—half cynical, half fateful—came + over him. He would not have been surprised to see Jim Hooker join the + throng, which now seemed to him to even dwarf the lonely central figure + that had so lately touched him! He wanted to escape it all! + </p> + <p> + But his fate brought him to the entrance at the same moment that + Boompointer was leaving it, and that distinguished man brushed hastily by + him as a gorgeous carriage, drawn by two spirited horses, and driven by a + resplendent negro coachman, dashed up. It was the Boompointer carriage. + </p> + <p> + A fashionably-dressed, pretty woman, who, in style, bearing, opulent + contentment, and ingenuous self-consciousness, was in perfect keeping with + the slight ostentation of the equipage, was its only occupant. As + Boompointer stepped into the vehicle, her blue eyes fell for an instant on + Brant. A happy, childlike pink flush came into her cheeks, and a violet + ray of recognition and mischief darted from her eyes to his. For it was + Susy. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. + </h2> + <p> + When Brant returned to his hotel there was an augmented respect in the + voice of the clerk as he handed him a note with the remark that it had + been left by Senator Boompointer's coachman. He had no difficulty in + recognizing Susy's peculiarly Brobdingnagian school-girl hand. + </p> + <p> + “Kla'uns, I call it real mean! I believe you just HOPED I wouldn't know + you. If you're a bit like your old self you'll come right off here—this + very night! I've got a big party on—but we can talk somewhere + between the acts! Haven't I growed? Tell me! And my! what a gloomy swell + the young brigadier is! The carriage will come for you—so you have + no excuse.” + </p> + <p> + The effect of this childish note upon Brant was strangely out of + proportion to its triviality. But then it was Susy's very triviality—so + expressive of her characteristic irresponsibility—which had always + affected him at such moments. Again, as at Robles, he felt it react + against his own ethics. Was she not right in her delightful materialism? + Was she not happier than if she had been consistently true to Mrs. Peyton, + to the convent, to the episode of her theatrical career, to Jim Hooker—even + to himself? And did he conscientiously believe that Hooker or himself had + suffered from her inconsistency? No! From all that he had heard, she was a + suitable helpmate to the senator, in her social attractiveness, her + charming ostentations, her engaging vanity that disarmed suspicion, and + her lack of responsibility even in her partisanship. Nobody ever dared to + hold the senator responsible for her promises, even while enjoying the + fellowship of both, and it is said that the worthy man singularly profited + by it. Looking upon the invitation as a possible distraction to his gloomy + thoughts, Brant resolved to go. + </p> + <p> + The moon was high as the carriage whirled him out of the still stifling + avenues towards the Soldiers' Home—a sylvan suburb frequented by + cabinet ministers and the President—where the good Senator had + “decreed,” like Kubla Khan, “a stately pleasure dome,” to entertain his + friends and partisans. As they approached the house, the trembling light + like fireflies through the leaves, the warm silence broken only by a + military band playing a drowsy waltz on the veranda, and the heavy odors + of jessamine in the air, thrilled Brant with a sense of shame as he + thought of his old comrades in the field. But this was presently + dissipated by the uniforms that met him in the hall, with the presence of + some of his distinguished superiors. At the head of the stairs, with a + circling background of the shining crosses and ribbons of the diplomatic + corps, stood Susy—her bare arms and neck glittering with diamonds, + her face radiant with childlike vivacity. A significant pressure of her + little glove as he made his bow seemed to be his only welcome, but a + moment later she caught his arm. “You've yet to know HIM,” she said in a + half whisper; “he thinks a good deal of himself—just like Jim. But + he makes others believe it, and that's where poor Jim slipped up.” She + paused before the man thus characteristically disposed of, and presented + Brant. It was the man he had seen before—material, capable, + dogmatic. A glance from his shrewd eyes—accustomed to the weighing + of men's weaknesses and ambitions—and a few hurried phrases, + apparently satisfied him that Brant was not just then important or + available to him, and the two men, a moment later, drifted easily apart. + Brant sauntered listlessly through the crowded rooms, half remorsefully + conscious that he had taken some irrevocable step, and none the less + assured by the presence of two or three reporters and correspondents who + were dogging his steps, or the glance of two or three pretty women whose + curiosity had evidently been aroused by the singular abstraction of this + handsome, distinguished, but sardonic-looking officer. But the next moment + he was genuinely moved. + </p> + <p> + A tall young woman had just glided into the centre of the room with an + indolent yet supple gracefulness that seemed familiar to him. A change in + her position suddenly revealed her face. It was Miss Faulkner. Previously + he had known her only in the riding habit of Confederate gray which she + had at first affected, or in the light muslin morning dress she had worn + at Gray Oaks. It seemed to him, to-night, that the studied elegance of her + full dress became her still more; that the pretty willfulness of her chin + and shoulders was chastened and modified by the pearls round her fair + throat. Suddenly their eyes met; her face paled visibly; he fancied that + she almost leaned against her companion for support; then she met his + glance again with a face into which the color had as suddenly rushed, but + with eyes that seemed to be appealing to him even to the point of pain and + fright. Brant was not conceited; he could see that the girl's agitation + was not the effect of any mere personal influence in his recognition, but + of something else. He turned hastily away; when he looked around again she + was gone. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless he felt filled with a vague irritation. Did she think him + such a fool as to imperil her safety by openly recognizing her without her + consent? Did she think that he would dare to presume upon the service she + had done him? Or, more outrageous thought, had she heard of his disgrace, + known its cause, and feared that he would drag her into a disclosure to + save himself? No, no; she could not think that! She had perhaps regretted + what she had done in a freak of girlish chivalry; she had returned to her + old feelings and partisanship; she was only startled at meeting the single + witness of her folly. Well, she need not fear! He would as studiously + avoid her hereafter, and she should know it. And yet—yes, there was + a “yet.” For he could not forget—indeed, in the past three weeks it + had been more often before him than he cared to think—that she was + the one human being who had been capable of a great act of self-sacrifice + for him—her enemy, her accuser, the man who had scarcely treated her + civilly. He was ashamed to remember now that this thought had occurred to + him at the bedside of his wife—at the hour of her escape—even + on the fatal slope on which he had been struck down. And now this fond + illusion must go with the rest—the girl who had served him so + loyally was ashamed of it! A bitter smile crossed his face. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't wonder! Here are all the women asking me who is that + good-looking Mephistopheles, with the burning eyes, who is prowling around + my rooms as if searching for a victim. Why, you're smiling for all the + world like poor Jim when he used to do the Red Avenger.” + </p> + <p> + Susy's voice—and illustration—recalled him to himself. + </p> + <p> + “Furious I may be,” he said with a gentler smile, although his eyes still + glittered, “furious that I have to wait until the one woman I came to see—the + one woman I have not seen for so long, while these puppets have been + nightly dancing before her—can give me a few moments from them, to + talk of the old days.” + </p> + <p> + In his reaction he was quite sincere, although he felt a slight sense of + remorse as he saw the quick, faint color rise, as in those old days, even + through the to-night's powder of her cheek. + </p> + <p> + “That's like the old Kla'uns,” she said, with a slight pressure of his + arm, “but we will not have a chance to speak until later. When they are + nearly all gone, you'll take me to get a little refreshment, and we'll + have a chat in the conservatory. But you must drop that awfully wicked + look and make yourself generally agreeable to those women until then.” + </p> + <p> + It was, perhaps, part of this reaction which enabled him to obey his + hostess' commands with a certain recklessness that, however, seemed to be + in keeping with the previous Satanic reputation he had all unconsciously + achieved. The women listened to the cynical flippancy of this good-looking + soldier with an undisguised admiration which in turn excited curiosity and + envy from his own sex. He saw the whispered questioning, the lifted + eyebrows, scornful shrugging of shoulders—and knew that the story of + his disgrace was in the air. But I fear this only excited him to further + recklessness and triumph. Once he thought he recognized Miss Faulkner's + figure at a distance, and even fancied that she had been watching him; but + he only redoubled his attentions to the fair woman beside him, and looked + no more. + </p> + <p> + Yet he was glad when the guests began to drop off, the great rooms + thinned, and Susy, appearing on the arm of her husband, coquettishly + reminded him of his promise. + </p> + <p> + “For I want to talk to you of old times. General Brant,” she went on, + turning explanatorily to Boompointer, “married my adopted mother in + California—at Robles, a dear old place where I spent my earliest + years. So, you see, we are sort of relations by marriage,” she added, with + delightful naivete. + </p> + <p> + Hooker's own vainglorious allusion to his relations to the man before him + flashed across Brant's mind, but it left now only a smile on his lips. He + felt he had already become a part of the irresponsible comedy played + around him. Why should he resist, or examine its ethics too closely? He + offered his arm to Susy as they descended the stairs, but, instead of + pausing in the supper-room, she simply passed through it with a + significant pressure on his arm, and, drawing aside a muslin curtain, + stepped into the moonlit conservatory. Behind the curtain there was a + small rustic settee; without releasing his arm she sat down, so that when + he dropped beside her, their hands met, and mutually clasped. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Kla'uns,” she said, with a slight, comfortable shiver as she nestled + beside him, “it's a little like your chair down at old Robles, isn't it?—tell + me! And to think it's five years ago! But, Kla'uns, what's the matter? You + are changed,” she said, looking at his dark face in the moonlight, “or you + have something to tell me.” + </p> + <p> + “I have.” + </p> + <p> + “And it's something dreadful, I know!” she said, wrinkling her brows with + a pretty terror. “Couldn't you pretend you had told it to me, and let us + go on just the same? Couldn't you, Kla'uns? Tell me!” + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid I couldn't,” he said, with a sad smile. + </p> + <p> + “Is it about yourself, Kla'uns? You know,” she went on with cheerful + rapidity, “I know everything about you—I always did, you know—and + I don't care, and never did care, and it don't, and never did, make the + slightest difference to me. So don't tell it, and waste time, Kla'uns.” + </p> + <p> + “It's not about me, but about my wife!” he said slowly. + </p> + <p> + Her expression changed slightly + </p> + <p> + “Oh, her!” she said after a pause. Then, half-resignedly, “Go on, + Kla'uns.” + </p> + <p> + He began. He had a dozen times rehearsed to himself his miserable story, + always feeling it keenly, and even fearing that he might be carried away + by emotion or morbid sentiment in telling it to another. But, to his + astonishment, he found himself telling it practically, calmly, almost + cynically, to his old playmate, repressing the half devotion and even + tenderness that had governed him, from the time that his wife, disguised + as the mulatto woman, had secretly watched him at his office, to the hour + that he had passed through the lines. He withheld only the incident of + Miss Faulkner's complicity and sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + “And she got away, after having kicked you out of your place, Kla'uns?” + said Susy, when he had ended. + </p> + <p> + Clarence stiffened beside her. But he felt he had gone too far to quarrel + with his confidante. + </p> + <p> + “She went away. I honestly believe we shall never meet again, or I should + not be telling you this!” + </p> + <p> + “Kla'uns,” she said lightly, taking his hand again, “don't you believe it! + She won't let you go. You're one of those men that a woman, when she's + once hooked on to, won't let go of, even when she believes she no longer + loves him, or meets bigger and better men. I reckon it's because you're so + different from other men; maybe there are so many different things about + you to hook on to, and you don't slip off as easily as the others. Now, if + you were like old Peyton, her first husband, or like poor Jim, or even my + Boompointer, you'd be all right! No, my boy, all we can do is to try to + keep her from getting at you here. I reckon she won't trust herself in + Washington again in a hurry.” + </p> + <p> + “But I cannot stay here; my career is in the field.” + </p> + <p> + “Your career is alongside o' me, honey—and Boompointer. But nearer + ME. We'll fix all that. I heard something about your being in disgrace, + but the story was that you were sweet on some secesh girl down there, and + neglected your business, Kla'uns. But, Lordy! to think it was only your + own wife! Never mind; we'll straighten that out. We've had worse jobs than + that on. Why, there was that commissary who was buying up dead horses at + one end of the field, and selling them to the Government for mess beef at + the other; and there was that general who wouldn't make an attack when it + rained; and the other general—you know who I mean, Kla'uns—who + wouldn't invade the State where his sister lived; but we straightened them + out, somehow, and they were a heap worse than you. We'll get you a + position in the war department here, one of the bureau offices, where you + keep your rank and your uniform—you don't look bad in it, Kla'uns—on + better pay. And you'll come and see me, and we'll talk over old times.” + </p> + <p> + Brant felt his heart turn sick within him. But he was at her mercy now! He + said, with an effort,— + </p> + <p> + “But I've told you that my career—nay, my LIFE—now is in the + field.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't you be a fool, Kla'uns, and leave it there! You have done your work + of fighting—mighty good fighting, too,—and everybody knows it. + You've earned a change. Let others take your place.” + </p> + <p> + He shuddered, as he remembered that his wife had made the same appeal. Was + he a fool then, and these two women—so totally unlike in everything—right + in this? + </p> + <p> + “Come, Kla'uns,” said Susy, relapsing again against his shoulder. “Now + talk to me! You don't say what you think of me, of my home, of my + furniture, of my position—even of him! Tell me!” + </p> + <p> + “I find you well, prosperous, and happy,” he said, with a faint smile. + </p> + <p> + “Is that all? And how do I look?” + </p> + <p> + She turned her still youthful, mischievous face towards him in the + moonlight. The witchery of her blue eyes was still there as of old, the + same frank irresponsibility beamed from them; her parted lips seemed to + give him back the breath of his youth. He started, but she did not. + </p> + <p> + “Susy, dear!” + </p> + <p> + It was her husband's voice. + </p> + <p> + “I quite forgot,” the Senator went on, as he drew the curtain aside, “that + you are engaged with a friend; but Miss Faulkner is waiting to say + good-night, and I volunteered to find you.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell her to wait a moment,” said Susy, with an impatience that was as + undisguised as it was without embarrassment or confusion. + </p> + <p> + But Miss Faulkner, unconsciously following Mr. Boompointer, was already + upon them. For a moment the whole four were silent, although perfectly + composed. Senator Boompointer, unconscious of any infelicity in his + interruption, was calmly waiting. Clarence, opposed suddenly to the young + girl whom he believed was avoiding his recognition, rose, coldly + imperturbable. Miss Faulkner, looking taller and more erect in the long + folds of her satin cloak, neither paled nor blushed, as she regarded Susy + and Brant with a smile of well-bred apology. + </p> + <p> + “I expect to leave Washington to-morrow, and may not be able to call + again,” she said, “or I would not have so particularly pressed a + leave-taking upon you.” + </p> + <p> + “I was talking with my old friend, General Brant,” said Susy, more by way + of introduction than apology. + </p> + <p> + Brant bowed. For an instant the clear eyes of Miss Faulkner slipped icily + across his as she made him an old-fashioned Southern courtesy, and, taking + Susy's arm, she left the room. Brant did not linger, but took leave of his + host almost in the same breath. At the front door a well-appointed + carriage of one of the Legations had just rolled into waiting. He looked + back; he saw Miss Faulkner, erect and looking like a bride in her gauzy + draperies, descending the stairs before the waiting servants. He felt his + heart beat strangely. He hesitated, recalled himself with an effort, + hurriedly stepped from the porch into the path, as he heard the carriage + door close behind him in the distance, and then felt the dust from her + horse's hoofs rise around him as she drove past him and away. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. + </h2> + <p> + Although Brant was convinced as soon as he left the house that he could + not accept anything from the Boompointer influence, and that his interview + with Susy was fruitless, he knew that he must temporize. While he did not + believe that his old playmate would willingly betray him, he was uneasy + when he thought of the vanity and impulsiveness which might compromise him—or + of a possible jealousy that might seek revenge. Yet he had no reason to + believe that Susy's nature was jealous, or that she was likely to have any + cause; but the fact remained that Miss Faulkner's innocent intrusion upon + their tete-a-tete affected him more strongly than anything else in his + interview with Susy. Once out of the atmosphere of that house, it struck + him, too, that Miss Faulkner was almost as much of an alien in it as + himself. He wondered what she had been doing there. Could it be possible + that she was obtaining information for the South? But he rejected the idea + as quickly as it had occurred to him. Perhaps there could be no stronger + proof of the unconscious influence the young girl already had over him. + </p> + <p> + He remembered the liveries of the diplomatic carriage that had borne her + away, and ascertained without difficulty that her sister had married one + of the foreign ministers, and that she was a guest in his house. But he + was the more astonished to hear that she and her sister were considered to + be Southern Unionists—and were greatly petted in governmental + circles for their sacrificing fidelity to the flag. His informant, an + official in the State Department, added that Miss Matilda might have been + a good deal of a madcap at the outbreak of the war—for the sisters + had a brother in the Confederate service—but that she had changed + greatly, and, indeed, within a month. “For,” he added, “she was at the + White House for the first time last week, and they say the President + talked more to her than to any other woman.” + </p> + <p> + The indescribable sensation with which this simple information filled + Brant startled him more than the news itself. Hope, joy, fear, distrust, + and despair, alternately distracted him. He recalled Miss Faulkner's + almost agonizing glance of appeal to him in the drawing-room at Susy's, + and it seemed to be equally consistent with the truth of what he had just + heard—or some monstrous treachery and deceit of which she might be + capable. Even now she might be a secret emissary of some spy within the + President's family; she might have been in correspondence with some + traitor in the Boompointer clique, and her imploring glance only the + result of a fear of exposure. Or, again, she might have truly recanted + after her escapade at Gray Oaks, and feared only his recollection of her + as go-between of spies. And yet both of these presumptions were + inconsistent with her conduct in the conservatory. It seemed impossible + that this impulsive woman, capable of doing what he had himself known her + to do, and equally sensitive to the shame or joy of such impulses, should + be the same conventional woman of society who had so coldly recognized and + parted from him. + </p> + <p> + But this interval of doubt was transitory. The next day he received a + dispatch from the War Department, ordering him to report himself for duty + at once. With a beating heart he hurried to the Secretary. But that + official had merely left a memorandum with his assistant directing General + Brant to accompany some fresh levies to a camp of “organization” near the + front. Brant felt a chill of disappointment. Duties of this kind had been + left to dubious regular army veterans, hurriedly displaced general + officers, and favored detrimentals. But if it was not restoration, it was + no longer inaction, and it was at least a release from Washington. + </p> + <p> + It was also evidently the result of some influence—but hardly that + of the Boompointers, for he knew that Susy wished to keep him at the + Capital. Was there another power at work to send him away from Washington? + His previous doubts returned. Nor were they dissipated when the chief of + the bureau placed a letter before him with the remark that it had been + entrusted to him by a lady with the request that it should be delivered + only into his own hands. + </p> + <p> + “She did not know your hotel address, but ascertained you were to call + here. She said it was of some importance. There is no mystery about it, + General,” continued the official with a mischievous glance at Brant's + handsome, perplexed face, “although it's from a very pretty woman—whom + we all know.” + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Boompointer?” suggested Brant, with affected lightness. + </p> + <p> + It was a maladroit speech. The official's face darkened. + </p> + <p> + “We have not yet become a Postal Department for the Boompointers, + General,” he said dryly, “however great their influence elsewhere. It was + from rather a different style of woman—Miss Faulkner. You will + receive your papers later at your hotel, and leave to-night.” + </p> + <p> + Brant's unlucky slip was still potent enough to divert the official + attention, or he would have noticed the change in his visitor's face, and + the abruptness of his departure. + </p> + <p> + Once in the street, Brant tore off the envelope. But beneath it was + another, on which was written in a delicate, refined hand: “Please do not + open this until you reach your destination.” + </p> + <p> + Then she knew he was going! And perhaps this was her influence? All his + suspicions again returned. She knew he was going near the lines, and his + very appointment, through her power, might be a plot to serve her and the + enemy! Was this letter, which she was entrusting to him, the cover of some + missive to her Southern friends which she expected him to carry—perhaps + as a return for her own act of self-sacrifice? Was this the appeal she had + been making to his chivalry, his gratitude, his honor? The perspiration + stood in beads on his forehead. What defect lay hidden in his nature that + seemed to make him an easy victim of these intriguing women? He had not + even the excuse of gallantry; less susceptible to the potencies of the sex + than most men, he was still compelled to bear that reputation. He + remembered his coldness to Miss Faulkner in the first days of their + meeting, and her effect upon his subalterns. Why had she selected him from + among them—when she could have modeled the others like wax to her + purposes? Why? And yet with the question came a possible answer that he + hardly dared to think of—that in its very vagueness seemed to fill + him with a stimulating thrill and hopefulness. He quickened his pace. He + would take the letter, and yet be master of himself when the time came to + open it. + </p> + <p> + That time came three days later, in his tent at Three Pines Crossing. As + he broke open the envelope, he was relieved to find that it contained no + other inclosure, and seemed intended only for himself. It began abruptly:— + </p> + <p> + “When you read this, you will understand why I did not speak to you when + we met last night; why I even dreaded that you might speak to me, knowing, + as I did, what I ought to tell you at that place and moment—something + you could only know from me. I did not know you were in Washington, + although I knew you were relieved; I had no way of seeing you or sending + to you before, and I only came to Mrs. Boompointer's party in the hope of + hearing news of you. + </p> + <p> + “You know that my brother was captured by your pickets in company with + another officer. He thinks you suspected the truth—that he and his + friend were hovering near your lines to effect the escape of the spy. But + he says that, although they failed to help her, she did escape, or was + passed through the lines by your connivance. He says that you seemed to + know her, that from what Rose—the mulatto woman—told him, you + and she were evidently old friends. I would not speak of this, nor intrude + upon your private affairs, only that I think you ought to know that I had + no knowledge of it when I was in your house, but believed her to be a + stranger to you. You gave me no intimation that you knew her, and I + believed that you were frank with me. But I should not speak of this at + all—for I believe that it would have made no difference to me in + repairing the wrong that I thought I had done you—only that, as I am + forced by circumstances to tell you the terrible ending of this story, you + ought to know it all. + </p> + <p> + “My brother wrote to me that the evening after you left, the burying party + picked up the body of what they believed to be a mulatto woman lying on + the slope. It was not Rose, but the body of the very woman—the real + and only spy—whom you had passed through the lines. She was + accidentally killed by the Confederates in the first attack upon you, at + daybreak. But only my brother and his friend recognized her through her + blackened face and disguise, and on the plea that she was a servant of one + of their friends, they got permission from the division commander to take + her away, and she was buried by her friends and among her people in the + little cemetery of Three Pines Crossing, not far from where you have gone. + My brother thought that I ought to tell you this: it seems that he and his + friend had a strange sympathy for you in what they appear to know or guess + of your relations with that woman, and I think he was touched by what he + thought was your kindness and chivalry to him on account of his sister. + But I do not think he ever knew, or will know, how great is the task that + he has imposed upon me. + </p> + <p> + “You know now, do you not, WHY I did not speak to you when we first met; + it seemed so impossible to do it in an atmosphere and a festivity that was + so incongruous with the dreadful message I was charged with. And when I + had to meet you later—perhaps I may have wronged you—but it + seemed to me that you were so preoccupied and interested with other things + that I might perhaps only be wearying you with something you cared little + for, or perhaps already knew and had quickly forgotten. + </p> + <p> + “I had been wanting to say something else to you when I had got rid of my + dreadful message. I do not know if you still care to hear it. But you were + once generous enough to think that I had done you a service in bringing a + letter to your commander. Although I know better than anybody else the + genuine devotion to your duty that made you accept my poor service, from + all that I can hear, you have never had the credit of it. Will you not try + me again? I am more in favor here, and I might yet be more successful in + showing your superiors how true you have been to your trust, even if you + have little faith in your friend, Matilda Faulkner.” + </p> + <p> + For a long time he remained motionless, with the letter in his hand. Then + he arose, ordered his horse, and galloped away. + </p> + <p> + There was little difficulty in finding the cemetery of Three Pines + Crossing—a hillside slope, hearsed with pine and cypress, and + starred with white crosses, that in the distance looked like flowers. + Still less was there in finding the newer marble shaft among the older + lichen-spotted slabs, which bore the simple words: “Alice Benham, Martyr.” + A few Confederate soldiers, under still plainer and newer wooden + headstones, carved only with initials, lay at her feet. Brant sank on his + knees beside the grave, but he was shocked to see that the base of the + marble was stained with the red pollen of the fateful lily, whose blossoms + had been heaped upon her mound, but whose fallen petals lay dark and + sodden in decay. + </p> + <p> + How long he remained there he did not know. And then a solitary bugle from + the camp seemed to summon him, as it had once before summoned him, and he + went away—as he had gone before—to a separation that he now + knew was for all time. + </p> + <p> + Then followed a month of superintendence and drill, and the infusing into + the little camp under his instruction the spirit which seemed to be + passing out of his own life forever. Shut in by alien hills on the + borderland of the great struggle, from time to time reports reached him of + the bitter fighting, and almost disastrous successes of his old division + commander. Orders came from Washington to hurry the preparation of his raw + levies to the field, and a faint hope sprang up in his mind. But following + it came another dispatch ordering his return to the Capital. + </p> + <p> + He reached it with neither hope nor fear—so benumbed had become his + spirit under this last trial, and what seemed to be now the mockery of + this last sacrifice to his wife. Though it was no longer a question of her + life and safety, he knew that he could still preserve her memory from + stain by keeping her secret, even though its divulgings might clear his + own. For that reason, he had even hesitated to inform Susy of her death, + in the fear that, in her thoughtless irresponsibility and impulsiveness, + she might be tempted to use it in his favor. He had made his late + appointment a plea for her withholding any present efforts to assist him. + He even avoided the Boompointers' house, in what he believed was partly a + duty to the memory of his wife. But he saw no inconsistency in + occasionally extending his lonely walks to the vicinity of a foreign + Legation, or in being lifted with a certain expectation at the sight of + its liveries on the Avenue. There was a craving for sympathy in his heart, + which Miss Faulkner's letter had awakened. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, he had reported himself for duty at the War Department—with + little hope, however, in that formality. But he was surprised the next day + when the chief of the bureau informed him that his claim was before the + President. + </p> + <p> + “I was not aware that I had presented any claim,” he said, a little + haughtily. + </p> + <p> + The bureau chief looked up with some surprise. This quiet, patient, + reserved man had puzzled him once or twice before. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps I should say 'case,' General,” he said, drily. “But the personal + interest of the highest executive in the land strikes me as being + desirable in anything.” + </p> + <p> + “I only mean that I have obeyed the orders of the department in reporting + myself here, as I have done,” said Brant, with less feeling, but none the + less firmness; “and I should imagine it was not the duty of a soldier to + question them. Which I fancy a 'claim' or a 'case' would imply.” + </p> + <p> + He had no idea of taking this attitude before, but the disappointments of + the past month, added to this first official notice of his disgrace, had + brought forward that dogged, reckless, yet half-scornful obstinacy that + was part of his nature. + </p> + <p> + The official smiled. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose, then, you are waiting to hear from the President,” he said + drily. + </p> + <p> + “I am awaiting orders from the department,” returned Brant quietly, “but + whether they originate in the President as commander-in-chief, or not—it + is not for me to inquire.” + </p> + <p> + Even when he reached his hotel this half-savage indifference which had + taken the place of his former incertitude had not changed. It seemed to + him that he had reached the crisis of his life where he was no longer a + free agent, and could wait, superior alike to effort or expectation. And + it was with a merely dispassionate curiosity that he found a note the next + morning from the President's private secretary, informing him that the + President would see him early that day. + </p> + <p> + A few hours later he was ushered through the public rooms of the White + House to a more secluded part of the household. The messenger stopped + before a modest door and knocked. It was opened by a tall figure—the + President himself. He reached out a long arm to Brant, who stood + hesitatingly on the threshold, grasped his hand, and led him into the + room. It had a single, large, elaborately draped window and a handsome + medallioned carpet, which contrasted with the otherwise almost appalling + simplicity of the furniture. A single plain angular desk, with a blotting + pad and a few sheets of large foolscap upon it, a waste-paper basket and + four plain armchairs, completed the interior with a contrast as simple and + homely as its long-limbed, black-coated occupant. Releasing the hand of + the general to shut a door which opened into another apartment, the + President shoved an armchair towards him and sank somewhat wearily into + another before the desk. But only for a moment; the long shambling limbs + did not seem to adjust themselves easily to the chair; the high narrow + shoulders drooped to find a more comfortable lounging attitude, shifted + from side to side, and the long legs moved dispersedly. Yet the face that + was turned towards Brant was humorous and tranquil. + </p> + <p> + “I was told I should have to send for you if I wished to see you,” he said + smilingly. + </p> + <p> + Already mollified, and perhaps again falling under the previous influence + of this singular man, Brant began somewhat hesitatingly to explain. + </p> + <p> + But the President checked him gently,— + </p> + <p> + “You don't understand. It was something new to my experience here to find + an able-bodied American citizen with an honest genuine grievance who had + to have it drawn from him like a decayed tooth. But you have been here + before. I seem to remember your face.” + </p> + <p> + Brant's reserve had gone. He admitted that he had twice sought an audience—but— + </p> + <p> + “You dodged the dentist! That was wrong.” As Brant made a slight movement + of deprecation the President continued: “I understand! Not from fear of + giving pain to yourself but to others. I don't know that THAT is right, + either. A certain amount of pain must be suffered in this world—even + by one's enemies. Well, I have looked into your case, General Brant.” He + took up a piece of paper from his desk, scrawled with two or three notes + in pencil. “I think this is the way it stands. You were commanding a + position at Gray Oaks when information was received by the department + that, either through neglect or complicity, spies were passing through + your lines. There was no attempt to prove your neglect; your orders, the + facts of your personal care and precaution, were all before the + department. But it was also shown that your wife, from whom you were only + temporarily separated, was a notorious secessionist; that, before the war, + you yourself were suspected, and that, therefore, you were quite capable + of evading your own orders, which you may have only given as a blind. On + this information you were relieved by the department of your command. + Later on it was discovered that the spy was none other than your own wife, + disguised as a mulatto; that, after her arrest by your own soldiers, you + connived at her escape—and this was considered conclusive proof of—well, + let us say—your treachery.” + </p> + <p> + “But I did not know it was my wife until she was arrested,” said Brant + impulsively. + </p> + <p> + The President knitted his eyebrows humorously. + </p> + <p> + “Don't let us travel out of the record, General. You're as bad as the + department. The question was one of your personal treachery, but you need + not accept the fact that you were justly removed because your wife was a + spy. Now, General, I am an old lawyer, and I don't mind telling you that + in Illinois we wouldn't hang a yellow dog on that evidence before the + department. But when I was asked to look into the matter by your friends, + I discovered something of more importance to you. I had been trying to + find a scrap of evidence that would justify the presumption that you had + sent information to the enemy. I found that it was based upon the fact of + the enemy being in possession of knowledge at the first battle at Gray + Oaks, which could only have been obtained from our side, and which led to + a Federal disaster; that you, however, retrieved by your gallantry. I then + asked the secretary if he was prepared to show that you had sent the + information with that view, or that you had been overtaken by a tardy + sense of repentance. He preferred to consider my suggestion as humorous. + But the inquiry led to my further discovery that the only treasonable + correspondence actually in evidence was found upon the body of a trusted + Federal officer, and had been forwarded to the division commander. But + there was no record of it in the case.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, I forwarded it myself,” said Brant eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “So the division commander writes,” said the President, smiling, “and he + forwarded it to the department. But it was suppressed in some way. Have + you any enemies, General Brant?” + </p> + <p> + “Not that I know of.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you probably have. You are young and successful. Think of the + hundred other officers who naturally believe themselves better than you + are, and haven't a traitorous wife. Still, the department may have made an + example of you for the benefit of the only man who couldn't profit by it.” + </p> + <p> + “Might it not have been, sir, that this suppression was for the good + report of the service—as the chief offender was dead?” + </p> + <p> + “I am glad to hear you say so, General, for it is the argument I have used + successfully in behalf of your wife.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you know it all, sir?” said Brant after a gloomy pause. + </p> + <p> + “All, I think. Come, General, you seemed just now to be uncertain about + your enemies. Let me assure you, you need not be so in regard to your + friends.” + </p> + <p> + “I dare to hope I have found one, sir,” said Brant with almost boyish + timidity. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, not me!” said the President, with a laugh of deprecation. “Some one + much more potent.” + </p> + <p> + “May I know his name, Mr. President?” + </p> + <p> + “No, for it is a woman. You were nearly ruined by one, General. I suppose + it's quite right that you should be saved by one. And, of course, + irregularly.” + </p> + <p> + “A woman!” echoed Brant. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; one who was willing to confess herself a worse spy than your wife—a + double traitor—to save you! Upon my word, General, I don't know if + the department was far wrong; a man with such an alternately unsettling + and convincing effect upon a woman's highest political convictions should + be under some restraint. Luckily the department knows nothing of it.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor would any one else have known from me,” said Brant eagerly. “I trust + that she did not think—that you, sir, did not for an instant believe + that I”— + </p> + <p> + “Oh dear, no! Nobody would have believed you! It was her free confidence + to me. That was what made the affair so difficult to handle. For even her + bringing your dispatch to the division commander looked bad for you; and + you know he even doubted its authenticity.” + </p> + <p> + “Does she—does Miss Faulkner know the spy was my wife?” hesitated + Brant. + </p> + <p> + The President twisted himself in his chair, so as to regard Brant more + gravely with his deep-set eyes, and then thoughtfully rubbed his leg. + </p> + <p> + “Don't let us travel out of the record, General,” he said after a pause. + But as the color surged into Brant's cheek he raised his eyes to the + ceiling, and said, in half-humorous recollection,— + </p> + <p> + “No, I think THAT fact was first gathered from your other friend—Mr. + Hooker.” + </p> + <p> + “Hooker!” said Brant, indignantly; “did he come here?” + </p> + <p> + “Pray don't destroy my faith in Mr. Hooker, General,” said the President, + in half-weary, half-humorous deprecation. “Don't tell me that any of his + inventions are TRUE! Leave me at least that magnificent liar—the one + perfectly intelligible witness you have. For from the time that he first + appeared here with a grievance and a claim for a commission, he has been + an unspeakable joy to me and a convincing testimony to you. Other + witnesses have been partisans and prejudiced; Mr. Hooker was frankly true + to himself. How else should I have known of the care you took to disguise + yourself, save the honor of your uniform, and run the risk of being shot + as an unknown spy at your wife's side, except from his magnificent version + of HIS part in it? How else should I have known the story of your + discovery of the Californian conspiracy, except from his supreme portrayal + of it, with himself as the hero? No, you must not forget to thank Mr. + Hooker when you meet him. Miss Faulkner is at present more accessible; she + is calling on some members of my family in the next room. Shall I leave + you with her?” + </p> + <p> + Brant rose with a pale face and a quickly throbbing heart as the + President, glancing at the clock, untwisted himself from the chair, and + shook himself out full length, and rose gradually to his feet. + </p> + <p> + “Your wish for active service is granted, General Brant,” he said slowly, + “and you will at once rejoin your old division commander, who is now at + the head of the Tenth Army Corps. But,” he said, after a deliberate pause, + “there are certain rules and regulations of your service that even I + cannot, with decent respect to your department, override. You will, + therefore, understand that you cannot rejoin the army in your former + position.” + </p> + <p> + The slight flush that came to Brant's cheek quickly passed. And there was + only the unmistakable sparkle of renewed youth in his frank eyes as he + said— + </p> + <p> + “Let me go to the front again, Mr. President, and I care not HOW.” + </p> + <p> + The President smiled, and, laying his heavy hand on Brant's shoulder, + pushed him gently towards the door of the inner room. + </p> + <p> + “I was only about to say,” he added, as he opened the door, “that it would + be necessary for you to rejoin your promoted commander as a major-general. + And,” he continued, lifting his voice, as he gently pushed his guest into + the room, “he hasn't even thanked me for it, Miss Faulkner!” + </p> + <p> + The door closed behind him, and he stood for a moment dazed, and still + hearing the distant voice of the President, in the room he had just + quitted, now welcoming a new visitor. But the room before him, opening + into a conservatory, was empty, save for a single figure that turned, half + timidly, half mischievously, towards him. The same quick, sympathetic + glance was in both their faces; the same timid, happy look in both their + eyes. He moved quickly to her side. + </p> + <p> + “Then you knew that—that—woman was my wife?” he said, + hurriedly, as he grasped her hand. + </p> + <p> + She cast a half-appealing look at his face—a half-frightened one + around the room and at the open door beyond. + </p> + <p> + “Let us,” she said faintly, “go into the conservatory.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + It is but a few years ago that the veracious chronicler of these pages + moved with a wondering crowd of sightseers in the gardens of the White + House. The war cloud had long since lifted and vanished; the Potomac + flowed peacefully by and on to where once lay the broad plantation of a + great Confederate leader—now a national cemetery that had gathered + the soldier dead of both sections side by side in equal rest and honor—and + the great goddess once more looked down serenely from the dome of the + white Capitol. The chronicler's attention was attracted by an erect, + handsome soldierly-looking man, with a beard and moustache slightly + streaked with gray, pointing out the various objects of interest to a boy + of twelve or fourteen at his side. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; although, as I told you, this house belongs only to the President of + the United States and his family,” said the gentleman, smilingly, “in that + little conservatory I proposed to your mother.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! Clarence, how can you!” said the lady, reprovingly, “you know it was + LONG after that!” + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Clarence, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLARENCE *** + +***** This file should be named 2635-h.htm or 2635-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/3/2635/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Clarence + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 21, 2006 [EBook #2635] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLARENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson + + + + + +CLARENCE + + +By Bret Harte + + + + +PART I. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + + +As Clarence Brant, President of the Robles Land Company, and husband of +the rich widow of John Peyton, of the Robles Ranche, mingled with the +outgoing audience of the Cosmopolitan Theatre, at San Francisco, he +elicited the usual smiling nods and recognition due to his good +looks and good fortune. But as he hurriedly slipped through the still +lingering winter's rain into the smart coupe that was awaiting him, and +gave the order "Home," the word struck him with a peculiarly ironical +significance. His home was a handsome one, and lacked nothing in +appointment and comfort, but he had gone to the theatre to evade its +hollow loneliness. Nor was it because his wife was not there, for he had +a miserable consciousness that her temporary absence had nothing to do +with his homelessness. The distraction of the theatre over, that dull, +vague, but aching sense of loneliness which was daily growing upon him +returned with greater vigor. + +He leaned back in the coupe and gloomily reflected. + +He had been married scarcely a year, yet even in the illusions of +the honeymoon the woman, older than himself, and the widow of his old +patron, had half unconsciously reasserted herself, and slipped back +into the domination of her old position. It was at first pleasant +enough,--this half-maternal protectorate which is apt to mingle even +with the affections of younger women,--and Clarence, in his easy, +half-feminine intuition of the sex, yielded, as the strong are apt to +yield, through the very consciousness of their own superiority. But this +is a quality the weaker are not apt to recognize, and the woman who +has once tasted equal power with her husband not only does not easily +relegate it, but even makes its continuance a test of the affections. +The usual triumphant feminine conclusion, "Then you no longer love me," +had in Clarence's brief experience gone even further and reached its +inscrutable climax, "Then I no longer love you," although shown only in +a momentary hardening of the eye and voice. And added to this was his +sudden, but confused remembrance that he had seen that eye and heard +that voice in marital altercation during Judge Peyton's life, and that +he himself, her boy partisan, had sympathized with her. Yet, strange to +say, this had given him more pain than her occasional other reversions +to the past--to her old suspicious of him when he was a youthful protege +of her husband and a presumed suitor of her adopted daughter Susy. +High natures are more apt to forgive wrong done to themselves than any +abstract injustice. And her capricious tyranny over her dependents and +servants, or an unreasoning enmity to a neighbor or friend, outraged his +finer sense more than her own misconception of himself. Nor did he dream +that this was a thing most women seldom understand, or, understanding, +ever forgive. + +The coupe rattled over the stones or swirled through the muddy pools +of the main thoroughfares. Newspaper and telegraphic offices were still +brilliantly lit, and crowds were gathered among the bulletin boards. +He knew that news had arrived from Washington that evening of the first +active outbreaks of secession, and that the city was breathless with +excitement. Had he not just come from the theatre, where certain +insignificant allusions in the play had been suddenly caught up +and cheered or hissed by hitherto unknown partisans, to the dumb +astonishment of a majority of the audience comfortably settled to +money-getting and their own affairs alone? Had he not applauded, albeit +half-scornfully, the pretty actress--his old playmate Susy--who had +audaciously and all incongruously waved the American flag in their +faces? Yes! he had known it; had lived for the last few weeks in an +atmosphere electrically surcharged with it--and yet it had chiefly +affected him in his personal homelessness. For his wife was a +Southerner, a born slaveholder, and a secessionist, whose noted +prejudices to the North had even outrun her late husband's politics. At +first the piquancy and recklessness of her opinionative speech amused +him as part of her characteristic flavor, or as a lingering youthfulness +which the maturer intellect always pardons. He had never taken her +politics seriously--why should he? With her head on his shoulder he had +listened to her extravagant diatribes against the North. He had forgiven +her outrageous indictment of his caste and his associates for the sake +of the imperious but handsome lips that uttered it. But when he was +compelled to listen to her words echoed and repeated by her friends and +family; when he found that with the clannishness of her race she had +drawn closer to them in this controversy,--that she depended upon them +for her intelligence and information rather than upon him,--he had +awakened to the reality of his situation. He had borne the allusions +of her brother, whose old scorn for his dependent childhood had been +embittered by his sister's marriage and was now scarcely concealed. Yet, +while he had never altered his own political faith and social creed +in this antagonistic atmosphere, he had often wondered, with his old +conscientiousness and characteristic self-abnegation, whether his own +political convictions were not merely a revulsion from his domestic +tyranny and alien surroundings. + +In the midst of this gloomy retrospect the coupe stopped with a jerk +before his own house. The door was quickly opened by a servant, who +appeared to be awaiting him. + +"Some one to see you in the library, sir," said the man, "and"--He +hesitated and looked towards the coupe. + +"Well?" said Clarence impatiently. + +"He said, sir, as how you were not to send away the carriage." + +"Indeed, and who is it?" demanded Clarence sharply. + +"Mr. Hooker. He said I was to say Jim Hooker." + +The momentary annoyance in Clarence's face changed to a look of +reflective curiosity. + +"He said he knew you were at the theatre, and he would wait until you +came home," continued the man, dubiously watching his master's face. "He +don't know you've come in, sir, and--and I can easily get rid of him." + +"No matter now. I'll see him, and," added Clarence, with a faint smile, +"let the carriage wait." + +Yet, as he turned towards the library he was by no means certain that +an interview with the old associate of his boyhood under Judge Peyton's +guardianship would divert his mind. Yet he let no trace of his doubts +nor of his past gloom show in his face as he entered the room. + +Mr. Hooker was apparently examining the elegant furniture and luxurious +accommodation with his usual resentful enviousness. Clarence had got a +"soft thing." That it was more or less the result of his "artfulness," +and that he was unduly "puffed up" by it, was, in Hooker's +characteristic reasoning, equally clear. As his host smilingly advanced +with outstretched hand, Mr. Hooker's efforts to assume a proper +abstraction of manner and contemptuous indifference to Clarence's +surroundings which should wound his vanity ended in his lolling back at +full length in the chair with his eyes on the ceiling. But, remembering +suddenly that he was really the bearer of a message to Clarence, it +struck him that his supine position was, from a theatrical view-point, +infelicitous. In his experiences of the stage he had never delivered a +message in that way. He rose awkwardly to his feet. + +"It was so good of you to wait," said Clarence courteously. + +"Saw you in the theatre," said Hooker brusquely. "Third row in parquet. +Susy said it was you, and had suthin' to say to you. Suthin' you ought +to know," he continued, with a slight return of his old mystery of +manner which Clarence so well remembered. "You saw HER--she fetched the +house with that flag business, eh? She knows which way the cat is +going to jump, you bet. I tell you, for all the blowing of these +secessionists, the Union's goin' to pay! Yes, sir!" He stopped, glanced +round the handsome room, and added darkly, "Mebbee better than this." + +With the memory of Hooker's characteristic fondness for mystery still in +his mind, Clarence overlooked the innuendo, and said smilingly,-- + +"Why didn't you bring Mrs. Hooker here? I should have been honored with +her company." + +Mr. Hooker frowned slightly at this seeming levity. + +"Never goes out after a performance. Nervous exhaustion. Left her at our +rooms in Market Street. We can drive there in ten minutes. That's why I +asked to have the carriage wait." + +Clarence hesitated. Without caring in the least to renew the +acquaintance of his old playmate and sweetheart, a meeting that night +in some vague way suggested to him a providential diversion. Nor was he +deceived by any gravity in the message. With his remembrance of Susy's +theatrical tendencies, he was quite prepared for any capricious futile +extravagance. + +"You are sure we will not disturb her?" he said politely. + +"No." + +Clarence led the way to the carriage. If Mr. Hooker expected him during +the journey to try to divine the purport of Susy's message he was +disappointed. His companion did not allude to it. Possibly looking upon +it as a combined theatrical performance, Clarence preferred to wait for +Susy as the better actor. The carriage rolled rapidly through the now +deserted streets, and at last, under the directions of Mr. Hooker, +who was leaning half out of the window, it drew up at a middle-class +restaurant, above whose still lit and steaming windows were some +ostentatiously public apartments, accessible from a side entrance. As +they ascended the staircase together, it became evident that Mr. Hooker +was scarcely more at his ease in the character of host than he had been +as guest. He stared gloomily at a descending visitor, grunted audibly +at a waiter in the passage, and stopped before a door, where a recently +deposited tray displayed the half-eaten carcase of a fowl, an empty +champagne bottle, two half-filled glasses, and a faded bouquet. The +whole passage was redolent with a singular blending of damp cooking, +stale cigarette smoke, and patchouli. + +Putting the tray aside with his foot, Mr. Hooker opened the door +hesitatingly and peered into the room, muttered a few indistinct words, +which were followed by a rapid rustling of skirts, and then, with his +hand still on the door-knob, turning to Clarence, who had discreetly +halted on the threshold, flung the door open theatrically and bade him +enter. + +"She is somewhere in the suite," he added, with a large wave of the hand +towards a door that was still oscillating. "Be here in a minit." + +Clarence took in the apartment with a quiet glance. Its furniture had +the frayed and discolored splendors of a public parlor which had +been privately used and maltreated; there were stains in the large +medallioned carpet; the gilded veneer had been chipped from a heavy +centre table, showing the rough, white deal beneath, which gave it the +appearance of a stage "property;" the walls, paneled with gilt-framed +mirrors, reflected every domestic detail or private relaxation with +shameless publicity. A damp waterproof, shawl, and open newspaper were +lying across the once brilliant sofa; a powder-puff, a plate of fruit, +and a play-book were on the centre table, and on the marble-topped +sideboard was Mr. Hooker's second-best hat, with a soiled collar, +evidently but lately exchanged for the one he had on, peeping over its +brim. The whole apartment seemed to mingle the furtive disclosures of +the dressing-room with the open ostentations of the stage, with even a +slight suggestion of the auditorium in a few scattered programmes on the +floor and chairs. + +The inner door opened again with a slight theatrical start, and Susy, +in an elaborate dressing-gown, moved languidly into the room. She +apparently had not had time to change her underskirt, for there was the +dust of the stage on its delicate lace edging, as she threw herself into +an armchair and crossed her pretty slippered feet before her. Her face +was pale, its pallor incautiously increased by powder; and as Clarence +looked at its still youthful, charming outline, he was not perhaps +sorry that the exquisite pink and white skin beneath, which he had once +kissed, was hidden from that awakened recollection. Yet there was little +trace of the girlish Susy in the pretty, but prematurely jaded, actress +before him, and he felt momentarily relieved. It was her youth and +freshness appealing to his own youth and imagination that he had +loved--not HER. Yet as she greeted him with a slight exaggeration of +glance, voice, and manner, he remembered that even as a girl she was an +actress. + +Nothing of this, however, was in his voice and manner as he gently +thanked her for the opportunity of meeting her again. And he was frank, +for the diversion he had expected he had found; he even was conscious of +thinking more kindly of his wife who had supplanted her. + +"I told Jim he must fetch you if he had to carry you," she said, +striking the palm of her hand with her fan, and glancing at her husband. +"I reckon he guessed WHY, though I didn't tell him--I don't tell Jim +EVERYTHING." + +Here Jim rose, and looking at his watch, "guessed he'd run over to the +Lick House and get some cigars." If he was acting upon some hint from +his wife, his simulation was so badly done that Clarence felt his +first sense of uneasiness. But as Hooker closed the door awkwardly and +unostentatiously behind him, Clarence smilingly said he had waited to +hear the message from her own lips. + +"Jim only knows what he's heard outside: the talk of men, you know,--and +he hears a good deal of that--more, perhaps, than YOU do. It was that +which put me up to finding out the truth. And I didn't rest till I did. +I'm not to be fooled, Clarence,--you don't mind my calling you Clarence +now we're both married and done for,--and I'm not the kind to be fooled +by anybody from the Cow counties--and that's the Robles Ranche. I'm a +Southern woman myself from Missouri, but I'm for the Union first, last, +and all the time, and I call myself a match for any lazy, dawdling, +lash-swinging slaveholder and slaveholderess--whether they're mixed +blood, Heaven only knows, or what--or their friends or relations, or +the dirty half-Spanish grandees and their mixed half-nigger peons who +truckle to them. You bet!" + +His blood had stirred quickly at the mention of the Robles Ranche, +but the rest of Susy's speech was too much in the vein of her old +extravagance to touch him seriously. He found himself only considering +how strange it was that the old petulance and impulsiveness of her +girlhood were actually bringing back with them her pink cheeks and +brilliant eyes. + +"You surely didn't ask Jim to bring me here," he said smilingly, "to +tell me that Mrs. Peyton"--he corrected himself hastily as a malicious +sparkle came into Susy's blue eyes--"that my wife was a Southern woman, +and probably sympathized with her class? Well, I don't know that I +should blame her for that any more than she should blame me for being a +Northern man and a Unionist." + +"And she doesn't blame you?" asked Susy sneeringly. + +The color came slightly to Clarence's cheek, but before he could reply +the actress added,-- + +"No, she prefers to use you!" + +"I don't think I understand you," said Clarence, rising coldly. + +"No, you don't understand HER!" retorted Susy sharply. "Look here, +Clarence Brant, you're right; I didn't ask you here to tell you--what +you and everybody knows--that your wife is a Southerner. I didn't ask +you here to tell you what everybody suspects--that she turns you round +her little finger. But I did ask you here to tell you what nobody, +not even you, suspects--but what I know!--and that is that she's a +TRAITOR--and more, a SPY!--and that I've only got to say the word, +or send that man Jim to say the word, to have her dragged out of her +Copperhead den at Robles Ranche and shut up in Fort Alcatraz this very +night!" + +Still with the pink glowing in her rounding cheek, and eyes snapping +like splintered sapphires, she rose to her feet, with her pretty +shoulders lifted, her small hands and white teeth both tightly +clenched, and took a step towards him. Even in her attitude there was a +reminiscence of her willful childhood, although still blended with +the provincial actress whom he had seen on the stage only an hour ago. +Thoroughly alarmed at her threat, in his efforts to conceal his feelings +he was not above a weak retaliation. Stepping back, he affected to +regard her with a critical admiration that was only half simulated, and +said with a smile,-- + +"Very well done--but you have forgotten the flag." + +She did not flinch. Rather accepting the sarcasm as a tribute to her +art, she went on with increasing exaggeration: "No, it is YOU who +have forgotten the flag--forgotten your country, your people, your +manhood--everything for that high-toned, double-dyed old spy and +traitress! For while you are standing here, your wife is gathering under +her roof at Robles a gang of spies and traitors like herself--secession +leaders and their bloated, drunken 'chivalry'! Yes, you may smile your +superior smile, but I tell you, Clarence Brant, that with all your +smartness and book learning you know no more of what goes on around you +than a child. But others do! This conspiracy is known to the government, +the Federal officers have been warned; General Sumner has been sent out +here--and his first act was to change the command at Fort Alcatraz, and +send your wife's Southern friend--Captain Pinckney--to the right about! +Yes--everything is known but ONE thing, and that is WHERE and HOW this +precious crew meet! That I alone know, and that I've told you!" + +"And I suppose," said Clarence, with an unchanged smile, "that this +valuable information came from your husband--my old friend, Jim Hooker?" + +"No," she answered sharply, "it comes from Cencho--one of your own +peons--who is more true to you and the old Rancho than YOU have ever +been. He saw what was going on, and came to me, to warn you!" + +"But why not to me directly?" asked Clarence, with affected incredulity. + +"Ask him!" she said viciously. "Perhaps he didn't want to warn the +master against the mistress. Perhaps he thought WE are still friends. +Perhaps"--she hesitated with a lower voice and a forced smile--"perhaps +he used to see us together in the old times." + +"Very likely," said Clarence quietly. "And for the sake of those old +times, Susy," he went on, with a singular gentleness that was quite +distinct from his paling face and set eyes, "I am going to forget all +that you have just said of me and mine, in all the old willfulness and +impatience that I see you still keep--with all your old prettiness." He +took his hat from the table and gravely held out his hand. + +She was frightened for a moment with his impassive abstraction. In +the old days she had known it--had believed it was his dogged +"obstinacy"--but she knew the hopelessness of opposing it. Yet with +feminine persistency she again threw herself against it, as against a +wall. + +"You don't believe me! Well, go and see for yourself. They are at Robles +NOW. If you catch the early morning stage at Santa Clara you will come +upon them before they disperse. Dare you try it?" + +"Whatever I do," he returned smilingly, "I shall always be grateful to +you for giving me this opportunity of seeing you again AS YOU WERE. Make +my excuses to your husband. Good-night." + +"Clarence!" + +But he had already closed the door behind him. His face did not relax +its expression nor change as he looked again at the tray with its broken +viands before the door, the worn, stained hall carpet, or the waiter who +shuffled past him. He was apparently as critically conscious of them and +of the close odors of the hall, and the atmosphere of listless decay and +faded extravagance around him, as before the interview. But if the woman +he had just parted from had watched him she would have supposed he still +utterly disbelieved her story. Yet he was conscious that all that he saw +was a part of his degradation, for he had believed every word she had +uttered. Through all her extravagance, envy, and revengefulness he saw +the central truth--that he had been deceived--not by his wife, but by +himself! He had suspected all this before. This was what had been really +troubling him--this was what he had put aside, rather than his faith, +not in her, but in his ideal. He remembered letters that had passed +between her and Captain Pinckney--letters that she had openly sent to +notorious Southern leaders; her nervous anxiety to remain at the Rancho; +the innuendoes and significant glances of friends which he had put +aside--as he had this woman's message! Susy had told him nothing new of +his wife--but the truth of HIMSELF! And the revelation came from people +who he was conscious were the inferiors of himself and his wife. To an +independent, proud, and self-made man it was the culminating stroke. + +In the same abstracted voice he told the coachman to drive home. The +return seemed interminable--though he never shifted his position. Yet +when he drew up at his own door and looked at his watch he found he +had been absent only half an hour. Only half an hour! As he entered the +house he turned with the same abstraction towards a mirror in the hall, +as if he expected to see some outward and visible change in himself +in that time. Dismissing his servants to bed, he went into his +dressing-room, completely changed his attire, put on a pair of long +riding-boots, and throwing a serape over his shoulders, paused a moment, +took a pair of small "Derringer" pistols from a box, put them in his +pockets, and then slipped cautiously down the staircase. A lack of +confidence in his own domestics had invaded him for the first time. The +lights were out. He silently opened the door and was in the street. + +He walked hastily a few squares to a livery stable whose proprietor he +knew. His first inquiry was for one "Redskin," a particular horse; the +second for its proprietor. Happily both were in. The proprietor asked no +question of a customer of Clarence's condition. The horse, half Spanish, +powerful and irascible, was quickly saddled. As Clarence mounted, the +man in an impulse of sociability said,-- + +"Saw you at the theatre to-night, sir." + +"Ah," returned Clarence, quietly gathering up the reins. + +"Rather a smart trick of that woman with the flag," he went on +tentatively. Then, with a possible doubt of his customer's politics, he +added with a forced smile, "I reckon it's all party fuss, though; there +ain't any real danger." + +But fast as Clarence might ride the words lingered in his ears. He saw +through the man's hesitation; he, too, had probably heard that Clarence +Brant weakly sympathized with his wife's sentiments, and dared not speak +fully. And he understood the cowardly suggestion that there was "no real +danger." It had been Clarence's one fallacy. He had believed the public +excitement was only a temporary outbreak of partisan feeling, soon to +subside. Even now he was conscious that he was less doubtful of the +integrity of the Union than of his own household. It was not the +devotion of the patriot, but the indignation of an outraged husband, +that was spurring him on. + +He knew that if he reached Woodville by five o'clock he could get +ferried across the bay at the Embarcadero, and catch the down coach to +Fair Plains, whence he could ride to the Rancho. As the coach did not +connect directly with San Francisco, the chance of his surprising them +was greater. Once clear of the city outskirts, he bullied Redskin into +irascible speed, and plunged into the rainy darkness of the highroad. +The way was familiar. For a while he was content to feel the buffeting, +caused by his rapid pace, of wind and rain against his depressed head +and shoulders in a sheer brutal sense of opposition and power, or to +relieve his pent-up excitement by dashing through overflowed gullies in +the road or across the quaggy, sodden edges of meadowland, until he had +controlled Redskin's rebellious extravagance into a long steady stride. +Then he raised his head and straightened himself on the saddle, to +think. But to no purpose. He had no plan; everything would depend +upon the situation; the thought of forestalling any action of the +conspirators, by warning or calling in the aid of the authorities, for +an instant crossed his mind, but was as instantly dismissed. He had but +an instinct--to see with his own eyes what his reason told him was true. +Day was breaking through drifting scud and pewter-colored clouds as he +reached Woodville ferry, checkered with splashes of the soil and the +spume of his horse, from whose neck and flanks the sweat rolled like +lather. Yet he was not conscious how intent had been his purpose until +he felt a sudden instinctive shock on seeing that the ferryboat was +gone. For an instant his wonderful self-possession abandoned him; he +could only gaze vacantly at the leaden-colored bay, without a thought or +expedient. But in another moment he saw that the boat was returning from +the distance. Had he lost his only chance? He glanced hurriedly at his +watch; he had come more quickly than he imagined; there would still +be time. He beckoned impatiently to the ferryman; the boat--a ship's +pinnace, with two men in it--crept in with exasperating slowness. At +last the two rowers suddenly leaped ashore. + +"Ye might have come before, with the other passenger. We don't reckon to +run lightnin' trips on this ferry." + +But Clarence was himself again. "Twenty dollars for two more oars in +that boat," he said quietly, "and fifty if you get me over in time to +catch the down stage." + +The man glanced at Clarence's eyes. "Run up and rouse out Jake and +Sam," he said to the other boatman; then more leisurely, gazing at his +customer's travel-stained equipment, he said, "There must have been a +heap o' passengers got left by last night's boat. You're the second man +that took this route in a hurry." + +At any other time the coincidence might have struck Clarence. But he +only answered curtly, "Unless we are under way in ten minutes you will +find I am NOT the second man, and that our bargain's off." + +But here two men emerged from the shanty beside the ferryhouse, and +tumbled sleepily into the boat. Clarence seized an extra pair of sculls +that were standing against the shed, and threw them into the stern. "I +don't mind taking a hand myself for exercise," he said quietly. + +The ferryman glanced again at Clarence's travel-worn figure and +determined eyes with mingled approval and surprise. He lingered a moment +with his oars lifted, looking at his passenger. "It ain't no business o' +mine, young man," he said deliberately, "but I reckon you understand me +when I say that I've just taken another man over there." + +"I do," said Clarence impatiently. + +"And you still want to go?" + +"Certainly," replied Clarence, with a cold stare, taking up his oars. + +The man shrugged his shoulders, bent himself for the stroke, and the +boat sprung forward. The others rowed strongly and rapidly, the tough +ashen blades springing like steel from the water, the heavy boat seeming +to leap in successive bounds until they were fairly beyond the curving +inshore current and clearing the placid, misty surface of the bay. +Clarence did not speak, but bent abstractedly over his oar; the ferryman +and his crew rowed in equal panting silence; a few startled ducks +whirred before them, but dropped again to rest. In half an hour they +were at the Embarcadero. The time was fairly up. Clarence's eyes were +eagerly bent for the first appearance of the stage-coach around the +little promontory; the ferryman was as eagerly scanning the bare, empty +street of the still sleeping settlement. + +"I don't see him anywhere," said the ferryman with a glance, half of +astonishment and half of curiosity, at his solitary passenger. + +"See whom?" asked Clarence carelessly, as he handed the man his promised +fee. + +"The other man I ferried over to catch the stage. He must have gone on +without waiting. You're in luck, young fellow!" + +"I don't understand you," said Clarence impatiently. "What has your +previous passenger to do with me?" + +"Well, I reckon you know best. He's the kind of man, gin'rally speaking, +that other men, in a pow'ful hurry, don't care to meet--and, az a rule, +don't FOLLER arter. It's gin'rally the other way." + +"What do you mean?" inquired Clarence sternly. "Of whom are you +speaking?" + +"The Chief of Police of San Francisco!" + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The laugh that instinctively broke from Clarence's lips was so sincere +and unaffected that the man was disconcerted, and at last joined in +it, a little shamefacedly. The grotesque blunder of being taken as +a fugitive from justice relieved Clarence's mind from its acute +tension,--he was momentarily diverted,--and it was not until the +boatman had departed, and he was again alone, that it seemed to have any +collateral significance. Then an uneasy recollection of Susy's threat +that she had the power to put his wife in Fort Alcatraz came across him. +Could she have already warned the municipal authorities and this man? +But he quickly remembered that any action from such a warning could +only have been taken by the United States Marshal, and not by a civic +official, and dismissed the idea. + +Nevertheless, when the stage with its half-spent lamps still burning +dimly against the morning light swept round the curve and rolled heavily +up to the rude shanty which served as coach-office, he became watchful. +A single yawning individual in its doorway received a few letters and +parcels, but Clarence was evidently the ONLY waiting passenger. Any hope +that he might have entertained that his mysterious predecessor would +emerge from some seclusion at that moment was disappointed. As he +entered the coach he made a rapid survey of his fellow-travelers, but +satisfied himself that the stranger was not among them. They were +mainly small traders or farmers, a miner or two, and apparently +a Spanish-American of better degree and personality. Possibly the +circumstance that men of this class usually preferred to travel on +horseback and were rarely seen in public conveyances attracted his +attention, and their eyes met more than once in mutual curiosity. +Presently Clarence addressed a remark to the stranger in Spanish; he +replied fluently and courteously, but at the next stopping-place he +asked a question of the expressman in an unmistakable Missouri accent. +Clarence's curiosity was satisfied; he was evidently one of those early +American settlers who had been so long domiciled in Southern California +as to adopt the speech as well as the habiliments of the Spaniard. + +The conversation fell upon the political news of the previous night, or +rather seemed to be lazily continued from some previous, more excited +discussion, in which one of the contestants--a red-bearded miner--had +subsided into an occasional growl of surly dissent. It struck Clarence +that the Missourian had been an amused auditor and even, judging from a +twinkle in his eye, a mischievous instigator of the controversy. He +was not surprised, therefore, when the man turned to him with a certain +courtesy and said,-- + +"And what, sir, is the political feeling in YOUR district?" + +But Clarence was in no mood to be drawn out, and replied, almost curtly, +that as he had come only from San Francisco, they were probably as well +informed on that subject as himself. A quick and searching glance from +the stranger's eye made him regret his answer, but in the silence that +ensued the red-bearded miner, evidently still rankling at heart, saw +his opportunity. Slapping his huge hands on his knees, and leaning far +forward until he seemed to plunge his flaming beard, like a firebrand, +into the controversy, he said grimly,-- + +"Well, I kin tell you, gen'l'men, THIS. It ain't goin' to be no matter +wot's the POLITICAL FEELING here or thar--it ain't goin' to be no matter +wot's the State's rights and wot's Fed'ral rights--it ain't goin' to +be no question whether the gov'ment's got the right to relieve its own +soldiers that those Secesh is besieging in Fort Sumter or whether they +haven't--but the first gun that's fired at the flag blows the chains +off every d--n nigger south of Mason and Dixon's line! You hear me! +I'm shoutin'! And whether you call yourselves 'Secesh' or 'Union' or +'Copperhead' or 'Peace men,' you've got to face it!" + +There was an angry start in one or two of the seats; one man caught +at the swinging side-strap and half rose, a husky voice began, "It's a +d----d"--and then all as suddenly subsided. Every eye was turned to an +insignificant figure in the back seat. It was a woman, holding a +child on her lap, and gazing out of the window with her sex's profound +unconcern in politics. Clarence understood the rude chivalry of the road +well enough to comprehend that this unconscious but omnipotent figure +had more than once that day controlled the passions of the disputants. +They dropped back weakly to their seats, and their mutterings rolled off +in the rattle of the wheels. Clarence glanced at the Missourian; he was +regarding the red-bearded miner with a singular curiosity. + +The rain had ceased, but the afternoon shadows were deepening when they +at last reached Fair Plains, where Clarence expected to take horse to +the Rancho. He was astonished, however, to learn that all the horses in +the stable were engaged, but remembering that some of his own stock were +in pasturage with a tenant at Fair Plains, and that he should probably +have a better selection, he turned his steps thither. Passing out of +the stable-yard he recognized the Missourian's voice in whispered +conversation with the proprietor, but the two men withdrew into the +shadow as he approached. An ill-defined uneasiness came over him; he +knew the proprietor, who also seemed to know the Missourian, and this +evident avoidance of him was significant. Perhaps his reputation as a +doubtful Unionist had preceded him, but this would not account for their +conduct in a district so strongly Southern in sympathy as Fair Plains. +More impressed by the occurrence than he cared to admit, when at last, +after some delay, he had secured his horse, and was once more in the +saddle, he kept a sharp lookout for his quondam companion. But here +another circumstance added to his suspicions: there was a main road +leading to Santa Inez, the next town, and the Rancho, and this Clarence +had purposely taken in order to watch the Missourian; but there was +also a cutoff directly to the Rancho, known only to the habitues of the +Rancho. After a few moments' rapid riding on a mustang much superior to +any in the hotel stables, he was satisfied that the stranger must +have taken the cut-off. Putting spurs to his horse he trusted still to +precede him to the Rancho--if that were his destination. + +As he dashed along the familiar road, by a strange perversity of fancy, +instead of thinking of his purpose, he found himself recalling the first +time he had ridden that way in the flush of his youth and hopefulness. +The girl-sweetheart he was then going to rejoin was now the wife of +another; the woman who had been her guardian was now his own wife. He +had accepted without a pang the young girl's dereliction, but it was +through her revelation that he was now about to confront the dereliction +of his own wife. And this was the reward of his youthful trust and +loyalty! A bitter laugh broke from his lips. It was part of his still +youthful self-delusion that he believed himself wiser and stronger for +it. + +It was quite dark when he reached the upper field or first terrace of +the Rancho. He could see the white walls of the casa rising dimly out of +the green sea of early wild grasses, like a phantom island. It was here +that the cut-off joined the main road--now the only one that led to the +casa. He was satisfied that no one could have preceded him from Fair +Plains; but it was true that he must take precautions against his +own discovery. Dismounting near a clump of willows, he unsaddled and +unbridled his horse, and with a cut of the riata over its haunches +sent it flying across the field in the direction of a band of feeding +mustangs, which it presently joined. Then, keeping well in the shadow of +a belt of shrub-oaks, he skirted the long lesser terraces of the casa, +intending to approach the house by way of the old garden and corral. +A drizzling rain, occasionally driven by the wind into long, misty, +curtain-like waves, obscured the prospect and favored his design. He +reached the low adobe wall of the corral in safety; looking over he +could detect, in spite of the darkness, that a number of the horses +were of alien brands, and even recognized one or two from the Santa Inez +district. The vague outline of buggies and carryalls filled the long +shed beside the stables. There WAS company at the casa--so far Susy was +right! + +Nevertheless, lingering still by the wall of the old garden for the +deepening of night, his nervous feverishness was again invaded and +benumbed by sullen memories. There was the opening left by the old +grille in the wall, behind which Mrs. Peyton stood on the morning when +he thought he was leaving the ranch forever; where he had first clasped +her in his arms, and stayed. A turn of the head, a moment's indecision, +a single glance of a languorous eye, had brought this culmination. And +now he stood again before that ruined grille, his house and lands, even +his NAME, misused by a mad, scheming enthusiast, and himself a creeping +spy of his own dishonor! He turned with a bitter smile again to the +garden. A few dark red Castilian roses still leaned forward and swayed +in the wind with dripping leaves. It was here that the first morning of +his arrival he had kissed Susy; the perfume and color of her pink skin +came back to him with a sudden shock as he stood there; he caught at a +flower, drew it towards him, inhaled its odor in a long breath that left +him faint and leaning against the wall. Then again he smiled, but this +time more wickedly--in what he believed his cynicism had sprung up the +first instinct of revenge! + +It was now dark enough for him to venture across the carriage road and +make his way to the rear of the house. His first characteristic instinct +had been to enter openly at his own front gate, but the terrible +temptation to overhear and watch the conspiracy unobserved--that +fascination common to deceived humanity to witness its own shame--had +now grown upon him. He knew that a word or gesture of explanation, +apology, appeal, or even terror from his wife would check his rage and +weaken his purpose. His perfect knowledge of the house and the security +of its inmates would enable him from some obscure landing or gallery +to participate in any secret conclave they might hold in the patio--the +only place suitable for so numerous a rendezvous. The absence of light +in the few external windows pointed to this central gathering. And he +had already conceived his plan of entrance. + +Gaining the rear wall of the casa he began cautiously to skirt its +brambly base until he had reached a long, oven-like window half +obliterated by a monstrous passion vine. It was the window of what had +once been Mrs. Peyton's boudoir; the window by which he had once forced +an entrance to the house when it was in the hands of squatters, the +window from which Susy had signaled her Spanish lover, the window whose +grating had broken the neck of Judge Peyton's presumed assassin. But +these recollections no longer delayed him; the moment for action had +arrived. He knew that since the tragedy the boudoir had been dismantled +and shunned; the servants believed it to be haunted by the assassin's +ghost. With the aid of the passion vine the ingress was easy; the +interior window was open; the rustle of dead leaves on the bare floor as +he entered, and the whir of a frightened bird by his ear, told the story +of its desolation and the source of the strange noises that had been +heard there. The door leading to the corridor was lightly bolted, merely +to keep it from rattling in the wind. Slipping the bolt with the blade +of his pocket-knife he peered into the dark passage. The light streaming +under a door to the left, and the sound of voices, convinced him that +his conjecture was right, and the meeting was gathered on the broad +balconies around the patio. He knew that a narrow gallery, faced with +Venetian blinds to exclude the sun, looked down upon them. He managed to +gain it without discovery; luckily the blinds were still down; between +their slats, himself invisible, he could hear and see everything that +occurred. + +Yet even at this supreme moment the first thing that struck him was the +almost ludicrous contrast between the appearance of the meeting and +its tremendous object. Whether he was influenced by any previous boyish +conception of a clouded and gloomy conspiracy he did not know, but +he was for an instant almost disconcerted by the apparent levity and +festivity of the conclave. Decanters and glasses stood on small tables +before them; nearly all were drinking and smoking. They comprised +fifteen or twenty men, some of whose faces were familiar to him +elsewhere as Southern politicians; a few, he was shocked to see, were +well-known Northern Democrats. Occupying a characteristically central +position was the famous Colonel Starbottle, of Virginia. Jaunty and +youthful-looking in his mask-like, beardless face, expansive and +dignified in his middle-aged port and carriage, he alone retained some +of the importance--albeit slightly theatrical and affected--of the +occasion. Clarence in his first hurried glance had not observed his +wife, and for a moment had felt relieved; but as Colonel Starbottle +arose at that moment, and with a studiously chivalrous and courtly +manner turned to his right, he saw that she was sitting at the further +end of the balcony, and that a man whom he recognized as Captain +Pinckney was standing beside her. The blood quickly tightened around his +heart, but left him cold and observant. + +"It was seldom, indeed," remarked Colonel Starbottle, placing his fat +fingers in the frill of his shirt front, "that a movement like this +was graced with the actual presence of a lofty, inspiring, yet delicate +spirit--a Boadicea--indeed, he might say a Joan of Arc--in the person +of their charming hostess, Mrs. Brant. Not only were they favored by her +social and hospitable ministration, but by her active and enthusiastic +cooperation in the glorious work they had in hand. It was through +her correspondence and earnest advocacy that they were to be favored +to-night with the aid and counsel of one of the most distinguished and +powerful men in the Southern district of California, Judge Beeswinger, +of Los Angeles. He had not the honor of that gentleman's personal +acquaintance; he believed he was not far wrong in saying that this was +also the misfortune of every gentleman present; but the name itself +was a tower of strength. He would go further, and say that Mrs. Brant +herself was personally unacquainted with him, but it was through the +fervor, poetry, grace, and genius of her correspondence with that +gentleman that they were to have the honor of his presence that very +evening. It was understood that advices had been received of his +departure, and that he might be expected at Robles at any moment." + +"But what proof have we of Judge Beeswinger's soundness?" said a lazy +Southern voice at the conclusion of Colonel Starbottle's periods. +"Nobody here seems to know him by sight: is it not risky to admit a man +to our meeting whom we are unable to identify?" + +"I reckon nobody but a fool or some prying mudsill of a Yankee would +trust his skin here," returned another; "and if he did we'd know what to +do with him." + +But Clarence's attention was riveted on his wife, and the significant +speech passed him as unheeded as had the colonel's rhetoric. She was +looking very handsome and slightly flushed, with a proud light in her +eyes that he had never seen before. Absorbed in the discussion, she +seemed to be paying little attention to Captain Pinckney as she rose +suddenly to her feet. + +"Judge Beeswinger will be attended here by Mr. MacNiel, of the Fair +Plains Hotel, who will vouch for him and introduce him," she said in +a clear voice, which rang with an imperiousness that Clarence well +remembered. "The judge was to arrive by the coach from Martinez to Fair +Plains, and is due now." + +"Is there no GENTLEMAN to introduce him? Must we take him on the word +of a common trader--by Jove! a whiskey-seller?" continued the previous +voice sneeringly. + +"On the word of a lady, Mr. Brooks," said Captain Pinckney, with a +slight gesture towards Mrs. Brant--"who answers for both." + +Clarence had started slightly at his wife's voice and the information +it conveyed. His fellow-passenger, and the confidant of MacNiel, was +the man they were expecting! If they had recognized him, Clarence, would +they not warn the company of his proximity? He held his breath as the +sound of voices came from the outer gate of the courtyard. Mrs. Brant +rose; at the same moment the gate swung open, and a man entered. It WAS +the Missourian. + +He turned with old-fashioned courtesy to the single woman standing on +the balcony. + +"My fair correspondent, I believe! I am Judge Beeswinger. Your agent, +MacNiel, passed me through your guards at the gate, but I did not deem +it advisable to bring him into this assembly of gentlemen without your +further consideration. I trust I was right." + +The quiet dignity and self-possession, the quaint, old-fashioned +colonial precision of speech, modified by a soft Virginian intonation, +and, above all, some singular individuality of the man himself, produced +a profound sensation, and seemed to suddenly give the gathering an +impressiveness it had lacked before. For an instant Clarence forgot +himself and his personal wrongs in the shock of indignation he felt at +this potent addition to the ranks of his enemies. He saw his wife's eyes +sparkle with pride over her acquisition, and noticed that Pinckney cast +a disturbed glance at the newcomer. + +The stranger ascended the few steps to the balcony and took Mrs. Brant's +hand with profound courtesy. "Introduce me to my colleagues--distinctly +and separately. It behooves a man at such a moment to know to whom he +entrusts his life and honor, and the life and honor of his cause." + +It was evidently no mere formal courtesy to the stranger. As he stepped +forward along the balcony, and under Mrs. Brant's graceful guidance was +introduced to each of the members, he not only listened with scrupulous +care and attention to the name and profession of each man, but bent +upon him a clear, searching glance that seemed to photograph him in his +memory. With two exceptions. He passed Colonel Starbottle's expanding +shirt frill with a bow of elaborate precision, and said, "Colonel +Starbottle's fame requires neither introduction nor explanation." He +stopped before Captain Pinckney and paused. + +"An officer of the United States army, I believe, sir?" + +"Yes." + +"Educated at West Point, I think, by the government, to whom you have +taken the oath of allegiance?" + +"Yes." + +"Very good, sir," said the stranger, turning away. + +"You have forgotten one other fact, sir," said Pinckney, with a slightly +supercilious air. + +"Indeed! What is it?" + +"I am, first of all, a native of the State of South Carolina!" + +A murmur of applause and approval ran round the balcony. Captain +Pinckney smiled and exchanged glances with Mrs. Brant, but the stranger +quietly returned to the central table beside Colonel Starbottle. "I am +not only an unexpected delegate to this august assembly, gentlemen," he +began gravely, "but I am the bearer of perhaps equally unexpected news. +By my position in the Southern district I am in possession of dispatches +received only this morning by pony express. Fort Sumter has been +besieged. The United States flag, carrying relief to the beleaguered +garrison, has been fired upon by the State of South Carolina." + +A burst of almost hysteric applause and enthusiasm broke from the +assembly, and made the dim, vault-like passages and corridors of the +casa ring. Cheer after cheer went up to the veiled gallery and the misty +sky beyond. Men mounted on the tables and waved their hands frantically, +and in the midst of this bewildering turbulence of sound and motion +Clarence saw his wife mounted on a chair, with burning cheeks and +flashing eyes, waving her handkerchief like an inspired priestess. Only +the stranger, still standing beside Colonel Starbottle, remained unmoved +and impassive. Then, with an imperative gesture, he demanded a sudden +silence. + +"Convincing and unanimous as this demonstration is, gentlemen," he began +quietly, "it is my duty, nevertheless, to ask you if you have seriously +considered the meaning of the news I have brought. It is my duty to +tell you that it means civil war. It means the clash of arms between two +sections of a mighty country; it means the disruption of friends, the +breaking of family ties, the separation of fathers and sons, of brothers +and sisters--even, perhaps, to the disseverment of husband and wife!" + +"It means the sovereignty of the South--and the breaking of a covenant +with lowborn traders and abolitionists," said Captain Pinckney. + +"If there are any gentlemen present," continued the stranger, without +heeding the interruption, "who have pledged this State to the support +of the South in this emergency, or to the establishment of a Pacific +republic in aid and sympathy with it, whose names are on this paper"--he +lifted a sheet of paper lying before Colonel Starbottle--"but who now +feel that the gravity of the news demands a more serious consideration +of the purpose, they are at liberty to withdraw from the meeting, giving +their honor, as Southern gentlemen, to keep the secret intact." + +"Not if I know it," interrupted a stalwart Kentuckian, as he rose to his +feet and strode down the steps to the patio. "For," he added, placing +his back against the gateway, "I'll shoot the first coward that backs +out now." + +A roar of laughter and approval followed, but was silenced again by the +quiet, unimpassioned voice of the stranger. "If, on the other hand," he +went on calmly, "you all feel that this news is the fitting culmination +and consecration of the hopes, wishes, and plans of this meeting, you +will assert it again, over your own signatures, to Colonel Starbottle at +this table." + +When the Kentuckian had risen, Clarence had started from his +concealment; when he now saw the eager figures pressing forward to the +table he hesitated no longer. Slipping along the passage, he reached +the staircase which led to the corridor in the rear of the balcony. +Descending this rapidly, he not only came upon the backs of the excited +crowd around the table, but even elbowed one of the conspirators aside +without being noticed. His wife, who had risen from her chair at the +end of the balcony, was already moving towards the table. With a quick +movement he seized her wrist, and threw her back in the chair again. +A cry broke from her lips as she recognized him, but still holding her +wrist, he stepped quickly between her and the astonished crowd. There +was a moment of silence, then the cry of "Spy!" and "Seize him!" rose +quickly, but above all the voice and figure of the Missourian was heard +commanding them to stand back. Turning to Clarence, he said quietly,-- + +"I should know your face, sir. Who are you?" + +"The husband of this woman and the master of this house," said Clarence +as quietly, but in a voice he hardly recognized as his own. + +"Stand aside from her, then--unless you are hoping that her danger may +protect YOU!" said the Kentuckian, significantly drawing his revolver. + +But Mrs. Brant sprang suddenly to her feet beside Clarence. + +"We are neither of us cowards, Mr. Brooks--though he speaks the +truth--and--more shame to me"--she added, with a look of savage scorn at +Clarence--"IS MY HUSBAND!" + +"What is your purpose in coming here?" continued Judge Beeswinger, with +his eyes fixed on Clarence. + +"I have given you all the information," said Clarence quietly, "that +is necessary to make you, as a gentleman, leave this house at once--and +that is my purpose. It is all the information you will get from me +as long as you and your friends insult my roof with your uninvited +presence. What I may have to say to you and each of you hereafter--what +I may choose to demand of you, according to your own code of honor,"--he +fixed his eyes on Captain Pinckney's,--"is another question, and one not +usually discussed before a lady." + +"Pardon me. A moment--a single moment." + +It was the voice of Colonel Starbottle; it was the frilled shirt front, +the lightly buttoned blue coat with its expanding lapels, like bursting +petals, and the smiling mask of that gentleman rising above the table +and bowing to Clarence Brant and his wife with infinite courtesy. +"The--er--humiliating situation in which we find ourselves, +gentlemen,--the reluctant witnesses of--er--what we trust is only +a temporary disagreement between our charming hostess and +the--er--gentleman whom she recognized under the highest title to +our consideration,--is distressing to us all, and would seem to amply +justify that gentleman's claims to a personal satisfaction, which I +know we would all delight to give. But that situation rests upon the +supposition that our gathering here was of a purely social or festive +nature! It may be," continued the colonel with a blandly reflective +air, "that the spectacle of these decanters and glasses, and the nectar +furnished us by our Hebe-like hostess" (he lifted a glass of whiskey and +water to his lips while he bowed to Mrs. Brant gracefully), "has led +the gentleman to such a deduction. But when I suggest to him that our +meeting was of a business, or private nature, it strikes me that the +question of intrusion may be fairly divided between him and ourselves. +We may be even justified, in view of that privacy, in asking him if +his--er--entrance to this house was--er--coincident with his appearance +among us." + +"With my front door in possession of strangers," said Clarence, more in +reply to a sudden contemptuous glance from his wife than Starbottle's +insinuation, "I entered the house through the window." + +"Of my boudoir, where another intruder once broke his neck," interrupted +his wife with a mocking laugh. + +"Where I once helped this lady to regain possession of her house when +it was held by another party of illegal trespassers, who, however, were +content to call themselves 'jumpers,' and did not claim the privacy of +gentlemen." + +"Do you mean to imply, sir," began Colonel Starbottle haughtily, +"that"-- + +"I mean to imply, sir," said Clarence with quiet scorn, "that I have +neither the wish to know nor the slightest concern in any purpose that +brought you here, and that when you quit the house you take your secrets +and your privacy with you intact, without let or hindrance from me." + +"Do you mean to say, Mr. Brant," said Judge Beeswinger, suppressing the +angry interruption of his fellows with a dominant wave of his hand, as +he fixed his eyes on Clarence keenly, "that you have no sympathy with +your wife's political sentiments?" + +"I have already given you the information necessary to make you quit +this house, and that is all you have a right to know," returned Clarence +with folded arms. + +"But I can answer for him," said Mrs. Brant, rising, with a quivering +voice and curling lip. "There IS no sympathy between us. We are as far +apart as the poles. We have nothing in common but this house and his +name." + +"But you are husband and wife, bound together by a sacred compact." + +"A compact!" echoed Mrs. Brant, with a bitter laugh. "Yes, the compact +that binds South Carolina to the nigger-worshipping Massachusetts. +The compact that links together white and black, the gentleman and the +trader, the planter and the poor white--the compact of those UNITED +States. Bah! THAT has been broken, and so can this." + +Clarence's face paled. But before he could speak there was a rapid +clattering at the gate and a dismounted vaquero entered excitedly. +Turning to Mrs. Brant he said hurriedly, "Mother of God! the casa is +surrounded by a rabble of mounted men, and there is one among them even +now who demands admittance in the name of the Law." + +"This is your work," said Brooks, facing Clarence furiously. "You have +brought them with you, but, by God, they shall not save you!" He +would have clutched Clarence, but the powerful arm of Judge Beeswinger +intervened. Nevertheless, he still struggled to reach Clarence, +appealing to the others: "Are you fools to stand there and let him +triumph! Don't you see the cowardly Yankee trick he's played upon us?" + +"He has not," said Mrs. Brant haughtily. "I have no reason to love him +or his friends; but I know he does not lie." + +"Gentlemen!--gentlemen!" implored Colonel Starbottle with beaming and +unctuous persuasion, "may I--er--remark--that all this is far from the +question? Are we to be alarmed because an unknown rabble, no matter +whence they come, demand entrance here in the name of the Law? I am not +aware of any law of the State of California that we are infringing. By +all means admit them." + +The gate was thrown open. A single thick-set man, apparently unarmed +and dressed like an ordinary traveler, followed by half a dozen other +equally unpretentious-looking men, entered. The leader turned to the +balcony. + +"I am the Chief of Police of San Francisco. I have warrants for the +arrest of Colonel Culpepper Starbottle, Joshua Brooks, Captain Pinckney, +Clarence Brant and Alice his wife, and others charged with inciting to +riot and unlawful practice calculated to disturb the peace of the State +of California and its relations with the Federal government," said the +leader, in a dry official voice. + +Clarence started. In spite of its monotonous utterance it was the voice +of the red-bearded controversialist of the stage-coach. But where were +his characteristic beard and hair? Involuntarily Clarence glanced at +Judge Beeswinger; that gentleman was quietly regarding the stranger with +an impassive face that betrayed no recognition whatever. + +"But the city of San Francisco has no jurisdiction here," said Colonel +Starbottle, turning a bland smile towards his fellow-members. "I +am--er--sorry to inform you that you are simply trespassing, sir." + +"I am here also as deputy sheriff," returned the stranger coolly. "We +were unable to locate the precise place of this meeting, although we +knew of its existence. I was sworn in this morning at Santa Inez by the +judge of this district, and these gentlemen with me are my posse." + +There was a quick movement of resistance by the members, which was, +however, again waived blandly aside by Colonel Starbottle. Leaning +forward in a slightly forensic attitude, with his fingers on the table +and a shirt frill that seemed to have become of itself erectile, he +said, with pained but polite precision, "I grieve to have to state, sir, +that even that position is utterly untenable here. I am a lawyer myself, +as my friend here, Judge Beeswinger--eh? I beg your pardon!" + +The officer of the law had momentarily started, with his eyes fixed +on Judge Beeswinger, who, however, seemed to be quietly writing at the +table. + +"As Judge Beeswinger," continued Colonel Starbottle, "will probably tell +you and as a jurist himself, he will also probably agree with me when +I also inform you that, as the United States government is an aggrieved +party, it is a matter for the Federal courts to prosecute, and that +the only officer we can recognize is the United States Marshal for the +district. When I add that the marshal, Colonel Crackenthorpe, is one +of my oldest friends, and an active sympathizer with the South in the +present struggle, you will understand that any action from him in this +matter is exceedingly improbable." + +The general murmur of laughter, relief, and approval was broken by the +quiet voice of Judge Beeswinger. + +"Let me see your warrant, Mr. Deputy Sheriff." + +The officer approached him with a slightly perplexed and constrained +air, and exhibited the paper. Judge Beeswinger handed it back to him. +"Colonel Starbottle is quite right in his contention," he said quietly; +"the only officer that this assembly can recognize is the United States +Marshal or his legal deputy. But Colonel Starbottle is wrong in his +supposition that Colonel Crackenthorpe still retains the functions of +that office. He was removed by the President of the United States, and +his successor was appointed and sworn in by the Federal judge early +this morning." He paused, and folding up the paper on which he had been +writing, placed it in the hands of the deputy. "And this," he continued +in the same even voice, "constitutes you his deputy, and will enable you +to carry out your duty in coming here." + +"What the devil does this mean, sir? Who are you?" gasped Colonel +Starbottle, recoiling suddenly from the man at his side. + +"I am the new United States Marshal for the Southern District of +California." + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Unsuspected and astounding as the revelation was to Clarence, its +strange reception by the conspirators seemed to him as astounding. +He had started forward, half expecting that the complacent and +self-confessed spy would be immolated by his infuriated dupes. But to +his surprise the shock seemed to have changed their natures, and given +them the dignity they had lacked. The excitability, irritation, and +recklessness which had previously characterized them had disappeared. +The deputy and his posse, who had advanced to the assistance of their +revealed chief, met with no resistance. They had evidently, as if with +one accord, drawn away from Judge Beeswinger, leaving a cleared space +around him, and regarded their captors with sullen contemptuous silence. +It was only broken by Colonel Starbottle:-- + +"Your duty commands you, sir, to use all possible diligence in bringing +us before the Federal judge of this district--unless your master in +Washington has violated the Constitution so far as to remove him, too!" + +"I understand you perfectly," returned Judge Beeswinger, with unchanged +composure; "and as you know that Judge Wilson unfortunately cannot be +removed except through a regular course of impeachment, I suppose you +may still count upon his Southern sympathies to befriend you. With that +I have nothing to do; my duty is complete when my deputy has brought you +before him and I have stated the circumstances of the arrest." + +"I congratulate you, sir," said Captain Pinckney, with an ironical +salute, "on your prompt reward for your treachery to the South, and your +equally prompt adoption of the peculiar tactics of your friends in the +way in which you have entered this house." + +"I am sorry I cannot congratulate YOU, sir," returned Judge Beeswinger +gravely, "on breaking your oath to the government which has educated and +supported you and given you the epaulettes you disgrace. Nor shall I +discuss 'treachery' with the man who has not only violated the trust of +his country, but even the integrity of his friend's household. It is for +that reason that I withhold the action of this warrant in so far as +it affects the persons of the master and mistress of this home. I am +satisfied that Mr. Brant has been as ignorant of what has been done +here as I am that his wife has been only the foolish dupe of a double +traitor!" + +"Silence!" + +The words broke simultaneously from the lips of Clarence and Captain +Pinckney. They stood staring at each other--the one pale, the other +crimson--as Mrs. Brant, apparently oblivious of the significance of +their united adjuration, turned to Judge Beeswinger in the fury of her +still stifled rage and mortification. + +"Keep your mercy for your fellow-spy," she said, with a contemptuous +gesture towards her husband; "I go with these gentlemen!" + +"You will not," said Clarence quietly, "until I have said a word to you +alone." He laid his hand firmly upon her wrist. + +The deputy and his prisoners filed slowly out of the courtyard together, +the latter courteously saluting Mrs. Brant as they passed, but turning +from Judge Beeswinger in contemptuous silence. The judge followed them +to the gate, but there he paused. Turning to Mrs. Brant, who was still +half struggling in the strong grip of her husband, he said,-- + +"Any compunction I may have had in misleading you by accepting your +invitation here I dismissed after I had entered this house. And I +trust," he added, turning to Clarence sternly, "I leave you the master +of it!" + +As the gate closed behind him, Clarence locked it. When his wife turned +upon him angrily, he said quietly,-- + +"I have no intention of restraining your liberty a moment after our +interview is over, but until then I do not intend to be disturbed." + +She threw herself disdainfully back in her chair, her hands clasped in +her lap in half-contemptuous resignation, with her eyes upon her long +slim arched feet crossed before her. Even in her attitude there was +something of her old fascination which, however, now seemed to sting +Clarence to the quick. + +"I have nothing to say to you in regard to what has just passed in this +house, except that as long as I remain even nominally its master it +shall not be repeated. Although I shall no longer attempt to influence +or control your political sympathies, I shall not allow you to indulge +them where in any way they seem to imply my sanction. But so little do +I oppose your liberty, that you are free to rejoin your political +companions whenever you choose to do so on your own responsibility. But +I must first know from your own lips whether your sympathies are purely +political--or a name for something else?" + +She had alternately flushed and paled, although still keeping her +scornful attitude as he went on, but there was no mistaking the +genuineness of her vague wonderment at his concluding words. + +"I don't understand you," she said, lifting her eyes to his in a moment +of cold curiosity. "What do you mean?" + +"What do I mean? What did Judge Beeswinger mean when he called Captain +Pinckney a double traitor?" he said roughly. + +She sprang to her feet with flashing eyes. "And you--YOU! dare to repeat +the cowardly lie of a confessed spy. This, then, is what you wished to +tell me--this the insult for which you have kept me here; because you +are incapable of understanding unselfish patriotism or devotion--even +to your own cause--you dare to judge me by your own base, Yankee-trading +standards. Yes, it is worthy of you!" She walked rapidly up and down, +and then suddenly faced him. "I understand it all; I appreciate your +magnanimity now. You are willing I should join the company of these +chivalrous gentlemen in order to give color to your calumnies! Say at +once that it was you who put up this spy to correspond with me--to come +here--in order to entrap me. Yes entrap me--I--who a moment ago stood up +for you before these gentlemen, and said you could not lie. Bah!" + +Struck only by the wild extravagance of her speech and temper, Clarence +did not know that when women are most illogical they are apt to be most +sincere, and from a man's standpoint her unreasoning deductions appeared +to him only as an affectation to gain time for thought, or a theatrical +display, like Susy's. And he was turning half contemptuously away, when +she again faced him with flashing eyes. + +"Well, hear me! I accept; I leave here at once, to join my own people, +my own friends--those who understand me--put what construction on it +that you choose. Do your worst; you cannot do more to separate us than +you have done just now." + +She left him, and ran up the steps with a singular return of her old +occasional nymph-like nimbleness--the movement of a woman who had never +borne children--and a swish of her long skirts that he remembered +for many a day after, as she disappeared in the corridor. He remained +looking after her--indignant, outraged, and unconvinced. There was a +rattling at the gate. + +He remembered he had locked it. He opened it to the flushed pink cheeks +and dancing eyes of Susy. The rain was still dripping from her wet cloak +as she swung it from her shoulders. + +"I know it all!--all that's happened," she burst out with half-girlish +exuberance and half the actress's declamation. "We met them all in the +road--posse and prisoners. Chief Thompson knew me and told me all. And +so you've done it--and you're master in your old house again. Clarence, +old boy! Jim said you wouldn't do it--said you'd weaken on account of +her! But I said 'No.' I knew you better, old Clarence, and I saw it in +your face, for all your stiffness! ha! But for all that I was mighty +nervous and uneasy, and I just made Jim send an excuse to the theatre +and we rushed it down here! Lordy! but it looks natural to see the old +house again! And she--you packed her off with the others--didn't you? +Tell me, Clarence," in her old appealing voice, "you shook her, too!" + +Dazed and astounded, and yet experiencing a vague sense of relief with +something like his old tenderness towards the willful woman before him, +he had silently regarded her until her allusion to his wife recalled him +to himself. + +"Hush!" he said quickly, with a glance towards the corridor. + +"Ah!" said Susy, with a malicious smile, "then that's why Captain +Pinckney was lingering in the rear with the deputy." + +"Silence!" repeated Clarence sternly. "Go in there," pointing to the +garden room below the balcony, "and wait there with your husband." + +He half led, half pushed her into the room which had been his business +office, and returned to the patio. A hesitating voice from the balcony +said, "Clarence!" + +It was his wife's voice, but modified and gentler--more like her +voice as he had first heard it, or as if it had been chastened by some +reminiscence of those days. It was his wife's face, too, that looked +down on his--paler than he had seen it since he entered the house. She +was shawled and hooded, carrying a traveling-bag in her hand. + +"I am going, Clarence," she said, pausing before him, with gentle +gravity, "but not in anger. I even ask you to forgive me for the foolish +words that I think your still more foolish accusation"--she smiled +faintly--"dragged from me. I am going because I know that I have +brought--and that while I am here I shall always be bringing--upon you +the imputation and even the responsibility of my own faith! While I am +proud to own it,--and if needs be suffer for it,--I have no right to +ruin your prospects, or even make you the victim of the slurs that +others may cast upon me. Let us part as friends--separated only by our +different political faiths, but keeping all other faiths together--until +God shall settle the right of this struggle. Perhaps it may be soon--I +sometimes think it may be years of agony for all; but until then, +good-by." + +She had slowly descended the steps to the patio, looking handsomer than +he had ever seen her, and as if sustained and upheld by the enthusiasm +of her cause. Her hand was outstretched towards his--his heart beat +violently--in another moment he might have forgotten all and clasped her +to his breast. Suddenly she stopped, her outstretched arm stiffened, her +finger pointed to the chair on which Susy's cloak was hanging. + +"What's that?" she said in a sharp, high, metallic voice. "Who is here? +Speak!" + +"Susy," said Clarence. + +She cast a scathing glance round the patio, and then settled her +piercing eyes on Clarence with a bitter smile. + +"Already!" + +Clarence felt the blood rush to his face as he stammered, "She knew what +was happening here, and came to give you warning." + +"Liar!" + +"Stop!" said Clarence, with a white face. "She came to tell me that +Captain Pinckney was still lingering for you in the road." + +He threw open the gate to let her pass. As she swept out she lifted +her hand. As he closed the gate there were the white marks of her four +fingers on his cheek. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +For once Susy had not exaggerated. Captain Pinckney WAS lingering, with +the deputy who had charge of him, on the trail near the casa. It had +already been pretty well understood by both captives and captors that +the arrest was simply a legal demonstration; that the sympathizing +Federal judge would undoubtedly order the discharge of the prisoners on +their own recognizances, and it was probable that the deputy saw no harm +in granting Pinckney's request--which was virtually only a delay in +his liberation. It was also possible that Pinckney had worked upon the +chivalrous sympathies of the man by professing his disinclination +to leave their devoted colleague, Mrs. Brant, at the mercy of her +antagonistic and cold-blooded husband at such a crisis, and it is to be +feared also that Clarence, as a reputed lukewarm partisan, excited no +personal sympathy, even from his own party. Howbeit, the deputy agreed +to delay Pinckney's journey for a parting interview with his fair +hostess. + +How far this expressed the real sentiments of Captain Pinckney was never +known. Whether his political association with Mrs. Brant had developed +into a warmer solicitude, understood or ignored by her,--what were his +hopes and aspirations regarding her future,--were by the course of fate +never disclosed. A man of easy ethics, but rigid artificialities of +honor, flattered and pampered by class prejudice, a so-called "man of +the world," with no experience beyond his own limited circle, yet brave +and devoted to that, it were well perhaps to leave this last act of his +inefficient life as it was accepted by the deputy. + +Dismounting he approached the house from the garden. He was already +familiar with the low arched doorway which led to the business room, and +from which he could gain admittance to the patio, but it so chanced that +he entered the dark passage at the moment that Clarence had thrust Susy +into the business room, and heard its door shut sharply. For an instant +he believed that Mrs. Brant had taken refuge there, but as he cautiously +moved forward he heard her voice in the patio beyond. Its accents +struck him as pleading; an intense curiosity drew him further along the +passage. Suddenly her voice seemed to change to angry denunciation, +and the word "Liar" rang upon his ears. It was followed by his own name +uttered sardonically by Clarence, the swift rustle of a skirt, the clash +of the gate, and then--forgetting everything, he burst into the patio. + +Clarence was just turning from the gate with the marks of his wife's +hand still red on his white cheek. He saw Captain Pinckney's eyes upon +it, and the faint, half-malicious, half-hysteric smile upon his lips. +But without a start or gesture of surprise he locked the gate, and +turning to him, said with frigid significance,-- + +"I thank you for returning so promptly, and for recognizing the only +thing I now require at your hand." + +But Captain Pinckney had recovered his supercilious ease with the +significant demand. + +"You seem to have had something already from another's hand, sir, but I +am at your service," he said lightly. + +"You will consider that I have accepted it from you," said Clarence, +drawing closer to him with a rigid face. "I suppose it will not be +necessary for me to return it--to make you understand me." + +"Go on," said Pinckney, flushing slightly. "Make your terms; I am +ready." + +"But I'm not," said the unexpected voice of the deputy at the grille of +the gateway. "Excuse my interfering, gentlemen, but this sort o' thing +ain't down in my schedule. I've let this gentleman," pointing to Captain +Pinckney, "off for a minit to say 'good-by' to a lady, who I reckon has +just ridden off in her buggy with her servant without saying by your +leave, but I didn't calkelate to let him inter another business, which, +like as not, may prevent me from delivering his body safe and sound into +court. You hear me!" As Clarence opened the gate he added, "I don't want +ter spoil sport between gents, but it's got to come in after I've done +my duty." + +"I'll meet you, sir, anywhere, and with what weapons you choose," said +Pinckney, turning angrily upon Clarence, "as soon as this farce--for +which you and your friends are responsible--is over." He was furious at +the intimation that Mrs. Brant had escaped him. + +A different thought was in the husband's mind. "But what assurance +have I that you are going on with the deputy?" he said with purposely +insulting deliberation. + +"My word, sir," said Captain Pinckney sharply. + +"And if that ain't enuff, there's mine!" said the deputy. "For if this +gentleman swerves to the right or left betwixt this and Santa Inez, I'll +blow a hole through him myself. And that," he added deprecatingly, "is +saying a good deal for a man who doesn't want to spoil sport, and for +the matter of that is willing to stand by and see fair play done at +Santa Inez any time to-morrow before breakfast." + +"Then I can count on you," said Clarence, with a sudden impulse +extending his hand. + +The man hesitated a moment and then grasped it. + +"Well, I wasn't expecting that," he said slowly; "but you look as if you +meant business, and if you ain't got anybody else to see you through, +I'm thar! I suppose this gentleman will have his friends." + +"I shall be there at six with my seconds," said Pinckney curtly. "Lead +on." + +The gate closed behind them. Clarence stood looking around the empty +patio and the silent house, from which it was now plain that the +servants had been withdrawn to insure the secrecy of the conspiracy. +Cool and collected as he knew he was, he remained for a moment in +hesitation. Then the sound of voices came to his ear from the garden +room, the light frivolity of Susy's laugh and Hooker's huskier accents. +He had forgotten they were there--he had forgotten their existence! + +Trusting still to his calmness, he called to Hooker in his usual +voice. That gentleman appeared with a face which his attempts to make +unconcerned and impassive had, however, only deepened into funereal +gravity. + +"I have something to attend to," said Clarence, with a faint smile, "and +I must ask you and Susy to excuse me for a little while. She knows the +house perfectly, and will call the servants from the annex to provide +you both with refreshment until I join you a little later." Satisfied +from Hooker's manner that they knew nothing of his later interview with +Pinckney, he turned away and ascended to his own room. + +There he threw himself into an armchair by the dim light of a single +candle as if to reflect. But he was conscious, even then, of his own +calmness and want of excitement, and that no reflection was necessary. +What he had done and what he intended to do was quite clear, there was +no alternative suggested or to be even sought after. He had that sense +of relief which comes with the climax of all great struggles, even of +defeat. + +He had never known before how hopeless and continuous had been that +struggle until now it was over. He had no fear of tomorrow, he would +meet it as he had to-day, with the same singular consciousness of being +equal to the occasion. There was even no necessity of preparation for +it; his will, leaving his fortune to his wife,--which seemed a slight +thing now in this greater separation,--was already in his safe in San +Francisco, his pistols were in the next room. He was even slightly +disturbed by his own insensibility, and passed into his wife's bedroom +partly in the hope of disturbing his serenity by some memento of their +past. There was no disorder of flight--everything was in its place, +except the drawer of her desk, which was still open, as if she had taken +something from it as an afterthought. There were letters and papers +there, some of his own and some in Captain Pinckney's handwriting. It +did not occur to him to look at them--even to justify himself, or excuse +her. He knew that his hatred of Captain Pinckney was not so much that he +believed him her lover, as his sudden conviction that she was like him! +He was the male of her species--a being antagonistic to himself, whom +he could fight, and crush, and revenge himself upon. But most of all he +loathed his past, not on account of her, but of his own weakness that +had made him her dupe and a misunderstood man to his friends. He had +been derelict of duty in his unselfish devotion to her; he had stifled +his ambition, and underrated his own possibilities. No wonder that +others had accepted him at his own valuation. Clarence Brant was a +modest man, but the egotism of modesty is more fatal than that of +pretension, for it has the haunting consciousness of superior virtue. + +He re-entered his own room and again threw himself into his chair. His +calm was being succeeded by a physical weariness; he remembered he had +not slept the night before, and he ought to take some rest to be +fresh in the early morning. Yet he must also show himself before his +self-invited guests,--Susy and her husband,--or their suspicions would +be aroused. He would try to sleep for a little while in the chair before +he went downstairs again. He closed his eyes oddly enough on a dim +dreamy recollection of Susy in the old days, in the little madrono +hollow where she had once given him a rendezvous. He forgot the maturer +and critical uneasiness with which he had then received her coquettish +and willful advances, which he now knew was the effect of the growing +dominance of Mrs. Peyton over him, and remembered only her bright, +youthful eyes, and the kisses he had pressed upon her soft fragrant +cheek. The faintness he had felt when waiting in the old rose garden, +a few hours ago, seemed to steal on him once more, and to lapse into a +pleasant drowsiness. He even seemed again to inhale the perfume of the +roses. + +"Clarence!" + +He started. He had been sleeping, but the voice sounded strangely real. + +A light, girlish laugh followed. He sprang to his feet. It was Susy +standing beside him--and Susy even as she looked in the old days! + +For with a flash of her old audacity, aided by her familiar knowledge of +the house and the bunch of household keys she had found, which dangled +from her girdle, as in the old fashion, she had disinterred one of her +old frocks from a closet, slipped it on, and unloosening her brown hair +had let it fall in rippling waves down her back. It was Susy in her old +girlishness, with the instinct of the grown actress in the arrangement +of her short skirt over her pretty ankles and the half-conscious pose +she had taken. + +"Poor dear old Clarence," she said, with dancing eyes; "I might have +won a dozen pairs of gloves from you while you slept there. But you're +tired, dear old boy, and you've had a hard time of it. No matter; you've +shown yourself a man at last, and I'm proud of you." + +Half ashamed of the pleasure he felt even in his embarrassment, Clarence +stammered, "But this change--this dress." + +Susy clapped her hands like a child. "I knew it would surprise you! It's +an old frock I wore the year I went away with auntie. I knew where it +was hidden, and fished it out again with these keys, Clarence; it seemed +so like old times. Lord! when I was with the old servants again, and +you didn't come down, I just felt as if I'd never been away, and I just +rampaged free. It seemed to me, don't you know, not as if I'd just come, +but as if I'd always been right here, and it was you who'd just come. +Don't you understand! Just as you came when me and Mary Rogers +were here; don't you remember her, Clarence, and how she used to do +'gooseberry' for us? Well, just like that. So I said to Jim, 'I don't +know you any more--get!' and I just slipped on this frock and ordered +Manuela around as I used to do--and she in fits of laughter; I reckon, +Clarence, she hasn't laughed as much since I left. And then I thought of +you--perhaps worried and flustered as yet over things, and the change, +and I just slipped into the kitchen and I told old fat Conchita to make +some of these tortillas you know,--with sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on +top,--and I tied on an apron and brought 'em up to you on a tray with +a glass of that old Catalan wine you used to like. Then I sorter felt +frightened when I got here, and I didn't hear any noise, and I put the +tray down in the hall and peeped in and found you asleep. Sit still, +I'll fetch em." + +She tripped out into the passage, returning with the tray, which she put +on the table beside Clarence, and then standing back a little and with +her hands tucked soubrette fashion in the tiny pockets of her apron, +gazed at him with a mischievous smile. + +It was impossible not to smile back as he nibbled the crisp Mexican +cake and drank the old mission wine. And Susy's tongue trilled an +accompaniment to his thanks. + +"Lord! it seems so nice to be here--just you and me, Clarence--like in +the old days--with nobody naggin' and swoopin' round after you. Don't +be greedy, Clarence, but give me a cake." She took one and finished the +dregs of his glass. + +Then sitting on the arm of his chair, she darted a violet ray of half +reproach and half mischievousness into his amused and retrospective +eyes. "There used to be room for two in that chair, Klarns." + +The use of the old childish diminutive for his name seemed to him +natural as her familiarity, and he moved a little sideways to make +room for her with an instinct of pleasure, but the same sense of +irresponsibility that had characterized his reflections. Nevertheless, +he looked critically into the mischievous eyes, and said quietly,-- + +"Where is your husband?" + +There was no trace of embarrassment, apology, or even of consciousness +in her pretty face as she replied, passing her hand lightly through his +hair,-- + +"Oh, Jim? I've packed him off!" + +"Packed him off!" echoed Clarence, slightly astonished. + +"Yes, to Fair Plains, full tilt after your wife's buggy. You see, +Clarence, after the old cat--that's your wife, please--left, I wanted to +make sure she had gone, and wasn't hangin' round to lead you off again +with your leg tied to her apron string like a chicken's! No! I said to +Jim, 'Just you ride after her until you see she's safe and sound in +the down coach from Fair Plains without her knowin' it, and if she's +inclined to hang back or wobble any, you post back here and let me +know!' I told him I would stay and look after you to see you didn't bolt +too!" She laughed, and then added, "But I didn't think I should +fall into the old ways so soon, and have such a nice time. Did you, +Clarence?" + +She looked so irresponsible, sitting there with her face near his, +and so childishly, or perhaps thoughtlessly, happy, that he could only +admire her levity, and even the slight shock that her flippant allusion +to his wife had given him seemed to him only a weakness of his own. +After all, was not hers the true philosophy? Why should not these bright +eyes see things more clearly than his own? Nevertheless, with his eyes +still fixed upon them, he continued,-- + +"And Jim was willing to go?" + +She stopped, with her fingers still lifting a lock of his hair. "Why, +yes, you silly--why shouldn't he? I'd like to see him refuse. Why, Lord! +Jim will do anything I ask him." She put down the lock of hair, and +suddenly looking full into his eyes, said, "That's just the difference +between him and me, and you and--that woman!" + +"Then you love him!" + +"About as much as you love her," she said, with an unaffected laugh; +"only he don't wind me around his finger." + +No doubt she was right for all her thoughtlessness, and yet he was going +to fight about that woman to-morrow! No--he forgot; he was going to +fight Captain Pinckney because he was like her! + +Susy had put her finger on the crease between his brows which this +supposition had made, and tried to rub it out. + +"You know it as well as I do, Clarence," she said, with a pretty +wrinkling of her own brows, which was her nearest approach to +thoughtfulness. "You know you never really liked her, only you thought +her ways were grander and more proper than mine, and you know you were +always a little bit of a snob and a prig too--dear boy. And Mrs. Peyton +was--bless my soul!--a Benham and a planter's daughter, and I--I was +only a picked-up orphan! That's where Jim is better than you--now sit +still, goosey!--even if I don't like him as much. Oh, I know what you're +always thinking, you're thinking we're both exaggerated and theatrical, +ain't you? But don't you think it's a heap better to be exaggerated and +theatrical about things that are just sentimental and romantic than to +be so awfully possessed and overcome about things that are only real? +There, you needn't stare at me so! It's true. You've had your fill of +grandeur and propriety, and--here you are. And," she added with a little +chuckle, as she tucked up her feet and leaned a little closer to him, +"here's ME." + +He did not speak, but his arm quite unconsciously passed round her small +waist. + +"You see, Clarence," she went on with equal unconsciousness of the act, +"you ought never to have let me go--never! You ought to have kept me +here--or run away with me. And you oughtn't to have tried to make me +proper. And you oughtn't to have driven me to flirt with that horrid +Spaniard, and you oughtn't to have been so horribly cold and severe when +I did. And you oughtn't to have made me take up with Jim, who was the +only one who thought me his equal. I might have been very silly and +capricious; I might have been very vain, but my vanity isn't a bit worse +than your pride; my love of praise and applause in the theatre isn't a +bit more horrid than your fears of what people might think of you or me. +That's gospel truth, isn't it, Clarence? Tell me! Don't look that way +and this--look at ME! I ain't poisonous, Clarence. Why, one of your +cheeks is redder than the other, Clarence; that's the one that's turned +from me. Come," she went on, taking the lapels of his coat between her +hands and half shaking him, half drawing him nearer her bright face. +"Tell me--isn't it true?" + +"I was thinking of you just now when I fell asleep, Susy," he said. He +did not know why he said it; he had not intended to tell her, he had +only meant to avoid a direct answer to her question; yet even now he +went on. "And I thought of you when I was out there in the rose garden +waiting to come in here." + +"You did?" she said, drawing in her breath. A wave of delicate pink +color came up to her very eyes, it seemed to him as quickly and as +innocently as when she was a girl. "And what DID you think, Klarns," she +half whispered--"tell me." + +He did not speak, but answered her blue eyes and then her lips, as her +arms slipped quite naturally around his neck. + +***** + +The dawn was breaking as Clarence and Jim Hooker emerged together from +the gate of the casa. Mr. Hooker looked sleepy. He had found, after his +return from Fair Plains, that his host had an early engagement at +Santa Inez, and he had insisted upon rising to see him off. It was with +difficulty, indeed, that Clarence could prevent his accompanying him. +Clarence had not revealed to Susy the night before the real object of +his journey, nor did Hooker evidently suspect it, yet when the former +had mounted his horse, he hesitated for an instant, extending his hand. + +"If I should happen to be detained," he began with a half smile. + +But Jim was struggling with a yawn. "That's all right--don't mind us," +he said, stretching his arms. Clarence's hesitating hand dropped to his +side, and with a light reckless laugh and a half sense of providential +relief he galloped away. + +What happened immediately thereafter during his solitary ride to +Santa Inez, looking back upon it in after years, seemed but a confused +recollection, more like a dream. The long stretches of vague distance, +gradually opening clearer with the rising sun in an unclouded sky; +the meeting with a few early or belated travelers and his unconscious +avoidance of them, as if they might know of his object; the black +shadows of foreshortened cattle rising before him on the plain and +arousing the same uneasy sensation of their being waylaying men; the +wondering recognition of houses and landmarks he had long been familiar +with; his purposeless attempts to recall the circumstances in which +he had known them--all these were like a dream. So, too, were the +recollections of the night before, the episode with Susy, already +mingled and blended with the memory of their previous past; his futile +attempts to look forward to the future, always, however, abandoned +with relief at the thought that the next few hours might make them +unnecessary. So also was the sudden realization that Santa Inez was +before him, when he had thought he was not yet halfway there, and as +he dismounted before the Court House his singular feeling--followed, +however, by no fear or distress--was that he had come so early to the +rendezvous that he was not yet quite prepared for it. + +This same sense of unreality pervaded his meeting with the deputy +sheriff, at the news that the Federal judge had, as was expected, +dismissed the prisoners on their own recognizances, and that Captain +Pinckney was at the hotel at breakfast. In the like abstracted manner he +replied to the one or two questions of the deputy, exhibited the pistols +he had brought with him, and finally accompanied him to a little meadow +hidden by trees, below the hotel, where the other principal and his +seconds were awaiting them. And here he awoke--clear-eyed, keen, +forceful, and intense! + +So stimulated were his faculties that his sense of hearing in its +acuteness took in every word of the conversation between the seconds, +a few paces distant. He heard his adversary's seconds say carelessly +to the deputy sheriff, "I presume this is a case where there will be no +apology or mediation," and the deputy's reply, "I reckon my man means +business, but he seems a little queer." He heard the other second laugh, +and say lightly, "They're apt to be so when it's their first time out," +followed by the more anxious aside of the other second as the deputy +turned away,--"Yes, but by G-d I don't like his looks!" His sense of +sight was also so acute that having lost the choice of position, when +the coin was tossed, and being turned with his face to the sun, even +through the glare he saw, with unerring distinctness of outline, the +black-coated figure of his opponent moved into range--saw the perfect +outline of his features, and how the easy, supercilious smile, as he +threw away his cigar, appeared to drop out of his face with a kind of +vacant awe as he faced him. He felt his nerves become as steel as the +counting began, and at the word "three," knew he had fired by the recoil +of the pistol in his leveled hand, simultaneously with its utterance. +And at the same moment, still standing like a rock, he saw his +adversary miserably collapse, his legs grotesquely curving inwards +under him,--without even the dignity of death in his fall,--and so sink +helplessly like a felled bull to the ground. Still erect, and lowering +only the muzzle of his pistol, as a thin feather of smoke curled up its +shining side, he saw the doctor and seconds run quickly to the heap, try +to lift its limp impotence into shape, and let it drop again with the +words, "Right through the forehead, by G-d!" + +"You've done for him," said the deputy, turning to Clarence with a +singular look of curiosity, "and I reckon you had better get out of this +mighty quick. They didn't expect it; they're just ragin'; they may round +on you--and"--he added, more slowly, "they seem to have just found out +who you are." + +Even while he was speaking, Clarence, with his quickened ear, heard the +words, "One of Hamilton Brant's pups" "Just like his father," from +the group around the dead man. He did not hesitate, but walked coolly +towards them. Yet a certain fierce pride--which he had never known +before--stirred in his veins as their voices hushed and they half +recoiled before him. + +"Am I to understand from my second, gentlemen," he said, looking round +the group, "that you are not satisfied?" + +"The fight was square enough," said Pinckney's second in some +embarrassment, "but I reckon that he," pointing to the dead man, "did +not know who you were." + +"Do you mean that he did not know that I was the son of a man proficient +in the use of arms?" + +"I reckon that's about it," returned the second, glancing at the others. + +"I am glad to say, sir, that I have a better opinion of his courage," +said Clarence, lifting his hat to the dead body as he turned away. + +Yet he was conscious of no remorse, concern, or even pity in his act. +Perhaps this was visible in his face, for the group appeared awed by +this perfection of the duelist's coolness, and even returned his formal +parting salutation with a vague and timid respect. He thanked the +deputy, regained the hotel, saddled his horse and galloped away. + +But not towards the Rancho. Now that he could think of his future, that +had no place in his reflections; even the episode of Susy was forgotten +in the new and strange conception of himself and his irresponsibility +which had come upon him with the killing of Pinckney and the words +of his second. It was his dead father who had stiffened his arm and +directed the fatal shot! It was hereditary influences--which others +had been so quick to recognize--that had brought about this completing +climax of his trouble. How else could he account for it that he--a +conscientious, peaceful, sensitive man, tender and forgiving as he had +believed himself to be--could now feel so little sorrow or compunction +for his culminating act? He had read of successful duelists who were +haunted by remorse for their first victim; who retained a terrible +consciousness of the appearance of the dead man; he had no such feeling; +he had only a grim contentment in the wiped-out inefficient life, +and contempt for the limp and helpless body. He suddenly recalled his +callousness as a boy when face to face with the victims of the Indian +massacre, his sense of fastidious superciliousness in the discovery of +the body of Susy's mother!--surely it was the cold blood of his father +influencing him ever thus. What had he to do with affection, with +domestic happiness, with the ordinary ambitions of man's life--whose +blood was frozen at its source! Yet even with this very thought came +once more the old inconsistent tenderness he had as a boy lavished upon +the almost unknown and fugitive father who had forsaken his childish +companionship, and remembered him only by secret gifts. He remembered +how he had worshiped him even while the pious padres at San Jose were +endeavoring to eliminate this terrible poison from his blood and combat +his hereditary instinct in his conflicts with his school-fellows. And it +was a part of this inconsistency that, riding away from the scene of his +first bloodshed, his eyes were dimmed with moisture, not for his victim, +but for the one being who he believed had impelled him to the act. + +This and more was in his mind during his long ride to Fair Plains, his +journey by coach to the Embarcadero, his midnight passage across the +dark waters of the bay, and his re-entrance to San Francisco, but what +should be his future was still unsettled. + +As he wound round the crest of Russian Hill and looked down again upon +the awakened city, he was startled to see that it was fluttering and +streaming with bunting. From every public building and hotel, from +the roofs of private houses, and even the windows of lonely dwellings, +flapped and waved the striped and starry banner. The steady breath of +the sea carried it out from masts and yards of ships at their wharves, +from the battlements of the forts Alcatraz and Yerba Bueno. He +remembered that the ferryman had told him that the news from Fort Sumter +had swept the city with a revulsion of patriotic sentiment, and that +there was no doubt that the State was saved to the Union. He looked +down upon it with haggard, bewildered eyes, and then a strange gasp +and fullness of the throat! For afar a solitary bugle had blown the +"reveille" at Fort Alcatraz. + + + +PART II. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Night at last, and the stir and tumult of a great fight over. Even the +excitement that had swept this portion of the battlefield--only a small +section of a vaster area of struggle--into which a brigade had marched, +held its own, been beaten back, recovered its ground, and pursuing, +had passed out of it forever, leaving only its dead behind, and knowing +nothing more of that struggle than its own impact and momentum--even +this wild excitement had long since evaporated with the stinging smoke +of gunpowder, the acrid smell of burning rags from the clothing of a +dead soldier fired by a bursting shell, or the heated reek of sweat and +leather. A cool breath that seemed to bring back once more the odor of +the upturned earthworks along the now dumb line of battle began to move +from the suggestive darkness beyond. + +But into that awful penetralia of death and silence there was no +invasion--there had been no retreat. A few of the wounded had been +brought out, under fire, but the others had been left with the dead for +the morning light and succor. For it was known that in that horrible +obscurity, riderless horses, frantic with the smell of blood, galloped +wildly here and there, or, maddened by wounds, plunged furiously at +the intruder; that the wounded soldier, still armed, could not always +distinguish friend from foe or from the ghouls of camp followers who +stripped the dead in the darkness and struggled with the dying. A shot +or two heard somewhere in that obscurity counted as nothing with the +long fusillade that had swept it in the daytime; the passing of a single +life, more or less, amounted to little in the long roll-call of the +day's slaughter. + +But with the first beams of the morning sun--and the slowly moving +"relief detail" from the camp--came a weird half-resurrection of that +ghastly field. Then it was that the long rays of sunlight, streaming +away a mile beyond the battle line, pointed out the first harvest of +the dead where the reserves had been posted. There they lay in heaps +and piles, killed by solid shot or bursting shells that had leaped the +battle line to plunge into the waiting ranks beyond. As the sun lifted +higher its beams fell within the range of musketry fire, where the dead +lay thicker,--even as they had fallen when killed outright,--with arms +extended and feet at all angles to the field. As it touched these dead +upturned faces, strangely enough it brought out no expression of pain or +anguish--but rather as if death had arrested them only in surprise and +awe. It revealed on the lips of those who had been mortally wounded +and had turned upon their side the relief which death had brought their +suffering, sometimes shown in a faint smile. Mounting higher, it glanced +upon the actual battle line, curiously curving for the shelter of walls, +fences, and breastworks, and here the dead lay, even as when they +lay and fired, their faces prone in the grass but their muskets still +resting across the breastworks. Exposed to grape and canister from the +battery on the ridge, death had come to them mercifully also--through +the head and throat. And now the whole field lay bare in the +sunlight, broken with grotesque shadows cast from sitting, crouching, +half-recumbent but always rigid figures, which might have been effigies +on their own monuments. One half-kneeling soldier, with head bowed +between his stiffened hands, might have stood for a carven figure of +Grief at the feet of his dead comrade. A captain, shot through the brain +in the act of mounting a wall, lay sideways half across it, his lips +parted with a word of command; his sword still pointing over the barrier +the way that they should go. + +But it was not until the sun had mounted higher that it struck the +central horror of the field and seemed to linger there in dazzling +persistence, now and then returning to it in startling flashes that it +might be seen of men and those who brought succor. A tiny brook had run +obliquely near the battle line. It was here that, the night before +the battle, friend and foe had filled their canteens side by side with +soldierly recklessness--or perhaps a higher instinct--purposely ignoring +each other's presence; it was here that the wounded had afterwards +crept, crawled, and dragged themselves, here they had pushed, wrangled, +striven, and fought for a draught of that precious fluid which assuaged +the thirst of their wounds--or happily put them out of their misery +forever; here overborne, crushed, suffocated by numbers, pouring their +own blood into the flood, and tumbling after it with their helpless +bodies, they dammed the stream, until recoiling, red and angry, it had +burst its banks and overflowed the cotton-field in a broad pool that now +sparkled in the sunlight. But below this human dam--a mile away--where +the brook still crept sluggishly, the ambulance horses sniffed and +started from it. + +The detail moved on slowly, doing their work expeditiously, and +apparently callously, but really only with that mechanical movement +that saves emotion. Only once they were moved to an outbreak of +indignation,--the discovery of the body of an officer whose pockets +were turned inside out, but whose hand was still tightly grasped on his +buttoned waistcoat, as if resisting the outrage that had been done +while still in life. As the men disengaged the stiffened hand something +slipped from the waistcoat to the ground. The corporal picked it up and +handed it to his officer. It was a sealed packet. The officer received +it with the carelessness which long experience of these pathetic +missives from the dying to their living relations had induced, and +dropped it in the pocket of his tunic, with the half-dozen others that +he had picked up that morning, and moved on with the detail. A little +further on they halted, in the attitude of attention, as a mounted +officer appeared, riding slowly down the line. + +There was something more than the habitual respect of their superior in +their faces as he came forward. For it was the general who had commanded +the brigade the day before,--the man who had leaped with one bound into +the foremost rank of military leaders. It was his invincible spirit +that had led the advance, held back defeat against overwhelming numbers, +sustained the rally, impressed his subordinate officers with his own +undeviating purpose, and even infused them with an almost superstitious +belief in his destiny of success. It was this man who had done what +it was deemed impossible to do,--what even at the time it was thought +unwise and unstrategic to do,--who had held a weak position, of +apparently no importance, under the mandate of an incomprehensible order +from his superior, which at best asked only for a sacrifice and was +rewarded with a victory. He had decimated his brigade, but the wounded +and dying had cheered him as he passed, and the survivors had pursued +the enemy until the bugle called them back. For such a record he looked +still too young and scholarly, albeit his handsome face was dark and +energetic, and his manner taciturn. + +His quick eye had already caught sight of the rifled body of the +officer, and contracted. As the captain of the detail saluted him he +said curtly,-- + +"I thought the orders were to fire upon any one desecrating the dead?" + +"They are, General; but the hyenas don't give us a chance. That's all +yonder poor fellow saved from their claws," replied the officer, as he +held up the sealed packet. "It has no address." + +The general took it, examined the envelope, thrust it into his belt, and +said,-- + +"I will take charge of it." + +The sound of horses' hoofs came from the rocky roadside beyond the +brook. Both men turned. A number of field officers were approaching. + +"The division staff," said the captain, in a lower voice, falling back. + +They came slowly forward, a central figure on a gray horse leading +here--as in history. A short, thick-set man with a grizzled beard +closely cropped around an inscrutable mouth, and the serious formality +of a respectable country deacon in his aspect, which even the +major-generals blazon on the shoulder-strap of his loose tunic on his +soldierly seat in the saddle could not entirely obliterate. He had +evidently perceived the general of brigade, and quickened his horse as +the latter drew up. The staff followed more leisurely, but still with +some curiosity, to witness the meeting of the first general of the army +with the youngest. The division general saluted, but almost instantly +withdrew his leathern gauntlet, and offered his bared hand to the +brigadier. The words of heroes are scant. The drawn-up detail, the +waiting staff listened. This was all they heard:-- + +"Halleck tells me you're from California?" + +"Yes, General." + +"Ah! I lived there, too, in the early days." + +"Wonderful country. Developed greatly since my time, I suppose?" + +"Yes, General." + +"Great resources; finest wheat-growing country in the world, sir. You +don't happen to know what the actual crop was this year?" + +"Hardly, General! but something enormous." + +"Yes, I have always said it would be. Have a cigar?" + +He handed his cigar-case to the brigadier. Then he took one himself, +lighted it at the smouldering end of the one he had taken from his +mouth, was about to throw the stump carelessly down, but, suddenly +recollecting himself, leaned over his horse, and dropped it carefully +a few inches away from the face of a dead soldier. Then, straightening +himself in the saddle, he shoved his horse against the brigadier, moving +him a little further on, while a slight movement of his hand kept the +staff from following. + +"A heavy loss here!" + +"I'm afraid so, General." + +"It couldn't be helped. We had to rush in your brigade to gain time, and +occupy the enemy, until we could change front." + +The young general looked at the shrewd, cold eyes of his chief. + +"Change front?" he echoed. + +"Yes. Before a gun was fired, we discovered that the enemy was in +complete possession of all our plans, and knew every detail of our +forward movement. All had to be changed." + +The younger man now instantly understood the incomprehensible order of +the day before. + +The general of division continued, with his first touch of official +formality,-- + +"You understand, therefore, General Brant, that in the face of this +extraordinary treachery, the utmost vigilance is required, and a +complete surveillance of your camp followers and civilians, to detect +the actual spy within our lines, or the traitor we are harboring, +who has become possessed of this information. You will overhaul your +brigade, and weed out all suspects, and in the position which you are +to take to-morrow, and the plantation you will occupy, you will see that +your private quarters, as well as your lines, are cleared of all but +those you can vouch for." + +He reined in his horse, again extended his hand, saluted, and rejoined +his staff. + +Brigadier-General Clarence Brant remained for a moment with his head +bent in thoughtful contemplation of the coolness of his veteran chief +under this exciting disclosure, and the strategy with which he had +frustrated the traitor's success. Then his eye caught the sealed packet +in his belt. He mechanically drew it out, and broke the seal. The +envelope was filled with papers and memorandums. But as he looked at +them his face darkened and his brow knit. He glanced quickly around him. +The staff had trotted away; the captain and his detail were continuing +their work at a little distance. He took a long breath, for he was +holding in his hand a tracing of their camp, even of the position he was +to occupy tomorrow, and a detailed account of the movements, plans, and +force of the whole division as had been arranged in council of war the +day before the battle! But there was no indication of the writer or his +intentions. + +He thrust the papers hurriedly back into the envelope, but placed it, +this time, in his breast. He galloped towards the captain. + +"Let me see again the officer from whom you took that packet!" + +The captain led him to where the body lay, with others, extended more +decently on the grass awaiting removal. General Brant with difficulty +repressed an ejaculation. + +"Why, it's one of our own men," he said quickly. + +"Yes, General. They say it's Lieutenant Wainwright, a regular, of the +paymaster general's department." + +"Then what was he doing here?" asked General Brant sternly. + +"I can't make out, sir, unless he went into the last advance as a +volunteer. Wanted to see the fight, I suppose. He was a dashing fellow, +a West Pointer,--and a Southerner, too,--a Virginian." + +"A Southerner!" echoed Brant quickly. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Search him again," said Brant quietly. He had recovered his usual +coolness, and as the captain again examined the body, he took out his +tablets and wrote a few lines. It was an order to search the quarters +of Lieutenant Wainwright and bring all papers, letters, and documents to +him. He then beckoned one of the detail towards him. "Take that to the +provost marshal at once. Well, Captain," he added calmly, as the officer +again approached him, "what do you find?" + +"Only this, sir," returned the captain, with a half smile, producing a +small photograph. "I suppose it was overlooked, too." + +He handed it to Brant. + +There was a sudden fixing of his commanding officer's eyes, but his face +did not otherwise change. + +"It's the usual find, General. Always a photograph! But this time a +handsome woman!" + +"Very," said Clarence Brant quietly. It was the portrait of his own +wife. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Nevertheless, so complete was his control of voice and manner that, as +he rode on to his quarters, no one would have dreamed that General Brant +had just looked upon the likeness of the wife from whom he had parted in +anger four years ago. Still less would they have suspected the strange +fear that came upon him that in some way she was connected with the +treachery he had just discovered. He had heard from her only once, and +then through her late husband's lawyer, in regard to her Californian +property, and believed that she had gone to her relations in Alabama, +where she had identified herself with the Southern cause, even to the +sacrifice of her private fortune. He had heard her name mentioned in the +Southern press as a fascinating society leader, and even coadjutrix +of Southern politicians,--but he had no reason to believe that she had +taken so active or so desperate a part in the struggle. He tried to +think that his uneasiness sprang from his recollection of the previous +treachery of Captain Pinckney, and the part that she had played in the +Californian conspiracy, although he had long since acquitted her of the +betrayal of any nearer trust. But there was a fateful similarity in +the two cases. There was no doubt that this Lieutenant Wainwright was +a traitor in the camp,--that he had succumbed to the usual sophistry of +his class in regard to his superior allegiance to his native State. But +was there the inducement of another emotion, or was the photograph only +the souvenir of a fascinating priestess of rebellion, whom the dead +man had met? There was perhaps less of feeling than scorn in the first +suggestion, but he was nevertheless relieved when the provost marshal +found no other incriminating papers in Wainwright's effects. Nor did +he reveal to the division general the finding of the photograph. It was +sufficient to disclose the work of the traitor without adding what might +be a clue to his wife's participation in it, near or remote. There was +risk enough in the former course,--which his duty made imperative. He +hardly dared to think of the past day's slaughter, which--there was no +doubt now--had been due to the previous work of the spy, and how his +brigade had been selected--by the irony of Fate--to suffer for and yet +retrieve it. If she had had a hand in this wicked plot, ought he to +spare her? Or was his destiny and hers to be thus monstrously linked +together? + +Luckily, however, the expiation of the chief offender and the timely +discovery of his papers enabled the division commander to keep the +affair discreetly silent, and to enjoin equal secrecy on the part of +Brant. The latter, however, did not relax his vigilance, and after the +advance the next day he made a minute inspection of the ground he was +to occupy, its approaches and connections with the outlying country, +and the rebel lines; increased the stringency of picket and sentry +regulations, and exercised a rigid surveillance of non-combatants +and civilians within the lines, even to the lowest canteener or camp +follower. Then he turned his attention to the house he was to occupy as +his headquarters. + +It was a fine specimen of the old colonial planter's house, with its +broad veranda, its great detached offices and negro quarters, and had, +thus far, escaped the ravages and billeting of the war. It had been +occupied by its owner up to a few days before the engagement, and so +great had been the confidence of the enemy in their success that it had +been used as the Confederate headquarters on the morning of the decisive +battle. Jasmine and rose, unstained by the sulphur of gunpowder, +twined around its ruined columns and half hid the recessed windows; +the careless flower garden was still in its unkempt and unplucked +luxuriance; the courtyard before the stables alone showed marks of the +late military occupancy, and was pulverized by the uneasy horse-hoofs of +the waiting staff. But the mingled impress of barbaric prodigality with +patriarchal simplicity was still there in the domestic arrangements of +a race who lived on half equal familiarity with strangers and their own +servants. + +The negro servants still remained, with a certain cat-like fidelity +to the place, and adapted themselves to the Northern invaders with +a childlike enjoyment of the novelty of change. Brant, nevertheless, +looked them over with an experienced eye, and satisfied himself of their +trustworthiness; there was the usual number of "boys," gray-haired and +grizzled in body service, and the "mammys" and "aunties" of the kitchen. +There were two or three rooms in the wing which still contained private +articles, pictures and souvenirs of the family, and a "young lady's" +boudoir, which Brant, with characteristic delicacy, kept carefully +isolated and intact from his military household, and accessible only to +the family servants. The room he had selected for himself was nearest +it,--a small, plainly furnished apartment, with an almost conventual +simplicity in its cold, white walls and draperies, and the narrow, +nun-like bed. It struck him that it might have belonged to some prim +elder daughter or maiden aunt, who had acted as housekeeper, as it +commanded the wing and servants' offices, with easy access to the +central hall. + +There followed a week of inactivity in which Brant felt a singular +resemblance in this Southern mansion to the old casa at Robles. The +afternoon shadows of the deep verandas recalled the old monastic gloom +of the Spanish house, which even the presence of a lounging officer or +waiting orderly could not entirely dissipate, and the scent of the rose +and jasmine from his windows overcame him with sad memories. He began +to chafe under this inaction, and long again for the excitement of the +march and bivouac, in which, for the past four years, he had buried his +past. + +He was sitting one afternoon alone before his reports and dispatches, +when this influence seemed so strong that he half impulsively laid them +aside to indulge in along reverie. He was recalling his last day +at Robles, the early morning duel with Pinckney, the return to San +Francisco, and the sudden resolution which sent him that day across the +continent to offer his services to the Government. He remembered +his delay in the Western town, where a volunteer regiment was being +recruited, his entrance into it as a private, his rapid selection, +through the force of his sheer devotion and intelligent concentration, +to the captaincy of his company; his swift promotion on hard-fought +fields to the head of the regiment, and the singular success that had +followed his resistless energy, which left him no time to think of +anything but his duty. The sudden intrusion of his wife upon his career +now, even in this accidental and perhaps innocent way, had seriously +unsettled him. + +The shadows were growing heavier and deeper, it lacked only a few +moments of the sunset bugle, when he was recalled to himself by that +singular instinctive consciousness, common to humanity, of being +intently looked at. He turned quickly,--the door behind him closed +softly. He rose and slipped into the hall. The tall figure of a woman +was going down the passage. She was erect and graceful; but, as she +turned towards the door leading to the offices, he distinctly saw the +gaudily turbaned head and black silhouette of a negress. Nevertheless, +he halted a moment at the door of the next room. + +"See who that woman is who has just passed, Mr. Martin. She doesn't seem +to belong to the house." + +The young officer rose, put on his cap, and departed. In a few moments +he returned. + +"Was she tall, sir, of a good figure, and very straight?" + +"Yes." + +"She is a servant of our neighbors, the Manlys, who occasionally visits +the servants here. A mulatto, I think." + +Brant reflected. Many of the mulattoes and negresses were of good +figure, and the habit of carrying burdens on their heads gave them a +singularly erect carriage. + +The lieutenant looked at his chief. + +"Have you any orders to give concerning her, General?" + +"No," said Brant, after a moment's pause, and turned away. + +The officer smiled. It seemed a good story to tell at mess of this human +weakness of his handsome, reserved, and ascetic-looking leader. + +A few mornings afterwards Brant was interrupted over his reports by the +almost abrupt entrance of the officer of the day. His face was flushed, +and it was evident that only the presence of his superior restrained his +excitement. He held a paper in his hand. + +"A lady presents this order and pass from Washington, countersigned by +the division general." + +"A lady?" + +"Yes, sir, she is dressed as such. But she has not only declined the +most ordinary civilities and courtesies we have offered her, but she +has insulted Mr. Martin and myself grossly, and demands to be shown to +you--alone." + +Brant took the paper. It was a special order from the President, passing +Miss Matilda Faulkner through the Federal lines to visit her uncle's +home, known as "Gray Oaks," now held and occupied as the headquarters of +Brant's Brigade, in order to arrange for the preservation and disposal +of certain family effects and private property that still remained +there, or to take and carry away such property; and invoking all +necessary aid and assistance from the United States forces in such +occupancy. It was countersigned by the division commander. It was +perfectly regular and of undoubted authenticity. He had heard of passes +of this kind,--the terror of the army,--issued in Washington under some +strange controlling influence and against military protest; but he did +not let his subordinate see the uneasiness with which it filled him. + +"Show her in," he said quietly. + +But she had already entered, brushing scornfully past the officer, and +drawing her skirt aside, as if contaminated: a very pretty Southern +girl, scornful and red-lipped, clad in a gray riding-habit, and still +carrying her riding-whip clenched ominously in her slim, gauntleted +hand! + +"You have my permit in your hand," she said brusquely, hardly raising +her eyes to Brant. "I suppose it's all straight enough,--and even if it +isn't, I don't reckon to be kept waiting with those hirelings." + +"Your 'permit' is 'straight' enough, Miss Faulkner," said Brant, slowly +reading her name from the document before him. "But, as it does not seem +to include permission to insult my officers, you will perhaps allow them +first to retire." + +He made a sign to the officer, who passed out of the door. + +As it closed, he went on, in a gentle but coldly unimpassioned voice,-- + +"I perceive you are a Southern lady, and therefore I need not remind you +that it is not considered good form to treat even the slaves of those +one does not like uncivilly, and I must, therefore, ask you to keep your +active animosity for myself." + +The young girl lifted her eyes. She had evidently not expected to meet +a man so young, so handsome, so refined, and so coldly invincible in +manner. Still less was she prepared for that kind of antagonism. In +keeping up her preconcerted attitude towards the "Northern hireling," +she had been met with official brusqueness, contemptuous silence, or +aggrieved indignation,--but nothing so exasperating as this. She even +fancied that this elegant but sardonic-looking soldier was mocking her. +She bit her red lip, but, with a scornful gesture of her riding-whip, +said,-- + +"I reckon that your knowledge of Southern ladies is, for certain +reasons, not very extensive." + +"Pardon me; I have had the honor of marrying one." + +Apparently more exasperated than before, she turned upon him abruptly. + +"You say my pass is all right. Then I presume I may attend to the +business that brought me here." + +"Certainly; but you will forgive me if I imagined that an expression of +contempt for your hosts was a part of it." + +He rang a bell on the table. It was responded to by an orderly. + +"Send all the household servants here." + +The room was presently filled with the dusky faces of the negro +retainers. Here and there was the gleaming of white teeth, but a +majority of the assembly wore the true negro serious acceptance of the +importance of "an occasion." One or two even affected an official and +soldierly bearing. And, as he fully expected, there were several glances +of significant recognition of the stranger. + +"You will give," said Brant sternly, "every aid and attention to the +wants of this young lady, who is here to represent the interests of your +old master. As she will be entirely dependent upon you in all things +connected with her visit here, see to it that she does not have to +complain to me of any inattention,--or be obliged to ask for other +assistance." + +As Miss Faulkner, albeit a trifle paler in the cheek, but as scornful as +ever, was about to follow the servants from the room, Brant stopped her, +with a coldly courteous gesture. + +"You will understand, therefore, Miss Faulkner, that you have your wish, +and that you will not be exposed to any contact with the members of my +military family, nor they with you." + +"Am I then to be a prisoner in this house--and under a free pass of +your--President?" she said indignantly. + +"By no means! You are free to come and go, and see whom you please. I +have no power to control your actions. But I have the power to control +theirs." + +She swept furiously from the room. + +"That is quite enough to fill her with a desire to flirt with every man +here," said Brant to himself, with a faint smile; "but I fancy they have +had a taste enough of her quality." + +Nevertheless he sat down and wrote a few lines to the division +commander, pointing out that he had already placed the owner's private +property under strict surveillance, that it was cared for and perfectly +preserved by the household servants, and that the pass was evidently +obtained as a subterfuge. + +To this he received a formal reply, regretting that the authorities at +Washington still found it necessary to put this kind of risk and burden +on the army in the field, but that the order emanated from the highest +authority, and must be strictly obeyed. At the bottom of the page was a +characteristic line in pencil in the general's own hand--"Not the kind +that is dangerous." + +A flush mounted Brant's cheeks, as if it contained not only a hidden, +but a personal significance. He had thought of his own wife! + +Singularly enough, a day or two later, at dinner, the conversation +turned upon the intense sectional feeling of Southern women, probably +induced by their late experiences. Brant, at the head of the table, in +his habitual abstraction, was scarcely following the somewhat excited +diction of Colonel Strangeways, one of his staff. + +"No, sir," reiterated that indignant warrior, "take my word for it! A +Southern woman isn't to be trusted on this point, whether as a sister, +sweetheart, or wife. And when she is trusted, she's bound to get the +better of the man in any of those relations!" + +The dead silence that followed, the ominous joggle of a glass at the +speaker's elbow, the quick, sympathetic glance that Brant instinctively +felt was directed at his own face, and the abrupt change of subject, +could not but arrest his attention, even if he had overlooked the +speech. His face, however, betrayed nothing. It had never, however, +occurred to him before that his family affairs might be known--neither +had he ever thought of keeping them a secret. It seemed so purely a +personal and private misfortune, that he had never dreamed of its having +any public interest. And even now he was a little ashamed of what he +believed was his sensitiveness to mere conventional criticism, which, +with the instinct of a proud man, he had despised. + +He was not far wrong in his sardonic intuition of the effect of his +prohibition upon Miss Faulkner's feelings. Certainly that young lady, +when not engaged in her mysterious occupation of arranging her uncle's +effects, occasionally was seen in the garden, and in the woods beyond. +Although her presence was the signal for the "oblique" of any lounging +"shoulder strap," or the vacant "front" of a posted sentry, she seemed +to regard their occasional proximity with less active disfavor. Once, +when she had mounted the wall to gather a magnolia blossom, the chair by +which she had ascended rolled over, leaving her on the wall. At a +signal from the guard-room, two sappers and miners appeared carrying +a scaling-ladder, which they placed silently against the wall, and as +silently withdrew. On another occasion, the same spirited young lady, +whom Brant was satisfied would have probably imperiled her life under +fire in devotion to her cause, was brought ignominiously to bay in the +field by that most appalling of domestic animals, the wandering and +untrammeled cow! Brant could not help smiling as he heard the quick, +harsh call to "Turn out, guard," saw the men march stolidly with fixed +bayonets to the vicinity of the affrighted animal, who fled, leaving +the fair stranger to walk shamefacedly to the house. He was surprised, +however, that she should have halted before his door, and with tremulous +indignation, said,-- + +"I thank you, sir, for your chivalrousness in turning a defenseless +woman into ridicule." + +"I regret, Miss Faulkner," began Brant gravely, "that you should believe +that I am able to control the advances of farmyard cattle as easily +as"--But he stopped, as he saw that the angry flash of her blue eyes, +as she darted past him, was set in tears. A little remorseful on the +following day, he added a word to his ordinary cap-lifting when she +went by, but she retained a reproachful silence. Later in the day, he +received from her servant a respectful request for an interview, and +was relieved to find that she entered his presence with no trace of her +former aggression, but rather with the resignation of a deeply injured, +yet not entirely unforgiving, woman. + +"I thought," she began coldly, "that I ought to inform you that I +would probably be able to conclude my business here by the day after +to-morrow, and that you would then be relieved of my presence. I am +aware--indeed," she added, bitterly, "I could scarcely help perceiving, +that it has been an exceedingly irksome one." + +"I trust," began Brant coldly, "that no gentleman of my command has"-- + +"No!" + +She interrupted him quickly, with a return of her former manner, and a +passionate sweep of the hand. + +"Do you suppose for a moment that I am speaking--that I am even +thinking--of them? What are they to me?" + +"Thank you. I am glad to know that they are nothing; and that I may +now trust that you have consulted my wishes, and have reserved your +animosity solely for me," returned Brant quietly. "That being so, I see +no reason for your hurrying your departure in the least." + +She rose instantly. + +"I have," she said slowly, controlling herself with a slight effort, +"found some one who will take my duty off my hands. She is a servant of +one of your neighbors,--who is an old friend of my uncle's. The woman is +familiar with the house, and our private property. I will give her full +instructions to act for me, and even an authorization in writing, if you +prefer it. She is already in the habit of coming here; but her visits +will give you very little trouble. And, as she is a slave, or, as you +call it, I believe, a chattel, she will be already quite accustomed +to the treatment which her class are in the habit of receiving from +Northern hands." + +Without waiting to perceive the effect of her Parthian shot, she swept +proudly out of the room. + +"I wonder what she means," mused Brant, as her quick step died away in +the passage. "One thing is certain,--a woman like that is altogether too +impulsive for a spy." + +Later, in the twilight, he saw her walking in the garden. There was a +figure at her side. A little curious, he examined it more closely from +his window. It was already familiar to him,--the erect, shapely form +of his neighbor's servant. A thoughtful look passed over his face as he +muttered,--"So this is to be her deputy." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Called to a general council of officers at divisional headquarters the +next day, Brant had little time for further speculation regarding +his strange guest, but a remark from the division commander, that he +preferred to commit the general plan of a movement then under discussion +to their memories rather than to written orders in the ordinary routine, +seemed to show that his chief still suspected the existence of a spy. +He, therefore, told him of his late interview with Miss Faulkner, and +her probable withdrawal in favor of a mulatto neighbor. The division +commander received the information with indifference. + +"They're much too clever to employ a hussy like that, who shows her +hand at every turn, either as a spy or a messenger of spies,--and the +mulattoes are too stupid, to say nothing of their probable fidelity +to us. No, General, if we are watched, it is by an eagle, and not a +mocking-bird. Miss Faulkner has nothing worse about her than her tongue; +and there isn't the nigger blood in the whole South that would risk a +noose for her, or for any of their masters or mistresses!" + +It was, therefore, perhaps, with some mitigation of his usual critical +severity that he saw her walking before him alone in the lane as he +rode home to quarters. She was apparently lost in a half-impatient, +half-moody reverie, which even the trotting hoof-beats of his own and +his orderly's horse had not disturbed. From time to time she struck the +myrtle hedge beside her with the head of a large flower which hung +by its stalk from her listless hands, or held it to her face as if +to inhale its perfume. Dismissing his orderly by a side path, he rode +gently forward, but, to his surprise, without turning, or seeming to be +aware of his presence, she quickened her pace, and even appeared to look +from side to side for some avenue of escape. If only to mend matters, he +was obliged to ride quickly forward to her side, where he threw himself +from his horse, flung the reins on his arm, and began to walk beside +her. She at first turned a slightly flushed cheek away from him, and +then looked up with a purely simulated start of surprise. + +"I am afraid," he said gently, "that I am the first to break my own +orders in regard to any intrusion on your privacy. But I wanted to ask +you if I could give you any aid whatever in the change you think of +making." + +He was quite sincere,--had been touched by her manifest disturbance, +and, despite his masculine relentlessness of criticism, he had an +intuition of feminine suffering that was in itself feminine. + +"Meaning, that you are in a hurry to get rid of me," she said curtly, +without raising her eyes. + +"Meaning that I only wish to expedite a business which I think is +unpleasant to you, but which I believe you have undertaken from +unselfish devotion." + +The scant expression of a reserved nature is sometimes more attractive +to women than the most fluent vivacity. Possibly there was also a +melancholy grace in this sardonic soldier's manner that affected her, +for she looked up, and said impulsively,-- + +"You think so?" + +But he met her eager eyes with some surprise. + +"I certainly do," he replied more coldly. "I can imagine your feelings +on finding your uncle's home in the possession of your enemies, and your +presence under the family roof only a sufferance. I can hardly believe +it a pleasure to you, or a task you would have accepted for yourself +alone." + +"But," she said, turning towards him wickedly, "what if I did it only to +excite my revenge; what if I knew it would give me courage to incite my +people to carry war into your own homes; to make you of the North feel +as I feel, and taste our bitterness?" + +"I could easily understand that, too," he returned, with listless +coldness, "although I don't admit that revenge is an unmixed pleasure, +even to a woman." + +"A woman!" she repeated indignantly. "There is no sex in a war like +this." + +"You are spoiling your flower," he said quietly. "It is very pretty, and +a native one, too; not an invader, or even transplanted. May I look at +it?" + +She hesitated, half recoiling for an instant, and her hand trembled. +Then, suddenly and abruptly she said, with a hysteric little laugh, +"Take it, then," and almost thrust it in his hand. + +It certainly was a pretty flower, not unlike a lily in appearance, with +a bell-like cup and long anthers covered with a fine pollen, like red +dust. As he lifted it to his face, to inhale its perfume, she uttered a +slight cry, and snatched it from his hand. + +"There!" she said, with the same nervous laugh. "I knew you would; I +ought to have warned you. The pollen comes off so easily, and leaves a +stain. And you've got some on your cheek. Look!" she continued, taking +her handkerchief from her pocket and wiping his cheek; "see there!" The +delicate cambric showed a blood-red streak. + +"It grows in a swamp," she continued, in the same excited strain; "we +call it dragon's teeth,--like the kind that was sown in the story, you +know. We children used to find it, and then paint our faces and lips +with it. We called it our rouge. I was almost tempted to try it again +when I found it just now. It took me back so to the old times." + +Following her odd manner rather than her words, as she turned her face +towards him suddenly, Brant was inclined to think that she had tried it +already, so scarlet was her cheek. But it presently paled again under +his cold scrutiny. + +"You must miss the old times," he said calmly. "I am afraid you found +very little of them left, except in these flowers." + +"And hardly these," she said bitterly. "Your troops had found a way +through the marsh, and had trampled down the bushes." + +Brant's brow clouded. He remembered that the brook, which had run red +during the fight, had lost itself in this marsh. It did not increase his +liking for this beautiful but blindly vicious animal at his side, and +even his momentary pity for her was fading fast. She was incorrigible. +They walked on for a few moments in silence. + +"You said," she began at last, in a gentler and even hesitating voice, +"that your wife was a Southern woman." + +He checked an irritated start with difficulty. + +"I believe I did," he said coldly, as if he regretted it. + +"And of course you taught her YOUR gospel,--the gospel according to +St. Lincoln. Oh, I know," she went on hurriedly, as if conscious of his +irritation and seeking to allay it. "She was a woman and loved you, and +thought with your thoughts and saw only with your eyes. Yes, that's the +way with us,--I suppose we all do it!" she added bitterly. + +"She had her own opinions," said Brant briefly, as he recovered himself. + +Nevertheless, his manner so decidedly closed all further discussion that +there was nothing left for the young girl but silence. But it was broken +by her in a few moments in her old contemptuous voice and manner. + +"Pray don't trouble yourself to accompany me any further, General Brant. +Unless, of course, you are afraid I may come across some of your--your +soldiers. I promise you I won't eat them." + +"I am afraid you must suffer my company a little longer, Miss Faulkner, +on account of those same soldiers," returned Brant gravely. "You may not +know that this road, in which I find you, takes you through a cordon +of pickets. If you were alone you would be stopped, questioned, and, +failing to give the password, you would be detained, sent to the +guard-house, and"--he stopped, and fixed his eyes on her keenly as he +added, "and searched." + +"You would not dare to search a woman!" she said indignantly, although +her flush gave way to a slight pallor. + +"You said just now that there should be no sex in a war like this," +returned Brant carelessly, but without abating his scrutinizing gaze. + +"Then it IS war?" she said quickly, with a white, significant face. + +His look of scrutiny turned to one of puzzled wonder. But at the same +moment there was the flash of a bayonet in the hedge, a voice called +"Halt!" and a soldier stepped into the road. + +General Brant advanced, met the salute of the picket with a few formal +words, and then turned towards his fair companion, as another soldier +and a sergeant joined the group. + +"Miss Faulkner is new to the camp, took the wrong turning, and was +unwittingly leaving the lines when I joined her." He fixed his eyes +intently on her now colorless face, but she did not return his look. +"You will show her the shortest way to quarters," he continued, to the +sergeant, "and should she at any time again lose her way, you will again +conduct her home,--but without detaining or reporting her." + +He lifted his cap, remounted his horse, and rode away, as the young +girl, with a proud, indifferent step, moved down the road with the +sergeant. A mounted officer passed him and saluted,--it was one of his +own staff. From some strange instinct, he knew that he had witnessed the +scene, and from some equally strange intuition he was annoyed by it. But +he continued his way, visiting one or two outposts, and returned by a +long detour to his quarters. As he stepped upon the veranda he saw Miss +Faulkner at the bottom of the garden talking with some one across the +hedge. By the aid of his glass he could recognize the shapely figure +of the mulatto woman which he had seen before. But by its aid he also +discovered that she was carrying a flower exactly like the one which +Miss Faulkner still held in her hand. Had she been with Miss Faulkner in +the lane, and if so, why had she disappeared when he came up? Impelled +by something stronger than mere curiosity, he walked quickly down +the garden, but she evidently had noticed him, for she as quickly +disappeared. Not caring to meet Miss Faulkner again, he retraced his +steps, resolving that he would, on the first opportunity, personally +examine and interrogate this new visitor. For if she were to take Miss +Faulkner's place in a subordinate capacity, this precaution was clearly +within his rights. + +He re-entered his room and seated himself at his desk before the +dispatches, orders, and reports awaiting him. He found himself, however, +working half mechanically, and recurring to his late interview with Miss +Faulkner in the lane. If she had any inclination to act the spy, or +to use her position here as a means of communicating with the enemy's +lines, he thought he had thoroughly frightened her. Nevertheless, now, +for the first time, he was inclined to accept his chief's opinion of +her. She was not only too clumsy and inexperienced, but she totally +lacked the self-restraint of a spy. Her nervous agitation in the lane +was due to something more disturbing than his mere possible intrusion +upon her confidences with the mulatto. The significance of her question, +"Then it IS war?" was at best a threat, and that implied hesitation. He +recalled her strange allusion to his wife; was it merely the outcome +of his own foolish confession on their first interview, or was it a +concealed ironical taunt? Being satisfied, however, that she was not +likely to imperil his public duty in any way, he was angry with himself +for speculating further. But, although he still felt towards her the +same antagonism she had at first provoked, he was conscious that she was +beginning to exercise a strange fascination over him. + +Dismissing her at last with an effort, he finished his work and then +rose, and unlocking a closet, took out a small dispatch-box, to which +he intended to intrust a few more important orders and memoranda. As +he opened it with a key on his watch-chain, he was struck with a faint +perfume that seemed to come from it,--a perfume that he remembered. Was +it the smell of the flower that Miss Faulkner carried, or the scent of +the handkerchief with which she had wiped his cheek, or a mingling of +both? Or was he under some spell to think of that wretched girl, and her +witch-like flower? He leaned over the box and suddenly started. Upon +the outer covering of a dispatch was a singular blood-red streak! +He examined it closely,--it was the powdery stain of the lily +pollen,--exactly as he had seen it on her handkerchief. + +There could be no mistake. He passed his finger over the stain; he could +still feel the slippery, infinitesimal powder of the pollen. It was not +there when he had closed the box that morning; it was impossible that +it should be there unless the box had been opened in his absence. He +re-examined the contents of the box; the papers were all there. More +than that, they were papers of no importance except to him personally; +contained no plans nor key to any military secret; he had been far too +wise to intrust any to the accidents of this alien house. The prying +intruder, whoever it was, had gained nothing! But there was unmistakably +the attempt! And the existence of a would-be spy within the purlieus of +the house was equally clear. + +He called an officer from the next room. + +"Has any one been here since my absence?" + +"No, General." + +"Has any one passed through the hall?" + +He had fully anticipated the answer, as the subaltern replied, "Only the +women servants." + +He re-entered the room. Closing the door, he again carefully examined +the box, his table, the papers upon it, the chair before it, and even +the Chinese matting on the floor, for any further indication of the +pollen. It hardly seemed possible that any one could have entered +the room with the flower in their hand without scattering some of the +tell-tale dust elsewhere; it was too large a flower to be worn on the +breast or in the hair. Again, no one would have dared to linger there +long enough to have made an examination of the box, with an officer in +the next room, and the sergeant passing. The box had been removed, and +the examination made elsewhere! + +An idea seized him. Miss Faulkner was still absent, the mulatto had +apparently gone home. He quickly mounted the staircase, but instead of +entering his room, turned suddenly aside into the wing which had been +reserved. The first door yielded as he turned its knob gently and +entered a room which he at once recognized as the "young lady's +boudoir." But the dusty and draped furniture had been rearranged and +uncovered, and the apartment bore every sign of present use. Yet, +although there was unmistakable evidence of its being used by a person +of taste and refinement, he was surprised to see that the garments +hanging in an open press were such as were used by negro servants, and +that a gaudy handkerchief such as housemaids used for turbans was lying +on the pretty silk coverlet. He did not linger over these details, but +cast a rapid glance round the room. Then his eyes became fixed on a +fanciful writing-desk, which stood by the window. For, in a handsome +vase placed on its level top, and drooping on a portfolio below, hung a +cluster of the very flowers that Miss Faulkner had carried! + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +It seemed plain to Brant that the dispatch-box had been conveyed here +and opened for security on this desk, and in the hurry of examining +the papers the flower had been jostled and the fallen grains of pollen +overlooked by the spy. There were one or two freckles of red on the +desk, which made this accident appear the more probable. But he was +equally struck by another circumstance. The desk stood immediately +before the window. As he glanced mechanically from it, he was surprised +to see that it commanded an extensive view of the slope below the +eminence on which the house stood, even beyond his furthest line of +pickets. The vase of flowers, each of which was nearly as large as a +magnolia blossom, and striking in color, occupied a central position +before it, and no doubt could be quite distinctly seen from a distance. +From this circumstance he could not resist the strong impression that +this fateful and extraordinary blossom, carried by Miss Faulkner and the +mulatto, and so strikingly "in evidence" at the window, was in some +way a signal. Obeying an impulse which he was conscious had a half +superstitious foundation, he carefully lifted the vase from its position +before the window, and placed it on a side table. Then he cautiously +slipped from the room. + +But he could not easily shake off the perplexity which the occurrence +had caused, although he was satisfied that it was fraught with no +military or strategic danger to his command, and that the unknown spy +had obtained no information whatever. Yet he was forced to admit to +himself that he was more concerned in his attempts to justify the +conduct of Miss Faulkner with this later revelation. It was quite +possible that the dispatch-box had been purloined by some one else +during her absence from the house, as the presence of the mulatto +servant in his room would have been less suspicious than hers. There +was really little evidence to connect Miss Faulkner with the actual +outrage,--rather might not the real spy have taken advantage of her +visit here, to throw suspicion upon her? He remembered her singular +manner,--the strange inconsistency with which she had forced this flower +upon him. She would hardly have done so had she been conscious of its +having so serious an import. Yet, what was the secret of her manifest +agitation? A sudden inspiration flashed across his mind; a smile came +upon his lips. She was in love! The enemy's line contained some sighing +Strephon of a young subaltern with whom she was in communication, and +for whom she had undertaken this quest. The flower was their language of +correspondence, no doubt. It explained also the young girl's animosity +against the younger officers,--his adversaries; against himself,--their +commander. He had previously wondered why, if she were indeed a spy, she +had not chosen, upon some equally specious order from Washington, +the headquarters of the division commander, whose secrets were more +valuable. This was explained by the fact that she was nearer the lines +and her lover in her present abode. He had no idea that he was making +excuses for her,--he believed himself only just. The recollection of +what she had said of the power of love, albeit it had hurt him cruelly +at the time, was now clearer to him, and even seemed to mitigate her +offense. She would be here but a day or two longer; he could afford to +wait without interrogating her. + +But as to the real intruder, spy or thief,--that was another affair, and +quickly settled. He gave an order to the officer of the day peremptorily +forbidding the entrance of alien servants or slaves within the precincts +of the headquarters. Any one thus trespassing was to be brought before +him. The officer looked surprised, he even fancied disappointed. The +graces of the mulatto woman's figure had evidently not been thrown away +upon his subalterns. + +An hour or two later, when he was mounting his horse for a round of +inspection, he was surprised to see Miss Faulkner, accompanied by the +mulatto woman, running hurriedly to the house. He had forgotten his late +order until he saw the latter halted by the sentries, but the young girl +came flying on, regardless of her companion. Her skirt was held in one +hand, her straw hat had fallen back in her flight, and was caught only +by a ribbon around her swelling throat, and her loosened hair lay in a +black rippled loop on one shoulder. For an instant Brant thought that +she was seeking him in indignation at his order, but a second look at +her set face, eager eyes, and parted scarlet lips, showed him that she +had not even noticed him in the concentration of her purpose. She swept +by him into the hall, he heard the swish of her skirt and rapid feet on +the stairs,--she was gone. What had happened, or was this another of her +moods? + +But he was called to himself by the apparition of a corporal standing +before him, with the mulatto woman,--the first capture under his order. +She was tall, well-formed, but unmistakably showing the negro type, even +in her small features. Her black eyes were excited, but unintelligent; +her manner dogged, but with the obstinacy of half-conscious stupidity. +Brant felt not only disappointed, but had a singular impression that she +was not the same woman that he had first seen. Yet there was the tall, +graceful figure, the dark profile, and the turbaned head that he had +once followed down the passage by his room. + +Her story was as stupidly simple. She had known "Missy" from a chile! +She had just traipsed over to see her that afternoon; they were walking +together when the sojers stopped her. She had never been stopped before, +even by "the patter rollers."* Her old massa (Manly) had gib leaf to go +see Miss Tilly, and hadn't said nuffin about no "orders." + + * i. e., patrols,--a civic home-guard in the South that kept + surveillance of slaves. + +More annoyed than he cared to confess, Brant briefly dismissed her with +a warning. As he cantered down the slope the view of the distant pickets +recalled the window in the wing, and he turned in his saddle to look at +it. There it was--the largest and most dominant window in that part of +the building--and within it, a distinct and vivid object almost filling +the opening, was the vase of flowers, which he had a few hours ago +removed, RESTORED TO ITS ORIGINAL POSITION! He smiled. The hurried +entrance and consternation of Miss Faulkner were now fully explained. +He had interrupted some impassioned message, perhaps even countermanded +some affectionate rendezvous beyond the lines. And it seemed to settle +the fact that it was she who had done the signaling! But would not this +also make her cognizant of the taking of the dispatch-box? He reflected, +however, that the room was apparently occupied by the mulatto woman--he +remembered the calico dresses and turban on the bed--and it was possible +that Miss Faulkner had only visited it for the purpose of signaling +to her lover. Although this circumstance did not tend to make his mind +easier, it was, however, presently diverted by a new arrival and a +strange recognition. + +As he rode through the camp a group of officers congregated before a +large mess tent appeared to be highly amused by the conversation--half +monologue and half harangue of a singular-looking individual who stood +in the centre. He wore a "slouch" hat, to the band of which he had +imparted a military air by the addition of a gold cord, but the brim was +caught up at the side in a peculiarly theatrical and highly artificial +fashion. A heavy cavalry sabre depended from a broad-buckled belt under +his black frock coat, with the addition of two revolvers--minus their +holsters--stuck on either side of the buckle, after the style of a stage +smuggler. A pair of long enameled leather riding boots, with the tops +turned deeply over, as if they had once done duty for the representative +of a cavalier, completed his extraordinary equipment. The group were so +absorbed in him that they did not perceive the approach of their chief +and his orderly; and Brant, with a sign to the latter, halted only a few +paces from this central figure. His speech was a singular mingling +of high-flown and exalted epithets, with inexact pronunciation and +occasional lapses of Western slang. + +"Well, I ain't purtendin' to any stratutegical smartness, and I didn't +gradooate at West Point as one of those Apocryphal Engineers; I don't +do much talking about 'flank' movements or 'recognizances in force' or +'Ekellon skirmishing,' but when it comes down to square Ingin fightin', +I reckon I kin have my say. There are men who don't know the Army +Contractor," he added darkly, "who mebbe have heard of 'Red Jim.' I +don't mention names, gentlemen, but only the other day a man that +you all know says to me, 'If I only knew what you do about scoutin' I +wouldn't be wanting for information as I do.' I ain't goin' to say who +it was, or break any confidences between gentlemen by saying how many +stars he had on his shoulder strap; but he was a man who knew what he +was saying. And I say agin, gentlemen, that the curse of the Northern +Army is the want of proper scoutin'. What was it caused Bull's +Run?--Want o' scoutin'. What was it rolled up Pope?--Want o' scoutin'. +What caused the slaughter at the Wilderness?--Want o' scoutin'--Ingin +scoutin'! Why, only the other day, gentlemen, I was approached to know +what I'd take to organize a scoutin' force. And what did I say?--'No, +General; it ain't because I represent one of the largest Army Beef +Contracts in this country,' says I. 'It ain't because I belong, so to +speak, to the "Sinews of War;" but because I'd want about ten thousand +trained Ingins from the Reservations!' And the regular West Point, +high-toned, scientific inkybus that weighs so heavily on our army don't +see it--and won't have it! Then Sherman, he sez to me"-- + +But here a roar of laughter interrupted him, and in the cross fire of +sarcastic interrogations that began Brant saw, with relief, a chance +of escape. For in the voice, manner, and, above all, the characteristic +temperament of the stranger, he had recognized his old playmate and the +husband of Susy,--the redoubtable Jim Hooker! There was no mistaking +that gloomy audacity; that mysterious significance; that magnificent +lying. But even at that moment Clarence Brant's heart had gone out, with +all his old loyalty of feeling, towards his old companion. He knew that +a public recognition of him then and there would plunge Hooker into +confusion; he felt keenly the ironical plaudits and laughter of his +officers over the manifest weakness and vanity of the ex-teamster, +ex-rancher, ex-actor, and husband of his old girl sweetheart, and would +have spared him the knowledge that he had overheard it. Turning hastily +to the orderly, he bade him bring the stranger to his headquarters, and +rode away unperceived. + +He had heard enough, however, to account for his presence there, and the +singular chance that had brought them again together. He was evidently +one of those large civil contractors of supplies whom the Government was +obliged to employ, who visited the camp half officially, and whom the +army alternately depended upon and abused. Brant had dealt with his +underlings in the Commissariat, and even now remembered that he had +heard he was coming, but had overlooked the significance of his name. +But how he came to leave his theatrical profession, how he had attained +a position which implied a command of considerable capital--for many of +the contractors had already amassed large fortunes--and what had become +of Susy and her ambitions in this radical change of circumstances, were +things still to be learned. In his own changed conditions he had seldom +thought of her; it was with a strange feeling of irritation and half +responsibility that he now recalled their last interview and the emotion +to which he had yielded. + +He had not long to wait. He had scarcely regained the quarters at his +own private office before he heard the step of the orderly upon the +veranda and the trailing clank of Hooker's sabre. He did not know, +however, that Hooker, without recognizing his name, had received the +message as a personal tribute, and had left his sarcastic companions +triumphantly, with the air of going to a confidential interview, to +which his well-known military criticism had entitled him. It was with +a bearing of gloomy importance and his characteristic, sullen, sidelong +glance that he entered the apartment and did not look up until Brant had +signaled the orderly to withdraw, and closed the door behind him. And +then he recognized his old boyish companion--the preferred favorite of +fortune! + +For a moment he gasped with astonishment. For a moment gloomy +incredulity, suspicion, delight, pride, admiration, even affection, +struggled for mastery in his sullen, staring eyes and open, twitching +mouth. For here was Clarence Brant, handsomer than ever, more superior +than ever, in the majesty of uniform and authority which fitted him--the +younger man--by reason of his four years of active service, with the +careless ease and bearing of the veteran! Here was the hero whose name +was already so famous that the mere coincidence of it with that of the +modest civilian he had known would have struck him as preposterous. +Yet here he was--supreme, and dazzling--surrounded by the pomp and +circumstance of war--into whose reserved presence he, Jim Hooker, had +been ushered with the formality of challenge, saluting, and presented +bayonets! + +Luckily, Brant had taken advantage of his first gratified ejaculation to +shake him warmly by the hand, and then, with both hands laid familiarly +on his shoulder, force him down into a chair. Luckily, for by that time +Jim Hooker had, with characteristic gloominess, found time to taste the +pangs of envy--an envy the more keen since, in spite of his success as a +peaceful contractor, he had always secretly longed for military display +and distinction. He looked at the man who had achieved it, as he firmly +believed, by sheer luck and accident, and his eyes darkened. Then, +with characteristic weakness and vanity, he began to resist his first +impressions of Clarence's superiority, and to air his own importance. +He leaned heavily back in the chair in which he had been thus genially +forced, drew off his gauntlet and attempted to thrust it through his +belt, as he had seen Brant do, but failed on account of his pistols +already occupying that position, dropped it, got his sword between +his legs in attempting to pick it up, and then leaned back again, with +half-closed eyes serenely indifferent of his old companion's smiling +face. + +"I reckon," he began slowly, with a slightly patronizing air, "that we'd +have met, sooner or later, at Washington, or at Grant's headquarters, +for Hooker, Meacham & Co. go everywhere, and are about as well known as +major-generals, to say nothin'," he went on, with a sidelong glance at +Brant's shoulder-straps, "of brigadiers; and it's rather strange--only, +of course, you're kind of fresh in the service--that you ain't heard of +me afore." + +"But I'm very glad to hear of you now, Jim," said Brant, smiling, +"and from your own lips--which I am also delighted to find," he added +mischievously, "are still as frankly communicative on that topic as of +old. But I congratulate you, old fellow, on your good fortune. When did +you leave the stage?" + +Mr. Hooker frowned slightly. + +"I never was really on the stage, you know," he said, waving his hand +with assumed negligence. "Only went on to please my wife. Mrs. Hooker +wouldn't act with vulgar professionals, don't you see! I was really +manager most of the time, and lessee of the theatre. Went East when +the war broke out, to offer my sword and knowledge of Ingin fightin' to +Uncle Sam! Drifted into a big pork contract at St. Louis, with Fremont. +Been at it ever since. Offered a commission in the reg'lar service lots +o' times. Refused." + +"Why?" asked Brant demurely. + +"Too much West Point starch around to suit ME," returned Hooker darkly. +"And too many spies!" + +"Spies?" echoed Brant abstractedly, with a momentary reminiscence of +Miss Faulkner. + +"Yes, spies," continued Hooker, with dogged mystery. "One half of +Washington is watching t'other half, and, from the President's wife +down, most of the women are secesh!" + +Brant suddenly fixed his keen eyes on his guest. But the next moment he +reflected that this was only Jim Hooker's usual speech, and possessed no +ulterior significance. He smiled again, and said, more gently,-- + +"And how is Mrs. Hooker?" + +Mr. Hooker fixed his eyes on the ceiling, rose, and pretended to look +out of the window; then, taking his seat again by the table, as if +fronting an imaginary audience, and pulling slowly at his gauntlets +after the usual theatrical indication of perfect sangfroid, said,-- + +"There ain't any!" + +"Good heavens!" said Brant, with genuine emotion. "I beg your pardon. +Really, I"-- + +"Mrs. Hooker and me are divorced," continued Hooker, slightly changing +his attitude, and leaning heavily on his sabre, with his eyes still on +his fanciful audience. "There was, you understand"--lightly tossing his +gauntlet aside--"incompatibility of temper--and--we--parted! Ha!" + +He uttered a low, bitter, scornful laugh, which, however, produced the +distinct impression in Brant's mind that up to that moment he had never +had the slightest feeling in the matter whatever. + +"You seemed to be on such good terms with each other!" murmured Brant +vaguely. + +"Seemed!" said Hooker bitterly, glancing sardonically at an ideal second +row in the pit before him, "yes--seemed! There were other differences, +social and political. You understand that; you have suffered, too." He +reached out his hand and pressed Brant's, in heavy effusiveness. "But," +he continued haughtily, lightly tossing his glove again, "we are also +men of the world; we let that pass." + +And it was possible that he found the strain of his present attitude too +great, for he changed to an easier position. + +"But," said Brant curiously, "I always thought that Mrs. Hooker was +intensely Union and Northern?" + +"Put on!" said Hooker, in his natural voice. + +"But you remember the incident of the flag?" persisted Brant. + +"Mrs. Hooker was always an actress," said Hooker significantly. +"But," he added cheerfully, "Mrs. Hooker is now the wife of Senator +Boompointer, one of the wealthiest and most powerful Republicans in +Washington--carries the patronage of the whole West in his vest pocket." + +"Yet, if she is not a Republican, why did she"--began Brant. + +"For a purpose," replied Hooker darkly. "But," he added again, with +greater cheerfulness, "she belongs to the very elite of Washington +society. Goes to all the foreign ambassadors' balls, and is a power +at the White House. Her picture is in all the first-class illustrated +papers." + +The singular but unmistakable pride of the man in the importance of the +wife from whom he was divorced, and for whom he did not care, would have +offended Brant's delicacy, or at least have excited his ridicule, but +for the reason that he was more deeply stung by Hooker's allusion to his +own wife and his degrading similitude of their two conditions. But he +dismissed the former as part of Hooker's invincible and still boyish +extravagance, and the latter as part of his equally characteristic +assumption. Perhaps he was conscious, too, notwithstanding the lapse +of years and the condonation of separation and forgetfulness, that he +deserved little delicacy from the hands of Susy's husband. Nevertheless, +he dreaded to hear him speak again of her; and the fear was realized in +a question. + +"Does she know you are here?" + +"Who?" said Brant curtly. + +"Your wife. That is--I reckon she's your wife still, eh?" + +"Yes; but I do not know what she knows," returned Brant quietly. He had +regained his self-composure. + +"Susy,--Mrs. Senator Boompointer, that is,"--said Hooker, with an +apparent dignity in his late wife's new title, "allowed that she'd gone +abroad on a secret mission from the Southern Confederacy to them crowned +heads over there. She was good at ropin' men in, you know. Anyhow, Susy, +afore she was Mrs. Boompointer, was dead set on findin' out where she +was, but never could. She seemed to drop out of sight a year ago. Some +said one thing, and some said another. But you can bet your bottom +dollar that Mrs. Senator Boompointer, who knows how to pull all the +wires in Washington, will know, if any one does." + +"But is Mrs. Boompointer really disaffected, and a Southern +sympathizer?" said Brant, "or is it only caprice or fashion?" + +While speaking he had risen, with a half-abstracted face, and had gone +to the window, where he stood in a listening attitude. Presently he +opened the window, and stepped outside. Hooker wonderingly followed him. +One or two officers had already stepped out of their rooms, and were +standing upon the veranda; another had halted in the path. Then one +quickly re-entered the house, reappeared with his cap and sword in his +hand, and ran lightly toward the guard-house. A slight crackling noise +seemed to come from beyond the garden wall. + +"What's up?" said Hooker, with staring eyes. + +"Picket firing!" + +The crackling suddenly became a long rattle. Brant re-entered the room, +and picked up his hat. + +"You'll excuse me for a few moments." + +A faint sound, soft yet full, and not unlike a bursting bubble, made the +house appear to leap elastically, like the rebound of a rubber ball. + +"What's that?" gasped Hooker. + +"Cannon, out of range!" + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +In another instant bugles were ringing through the camp, with the +hurrying hoofs of mounted officers and the trampling of forming men. The +house itself was almost deserted. Although the single cannon-shot had +been enough to show that it was no mere skirmishing of pickets, Brant +still did not believe in any serious attack of the enemy. His position, +as in the previous engagement, had no strategic importance to them; they +were no doubt only making a feint against it to conceal some advance +upon the centre of the army two miles away. Satisfied that he was in +easy supporting distance of his division commander, he extended his line +along the ridge, ready to fall back in that direction, while retarding +their advance and masking the position of his own chief. He gave a few +orders necessary to the probable abandonment of the house, and then +returned to it. Shot and shell were already dropping in the field below. +A thin ridge of blue haze showed the line of skirmish fire. A small +conical, white cloud, like a bursting cotton-pod, revealed an open +battery in the willow-fringed meadow. Yet the pastoral peacefulness +of the house was unchanged. The afternoon sun lay softly on its deep +verandas; the pot pourri incense of fallen rose-leaves haunted it still. + +He entered his room through the French window on the veranda, when the +door leading from the passage was suddenly flung open, and Miss Faulkner +swept quickly inside, closed the door behind her, and leaned back +against it, panting and breathless. + +Clarence was startled, and for a moment ashamed. He had suddenly +realized that in the excitement he had entirely forgotten her and +the dangers to which she might be exposed. She had probably heard the +firing, her womanly fears had been awakened; she had come to him for +protection. But as he turned towards her with a reassuring smile, he +was shocked to see that her agitation and pallor were far beyond any +physical cause. She motioned him desperately to shut the window by which +he had entered, and said, with white lips,-- + +"I must speak with you alone!" + +"Certainly. But there is no immediate danger to you even here--and I can +soon put you beyond the reach of any possible harm." + +"Harm--to me! God! if it were only that!" + +He stared at her uneasily. + +"Listen," she said gaspingly, "listen to me! Then hate, despise me--kill +me if you will. For you are betrayed and ruined--cut off and surrounded! +It has been helped on by me, but I swear to you the blow did not come +from MY hand. I would have saved you. God only knows how it happened--it +was Fate!" + +In an instant Brant saw the whole truth instinctively and clearly. But +with the revelation came the usual calmness and perfect self-possession +which never yet had failed him in any emergency. With the sound of the +increasing cannonade and its shifting position made clearer to his ears, +the view of his whole threatened position spread out like a map before +his eyes, the swift calculation of the time his men could hold the ridge +in his mind--even a hurried estimate of the precious moments he could +give to the wretched woman before him--he even then, gravely and gently, +led her to a chair and said in a calm voice,-- + +"That is not enough! Speak slowly, plainly. I must know everything. How +and in what way have you betrayed me?" + +She looked at him imploringly--reassured, yet awed by his gentleness. + +"You won't believe me; you cannot believe me! for I do not even know. +I have taken and exchanged letters--whose contents I never saw--between +the Confederates and a spy who comes to this house, but who is far +away by this time. I did it because I thought you hated and despised me +because I thought it was my duty to help my cause--because you said it +was 'war' between us--but I never spied on you. I swear it." + +"Then how do you know of this attack?" he said calmly. + +She brightened, half timidly, half hopefully. + +"There is a window in the wing of this house that overlooks the slope +near the Confederate lines. There was a signal placed in it--not by +me--but I know it meant that as long as it was there the plot, whatever +it was, was not ripe, and that no attack would be made on you as long as +it was visible. That much I know,--that much the spy had to tell me, for +we both had to guard that room in turns. I wanted to keep this dreadful +thing off--until"--her voice trembled, "until," she added hurriedly, +seeing his calm eyes were reading her very soul, "until I went away--and +for that purpose I withheld some of the letters that were given me. But +this morning, while I was away from the house, I looked back and saw +that the signal was no longer there. Some one had changed it. I ran +back, but I was too late--God help me!--as you see." + +The truth flashed upon Brant. It was his own hand that had precipitated +the attack. But a larger truth came to him now, like a dazzling +inspiration. If he had thus precipitated the attack before they were +ready, there was a chance that it was imperfect, and there was still +hope. But there was no trace of this visible in his face as he fixed his +eyes calmly on hers, although his pulses were halting in expectancy as +he said-- + +"Then the spy had suspected you, and changed it." + +"Oh, no," she said eagerly, "for the spy was with me and was frightened +too. We both ran back together--you remember--she was stopped by the +patrol!" + +She checked herself suddenly, but too late. Her cheeks blazed, her +head sank, with the foolish identification of the spy into which her +eagerness had betrayed her. + +But Brant appeared not to notice it. He was, in fact, puzzling his +brain to conceive what information the stupid mulatto woman could +have obtained here. His strength, his position was no secret to the +enemy--there was nothing to gain from him. She must have been, like the +trembling, eager woman before him, a mere tool of others. + +"Did this woman live here?" he said. + +"No," she said. "She lived with the Manlys, but had friends whom she +visited at your general's headquarters." + +With difficulty Brant suppressed a start. It was clear to him now. The +information had been obtained at the division headquarters, and passed +through his camp as being nearest the Confederate lines. But what was +the information--and what movement had he precipitated? It was clear +that this woman did not know. He looked at her keenly. A sudden +explosion shook the house,--a drift of smoke passed the window,--a shell +had burst in the garden. + +She had been gazing at him despairingly, wistfully--but did not blanch +or start. + +An idea took possession of him. He approached her, and took her cold +hand. A half-smile parted her pale lips. + +"You have courage--you have devotion," he said gravely. "I believe you +regret the step you have taken. If you could undo what you have done, +even at peril to yourself, dare you do it?" + +"Yes," she said breathlessly. + +"You are known to the enemy. If I am surrounded, you could pass through +their lines unquestioned?" + +"Yes," she said eagerly. + +"A note from me would pass you again through the pickets of our +headquarters. But you would bear a note to the general that no eyes but +his must see. It would not implicate you or yours; would only be a word +of warning." + +"And you," she said quickly, "would be saved! They would come to your +assistance! You would not then be taken?" + +He smiled gently. + +"Perhaps--who knows!" + +He sat down and wrote hurriedly. + +"This," he said, handing her a slip of paper, "is a pass. You will use +it beyond your own lines. This note," he continued, handing her a +sealed envelope, "is for the general. No one else must see it or know of +it--not even your lover, should you meet him!" + +"My lover!" she said indignantly, with a flash of her old savagery; +"what do you mean? I have no lover!" + +Brant glanced at her flushed face. + +"I thought," he said quietly, "that there was some one you cared for in +yonder lines--some one you wrote to. It would have been an excuse"-- + +He stopped, as her face paled again, and her hands dropped heavily at +her side. + +"Good God!--you thought that, too! You thought that I would sacrifice +you for another man!" + +"Pardon me," said Brant quickly. "I was foolish. But whether your +lover is a man or a cause, you have shown a woman's devotion. And, in +repairing your fault, you are showing more than a woman's courage now." + +To his surprise, the color had again mounted her pretty cheeks, and even +a flash of mischief shone in her blue eyes. + +"It would have been an excuse," she murmured, "yes--to save a man, +surely!" Then she said quickly, "I will go. At once! I am ready!" + +"One moment," he said gravely. "Although this pass and an escort insure +your probable safe conduct, this is 'war' and danger! You are still a +spy! Are you ready to go?" + +"I am," she said proudly, tossing back a braid of her fallen hair. Yet +a moment after she hesitated. Then she said, in a lower voice, "Are you +ready to forgive?" + +"In either case," he said, touched by her manner; "and God speed you!" + +He extended his hand, and left a slight pressure on her cold fingers. +But they slipped quickly from his grasp, and she turned away with a +heightened color. + +He stepped to the door. One or two aides-de-camp, withheld by his order +against intrusion, were waiting eagerly with reports. The horse of a +mounted field officer was pawing the garden turf. The officers stared at +the young girl. + +"Take Miss Faulkner, with a flag, to some safe point of the enemy's +line. She is a non-combatant of their own, and will receive their +protection." + +He had scarcely exchanged a dozen words with the aides-de-camp before +the field officer hurriedly entered. Taking Brant aside, he said +quickly,-- + +"Pardon me, General; but there is a strong feeling among the men that +this attack is the result of some information obtained by the enemy. +You must know that the woman you have just given a safeguard to is +suspected, and the men are indignant." + +"The more reason why she should be conveyed beyond any consequences of +their folly, Major," said Brant frigidly, "and I look to you for her +safe convoy. There is nothing in this attack to show that the enemy has +received any information regarding us. But I would suggest that it would +be better to see that my orders are carried out regarding the slaves and +non-combatants who are passing our lines from divisional headquarters, +where valuable information may be obtained, than in the surveillance of +a testy and outspoken girl." + +An angry flush crossed the major's cheek as he saluted and fell back, +and Brant turned to the aide-de-camp. The news was grave. The column +of the enemy was moving against the ridge--it was no longer possible +to hold it--and the brigade was cut off from its communication with the +divisional headquarters, although as yet no combined movement was made +against it. Brant's secret fears that it was an intended impact against +the centre were confirmed. Would his communication to the divisional +commander pass through the attacking column in time? + +Yet one thing puzzled him. The enemy, after forcing his flank, had shown +no disposition, even with their overwhelming force, to turn aside and +crush him. He could easily have fallen back, when it was possible to +hold the ridge no longer, without pursuit. His other flank and rear were +not threatened, as they might have been, by the division of so large an +attacking column, which was moving steadily on towards the ridge. It was +this fact that seemed to show a failure or imperfection in the enemy's +plan. It was possible that his precipitation of the attack by the +changed signal had been the cause of it. Doubtless some provision had +been made to attack him in flank and rear, but in the unexpected hurry +of the onset it had to be abandoned. He could still save himself, as his +officers knew; but his conviction that he might yet be able to support +his divisional commander by holding his position doggedly, but coolly +awaiting his opportunity, was strong. More than that, it was his +temperament and instinct. + +Harrying them in flank and rear, contesting the ground inch by inch, +and holding his own against the artillery sent to dislodge him, or the +outriding cavalry that, circling round, swept through his open ranks, he +saw his files melt away beside this steady current without flinching. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Yet all along the fateful ridge--now obscured and confused with +thin crossing smoke-drifts from file-firing, like partly rubbed-out +slate-pencil marks; or else, when cleared of those drifts, presenting +only an indistinguishable map of zigzag lines of straggling wagons and +horses, unintelligible to any eye but his--the singular magnetism of the +chief was felt everywhere: whether it was shown in the quick closing +in of resistance to some sharper onset of the enemy or the more dogged +stand of inaction under fire, his power was always dominant. A word +or two of comprehensive direction sent through an aide-de-camp, or the +sudden relief of his dark, watchful, composed face uplifted above a +line of bayonets, never failed in their magic. Like all born leaders, +he seemed in these emergencies to hold a charmed life--infecting his +followers with a like disbelief in death; men dropped to right and left +of him with serene assurance in their ghastly faces or a cry of life and +confidence in their last gasp. Stragglers fell in and closed up +under his passing glance; a hopeless, inextricable wrangle around an +overturned caisson, at a turn of the road, resolved itself into an +orderly, quiet, deliberate clearing away of the impediment before the +significant waiting of that dark, silent horseman. + +Yet under this imperturbable mask he was keenly conscious of everything; +in that apparent concentration there was a sharpening of all his senses +and his impressibility: he saw the first trace of doubt or alarm in the +face of a subaltern to whom he was giving an order; the first touch of +sluggishness in a re-forming line; the more significant clumsiness of +a living evolution that he knew was clogged by the dead bodies of +comrades; the ominous silence of a breastwork; the awful inertia of some +rigidly kneeling files beyond, which still kept their form but never +would move again; the melting away of skirmish points; the sudden gaps +here and there; the sickening incurving of what a moment before had been +a straight line--all these he saw in all their fatal significance. But +even at this moment, coming upon a hasty barricade of overset commissary +wagons, he stopped to glance at a familiar figure he had seen but +an hour ago, who now seemed to be commanding a group of collected +stragglers and camp followers. Mounted on a wheel, with a revolver in +each hand and a bowie knife between his teeth--theatrical even in his +paroxysm of undoubted courage--glared Jim Hooker. And Clarence Brant, +with the whole responsibility of the field on his shoulders, even at +that desperate moment, found himself recalling a vivid picture of the +actor Hooker personating the character of "Red Dick" in "Rosalie, the +Prairie Flower," as he had seen him in a California theatre five years +before. + +It wanted still an hour of the darkness that would probably close the +fight of that day. Could he hold out, keeping his offensive position so +long? A hasty council with his officers showed him that the weakness +of their position had already infected them. They reminded him that +his line of retreat was still open--that in the course of the night the +enemy, although still pressing towards the division centre, might yet +turn and outflank him--or that their strangely delayed supports might +come up before morning. Brant's glass, however, remained fixed on the +main column, still pursuing its way along the ridge. It struck him +suddenly, however, that the steady current had stopped, spread out along +the crest on both sides, and was now at right angles with its previous +course. There had been a check! The next moment the thunder of guns +along the whole horizon, and the rising cloud of smoke, revealed a +line of battle. The division centre was engaged. The opportunity he had +longed for had come--the desperate chance to throw himself on their rear +and cut his way through to the division--but it had come too late! He +looked at his shattered ranks--scarce a regiment remained. Even as +a demonstration, the attack would fail against the enemy's superior +numbers. Nothing clearly was left to him now but to remain where he +was--within supporting distance, and await the issue of the fight +beyond. He was putting up his glass, when the dull boom of cannon in +the extreme western limit of the horizon attracted his attention. By the +still gleaming sky he could see a long gray line stealing up from +the valley from the distant rear of the headquarters to join the main +column. They were the missing supports! His heart leaped. He held the +key of the mystery now. The one imperfect detail of the enemy's plan was +before him. The supports, coming later from the west, had only seen +the second signal from the window--when Miss Faulkner had replaced +the vase--and had avoided his position. It was impossible to limit the +effect of this blunder. If the young girl who had thus saved him had +reached the division commander with his message in time, he might +be forewarned, and even profit by it. His own position would be less +precarious, as the enemy, already engaged in front, would be unable to +recover their position in the rear and correct the blunder. The bulk +of their column had already streamed past him. If defeated, there +was always the danger that it might be rolled back upon him--but he +conjectured that the division commander would attempt to prevent the +junction of the supports with the main column by breaking between them, +crowding them from the ridge, and joining him. As the last stragglers +of the rear guard swept by, Brant's bugles were already recalling the +skirmishers. He redoubled his pickets, and resolved to wait and watch. + +And there was the more painful duty of looking after the wounded and the +dead. The larger rooms of the headquarters had already been used as a +hospital. Passing from cot to cot, recognizing in the faces now drawn +with agony, or staring in vacant unconsciousness, the features that he +had seen only a few hours before flushed with enthusiasm and excitement, +something of his old doubting, questioning nature returned. Was there +no way but this? How far was HE--moving among them unscathed and +uninjured--responsible? + +And if not he--who then? His mind went back bitterly to the old days of +the conspiracy--to the inception of that struggle which was bearing +such ghastly fruit. He thought of his traitorous wife, until he felt +his cheeks tingle, and he was fain to avert his eyes from those of his +prostrate comrades, in a strange fear that, with the clairvoyance of +dying men, they should read his secret. + +It was past midnight when, without undressing, he threw himself upon his +bed in the little convent-like cell to snatch a few moments of sleep. +Its spotless, peaceful walls and draperies affected him strangely, as if +he had brought into its immaculate serenity the sanguine stain of war. +He was awakened suddenly from a deep slumber by an indefinite sense +of alarm. His first thought was that he had been summoned to repel +an attack. He sat up and listened; everything was silent except the +measured tread of the sentry on the gravel walk below. But the door was +open. He sprang to his feet and slipped into the gallery in time to see +the tall figure of a woman glide before the last moonlit window at its +farthest end. He could not see her face--but the characteristic turbaned +head of the negro race was plainly visible. + +He did not care to follow her or even to alarm the guard. If it were the +spy or one of her emissaries, she was powerless now to do any harm, and +under his late orders and the rigorous vigilance of his sentinels she +could not leave the lines--or, indeed, the house. She probably knew +this as well as he did; it was, therefore, no doubt only an accidental +intrusion of one of the servants. He re-entered the room, and stood for +a few moments by the window, looking over the moonlit ridge. The sounds +of distant cannon had long since ceased. Wide awake, and refreshed by +the keen morning air, which alone of all created things seemed to have +shaken the burden of the dreadful yesterday from its dewy wings, he +turned away and lit a candle on the table. As he was rebuckling his +sword belt he saw a piece of paper lying on the foot of the bed from +which he had just risen. Taking it to the candle, he read in a roughly +scrawled hand: + +"You are asleep when you should be on the march. You have no time to +lose. Before daybreak the supports of the column you have been foolishly +resisting will be upon you.--From one who would save YOU, but hates your +cause." + +A smile of scorn passed his lips. The handwriting was unknown and +evidently disguised. The purport of the message had not alarmed him; but +suddenly a suspicion flashed upon him--that it came from Miss Faulkner! +She had failed in her attempt to pass through the enemy's lines--or she +had never tried to. She had deceived him--or had thought better of her +chivalrous impulse, and now sought to mitigate her second treachery by +this second warning. And he had let her messenger escape him! + +He hurriedly descended the stairs. The sound of voices was approaching +him. He halted, and recognized the faces of the brigade surgeon and one +of his aides-de-camp. + +"We were hesitating whether to disturb you, general, but it may be an +affair of some importance. Under your orders a negro woman was just +now challenged stealing out of the lines. Attempting to escape, she was +chased, there was a struggle and scramble over the wall, and she fell, +striking her head. She was brought into the guardhouse unconscious." + +"Very good. I will see her," said Brant, with a feeling of relief. + +"One moment, general. We thought you would perhaps prefer to see her +alone," said the surgeon, "for when I endeavored to bring her to, and +was sponging her face and head to discover her injuries, her color came +off! She was a white woman--stained and disguised as a mulatto." + +For an instant Brant's heart sank. It was Miss Faulkner. + +"Did you recognize her?" he said, glancing from the one to the other. +"Have you seen her here before?" + +"No, sir," replied the aide-de-camp. "But she seemed to be quite a +superior woman--a lady, I should say." + +Brant breathed more freely. + +"Where is she now?" he asked. + +"In the guardhouse. We thought it better not to bring her into hospital, +among the men, until we had your orders." + +"You have done well," returned Brant gravely. "And you will keep this to +yourselves for the present; but see that she is brought here quietly and +with as little publicity as possible. Put her in my room above, which I +give up to her and any necessary attendant. But you will look carefully +after her, doctor,"--he turned to the surgeon,--"and when she recovers +consciousness let me know." + +He moved away. Although attaching little importance to the mysterious +message, whether sent by Miss Faulkner or emanating from the stranger +herself, which, he reasoned, was based only upon a knowledge of the +original plan of attack, he nevertheless quickly dispatched a small +scouting party in the direction from which the attack might come, with +orders to fall back and report at once. With a certain half irony of +recollection he had selected Jim Hooker to accompany the party as a +volunteer. This done, he returned to the gallery. The surgeon met him at +the door. + +"The indications of concussion are passing away," he said, "but she +seems to be suffering from the exhaustion following some great nervous +excitement. You may go in--she may rally from it at any moment." + +With the artificial step and mysterious hush of the ordinary visitor to +a sick bed, Brant entered the room. But some instinct greater than this +common expression of humanity held him suddenly in awe. The room seemed +no longer his--it had slipped back into that austere conventual privacy +which had first impressed him. Yet he hesitated; another strange +suggestion--it seemed almost a vague recollection--overcame him like +some lingering perfume, far off and pathetic, in its dying familiarity. +He turned his eyes almost timidly towards the bed. The coverlet was +drawn up near the throat of the figure to replace the striped cotton +gown stained with blood and dust, which had been hurriedly torn off +and thrown on a chair. The pale face, cleansed of blood and disguising +color, the long hair, still damp from the surgeon's sponge, lay rigidly +back on the pillow. Suddenly this man of steady nerve uttered a faint +cry, and, with a face as white as the upturned one before him, fell on +his knees beside the bed. For the face that lay there was his wife's! + +Yes, hers! But the beautiful hair that she had gloried in--the hair that +in his youth he had thought had once fallen like a benediction on his +shoulder--was streaked with gray along the blue-veined hollows of the +temples; the orbits of those clear eyes, beneath their delicately arched +brows, were ringed with days of suffering; only the clear-cut profile, +even to the delicate imperiousness of lips and nostril, was still there +in all its beauty. The coverlet had slipped from her shoulder; its +familiar cold contour startled him. He remembered how, in their early +married days, he had felt the sanctity of that Diana-like revelation, +and the still nymph-like austerity which clung to this strange, +childless woman. He even fancied that he breathed again the subtle +characteristic perfume of the laces, embroideries, and delicate +enwrappings in her chamber at Robles. Perhaps it was the intensity of +his gaze--perhaps it was the magnetism of his presence--but her lips +parted with a half sigh, half moan. Her head, although her eyes were +still closed, turned on the pillow instinctively towards him. He rose +from his knees. Her eyes opened slowly. As the first glare of wonderment +cleared from them, they met him--in the old antagonism of spirit. Yet +her first gesture was a pathetic feminine movement with both hands to +arrange her straggling hair. It brought her white fingers, cleaned +of their disguising stains, as a sudden revelation to her of what had +happened; she instantly slipped them back under the coverlet again. +Brant did not speak, but with folded arms stood gazing upon her. And it +was her voice that first broke the silence. + +"You have recognized me? Well, I suppose you know all," she said, with a +weak half-defiance. + +He bowed his head. He felt as yet he could not trust his voice, and +envied her her own. + +"I may sit up, mayn't I?" She managed, by sheer force of will, to +struggle to a sitting posture. Then, as the coverlet slipped from the +bare shoulder, she said, as she drew it, with a shiver of disgust, +around her again,-- + +"I forgot that you strip women, you Northern soldiers! But I forgot, +too," she added, with a sarcastic smile, "that you are also my husband, +and I am in your room." + +The contemptuous significance of her speech dispelled the last lingering +remnant of Brant's dream. In a voice as dry as her own, he said,-- + +"I am afraid you will now have to remember only that I am a Northern +general, and you a Southern spy." + +"So be it," she said gravely. Then impulsively, "But I have not spied on +YOU." + +Yet, the next moment, she bit her lips as if the expression had +unwittingly escaped her; and with a reckless shrug of her shoulders she +lay back on her pillow. + +"It matters not," said Brant coldly. "You have used this house and those +within it to forward your designs. It is not your fault that you found +nothing in the dispatch-box you opened." + +She stared at him quickly; then shrugged her shoulders again. + +"I might have known she was false to me," she said bitterly, "and that +you would wheedle her soul away as you have others. Well, she betrayed +me! For what?" + +A flush passed over Brant's face. But with an effort he contained +himself. + +"It was the flower that betrayed you! The flower whose red dust fell in +the box when you opened it on the desk by the window in yonder room--the +flower that stood in the window as a signal--the flower I myself +removed, and so spoiled the miserable plot that your friends concocted." + +A look of mingled terror and awe came into her face. + +"YOU changed the signal!" she repeated dazedly; then, in a lower +voice, "that accounts for it all!" But the next moment she turned +again fiercely upon him. "And you mean to tell me that she didn't help +you--that she didn't sell me--your wife--to you for--for what was it? A +look--a kiss!" + +"I mean to say that she did not know the signal was changed, and that +she herself restored it to its place. It is no fault of hers nor yours +that I am not here a prisoner." + +She passed her thin hand dazedly across her forehead. + +"I see," she muttered. Then again bursting out passionately, she +said--"Fool! you never would have been touched! Do you think that Lee +would have gone for you, with higher game in your division commander? +No! Those supports were a feint to draw him to your assistance while our +main column broke his centre. Yes, you may stare at me, Clarence Brant. +You are a good lawyer--they say a dashing fighter, too. I never thought +you a coward, even in your irresolution; but you are fighting with men +drilled in the art of war and strategy when you were a boy outcast on +the plains." She stopped, closed her eyes, and then added, wearily--"But +that was yesterday--to-day, who knows? All may be changed. The supports +may still attack you. That was why I stopped to write you that note an +hour ago, when I believed I should be leaving here for ever. Yes, I did +it!" she went on, with half-wearied, half-dogged determination. "You may +as well know all. I had arranged to fly. Your pickets were to be drawn +by friends of mine, who were waiting for me beyond your lines. Well, I +lingered here when I saw you arrive--lingered to write you that note. +And--I was too late!" + +But Brant had been watching her varying expression, her kindling +eye, her strange masculine grasp of military knowledge, her soldierly +phraseology, all so new to her, that he scarcely heeded the feminine +ending of her speech. It seemed to him no longer the Diana of his +youthful fancy, but some Pallas Athene, who now looked up at him from +the pillow. He had never before fully believed in her unselfish devotion +to the cause until now, when it seemed to have almost unsexed her. In +his wildest comprehension of her he had never dreamed her a Joan of Arc, +and yet hers was the face which might have confronted him, exalted and +inspired, on the battlefield itself. He recalled himself with an effort. + +"I thank you for your would-be warning," he said more gently, if not +so tenderly, "and God knows I wish your flight had been successful. But +even your warning is unnecessary, for the supports had already come up; +they had followed the second signal, and diverged to engage our division +on the left, leaving me alone. And their ruse of drawing our commander +to assist me would not have been successful, as I had suspected it, and +sent a message to him that I wanted no help." + +It was the truth; it was the sole purport of the note he had sent +through Miss Faulkner. He would not have disclosed his sacrifice; but so +great was the strange domination of this woman still over him, that he +felt compelled to assert his superiority. She fixed her eyes upon him. + +"And Miss Faulkner took your message?" she said slowly. "Don't deny it! +No one else could have passed through our lines; and you gave her a +safe conduct through yours. Yes, I might have known it. And this was the +creature they sent me for an ally and confidant!" + +For an instant Brant felt the sting of this enforced contrast between +the two women. But he only said,-- + +"You forget that I did not know you were the spy, nor do I believe that +she suspected you were my wife." + +"Why should she?" she said almost fiercely. "I am known among these +people only by the name of Benham---my maiden name. Yes!--you can take +me out, and shoot me under that name, without disgracing yours. Nobody +will know that the Southern spy was the wife of the Northern general! +You see, I have thought even of that!" + +"And thinking of that," said Brant slowly, "you have put yourself--I +will not say in my power, for you are in the power of any man in this +camp who may know you, or even hear you speak. Well, let us understand +each other plainly. I do not know how great a sacrifice your devotion to +your cause demands of you; I do know what it seems to demand of me. Hear +me, then! I will do my best to protect you, and get you safely away from +here; but, failing that, I tell you plainly that I shall blow out your +brains and my own together." + +She knew that he would do it. Yet her eyes suddenly beamed with a +new and awakening light; she put back her hair again, and half raised +herself upon the pillow, to gaze at his dark, set face. + +"And as I shall let no other life but ours be periled in this affair," +he went on quietly, "and will accompany you myself in some disguise +beyond the lines, we will together take the risks--or the bullets of the +sentries that may save us both all further trouble. An hour or two more +will settle that. Until then your weak condition will excuse you from +any disturbance or intrusion here. The mulatto woman you have sometimes +personated may be still in this house; I will appoint her to attend +you. I suppose you can trust her, for you must personate her again, and +escape in her clothes, while she takes your place in this room as my +prisoner." + +"Clarence!" + +Her voice had changed suddenly; it was no longer bitter and stridulous, +but low and thrilling as he had heard her call to him that night in the +patio of Robles. He turned quickly. She was leaning from the bed--her +thin, white hands stretched appealingly towards him. + +"Let us go together, Clarence," she said eagerly. "Let us leave this +horrible place--these wicked, cruel people--forever. Come with me! Come +with me to my people--to my own faith--to my own house--which shall be +yours! Come with me to defend it with your good sword, Clarence, against +those vile invaders with whom you have nothing in common, and who are +the dirt under your feet. Yes, yes! I know it!--I have done you wrong--I +have lied to you when I spoke against your skill and power. You are a +hero--a born leader of men! I know it! Have I not heard it from the men +who have fought against you, and yet admired and understood you, ay, +better than your own?--gallant men, Clarence, soldiers bred who did not +know what you were to me nor how proud I was of you even while I hated +you? Come with me! Think what we would do together--with one faith--one +cause--one ambition! Think, Clarence, there is no limit you might +not attain! We are no niggards of our rewards and honors--we have +no hireling votes to truckle to--we know our friends! Even +I--Clarence--I"--there was a strange pathos in the sudden humility that +seemed to overcome her--"I have had my reward and known my power. I +have been sent abroad, in the confidence of the highest--to the highest. +Don't turn from me. I am offering you no bribe, Clarence, only your +deserts. Come with me. Leave these curs behind, and live the hero that +you are!" + +He turned his blazing eyes upon her. + +"If you were a man"--he began passionately, then stopped. + +"No! I am only a woman and must fight in a woman's way," she interrupted +bitterly. "Yes! I intreat, I implore, I wheedle, I flatter, I fawn, I +lie! I creep where you stand upright, and pass through doors to which +you would not bow. You wear your blazon of honor on your shoulder; +I hide mine in a slave's gown. And yet I have worked and striven and +suffered! Listen, Clarence," her voice again sank to its appealing +minor,--"I know what you men call 'honor,' that which makes you cling to +a merely spoken word, or an empty oath. Well, let that pass! I am weary; +I have done my share of this work, you have done yours. Let us both fly; +let us leave the fight to those who shall come after us, and let us +go together to some distant land where the sounds of these guns or the +blood of our brothers no longer cry out to us for vengeance! There are +those living here--I have met them, Clarence," she went on hurriedly, +"who think it wrong to lift up fratricidal hands in the struggle, yet +who cannot live under the Northern yoke. They are," her voice hesitated, +"good men and women--they are respected--they are"-- + +"Recreants and slaves, before whom you, spy as you are--stand a queen!" +broke in Brant, passionately. He stopped and turned towards the window. +After a pause he came back again towards the bed--paused again and then +said in a lower voice--"Four years ago, Alice, in the patio of our house +at Robles, I might have listened to this proposal, and--I tremble to +think--I might have accepted it! I loved you; I was as weak, as selfish, +as unreflecting, my life was as purposeless--but for you--as the +creatures you speak of. But give me now, at least, the credit of a +devotion to my cause equal to your own--a credit which I have never +denied you! For the night that you left me, I awoke to a sense of my own +worthlessness and degradation--perhaps I have even to thank you for that +awakening--and I realized the bitter truth. But that night I found my +true vocation--my purpose, my manhood"-- + +A bitter laugh came from the pillow on which she had languidly thrown +herself. + +"I believe I left you with Mrs. Hooker--spare me the details." + +The blood rushed to Brant's face and then receded as suddenly. + +"You left me with Captain Pinckney, who had tempted you, and whom I +killed!" he said furiously. + +They were both staring savagely at each other. Suddenly he said, "Hush!" +and sprang towards the door, as the sound of hurried footsteps echoed +along the passage. But he was too late; it was thrown open to the +officer of the guard, who appeared, standing on the threshold. + +"Two Confederate officers arrested hovering around our pickets. They +demand to see you." + +Before Brant could interpose, two men in riding cloaks of Confederate +gray stepped into the room with a jaunty and self-confident air. + +"Not DEMAND, general," said the foremost, a tall, distinguished-looking +man, lifting his hand with a graceful deprecating air. "In fact, too +sorry to bother you with an affair of no importance except to ourselves. +A bit of after-dinner bravado brought us in contact with your pickets, +and, of course, we had to take the consequences. Served us right, and we +were lucky not to have got a bullet through us. Gad! I'm afraid my +men would have been less discreet! I am Colonel Lagrange, of the +5th Tennessee; my young friend here is Captain Faulkner, of the 1st +Kentucky. Some excuse for a youngster like him--none for me! I"-- + +He stopped, for his eyes suddenly fell upon the bed and its occupant. +Both he and his companion started. But to the natural, unaffected dismay +of a gentleman who had unwittingly intruded upon a lady's bedchamber, +Brant's quick eye saw a more disastrous concern superadded. Colonel +Lagrange was quick to recover himself, as they both removed their caps. + +"A thousand pardons," he said, hurriedly stepping backwards to the door. +"But I hardly need say to a fellow-officer, general, that we had no idea +of making so gross an intrusion! We heard some cock-and-bull story of +your being occupied--cross-questioning an escaped or escaping nigger--or +we should never have forced ourselves upon you." + +Brant glanced quickly at his wife. Her face had apparently become rigid +on the entrance of the two men; her eyes were coldly fixed upon the +ceiling. He bowed formally, and, with a wave of his hand towards the +door, said,-- + +"I will hear your story below, gentleman." + +He followed them from the room, stopped to quietly turn the key in the +lock, and then motioned them to precede him down the staircase. + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Not a word was exchanged till they had reached the lower landing and +Brant's private room. Dismissing his subaltern and orderly with a +sign, Brant turned towards his prisoners. The jaunty ease, but not the +self-possession, had gone from Lagrange's face; the eyes of Captain +Faulkner were fixed on his older companion with a half-humorous look of +perplexity. + +"I am afraid I can only repeat, general, that our foolhardy freak has +put us in collision with your sentries," said Lagrange, with a slight +hauteur, that replaced his former jauntiness; "and we were very properly +made prisoners. If you will accept my parole, I have no doubt our +commander will proceed to exchange a couple of gallant fellows of yours, +whom I have had the honor of meeting within our own lines, and whom you +must miss probably more than I fear our superiors miss us." + +"Whatever brought you here, gentlemen," said Brant drily, "I am +glad, for your sakes, that you are in uniform, although it does not, +unfortunately, relieve me of an unpleasant duty." + +"I don't think I understand you," returned Lagrange, coldly. + +"If you had not been in uniform, you would probably have been shot down +as spies, without the trouble of capture," said Brant quietly. + +"Do you mean to imply, sir"--began Lagrange sternly. + +"I mean to say that the existence of a Confederate spy between this +camp and the division headquarters is sufficiently well known to us to +justify the strongest action." + +"And pray, how can that affect us?" said Lagrange haughtily. + +"I need not inform so old a soldier as Colonel Lagrange that the aiding, +abetting, and even receiving information from a spy or traitor within +one's lines is an equally dangerous service." + +"Perhaps you would like to satisfy yourself, General," said Colonel +Lagrange, with an ironical laugh. "Pray do not hesitate on account of +our uniform. Search us if you like." + +"Not on entering my lines, Colonel," replied Brant, with quiet +significance. + +Lagrange's cheek flushed. But he recovered himself quickly, and with a +formal bow said,-- + +"You will, then, perhaps, let us know your pleasure?" + +"My DUTY, Colonel, is to keep you both close prisoners here until I have +an opportunity to forward you to the division commander, with a report +of the circumstances of your arrest. That I propose to do. How soon I +may have that opportunity, or if I am ever to have it," continued Brant, +fixing his clear eyes significantly on Lagrange, "depends upon the +chances of war, which you probably understand as well as I do." + +"We should never think of making any calculation on the action of an +officer of such infinite resources as General Brant," said Lagrange +ironically. + +"You will, no doubt, have an opportunity of stating your own case to the +division commander," continued Brant, with an unmoved face. "And," he +continued, turning for the first time to Captain Faulkner, "when you +tell the commander what I believe to be the fact--from your name and +resemblance--that you are a relation of the young lady who for the +last three weeks has been an inmate of this house under a pass from +Washington, you will, I have no doubt, favorably explain your own +propinquity to my lines." + +"My sister Tilly!" said the young officer impulsively. "But she is no +longer here. She passed through the lines back to Washington yesterday. +No," he added, with a light laugh, "I'm afraid that excuse won't count +for to-day." + +A sudden frown upon the face of the elder officer, added to the perfect +ingenuousness of Faulkner's speech, satisfied Brant that he had not only +elicited the truth, but that Miss Faulkner had been successful. But he +was sincere in his suggestion that her relationship to the young officer +would incline the division commander to look leniently upon his fault, +for he was conscious of a singular satisfaction in thus being able to +serve her. Of the real object of the two men before him he had no doubt. +They were "the friends" of his wife, who were waiting for her outside +the lines! Chance alone had saved her from being arrested with them, +with the consequent exposure of her treachery before his own men, who, +as yet, had no proof of her guilt, nor any suspicion of her actual +identity. Meanwhile his own chance of conveying her with safety beyond +his lines was not affected by the incident; the prisoners dare not +reveal what they knew of her, and it was with a grim triumph that he +thought of compassing her escape without their aid. Nothing of this, +however, was visible in his face, which the younger man watched with a +kind of boyish curiosity, while Colonel Lagrange regarded the ceiling +with a politely repressed yawn. "I regret," concluded Brant, as he +summoned the officer of the guard, "that I shall have to deprive you of +each other's company during the time you are here; but I shall see that +you, separately, want for nothing in your confinement." + +"If this is with a view to separate interrogatory, general, I can retire +now," said Lagrange, rising, with ironical politeness. + +"I believe I have all the information I require," returned Brant, with +undisturbed composure. Giving the necessary orders to his subaltern, he +acknowledged with equal calm the formal salutes of the two prisoners as +they were led away, and returned quickly to his bedroom above. He paused +instinctively for a moment before the closed door, and listened. There +was no sound from within. He unlocked the door, and opened it. + +So quiet was the interior that for an instant, without glancing at +the bed, he cast a quick look at the window, which, till then, he had +forgotten, and which he remembered gave upon the veranda roof. But it +was still closed, and as he approached the bed, he saw his wife still +lying there, in the attitude in which he had left her. But her eyes were +ringed, and slightly filmed, as if with recent tears. + +It was perhaps this circumstance that softened his voice, still harsh +with command, as he said,-- + +"I suppose you knew those two men?" + +"Yes." + +"And that I have put it out of their power to help you?" + +"I do." + +There was something so strangely submissive in her voice that he again +looked suspiciously at her. But he was shocked to see that she was quite +pale now, and that the fire had gone out of her dark eyes. + +"Then I may tell you what is my plan to save you. But, first, you must +find this mulatto woman who has acted as your double." + +"She is here." + +"Here?" + +"Yes." + +"How do you know it?" he asked, in quick suspicion. + +"She was not to leave this place until she knew I was safe within our +lines. I have some friends who are faithful to me." After a pause she +added, "She has been here already." + +He looked at her, startled. "Impossible--I"-- + +"You locked the door. Yes! but she has a second key. And even if she had +not, there is another entrance from that closet. You do not know this +house: you have been here two weeks; I spent two years of my life, as a +girl, in this room." + +An indescribable sensation came over him; he remembered how he had felt +when he first occupied it; this was followed by a keen sense of shame +on reflecting that he had been, ever since, but a helpless puppet in the +power of his enemies, and that she could have escaped if she would, even +now. + +"Perhaps," he said grimly, "you have already arranged your plans?" + +She looked at him with a singular reproachfulness even in her +submission. + +"I have only told her to be ready to change clothes with me and help me +color my face and hands at the time appointed. I have left the rest to +you." + +"Then this is my plan. I have changed only a detail. You and she must +both leave this house at the same time, by different exits, but one of +them must be private--and unknown to my men. Do you know of such a one?" + +"Yes," she said, "in the rear of the negro quarters." + +"Good," he replied, "that will be your way out. She will leave here, +publicly, through the parade, armed with a pass from me. She will be +overhauled and challenged by the first sentry near the guardhouse, below +the wall. She will be subjected to some delay and scrutiny, which she +will, however, be able to pass better than you would. This will create +the momentary diversion that we require. In the mean time, you will have +left the house by the rear, and you will then keep in the shadow of the +hedge until you can drop down along the Run, where it empties into the +swamp. That," he continued, fixing his keen eyes upon her, "is the one +weak point in the position of this place that is neither overlooked nor +defended. But perhaps," he added again grimly, "you already know it." + +"It is the marsh where the flowers grow, near the path where you met +Miss Faulkner. I had crossed the marsh to give her a letter," she said +slowly. + +A bitter smile came over Brant's face, but passed as quickly. + +"Enough," he said quietly, "I will meet you beside the Run, and cross +the marsh with you until you are within hailing distance of your lines. +I will be in plain clothes, Alice," he went on slowly, "for it will not +be the commander of this force who accompanies you, but your husband, +and, without disgracing his uniform, he will drop to your level; for the +instant he passes his own lines, in disguise, he will become, like you, +a spy, and amenable to its penalties." + +Her eyes seemed suddenly to leap up to his with that strange look of +awakening and enthusiasm which he had noted before. And in its complete +prepossession of all her instincts she rose from the bed, unheeding her +bared arms and shoulders and loosened hair, and stood upright before +him. For an instant husband and wife regarded each other as unreservedly +as in their own chamber at Robles. + +"When shall I go?" + +He glanced through the window already growing lighter with the +coming dawn. The relief would pass in a few moments; the time seemed +propitious. + +"At once," he said. "I will send Rose to you." + +But his wife had already passed into the closet, and was tapping upon +some inner door. He heard the sound of hinges turning and the rustling +of garments. She reappeared, holding the curtains of the closet together +with her hand, and said,-- + +"Go! When she comes to your office for the pass, you will know that I +have gone." + +He turned away. + +"Stop!" she said faintly. + +He turned back. Her expression had again changed. Her face was deadly +pale; a strange tremor seemed to have taken possession of her. Her hands +dropped from the curtain. Her beautiful arms moved slightly forward; +it seemed to him that she would in the next moment have extended them +towards him. But even then she said hurriedly, "Go! Go!" and slipped +again behind the curtains. + +He quickly descended the stairs as the sound of trampling feet on the +road, and the hurried word of command, announced the return of the +scouting party. The officer had little report to make beyond the fact +that a morning mist, creeping along the valley, prevented any further +observation, and bade fair to interrupt their own communications with +the camp. Everything was quiet in the west, although the enemy's lines +along the ridge seemed to have receded. + +Brant had listened impatiently, for a new idea had seized him. Hooker +was of the party, and was the one man in whom he could partly confide, +and obtain a disguise. He at once made his way to the commissary +wagons--one of which he knew Hooker used as a tent. Hastily telling him +that he wished to visit the pickets without recognition, he induced him +to lend him his slouched hat and frock coat, leaving with him his own +distinguishing tunic, hat, and sword. He resisted the belt and pistols +which Hooker would have forced upon him. As he left the wagon he +was amusedly conscious that his old companion was characteristically +examining the garments he had left behind with mingled admiration and +envy. But he did not know, as he slipped out of the camp, that Mr. +Hooker was quietly trying them on, before a broken mirror in the +wagon-head! + +The gray light of that summer morning was already so strong that, to +avoid detection, he quickly dropped into the shadow of the gully that +sloped towards the Run. The hot mist which the scouts had seen was now +lying like a tranquil sea between him and the pickets of the enemy's +rear-guard, which it seemed to submerge, and was clinging in moist +tenuous swathes--like drawn-out cotton wool--along the ridge, half +obliterating its face. From the valley in the rear it was already +stealing in a thin white line up the slope like the advance of a ghostly +column, with a stealthiness that, in spite of himself, touched him with +superstitious significance. A warm perfume, languid and treacherous--as +from the swamp magnolia--seemed to rise from the half-hidden marsh. +An ominous silence, that appeared to be a part of this veiling of all +things under the clear opal-tinted sky above, was so little like +the hush of rest and peace, that he half-yearned for the outburst of +musketry and tumult of attack that might dispel it. All that he had ever +heard or dreamed of the insidious South, with its languid subtleties of +climate and of race, seemed to encompass him here. + +But the next moment he saw the figure he was waiting for stealing +towards him from the shadow of the gulley beneath the negro quarters. + +Even in that uncertain light there was no mistaking the tall figure, +the gaudily striped clinging gown and turbaned head. And then a strange +revulsion of feeling, quite characteristic of the emotional side of his +singular temperament, overcame him. He was taking leave of his wife--the +dream of his youth--perhaps forever! It should be no parting in anger as +at Robles; it should be with a tenderness that would blot out their past +in their separate memories--God knows! it might even be that a parting +at that moment was a joining of them in eternity. In his momentary +exaltation it even struck him that it was a duty, no less sacred, no +less unselfish than the one to which he had devoted his life. The light +was growing stronger; he could hear voices in the nearest picket line, +and the sound of a cough in the invading mist. He made a hurried sign to +the on-coming figure to follow him, ran ahead, and halted at last in +the cover of a hackmatack bush. Still gazing forward over the marsh, +he stealthily held out his hand behind him as the rustling skirt came +nearer. At last his hand was touched--but even at that touch he started +and turned quickly. + +It was not his wife, but Rose!--her mulatto double! Her face was rigid +with fright, her beady eyes staring in their china sockets, her white +teeth chattering. Yet she would have spoken. + +"Hush!" he said, clutching her hand, in a fierce whisper. "Not a word!" + +She was holding something white in her fingers; he snatched it quickly. +It was a note from his wife--not in the disguised hand of her first +warning, but in one that he remembered as if it were a voice from their +past. + +"Forgive me for disobeying you to save you from capture, disgrace, or +death--which would have come to you where you were going! I have taken +Rose's pass. You need not fear that your honor will suffer by it, for if +I am stopped I shall confess that I took it from her. Think no more of +me, Clarence, but only of yourself. You are in danger." + +He crushed the letter in his hand. + +"Tell me," he said in a fierce whisper, seizing her arm, "and speak low. +When did you leave her?" + +"Sho'ly just now!" gasped the frightened woman. + +He flung her aside. There might be still time to overtake and save her +before she reached the picket lines. He ran up the gully, and out on to +the slope towards the first guard-post. But a familiar challenge reached +his ear, and his heart stopped beating. + +"Who goes there?" + +There was a pause, a rattle of arms voices--another pause--and Brant +stood breathlessly listening. Then the voice rose again slowly and +clearly: "Pass the mulatto woman!" + +Thank God! she was saved! But the thought had scarcely crossed his mind +before it seemed to him that a blinding crackle of sparks burst out +along the whole slope below the wall, a characteristic yell which he +knew too well rang in his ears, and an undulating line of dusty figures +came leaping like gray wolves out of the mist upon his pickets. He heard +the shouts of his men falling back as they fired; the harsh commands +of a few officers hurrying to their posts, and knew that he had been +hopelessly surprised and surrounded! + +He ran forward among his disorganized men. To his consternation no one +seemed to heed him! Then the remembrance of his disguise flashed upon +him. But he had only time to throw away his hat and snatch a sword from +a falling lieutenant, before a scorching flash seemed to pass before +his eyes and burn through his hair, and he dropped like a log beside his +subaltern. + +***** + +An aching under the bandage around his head where a spent bullet had +grazed his scalp, and the sound of impossible voices in his ears were +all he knew as he struggled slowly back to consciousness again. Even +then it still seemed a delusion,--for he was lying on a cot in his own +hospital, yet with officers of the division staff around him, and the +division commander himself standing by his side, and regarding him +with an air of grave but not unkindly concern. But the wounded man felt +instinctively that it was not the effect of his physical condition, and +a sense of shame came suddenly over him, which was not dissipated by +his superior's words. For, motioning the others aside, the major-general +leaned over his cot, and said,-- + +"Until a few moments ago, the report was that you had been captured +in the first rush of the rear-guard which we were rolling up for your +attack, and when you were picked up, just now, in plain clothes on the +slope, you were not recognized. The one thing seemed to be as improbable +as the other," he added significantly. + +The miserable truth flashed across Brant's mind. Hooker must have been +captured in his clothes--perhaps in some extravagant sally--and had not +been recognized in the confusion by his own officers. Nevertheless, he +raised his eyes to his superior. + +"You got my note?" + +The general's brow darkened. + +"Yes," he said slowly, "but finding you thus unprepared--I had been +thinking just now that you had been deceived by that woman--or by +others--and that it was a clumsy forgery." He stopped, and seeing the +hopeless bewilderment in the face of the wounded man, added more kindly: +"But we will not talk of that in your present condition. The doctor says +a few hours will put you straight again. Get strong, for I want you to +lose no time--for your own sake--to report yourself at Washington." + +"Report myself--at Washington!" repeated Brant slowly. + +"That was last night's order," said the commander, with military +curtness. Then he burst out: "I don't understand it, Brant! I believe +you have been misunderstood, misrepresented, perhaps maligned and I +shall make it MY business to see the thing through--but those are +the Department orders. And for the present--I am sorry to say you are +relieved of your command." + +He turned away, and Brant closed his eyes. With them it seemed to +him that he closed his career. No one would ever understand his +explanation--even had he been tempted to give one, and he knew he never +would. Everything was over now! Even this wretched bullet had not struck +him fairly, and culminated his fate as it might! For an instant, he +recalled his wife's last offer to fly with him beyond the seas--beyond +this cruel injustice--but even as he recalled it, he knew that flight +meant the worst of all--a half-confession! But she had escaped! Thank +God for that! Again and again in his hopeless perplexity this comfort +returned to him,--he had saved her; he had done his duty. And harping +upon this in his strange fatalism, it at last seemed to him that this +was for what he had lived--for what he had suffered--for what he had +fitly ended his career. Perhaps it was left for him now to pass +his remaining years in forgotten exile--even as his father had--his +father!--his breath came quickly at the thought--God knows! perhaps as +wrongfully accused! It may have been a Providence that she had borne him +no child, to whom this dreadful heritage could be again transmitted. + +There was something of this strange and fateful resignation in his face, +a few hours later, when he was able to be helped again into the saddle. +But he could see in the eyes of the few comrades who commiseratingly +took leave of him, a vague, half-repressed awe of some indefinite +weakness in the man, that mingled with their heartfelt parting with a +gallant soldier. Yet even this touched him no longer. He cast a glance +at the house and the room where he had parted from her, at the slope +from which she had passed--and rode away. + +And then, as his figure disappeared down the road, the restrained +commentary of wonder, surmise, and criticism broke out:-- + +"It must have been something mighty bad, for the old man, who swears +by him, looked rather troubled. And it was deuced queer, you know, this +changing clothes with somebody, just before this surprise!" + +"Nonsense! It's something away back of that! Didn't you hear the old man +say that the orders for him to report himself came from Washington LAST +NIGHT? No!"--the speaker lowered his voice--"Strangeways says that he +had regularly sold himself out to one of them d----d secesh woman spies! +It's the old Marc Antony business over again!" + +"Now I think of it," said a younger subaltern, "he did seem mightily +taken with one of those quadroons or mulattoes he issued orders against. +I suppose that was a blind for us! I remember the first day he saw her; +he was regularly keen to know all about her." + +Major Curtis gave a short laugh. + +"That mulatto, Martin, was a white woman, burnt-corked! She was trying +to get through the lines last night, and fell off a wall or got a knock +on the head from a sentry's carbine. When she was brought in, Doctor +Simmons set to washing the blood off her face; the cork came off and the +whole thing came out. Brant hushed it up--and the woman, too--in his own +quarters! It's supposed now that she got away somehow in the rush!" + +"It goes further back than that, gentlemen," said the adjutant +authoritatively. "They say his wife was a howling secessionist, four +years ago, in California, was mixed up in a conspiracy, and he had to +leave on account of it. Look how thick he and that Miss Faulkner became, +before he helped HER off!" + +"That's your jealousy, Tommy; she knew he was, by all odds, the biggest +man here, and a good deal more, too, and you had no show!" + +In the laugh that followed, it would seem that Brant's eulogy had been +spoken and forgotten. But as Lieutenant Martin was turning away, a +lingering corporal touched his cap. + +"You were speaking of those prowling mulattoes, sir. You know the +general passed one out this morning." + +"So I have heard." + +"I reckon she didn't get very far. It was just at the time that we were +driven in by their first fire, and I think she got her share of it, too. +Do you mind walking this way, sir!" + +The lieutenant did not mind, although he rather languidly followed. +When they had reached the top of the gully, the corporal pointed to +what seemed to be a bit of striped calico hanging on a thorn bush in the +ravine. + +"That's her," said the corporal. "I know the dress; I was on guard when +she was passed. The searchers, who were picking up our men, haven't got +to her yet; but she ain't moved or stirred these two hours. Would you +like to go down and see her?" + +The lieutenant hesitated. He was young, and slightly fastidious as +to unnecessary unpleasantness. He believed he would wait until the +searchers brought her up, when the corporal might call him. + +The mist came up gloriously from the swamp like a golden halo. And +as Clarence Brant, already forgotten, rode moodily through it towards +Washington, hugging to his heart the solitary comfort of his great +sacrifice, his wife, Alice Brant, for whom he had made it, was lying +in the ravine, dead and uncared for. Perhaps it was part of the +inconsistency of her sex that she was pierced with the bullets of those +she had loved, and was wearing the garments of the race that she had +wronged. + + + +PART III. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +It was sunset of a hot day at Washington. Even at that hour the broad +avenues, which diverged from the Capitol like the rays of another sun, +were fierce and glittering. The sterile distances between glowed +more cruelly than ever, and pedestrians, keeping in the scant shade, +hesitated on the curbstones before plunging into the Sahara-like +waste of crossings. The city seemed deserted. Even that vast army of +contractors, speculators, place-hunters, and lobbyists, which hung on +the heels of the other army, and had turned this pacific camp of the +nation into a battlefield of ignoble conflict and contention--more +disastrous than the one to the South--had slunk into their holes in +hotel back bedrooms, in shady barrooms, or in the negro quarters of +Georgetown, as if the majestic, white-robed Goddess enthroned upon the +dome of the Capitol had at last descended among them and was smiting to +right and left with the flat and flash of her insufferable sword. + +Into this stifling atmosphere of greed and corruption Clarence Brant +stepped from the shadow of the War Department. For the last three weeks +he had haunted its ante-rooms and audience-chambers, in the vain hope +of righting himself before his superiors, who were content, without +formulating charges against him, to keep him in this disgrace of +inaction and the anxiety of suspense. Unable to ascertain the details +of the accusation, and conscious of his own secret, he was debarred +the last resort of demanding a court-martial, which he knew could only +exonerate him by the exposure of the guilt of his wife, whom he still +hoped had safely escaped. His division commander, in active operations +in the field, had no time to help him at Washington. Elbowed aside by +greedy contractors, forestalled by selfish politicians, and disdaining +the ordinary method of influence, he had no friend to turn to. In his +few years of campaigning he had lost his instinct of diplomacy, without +acquiring a soldier's bluntness. + +The nearly level rays of the sun forced him at last to turn aside into +one of the openings of a large building--a famous caravansary of that +hotel-haunted capital, and he presently found himself in the +luxurious bar-room, fragrant with mint, and cool with ice-slabs piled +symmetrically on its marble counters. A few groups of men were seeking +coolness at small tables with glasses before them and palm-leaf fans in +their hands, but a larger and noisier assemblage was collected before +the bar, where a man, collarless and in his shirt-sleeves, with his +back to the counter, was pretentiously addressing them. Brant, who had +moodily dropped into a chair in the corner, after ordering a cooling +drink as an excuse for his temporary refuge from the stifling street, +half-regretted his enforced participation in their conviviality. But +a sudden lowering of the speaker's voice into a note of gloomy +significance seemed familiar to him. He glanced at him quickly, from the +shadow of his corner. He was not mistaken--it was Jim Hooker! + +For the first time in his life, Brant wished to evade him. In the days +of his own prosperity his heart had always gone out towards this old +companion of his boyhood; in his present humiliation his presence jarred +upon him. He would have slipped away, but to do so he would have had to +pass before the counter again, and Hooker, with the self-consciousness +of a story-teller, had an eye on his audience. Brant, with a palm-leaf +fan before his face, was obliged to listen. + +"Yes, gentlemen," said Hooker, examining his glass dramatically, "when +a man's been cooped up in a Rebel prison, with a death line before him +that he's obliged to cross every time he wants a square drink, it seems +sort of like a dream of his boyhood to be standin' here comf'ble before +his liquor, alongside o' white men once more. And when he knows he's bin +put to all that trouble jest to save the reputation of another man, and +the secrets of a few high and mighty ones, it's almost enough to make +his liquor go agin him." He stopped theatrically, seemed to choke +emotionally over his brandy squash, but with a pause of dramatic +determination finally dashed it down. "No, gentlemen," he continued +gloomily, "I don't say what I'm back in Washington FOR--I don't say what +I've been sayin' to myself when I've bin picking the weevils outer my +biscuits in Libby Prison--but ef you don't see some pretty big men in +the War Department obliged to climb down in the next few days, my name +ain't Jim Hooker, of Hooker, Meacham & Co., Army Beef Contractors, and +the man who saved the fight at Gray Oaks!" + +The smile of satisfaction that went around his audience--an audience +quick to seize the weakness of any performance--might have startled +a vanity less oblivious than Hooker's; but it only aroused Brant's +indignation and pity, and made his position still more intolerable. But +Hooker, scornfully expectorating a thin stream of tobacco juice against +the spittoon, remained for an instant gloomily silent. + +"Tell us about the fight again," said a smiling auditor. + +Hooker looked around the room with a certain dark suspiciousness, and +then, in an affected lower voice, which his theatrical experience made +perfectly audible, went on:-- + +"It ain't much to speak of, and if it wasn't for the principle of the +thing, I wouldn't be talking. A man who's seen Injin fightin' don't go +much on this here West Point fightin' by rule-of-three--but that ain't +here or there! Well, I'd bin out a-scoutin'--just to help the boys +along, and I was sittin' in my wagon about daybreak, when along comes a +brigadier-general, and he looks into the wagon flap. I oughter to tell +you first, gentlemen, that every minit he was expecting an attack--but +he didn't let on a hint of it to me. 'How are you, Jim?' said he. 'How +are you, general?' said I. 'Would you mind lendin' me your coat and +hat?' says he. 'I've got a little game here with our pickets, and I +don't want to be recognized.' 'Anything to oblige, general,' said I, and +with that I strips off my coat and hat, and he peels and puts them on. +'Nearly the same figure, Jim,' he says, lookin' at me, 'suppose you try +on my things and see.' With that he hands me his coat--full uniform, +by G-d!--with the little gold cords and laces and the epaulettes with a +star, and I puts it on--quite innocent-like. And then he says, handin' +me his sword and belt, 'Same inches round the waist, I reckon,' and I +puts that on too. 'You may as well keep 'em on till I come back,' says +he, 'for it's mighty damp and malarious at this time around the swamp.' +And with that he lights out. Well, gentlemen, I hadn't sat there five +minutes before Bang! bang! rattle! rattle! kershiz! and I hears a yell. +I steps out of the wagon; everything's quite dark, but the rattle goes +on. Then along trots an orderly, leadin' a horse. 'Mount, general,' he +says, 'we're attacked--the rear-guard's on us!'" + +He paused, looked round his audience, and then in a lower voice, said +darkly,-- + +"I ain't a fool, an' in that minute a man's brain works at high +pressure, and I saw it all! I saw the little game of the brigadier to +skunk away in my clothes and leave me to be captured in his. But I ain't +a dog neither, and I mounted that horse, gentlemen, and lit out to where +the men were formin'! I didn't dare to speak, lest they should know me, +but I waved my sword, and by G-d! they followed me! And the next minit +we was in the thick of it. I had my hat as full of holes as that ice +strainer; I had a dozen bullets through my coat, the fringe of my +epaulettes was shot away, but I kept the boys at their work--and we +stopped 'em! Stopped 'em, gentlemen, until we heard the bugles of the +rest of our division, that all this time had been rolling that blasted +rear-guard over on us! And it saved the fight; but the next minute the +Johnny Rebs made a last dash and cut me off--and there I was--by G-d, a +prisoner! Me that had saved the fight!" + +A ripple of ironical applause went round as Hooker gloomily drained his +glass, and then held up his hand in scornful deprecation. + +"I said I was a prisoner, gentlemen," he went on bitterly; "but that +ain't all! I asked to see Johnston, told him what I had done, and +demanded to be exchanged for a general officer. He said, 'You be +d----d.' I then sent word to the division commander-in-chief, and told +him how I had saved Gray Oaks when his brigadier ran away, and he said, +'You be d----d.' I've bin 'You be d----d' from the lowest non-com. +to the commander-in-chief, and when I was at last exchanged, I was +exchanged, gentlemen, for two mules and a broken wagon. But I'm here, +gentlemen--as I was thar!" + +"Why don't you see the President about it?" asked a bystander, in +affected commiseration. + +Mr. Hooker stared contemptuously at the suggestion, and expectorated his +scornful dissent. + +"Not much!" he said. "But I'm going to see the man that carries him and +his Cabinet in his breeches-pocket--Senator Boompointer." + +"Boompointer's a big man," continued his auditor doubtfully. "Do you +know him?" + +"Know him?" Mr. Hooker laughed a bitter, sardonic laugh. "Well, +gentlemen, I ain't the kind o' man to go in for family influence; but," +he added, with gloomy elevation, "considering he's an intimate relation +of mine, BY MARRIAGE, I should say I did." + +Brant heard no more; the facing around of his old companion towards the +bar gave him that opportunity of escaping he had been waiting for. The +defection of Hooker and his peculiar inventions were too characteristic +of him to excite surprise, and, although they no longer awakened his +good-humored tolerance, they were powerless to affect him in his greater +trouble. Only one thing he learned--that Hooker knew nothing of his wife +being in camp as a spy--the incident would have been too tempting to +have escaped his dramatic embellishment. And the allusion to Senator +Boompointer, monstrous as it seemed in Hooker's mouth, gave him a grim +temptation. He had heard of Boompointer's wonderful power; he believed +that Susy would and could help him--Clarence--whether she did or did not +help Hooker. But the next moment he dismissed the idea, with a flushing +cheek. How low had he already sunk, even to think of it! + +It had been once or twice in his mind to seek the President, and, under +a promise of secrecy, reveal a part of his story. He had heard many +anecdotes of his goodness of heart and generous tolerance of all things, +but with this was joined--so said contemporaneous history--a flippancy +of speech and a brutality of directness from which Clarence's +sensibility shrank. Would he see anything in his wife but a common spy +on his army; would he see anything in him but the weak victim, like many +others, of a scheming woman? Stories current in camp and Congress of the +way that this grim humorist had, with an apposite anecdote or a rugged +illustration, brushed away the most delicate sentiment or the subtlest +poetry, even as he had exposed the sham of Puritanic morality or of +Epicurean ethics. Brant had even solicited an audience, but had retired +awkwardly, and with his confidence unspoken, before the dark, humorous +eyes, that seemed almost too tolerant of his grievance. He had been +to levees, and his heart had sunk equally before the vulgar crowd, who +seemed to regard this man as their own buffoon, and the pompousness of +position, learning and dignity, which he seemed to delight to shake and +disturb. + +One afternoon, a few days later, in sheer listlessness of purpose, +he found himself again at the White House. The President was giving +audience to a deputation of fanatics, who, with a pathetic simplicity +almost equal to his own pathetic tolerance, were urging upon this ruler +of millions the policy of an insignificant score, and Brant listened to +his patient, practical response of facts and logic, clothed in +simple but sinewy English, up to the inevitable climax of humorous +illustration, which the young brigadier could now see was necessary to +relieve the grimness of his refusal. For the first time Brant felt +the courage to address him, and resolved to wait until the deputation +retired. As they left the gallery he lingered in the ante-room for +the President to appear. But, as he did not come, afraid of losing his +chances, he returned to the gallery. Alone in his privacy and shadow, +the man he had just left was standing by a column, in motionless +abstraction, looking over the distant garden. But the kindly, humorous +face was almost tragic with an intensity of weariness! Every line of +those strong, rustic features was relaxed under a burden which even +the long, lank, angular figure--overgrown and unfinished as his own +West--seemed to be distorted in its efforts to adjust itself to; while +the dark, deep-set eyes were abstracted with the vague prescience of the +prophet and the martyr. Shocked at that sudden change, Brant felt his +cheek burn with shame. And he was about to break upon that wearied man's +unbending; he was about to add his petty burden to the shoulders of this +Western Atlas. He drew back silently, and descended the stairs. + +But before he had left the house, while mingling with the crowd in one +of the larger rooms, he saw the President reappear beside an important, +prosperous-looking figure, on whom the kindly giant was now smiling with +humorous toleration. He noticed the divided attention of the crowd; the +name of Senator Boompointer was upon every lip; he was nearly face to +face with that famous dispenser of place and preferment--this +second husband of Susy! An indescribable feeling--half cynical, half +fateful--came over him. He would not have been surprised to see Jim +Hooker join the throng, which now seemed to him to even dwarf the lonely +central figure that had so lately touched him! He wanted to escape it +all! + +But his fate brought him to the entrance at the same moment that +Boompointer was leaving it, and that distinguished man brushed hastily +by him as a gorgeous carriage, drawn by two spirited horses, and driven +by a resplendent negro coachman, dashed up. It was the Boompointer +carriage. + +A fashionably-dressed, pretty woman, who, in style, bearing, opulent +contentment, and ingenuous self-consciousness, was in perfect keeping +with the slight ostentation of the equipage, was its only occupant. As +Boompointer stepped into the vehicle, her blue eyes fell for an instant +on Brant. A happy, childlike pink flush came into her cheeks, and a +violet ray of recognition and mischief darted from her eyes to his. For +it was Susy. + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +When Brant returned to his hotel there was an augmented respect in the +voice of the clerk as he handed him a note with the remark that it had +been left by Senator Boompointer's coachman. He had no difficulty in +recognizing Susy's peculiarly Brobdingnagian school-girl hand. + +"Kla'uns, I call it real mean! I believe you just HOPED I wouldn't know +you. If you're a bit like your old self you'll come right off here--this +very night! I've got a big party on--but we can talk somewhere between +the acts! Haven't I growed? Tell me! And my! what a gloomy swell the +young brigadier is! The carriage will come for you--so you have no +excuse." + +The effect of this childish note upon Brant was strangely out of +proportion to its triviality. But then it was Susy's very triviality--so +expressive of her characteristic irresponsibility--which had always +affected him at such moments. Again, as at Robles, he felt it react +against his own ethics. Was she not right in her delightful materialism? +Was she not happier than if she had been consistently true to Mrs. +Peyton, to the convent, to the episode of her theatrical career, to Jim +Hooker--even to himself? And did he conscientiously believe that Hooker +or himself had suffered from her inconsistency? No! From all that he +had heard, she was a suitable helpmate to the senator, in her social +attractiveness, her charming ostentations, her engaging vanity +that disarmed suspicion, and her lack of responsibility even in her +partisanship. Nobody ever dared to hold the senator responsible for her +promises, even while enjoying the fellowship of both, and it is +said that the worthy man singularly profited by it. Looking upon the +invitation as a possible distraction to his gloomy thoughts, Brant +resolved to go. + +The moon was high as the carriage whirled him out of the still stifling +avenues towards the Soldiers' Home--a sylvan suburb frequented by +cabinet ministers and the President--where the good Senator had +"decreed," like Kubla Khan, "a stately pleasure dome," to entertain his +friends and partisans. As they approached the house, the trembling light +like fireflies through the leaves, the warm silence broken only by a +military band playing a drowsy waltz on the veranda, and the heavy odors +of jessamine in the air, thrilled Brant with a sense of shame as +he thought of his old comrades in the field. But this was presently +dissipated by the uniforms that met him in the hall, with the presence +of some of his distinguished superiors. At the head of the stairs, +with a circling background of the shining crosses and ribbons of the +diplomatic corps, stood Susy--her bare arms and neck glittering with +diamonds, her face radiant with childlike vivacity. A significant +pressure of her little glove as he made his bow seemed to be his only +welcome, but a moment later she caught his arm. "You've yet to +know HIM," she said in a half whisper; "he thinks a good deal of +himself--just like Jim. But he makes others believe it, and that's where +poor Jim slipped up." She paused before the man thus characteristically +disposed of, and presented Brant. It was the man he had seen +before--material, capable, dogmatic. A glance from his shrewd +eyes--accustomed to the weighing of men's weaknesses and ambitions--and +a few hurried phrases, apparently satisfied him that Brant was not just +then important or available to him, and the two men, a moment later, +drifted easily apart. Brant sauntered listlessly through the crowded +rooms, half remorsefully conscious that he had taken some irrevocable +step, and none the less assured by the presence of two or three +reporters and correspondents who were dogging his steps, or the glance +of two or three pretty women whose curiosity had evidently been aroused +by the singular abstraction of this handsome, distinguished, but +sardonic-looking officer. But the next moment he was genuinely moved. + +A tall young woman had just glided into the centre of the room with an +indolent yet supple gracefulness that seemed familiar to him. A change +in her position suddenly revealed her face. It was Miss Faulkner. +Previously he had known her only in the riding habit of Confederate gray +which she had at first affected, or in the light muslin morning dress +she had worn at Gray Oaks. It seemed to him, to-night, that the studied +elegance of her full dress became her still more; that the pretty +willfulness of her chin and shoulders was chastened and modified by the +pearls round her fair throat. Suddenly their eyes met; her face paled +visibly; he fancied that she almost leaned against her companion for +support; then she met his glance again with a face into which the color +had as suddenly rushed, but with eyes that seemed to be appealing to him +even to the point of pain and fright. Brant was not conceited; he could +see that the girl's agitation was not the effect of any mere personal +influence in his recognition, but of something else. He turned hastily +away; when he looked around again she was gone. + +Nevertheless he felt filled with a vague irritation. Did she think him +such a fool as to imperil her safety by openly recognizing her without +her consent? Did she think that he would dare to presume upon the +service she had done him? Or, more outrageous thought, had she heard of +his disgrace, known its cause, and feared that he would drag her into +a disclosure to save himself? No, no; she could not think that! She had +perhaps regretted what she had done in a freak of girlish chivalry; she +had returned to her old feelings and partisanship; she was only startled +at meeting the single witness of her folly. Well, she need not fear! +He would as studiously avoid her hereafter, and she should know it. And +yet--yes, there was a "yet." For he could not forget--indeed, in the +past three weeks it had been more often before him than he cared to +think--that she was the one human being who had been capable of a great +act of self-sacrifice for him--her enemy, her accuser, the man who had +scarcely treated her civilly. He was ashamed to remember now that this +thought had occurred to him at the bedside of his wife--at the hour of +her escape--even on the fatal slope on which he had been struck down. +And now this fond illusion must go with the rest--the girl who had +served him so loyally was ashamed of it! A bitter smile crossed his +face. + +"Well, I don't wonder! Here are all the women asking me who is that +good-looking Mephistopheles, with the burning eyes, who is prowling +around my rooms as if searching for a victim. Why, you're smiling for +all the world like poor Jim when he used to do the Red Avenger." + +Susy's voice--and illustration--recalled him to himself. + +"Furious I may be," he said with a gentler smile, although his eyes +still glittered, "furious that I have to wait until the one woman I came +to see--the one woman I have not seen for so long, while these puppets +have been nightly dancing before her--can give me a few moments from +them, to talk of the old days." + +In his reaction he was quite sincere, although he felt a slight sense +of remorse as he saw the quick, faint color rise, as in those old days, +even through the to-night's powder of her cheek. + +"That's like the old Kla'uns," she said, with a slight pressure of his +arm, "but we will not have a chance to speak until later. When they are +nearly all gone, you'll take me to get a little refreshment, and we'll +have a chat in the conservatory. But you must drop that awfully wicked +look and make yourself generally agreeable to those women until then." + +It was, perhaps, part of this reaction which enabled him to obey his +hostess' commands with a certain recklessness that, however, seemed +to be in keeping with the previous Satanic reputation he had all +unconsciously achieved. The women listened to the cynical flippancy of +this good-looking soldier with an undisguised admiration which in +turn excited curiosity and envy from his own sex. He saw the whispered +questioning, the lifted eyebrows, scornful shrugging of shoulders--and +knew that the story of his disgrace was in the air. But I fear this +only excited him to further recklessness and triumph. Once he thought he +recognized Miss Faulkner's figure at a distance, and even fancied that +she had been watching him; but he only redoubled his attentions to the +fair woman beside him, and looked no more. + +Yet he was glad when the guests began to drop off, the great rooms +thinned, and Susy, appearing on the arm of her husband, coquettishly +reminded him of his promise. + +"For I want to talk to you of old times. General Brant," she went on, +turning explanatorily to Boompointer, "married my adopted mother in +California--at Robles, a dear old place where I spent my earliest years. +So, you see, we are sort of relations by marriage," she added, with +delightful naivete. + +Hooker's own vainglorious allusion to his relations to the man before +him flashed across Brant's mind, but it left now only a smile on his +lips. He felt he had already become a part of the irresponsible comedy +played around him. Why should he resist, or examine its ethics too +closely? He offered his arm to Susy as they descended the stairs, but, +instead of pausing in the supper-room, she simply passed through it with +a significant pressure on his arm, and, drawing aside a muslin curtain, +stepped into the moonlit conservatory. Behind the curtain there was a +small rustic settee; without releasing his arm she sat down, so that +when he dropped beside her, their hands met, and mutually clasped. + +"Now, Kla'uns," she said, with a slight, comfortable shiver as she +nestled beside him, "it's a little like your chair down at old Robles, +isn't it?--tell me! And to think it's five years ago! But, Kla'uns, +what's the matter? You are changed," she said, looking at his dark face +in the moonlight, "or you have something to tell me." + +"I have." + +"And it's something dreadful, I know!" she said, wrinkling her brows +with a pretty terror. "Couldn't you pretend you had told it to me, and +let us go on just the same? Couldn't you, Kla'uns? Tell me!" + +"I am afraid I couldn't," he said, with a sad smile. + +"Is it about yourself, Kla'uns? You know," she went on with cheerful +rapidity, "I know everything about you--I always did, you know--and I +don't care, and never did care, and it don't, and never did, make the +slightest difference to me. So don't tell it, and waste time, Kla'uns." + +"It's not about me, but about my wife!" he said slowly. + +Her expression changed slightly + +"Oh, her!" she said after a pause. Then, half-resignedly, "Go on, +Kla'uns." + +He began. He had a dozen times rehearsed to himself his miserable story, +always feeling it keenly, and even fearing that he might be carried away +by emotion or morbid sentiment in telling it to another. But, to his +astonishment, he found himself telling it practically, calmly, almost +cynically, to his old playmate, repressing the half devotion and even +tenderness that had governed him, from the time that his wife, disguised +as the mulatto woman, had secretly watched him at his office, to the +hour that he had passed through the lines. He withheld only the incident +of Miss Faulkner's complicity and sacrifice. + +"And she got away, after having kicked you out of your place, Kla'uns?" +said Susy, when he had ended. + +Clarence stiffened beside her. But he felt he had gone too far to +quarrel with his confidante. + +"She went away. I honestly believe we shall never meet again, or I +should not be telling you this!" + +"Kla'uns," she said lightly, taking his hand again, "don't you believe +it! She won't let you go. You're one of those men that a woman, when +she's once hooked on to, won't let go of, even when she believes she no +longer loves him, or meets bigger and better men. I reckon it's because +you're so different from other men; maybe there are so many different +things about you to hook on to, and you don't slip off as easily as the +others. Now, if you were like old Peyton, her first husband, or like +poor Jim, or even my Boompointer, you'd be all right! No, my boy, all +we can do is to try to keep her from getting at you here. I reckon she +won't trust herself in Washington again in a hurry." + +"But I cannot stay here; my career is in the field." + +"Your career is alongside o' me, honey--and Boompointer. But nearer ME. +We'll fix all that. I heard something about your being in disgrace, but +the story was that you were sweet on some secesh girl down there, and +neglected your business, Kla'uns. But, Lordy! to think it was only your +own wife! Never mind; we'll straighten that out. We've had worse jobs +than that on. Why, there was that commissary who was buying up dead +horses at one end of the field, and selling them to the Government for +mess beef at the other; and there was that general who wouldn't make +an attack when it rained; and the other general--you know who I mean, +Kla'uns--who wouldn't invade the State where his sister lived; but we +straightened them out, somehow, and they were a heap worse than you. +We'll get you a position in the war department here, one of the bureau +offices, where you keep your rank and your uniform--you don't look bad +in it, Kla'uns--on better pay. And you'll come and see me, and we'll +talk over old times." + +Brant felt his heart turn sick within him. But he was at her mercy now! +He said, with an effort,-- + +"But I've told you that my career--nay, my LIFE--now is in the field." + +"Don't you be a fool, Kla'uns, and leave it there! You have done your +work of fighting--mighty good fighting, too,--and everybody knows it. +You've earned a change. Let others take your place." + +He shuddered, as he remembered that his wife had made the same +appeal. Was he a fool then, and these two women--so totally unlike in +everything--right in this? + +"Come, Kla'uns," said Susy, relapsing again against his shoulder. +"Now talk to me! You don't say what you think of me, of my home, of my +furniture, of my position--even of him! Tell me!" + +"I find you well, prosperous, and happy," he said, with a faint smile. + +"Is that all? And how do I look?" + +She turned her still youthful, mischievous face towards him in the +moonlight. The witchery of her blue eyes was still there as of old, the +same frank irresponsibility beamed from them; her parted lips seemed to +give him back the breath of his youth. He started, but she did not. + +"Susy, dear!" + +It was her husband's voice. + +"I quite forgot," the Senator went on, as he drew the curtain aside, +"that you are engaged with a friend; but Miss Faulkner is waiting to say +good-night, and I volunteered to find you." + +"Tell her to wait a moment," said Susy, with an impatience that was as +undisguised as it was without embarrassment or confusion. + +But Miss Faulkner, unconsciously following Mr. Boompointer, was already +upon them. For a moment the whole four were silent, although perfectly +composed. Senator Boompointer, unconscious of any infelicity in his +interruption, was calmly waiting. Clarence, opposed suddenly to the +young girl whom he believed was avoiding his recognition, rose, coldly +imperturbable. Miss Faulkner, looking taller and more erect in the long +folds of her satin cloak, neither paled nor blushed, as she regarded +Susy and Brant with a smile of well-bred apology. + +"I expect to leave Washington to-morrow, and may not be able to call +again," she said, "or I would not have so particularly pressed a +leave-taking upon you." + +"I was talking with my old friend, General Brant," said Susy, more by +way of introduction than apology. + +Brant bowed. For an instant the clear eyes of Miss Faulkner slipped +icily across his as she made him an old-fashioned Southern courtesy, +and, taking Susy's arm, she left the room. Brant did not linger, but +took leave of his host almost in the same breath. At the front door a +well-appointed carriage of one of the Legations had just rolled into +waiting. He looked back; he saw Miss Faulkner, erect and looking like a +bride in her gauzy draperies, descending the stairs before the waiting +servants. He felt his heart beat strangely. He hesitated, recalled +himself with an effort, hurriedly stepped from the porch into the path, +as he heard the carriage door close behind him in the distance, and then +felt the dust from her horse's hoofs rise around him as she drove past +him and away. + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Although Brant was convinced as soon as he left the house that he +could not accept anything from the Boompointer influence, and that his +interview with Susy was fruitless, he knew that he must temporize. While +he did not believe that his old playmate would willingly betray him, he +was uneasy when he thought of the vanity and impulsiveness which might +compromise him--or of a possible jealousy that might seek revenge. Yet +he had no reason to believe that Susy's nature was jealous, or that she +was likely to have any cause; but the fact remained that Miss Faulkner's +innocent intrusion upon their tete-a-tete affected him more strongly +than anything else in his interview with Susy. Once out of the +atmosphere of that house, it struck him, too, that Miss Faulkner was +almost as much of an alien in it as himself. He wondered what she +had been doing there. Could it be possible that she was obtaining +information for the South? But he rejected the idea as quickly as it +had occurred to him. Perhaps there could be no stronger proof of the +unconscious influence the young girl already had over him. + +He remembered the liveries of the diplomatic carriage that had borne her +away, and ascertained without difficulty that her sister had married one +of the foreign ministers, and that she was a guest in his house. But he +was the more astonished to hear that she and her sister were considered +to be Southern Unionists--and were greatly petted in governmental +circles for their sacrificing fidelity to the flag. His informant, an +official in the State Department, added that Miss Matilda might have +been a good deal of a madcap at the outbreak of the war--for the sisters +had a brother in the Confederate service--but that she had changed +greatly, and, indeed, within a month. "For," he added, "she was at the +White House for the first time last week, and they say the President +talked more to her than to any other woman." + +The indescribable sensation with which this simple information filled +Brant startled him more than the news itself. Hope, joy, fear, distrust, +and despair, alternately distracted him. He recalled Miss Faulkner's +almost agonizing glance of appeal to him in the drawing-room at Susy's, +and it seemed to be equally consistent with the truth of what he had +just heard--or some monstrous treachery and deceit of which she might be +capable. Even now she might be a secret emissary of some spy within +the President's family; she might have been in correspondence with some +traitor in the Boompointer clique, and her imploring glance only the +result of a fear of exposure. Or, again, she might have truly recanted +after her escapade at Gray Oaks, and feared only his recollection of +her as go-between of spies. And yet both of these presumptions were +inconsistent with her conduct in the conservatory. It seemed impossible +that this impulsive woman, capable of doing what he had himself known +her to do, and equally sensitive to the shame or joy of such impulses, +should be the same conventional woman of society who had so coldly +recognized and parted from him. + +But this interval of doubt was transitory. The next day he received a +dispatch from the War Department, ordering him to report himself for +duty at once. With a beating heart he hurried to the Secretary. But +that official had merely left a memorandum with his assistant directing +General Brant to accompany some fresh levies to a camp of "organization" +near the front. Brant felt a chill of disappointment. Duties of this +kind had been left to dubious regular army veterans, hurriedly +displaced general officers, and favored detrimentals. But if it was not +restoration, it was no longer inaction, and it was at least a release +from Washington. + +It was also evidently the result of some influence--but hardly that +of the Boompointers, for he knew that Susy wished to keep him at +the Capital. Was there another power at work to send him away from +Washington? His previous doubts returned. Nor were they dissipated when +the chief of the bureau placed a letter before him with the remark that +it had been entrusted to him by a lady with the request that it should +be delivered only into his own hands. + +"She did not know your hotel address, but ascertained you were to call +here. She said it was of some importance. There is no mystery about it, +General," continued the official with a mischievous glance at Brant's +handsome, perplexed face, "although it's from a very pretty woman--whom +we all know." + +"Mrs. Boompointer?" suggested Brant, with affected lightness. + +It was a maladroit speech. The official's face darkened. + +"We have not yet become a Postal Department for the Boompointers, +General," he said dryly, "however great their influence elsewhere. It +was from rather a different style of woman--Miss Faulkner. You will +receive your papers later at your hotel, and leave to-night." + +Brant's unlucky slip was still potent enough to divert the official +attention, or he would have noticed the change in his visitor's face, +and the abruptness of his departure. + +Once in the street, Brant tore off the envelope. But beneath it was +another, on which was written in a delicate, refined hand: "Please do +not open this until you reach your destination." + +Then she knew he was going! And perhaps this was her influence? All his +suspicions again returned. She knew he was going near the lines, and his +very appointment, through her power, might be a plot to serve her and +the enemy! Was this letter, which she was entrusting to him, the cover +of some missive to her Southern friends which she expected him to +carry--perhaps as a return for her own act of self-sacrifice? Was this +the appeal she had been making to his chivalry, his gratitude, his +honor? The perspiration stood in beads on his forehead. What defect lay +hidden in his nature that seemed to make him an easy victim of these +intriguing women? He had not even the excuse of gallantry; less +susceptible to the potencies of the sex than most men, he was still +compelled to bear that reputation. He remembered his coldness to Miss +Faulkner in the first days of their meeting, and her effect upon his +subalterns. Why had she selected him from among them--when she could +have modeled the others like wax to her purposes? Why? And yet with the +question came a possible answer that he hardly dared to think of--that +in its very vagueness seemed to fill him with a stimulating thrill and +hopefulness. He quickened his pace. He would take the letter, and yet be +master of himself when the time came to open it. + +That time came three days later, in his tent at Three Pines Crossing. As +he broke open the envelope, he was relieved to find that it contained +no other inclosure, and seemed intended only for himself. It began +abruptly:-- + +"When you read this, you will understand why I did not speak to you +when we met last night; why I even dreaded that you might speak to +me, knowing, as I did, what I ought to tell you at that place and +moment--something you could only know from me. I did not know you were +in Washington, although I knew you were relieved; I had no way of seeing +you or sending to you before, and I only came to Mrs. Boompointer's +party in the hope of hearing news of you. + +"You know that my brother was captured by your pickets in company with +another officer. He thinks you suspected the truth--that he and his +friend were hovering near your lines to effect the escape of the spy. +But he says that, although they failed to help her, she did escape, or +was passed through the lines by your connivance. He says that you seemed +to know her, that from what Rose--the mulatto woman--told him, you and +she were evidently old friends. I would not speak of this, nor intrude +upon your private affairs, only that I think you ought to know that I +had no knowledge of it when I was in your house, but believed her to be +a stranger to you. You gave me no intimation that you knew her, and I +believed that you were frank with me. But I should not speak of this +at all--for I believe that it would have made no difference to me in +repairing the wrong that I thought I had done you--only that, as I am +forced by circumstances to tell you the terrible ending of this story, +you ought to know it all. + +"My brother wrote to me that the evening after you left, the burying +party picked up the body of what they believed to be a mulatto woman +lying on the slope. It was not Rose, but the body of the very woman--the +real and only spy--whom you had passed through the lines. She was +accidentally killed by the Confederates in the first attack upon you, at +daybreak. But only my brother and his friend recognized her through her +blackened face and disguise, and on the plea that she was a servant of +one of their friends, they got permission from the division commander to +take her away, and she was buried by her friends and among her people in +the little cemetery of Three Pines Crossing, not far from where you have +gone. My brother thought that I ought to tell you this: it seems that +he and his friend had a strange sympathy for you in what they appear +to know or guess of your relations with that woman, and I think he was +touched by what he thought was your kindness and chivalry to him on +account of his sister. But I do not think he ever knew, or will know, +how great is the task that he has imposed upon me. + +"You know now, do you not, WHY I did not speak to you when we first met; +it seemed so impossible to do it in an atmosphere and a festivity that +was so incongruous with the dreadful message I was charged with. And +when I had to meet you later--perhaps I may have wronged you--but it +seemed to me that you were so preoccupied and interested with other +things that I might perhaps only be wearying you with something you +cared little for, or perhaps already knew and had quickly forgotten. + +"I had been wanting to say something else to you when I had got rid of +my dreadful message. I do not know if you still care to hear it. But +you were once generous enough to think that I had done you a service in +bringing a letter to your commander. Although I know better than anybody +else the genuine devotion to your duty that made you accept my poor +service, from all that I can hear, you have never had the credit of it. +Will you not try me again? I am more in favor here, and I might yet be +more successful in showing your superiors how true you have been to your +trust, even if you have little faith in your friend, Matilda Faulkner." + +For a long time he remained motionless, with the letter in his hand. +Then he arose, ordered his horse, and galloped away. + +There was little difficulty in finding the cemetery of Three Pines +Crossing--a hillside slope, hearsed with pine and cypress, and starred +with white crosses, that in the distance looked like flowers. Still +less was there in finding the newer marble shaft among the older +lichen-spotted slabs, which bore the simple words: "Alice Benham, +Martyr." A few Confederate soldiers, under still plainer and newer +wooden headstones, carved only with initials, lay at her feet. Brant +sank on his knees beside the grave, but he was shocked to see that the +base of the marble was stained with the red pollen of the fateful lily, +whose blossoms had been heaped upon her mound, but whose fallen petals +lay dark and sodden in decay. + +How long he remained there he did not know. And then a solitary bugle +from the camp seemed to summon him, as it had once before summoned him, +and he went away--as he had gone before--to a separation that he now +knew was for all time. + +Then followed a month of superintendence and drill, and the infusing +into the little camp under his instruction the spirit which seemed to +be passing out of his own life forever. Shut in by alien hills on the +borderland of the great struggle, from time to time reports reached +him of the bitter fighting, and almost disastrous successes of his old +division commander. Orders came from Washington to hurry the preparation +of his raw levies to the field, and a faint hope sprang up in his +mind. But following it came another dispatch ordering his return to the +Capital. + +He reached it with neither hope nor fear--so benumbed had become his +spirit under this last trial, and what seemed to be now the mockery of +this last sacrifice to his wife. Though it was no longer a question of +her life and safety, he knew that he could still preserve her memory +from stain by keeping her secret, even though its divulgings might clear +his own. For that reason, he had even hesitated to inform Susy of +her death, in the fear that, in her thoughtless irresponsibility and +impulsiveness, she might be tempted to use it in his favor. He had made +his late appointment a plea for her withholding any present efforts to +assist him. He even avoided the Boompointers' house, in what he believed +was partly a duty to the memory of his wife. But he saw no inconsistency +in occasionally extending his lonely walks to the vicinity of a foreign +Legation, or in being lifted with a certain expectation at the sight +of its liveries on the Avenue. There was a craving for sympathy in his +heart, which Miss Faulkner's letter had awakened. + +Meantime, he had reported himself for duty at the War Department--with +little hope, however, in that formality. But he was surprised the next +day when the chief of the bureau informed him that his claim was before +the President. + +"I was not aware that I had presented any claim," he said, a little +haughtily. + +The bureau chief looked up with some surprise. This quiet, patient, +reserved man had puzzled him once or twice before. + +"Perhaps I should say 'case,' General," he said, drily. "But the +personal interest of the highest executive in the land strikes me as +being desirable in anything." + +"I only mean that I have obeyed the orders of the department in +reporting myself here, as I have done," said Brant, with less feeling, +but none the less firmness; "and I should imagine it was not the duty +of a soldier to question them. Which I fancy a 'claim' or a 'case' would +imply." + +He had no idea of taking this attitude before, but the disappointments +of the past month, added to this first official notice of his disgrace, +had brought forward that dogged, reckless, yet half-scornful obstinacy +that was part of his nature. + +The official smiled. + +"I suppose, then, you are waiting to hear from the President," he said +drily. + +"I am awaiting orders from the department," returned Brant quietly, +"but whether they originate in the President as commander-in-chief, or +not--it is not for me to inquire." + +Even when he reached his hotel this half-savage indifference which had +taken the place of his former incertitude had not changed. It seemed to +him that he had reached the crisis of his life where he was no longer a +free agent, and could wait, superior alike to effort or expectation. And +it was with a merely dispassionate curiosity that he found a note the +next morning from the President's private secretary, informing him that +the President would see him early that day. + +A few hours later he was ushered through the public rooms of the White +House to a more secluded part of the household. The messenger stopped +before a modest door and knocked. It was opened by a tall figure--the +President himself. He reached out a long arm to Brant, who stood +hesitatingly on the threshold, grasped his hand, and led him into the +room. It had a single, large, elaborately draped window and a handsome +medallioned carpet, which contrasted with the otherwise almost appalling +simplicity of the furniture. A single plain angular desk, with a +blotting pad and a few sheets of large foolscap upon it, a waste-paper +basket and four plain armchairs, completed the interior with a contrast +as simple and homely as its long-limbed, black-coated occupant. +Releasing the hand of the general to shut a door which opened into +another apartment, the President shoved an armchair towards him and sank +somewhat wearily into another before the desk. But only for a moment; +the long shambling limbs did not seem to adjust themselves easily to +the chair; the high narrow shoulders drooped to find a more comfortable +lounging attitude, shifted from side to side, and the long legs moved +dispersedly. Yet the face that was turned towards Brant was humorous and +tranquil. + +"I was told I should have to send for you if I wished to see you," he +said smilingly. + +Already mollified, and perhaps again falling under the previous +influence of this singular man, Brant began somewhat hesitatingly to +explain. + +But the President checked him gently,-- + +"You don't understand. It was something new to my experience here to +find an able-bodied American citizen with an honest genuine grievance +who had to have it drawn from him like a decayed tooth. But you have +been here before. I seem to remember your face." + +Brant's reserve had gone. He admitted that he had twice sought an +audience--but-- + +"You dodged the dentist! That was wrong." As Brant made a slight +movement of deprecation the President continued: "I understand! Not from +fear of giving pain to yourself but to others. I don't know that THAT +is right, either. A certain amount of pain must be suffered in this +world--even by one's enemies. Well, I have looked into your case, +General Brant." He took up a piece of paper from his desk, scrawled with +two or three notes in pencil. "I think this is the way it stands. You +were commanding a position at Gray Oaks when information was received +by the department that, either through neglect or complicity, spies were +passing through your lines. There was no attempt to prove your neglect; +your orders, the facts of your personal care and precaution, were all +before the department. But it was also shown that your wife, from whom +you were only temporarily separated, was a notorious secessionist; that, +before the war, you yourself were suspected, and that, therefore, you +were quite capable of evading your own orders, which you may have +only given as a blind. On this information you were relieved by the +department of your command. Later on it was discovered that the spy was +none other than your own wife, disguised as a mulatto; that, after her +arrest by your own soldiers, you connived at her escape--and this was +considered conclusive proof of--well, let us say--your treachery." + +"But I did not know it was my wife until she was arrested," said Brant +impulsively. + +The President knitted his eyebrows humorously. + +"Don't let us travel out of the record, General. You're as bad as the +department. The question was one of your personal treachery, but you +need not accept the fact that you were justly removed because your wife +was a spy. Now, General, I am an old lawyer, and I don't mind telling +you that in Illinois we wouldn't hang a yellow dog on that evidence +before the department. But when I was asked to look into the matter by +your friends, I discovered something of more importance to you. I +had been trying to find a scrap of evidence that would justify the +presumption that you had sent information to the enemy. I found that it +was based upon the fact of the enemy being in possession of knowledge at +the first battle at Gray Oaks, which could only have been obtained +from our side, and which led to a Federal disaster; that you, however, +retrieved by your gallantry. I then asked the secretary if he was +prepared to show that you had sent the information with that view, or +that you had been overtaken by a tardy sense of repentance. He preferred +to consider my suggestion as humorous. But the inquiry led to my further +discovery that the only treasonable correspondence actually in evidence +was found upon the body of a trusted Federal officer, and had been +forwarded to the division commander. But there was no record of it in +the case." + +"Why, I forwarded it myself," said Brant eagerly. + +"So the division commander writes," said the President, smiling, "and he +forwarded it to the department. But it was suppressed in some way. Have +you any enemies, General Brant?" + +"Not that I know of." + +"Then you probably have. You are young and successful. Think of the +hundred other officers who naturally believe themselves better than you +are, and haven't a traitorous wife. Still, the department may have made +an example of you for the benefit of the only man who couldn't profit by +it." + +"Might it not have been, sir, that this suppression was for the good +report of the service--as the chief offender was dead?" + +"I am glad to hear you say so, General, for it is the argument I have +used successfully in behalf of your wife." + +"Then you know it all, sir?" said Brant after a gloomy pause. + +"All, I think. Come, General, you seemed just now to be uncertain about +your enemies. Let me assure you, you need not be so in regard to your +friends." + +"I dare to hope I have found one, sir," said Brant with almost boyish +timidity. + +"Oh, not me!" said the President, with a laugh of deprecation. "Some one +much more potent." + +"May I know his name, Mr. President?" + +"No, for it is a woman. You were nearly ruined by one, General. I +suppose it's quite right that you should be saved by one. And, of +course, irregularly." + +"A woman!" echoed Brant. + +"Yes; one who was willing to confess herself a worse spy than your +wife--a double traitor--to save you! Upon my word, General, I don't +know if the department was far wrong; a man with such an alternately +unsettling and convincing effect upon a woman's highest political +convictions should be under some restraint. Luckily the department knows +nothing of it." + +"Nor would any one else have known from me," said Brant eagerly. "I +trust that she did not think--that you, sir, did not for an instant +believe that I"-- + +"Oh dear, no! Nobody would have believed you! It was her free confidence +to me. That was what made the affair so difficult to handle. For even +her bringing your dispatch to the division commander looked bad for you; +and you know he even doubted its authenticity." + +"Does she--does Miss Faulkner know the spy was my wife?" hesitated +Brant. + +The President twisted himself in his chair, so as to regard Brant more +gravely with his deep-set eyes, and then thoughtfully rubbed his leg. + +"Don't let us travel out of the record, General," he said after a pause. +But as the color surged into Brant's cheek he raised his eyes to the +ceiling, and said, in half-humorous recollection,-- + +"No, I think THAT fact was first gathered from your other friend--Mr. +Hooker." + +"Hooker!" said Brant, indignantly; "did he come here?" + +"Pray don't destroy my faith in Mr. Hooker, General," said the +President, in half-weary, half-humorous deprecation. "Don't tell me +that any of his inventions are TRUE! Leave me at least that magnificent +liar--the one perfectly intelligible witness you have. For from the +time that he first appeared here with a grievance and a claim for +a commission, he has been an unspeakable joy to me and a convincing +testimony to you. Other witnesses have been partisans and prejudiced; +Mr. Hooker was frankly true to himself. How else should I have known of +the care you took to disguise yourself, save the honor of your uniform, +and run the risk of being shot as an unknown spy at your wife's side, +except from his magnificent version of HIS part in it? How else should +I have known the story of your discovery of the Californian conspiracy, +except from his supreme portrayal of it, with himself as the hero? No, +you must not forget to thank Mr. Hooker when you meet him. Miss Faulkner +is at present more accessible; she is calling on some members of my +family in the next room. Shall I leave you with her?" + +Brant rose with a pale face and a quickly throbbing heart as the +President, glancing at the clock, untwisted himself from the chair, and +shook himself out full length, and rose gradually to his feet. + +"Your wish for active service is granted, General Brant," he said +slowly, "and you will at once rejoin your old division commander, who +is now at the head of the Tenth Army Corps. But," he said, after a +deliberate pause, "there are certain rules and regulations of your +service that even I cannot, with decent respect to your department, +override. You will, therefore, understand that you cannot rejoin the +army in your former position." + +The slight flush that came to Brant's cheek quickly passed. And there +was only the unmistakable sparkle of renewed youth in his frank eyes as +he said-- + +"Let me go to the front again, Mr. President, and I care not HOW." + +The President smiled, and, laying his heavy hand on Brant's shoulder, +pushed him gently towards the door of the inner room. + +"I was only about to say," he added, as he opened the door, "that +it would be necessary for you to rejoin your promoted commander as +a major-general. And," he continued, lifting his voice, as he gently +pushed his guest into the room, "he hasn't even thanked me for it, Miss +Faulkner!" + +The door closed behind him, and he stood for a moment dazed, and still +hearing the distant voice of the President, in the room he had just +quitted, now welcoming a new visitor. But the room before him, opening +into a conservatory, was empty, save for a single figure that turned, +half timidly, half mischievously, towards him. The same quick, +sympathetic glance was in both their faces; the same timid, happy look +in both their eyes. He moved quickly to her side. + +"Then you knew that--that--woman was my wife?" he said, hurriedly, as he +grasped her hand. + +She cast a half-appealing look at his face--a half-frightened one around +the room and at the open door beyond. + +"Let us," she said faintly, "go into the conservatory." + +***** + +It is but a few years ago that the veracious chronicler of these pages +moved with a wondering crowd of sightseers in the gardens of the White +House. The war cloud had long since lifted and vanished; the Potomac +flowed peacefully by and on to where once lay the broad plantation of a +great Confederate leader--now a national cemetery that had gathered the +soldier dead of both sections side by side in equal rest and honor--and +the great goddess once more looked down serenely from the dome of the +white Capitol. The chronicler's attention was attracted by an erect, +handsome soldierly-looking man, with a beard and moustache slightly +streaked with gray, pointing out the various objects of interest to a +boy of twelve or fourteen at his side. + +"Yes; although, as I told you, this house belongs only to the President +of the United States and his family," said the gentleman, smilingly, "in +that little conservatory I proposed to your mother." + +"Oh! Clarence, how can you!" said the lady, reprovingly, "you know it +was LONG after that!" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Clarence, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLARENCE *** + +***** This file should be named 2635.txt or 2635.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/3/2635/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Donald Lainson, charlie@idirect.com. + + + + + +CLARENCE + +by Bret Harte + + + + +PART I. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + + +As Clarence Brant, President of the Robles Land Company, and +husband of the rich widow of John Peyton, of the Robles Ranche, +mingled with the outgoing audience of the Cosmopolitan Theatre, at +San Francisco, he elicited the usual smiling nods and recognition +due to his good looks and good fortune. But as he hurriedly +slipped through the still lingering winter's rain into the smart +coupe that was awaiting him, and gave the order "Home," the word +struck him with a peculiarly ironical significance. His home was a +handsome one, and lacked nothing in appointment and comfort, but he +had gone to the theatre to evade its hollow loneliness. Nor was it +because his wife was not there, for he had a miserable consciousness +that her temporary absence had nothing to do with his homelessness. +The distraction of the theatre over, that dull, vague, but aching +sense of loneliness which was daily growing upon him returned with +greater vigor. + +He leaned back in the coupe and gloomily reflected. + +He had been married scarcely a year, yet even in the illusions of +the honeymoon the woman, older than himself, and the widow of his +old patron, had half unconsciously reasserted herself, and slipped +back into the domination of her old position. It was at first +pleasant enough,--this half-maternal protectorate which is apt to +mingle even with the affections of younger women,--and Clarence, in +his easy, half-feminine intuition of the sex, yielded, as the strong +are apt to yield, through the very consciousness of their own +superiority. But this is a quality the weaker are not apt to +recognize, and the woman who has once tasted equal power with her +husband not only does not easily relegate it, but even makes its +continuance a test of the affections. The usual triumphant feminine +conclusion, "Then you no longer love me," had in Clarences brief +experience gone even further and reached its inscrutable climax, +"Then I no longer love you," although shown only in a momentary +hardening of the eye and voice. And added to this was his sudden, +but confused remembrance that he had seen that eye and heard that +voice in marital altercation during Judge Peytons life, and that he +himself, her boy partisan, had sympathized with her. Yet, strange +to say, this had given him more pain than her occasional other +reversions to the past--to her old suspicious of him when he was a +youthful protege of her husband and a presumed suitor of her adopted +daughter Susy. High natures are more apt to forgive wrong done to +themselves than any abstract injustice. And her capricious tyranny +over her dependents and servants, or an unreasoning enmity to a +neighbor or friend, outraged his finer sense more than her own +misconception of himself. Nor did he dream that this was a thing +most women seldom understand, or, understanding, ever forgive. + +The coupe rattled over the stones or swirled through the muddy +pools of the main thoroughfares. Newspaper and telegraphic offices +were still brilliantly lit, and crowds were gathered among the +bulletin boards. He knew that news had arrived from Washington +that evening of the first active outbreaks of secession, and that +the city was breathless with excitement. Had he not just come from +the theatre, where certain insignificant allusions in the play had +been suddenly caught up and cheered or hissed by hitherto unknown +partisans, to the dumb astonishment of a majority of the audience +comfortably settled to money-getting and their own affairs alone? +Had he not applauded, albeit half-scornfully, the pretty actress-- +his old playmate Susy--who had audaciously and all incongruously +waved the American flag in their faces? Yes! he had known it; had +lived for the last few weeks in an atmosphere electrically +surcharged with it--and yet it had chiefly affected him in his +personal homelessness. For his wife was a Southerner, a born +slaveholder, and a secessionist, whose noted prejudices to the +North had even outrun her late husband's politics. At first the +piquancy and recklessness of her opinionative speech amused him as +part of her characteristic flavor, or as a lingering youthfulness +which the maturer intellect always pardons. He had never taken her +politics seriously--why should he? With her head on his shoulder +he had listened to her extravagant diatribes against the North. He +had forgiven her outrageous indictment of his caste and his +associates for the sake of the imperious but handsome lips that +uttered it. But when he was compelled to listen to her words +echoed and repeated by her friends and family; when he found that +with the clannishness of her race she had drawn closer to them in +this controversy,--that she depended upon them for her intelligence +and information rather than upon him,--he had awakened to the +reality of his situation. He had borne the allusions of her +brother, whose old scorn for his dependent childhood had been +embittered by his sister's marriage and was now scarcely concealed. +Yet, while he had never altered his own political faith and social +creed in this antagonistic atmosphere, he had often wondered, with +his old conscientiousness and characteristic self-abnegation, +whether his own political convictions were not merely a revulsion +from his domestic tyranny and alien surroundings. + +In the midst of this gloomy retrospect the coupe stopped with a +jerk before his own house. The door was quickly opened by a +servant, who appeared to be awaiting him. + +"Some one to see you in the library, sir," said the man, "and"-- +He hesitated and looked towards the coupe. + +"Well?" said Clarence impatiently. + +"He said, sir, as how you were not to send away the carriage." + +"Indeed, and who is it?" demanded Clarence sharply. + +"Mr. Hooker. He said I was to say Jim Hooker." + +The momentary annoyance in Clarence's face changed to a look of +reflective curiosity. + +"He said he knew you were at the theatre, and he would wait until +you came home," continued the man, dubiously watching his master's +face. "He don't know you've come in, sir, and--and I can easily +get rid of him." + +"No matter now. I'll see him, and," added Clarence, with a faint +smile, "let the carriage wait." + +Yet, as he turned towards the library he was by no means certain +that an interview with the old associate of his boyhood under Judge +Peyton's guardianship would divert his mind. Yet he let no trace +of his doubts nor of his past gloom show in his face as he entered +the room. + +Mr. Hooker was apparently examining the elegant furniture and +luxurious accommodation with his usual resentful enviousness. +Clarence had got a "soft thing." That it was more or less the +result of his "artfulness," and that he was unduly "puffed up" by +it, was, in Hooker's characteristic reasoning, equally clear. As +his host smilingly advanced with outstretched hand, Mr. Hooker's +efforts to assume a proper abstraction of manner and contemptuous +indifference to Clarence's surroundings which should wound his +vanity ended in his lolling back at full length in the chair with +his eyes on the ceiling. But, remembering suddenly that he was +really the bearer of a message to Clarence, it struck him that his +supine position was, from a theatrical view-point, infelicitous. +In his experiences of the stage he had never delivered a message in +that way. He rose awkwardly to his feet. + +"It was so good of you to wait," said Clarence courteously. + +"Saw you in the theatre," said Hooker brusquely. "Third row in +parquet. Susy said it was you, and had suthin' to say to you. +Suthin' you ought to know," he continued, with a slight return of +his old mystery of manner which Clarence so well remembered. "You +saw HER--she fetched the house with that flag business, eh? She +knows which way the cat is going to jump, you bet. I tell you, for +all the blowing of these secessionists, the Union's goin' to pay! +Yes, sir!" He stopped, glanced round the handsome room, and added +darkly, "Mebbee better than this." + +With the memory of Hooker's characteristic fondness for mystery +still in his mind, Clarence overlooked the innuendo, and said +smilingly,-- + +"Why didn't you bring Mrs. Hooker here? I should have been honored +with her company." + +Mr. Hooker frowned slightly at this seeming levity. + +"Never goes out after a performance. Nervous exhaustion. Left her +at our rooms in Market Street. We can drive there in ten minutes. +That's why I asked to have the carriage wait." + +Clarence hesitated. Without caring in the least to renew the +acquaintance of his old playmate and sweetheart, a meeting that +night in some vague way suggested to him a providential diversion. +Nor was he deceived by any gravity in the message. With his +remembrance of Susy's theatrical tendencies, he was quite prepared +for any capricious futile extravagance. + +"You are sure we will not disturb her?" he said politely. + +"No." + +Clarence led the way to the carriage. If Mr. Hooker expected him +during the journey to try to divine the purport of Susy's message +he was disappointed. His companion did not allude to it. Possibly +looking upon it as a combined theatrical performance, Clarence +preferred to wait for Susy as the better actor. The carriage +rolled rapidly through the now deserted streets, and at last, under +the directions of Mr. Hooker, who was leaning half out of the +window, it drew up at a middle-class restaurant, above whose still +lit and steaming windows were some ostentatiously public apartments, +accessible from a side entrance. As they ascended the staircase +together, it became evident that Mr. Hooker was scarcely more at his +ease in the character of host than he had been as guest. He stared +gloomily at a descending visitor, grunted audibly at a waiter in the +passage, and stopped before a door, where a recently deposited tray +displayed the half-eaten carcase of a fowl, an empty champagne +bottle, two half-filled glasses, and a faded bouquet. The whole +passage was redolent with a singular blending of damp cooking, stale +cigarette smoke, and patchouli. + +Putting the tray aside with his foot, Mr. Hooker opened the door +hesitatingly and peered into the room, muttered a few indistinct +words, which were followed by a rapid rustling of skirts, and then, +with his hand still on the door-knob, turning to Clarence, who had +discreetly halted on the threshold, flung the door open theatrically +and bade him enter. + +"She is somewhere in the suite," he added, with a large wave of the +hand towards a door that was still oscillating. "Be here in a +minit." + +Clarence took in the apartment with a quiet glance. Its furniture +had the frayed and discolored splendors of a public parlor which +had been privately used and maltreated; there were stains in the +large medallioned carpet; the gilded veneer had been chipped from a +heavy centre table, showing the rough, white deal beneath, which +gave it the appearance of a stage "property;" the walls, paneled +with gilt-framed mirrors, reflected every domestic detail or +private relaxation with shameless publicity. A damp waterproof, +shawl, and open newspaper were lying across the once brilliant +sofa; a powder-puff, a plate of fruit, and a play-book were on the +centre table, and on the marble-topped sideboard was Mr. Hooker's +second-best hat, with a soiled collar, evidently but lately +exchanged for the one he had on, peeping over its brim. The whole +apartment seemed to mingle the furtive disclosures of the dressing- +room with the open ostentations of the stage, with even a slight +suggestion of the auditorium in a few scattered programmes on the +floor and chairs. + +The inner door opened again with a slight theatrical start, and +Susy, in an elaborate dressing-gown, moved languidly into the room. +She apparently had not had time to change her underskirt, for there +was the dust of the stage on its delicate lace edging, as she threw +herself into an armchair and crossed her pretty slippered feet +before her. Her face was pale, its pallor incautiously increased +by powder; and as Clarence looked at its still youthful, charming +outline, he was not perhaps sorry that the exquisite pink and white +skin beneath, which he had once kissed, was hidden from that +awakened recollection. Yet there was little trace of the girlish +Susy in the pretty, but prematurely jaded, actress before him, and +he felt momentarily relieved. It was her youth and freshness +appealing to his own youth and imagination that he had loved--not +HER. Yet as she greeted him with a slight exaggeration of glance, +voice, and manner, he remembered that even as a girl she was an +actress. + +Nothing of this, however, was in his voice and manner as he gently +thanked her for the opportunity of meeting her again. And he was +frank, for the diversion he had expected he had found; he even was +conscious of thinking more kindly of his wife who had supplanted +her. + +"I told Jim he must fetch you if he had to carry you," she said, +striking the palm of her hand with her fan, and glancing at her +husband. "I reckon he guessed WHY, though I didn't tell him--I +don't tell Jim EVERYTHING." + +Here Jim rose, and looking at his watch, "guessed he'd run over to +the Lick House and get some cigars." If he was acting upon some +hint from his wife, his simulation was so badly done that Clarence +felt his first sense of uneasiness. But as Hooker closed the door +awkwardly and unostentatiously behind him, Clarence smilingly said +he had waited to hear the message from her own lips. + +"Jim only knows what he's heard outside: the talk of men, you +know,--and he hears a good deal of that--more, perhaps, than YOU +do. It was that which put me up to finding out the truth. And I +didn't rest till I did. I'm not to be fooled, Clarence,--you don't +mind my calling you Clarence now we're both married and done for,-- +and I'm not the kind to be fooled by anybody from the Cow counties-- +and that's the Robles Ranche. I'm a Southern woman myself from +Missouri, but I'm for the Union first, last, and all the time, and +I call myself a match for any lazy, dawdling, lash-swinging +slaveholder and slaveholderess--whether they're mixed blood, Heaven +only knows, or what--or their friends or relations, or the dirty +half-Spanish grandees and their mixed half-nigger peons who truckle +to them. You bet!" + +His blood had stirred quickly at the mention of the Robles Ranche, +but the rest of Susy's speech was too much in the vein of her old +extravagance to touch him seriously. He found himself only +considering how strange it was that the old petulance and +impulsiveness of her girlhood were actually bringing back with them +her pink cheeks and brilliant eyes. + +"You surely didn't ask Jim to bring me here," he said smilingly, +"to tell me that Mrs. Peyton"--he corrected himself hastily as a +malicious sparkle came into Susy's blue eyes--"that my wife was a +Southern woman, and probably sympathized with her class? Well, I +don't know that I should blame her for that any more than she +should blame me for being a Northern man and a Unionist." + +"And she doesn't blame you?" asked Susy sneeringly. + +The color came slightly to Clarence's cheek, but before he could +reply the actress added,-- + +"No, she prefers to use you!" + +"I don't think I understand you," said Clarence, rising coldly. + +"No, you don't understand HER!" retorted Susy sharply. "Look here, +Clarence Brant, you're right; I didn't ask you here to tell you-- +what you and everybody knows--that your wife is a Southerner. I +didn't ask you here to tell you what everybody suspects--that she +turns you round her little finger. But I did ask you here to tell +you what nobody, not even you, suspects--but what I know!--and that +is that she's a TRAITOR--and more, a SPY!--and that I've only got +to say the word, or send that man Jim to say the word, to have her +dragged out of her Copperhead den at Robles Ranche and shut up in +Fort Alcatraz this very night!" + +Still with the pink glowing in her rounding cheek, and eyes snapping +like splintered sapphires, she rose to her feet, with her pretty +shoulders lifted, her small hands and white teeth both tightly +clenched, and took a step towards him. Even in her attitude there +was a reminiscence of her willful childhood, although still blended +with the provincial actress whom he had seen on the stage only an +hour ago. Thoroughly alarmed at her threat, in his efforts to +conceal his feelings he was not above a weak retaliation. Stepping +back, he affected to regard her with a critical admiration that was +only half simulated, and said with a smile,-- + +"Very well done--but you have forgotten the flag." + +She did not flinch. Rather accepting the sarcasm as a tribute to +her art, she went on with increasing exaggeration: "No, it is YOU +who have forgotten the flag--forgotten your country, your people, +your manhood--everything for that high-toned, double-dyed old spy +and traitress! For while you are standing here, your wife is +gathering under her roof at Robles a gang of spies and traitors like +herself--secession leaders and their bloated, drunken 'chivalry'! +Yes, you may smile your superior smile, but I tell you, Clarence +Brant, that with all your smartness and book learning you know no +more of what goes on around you than a child. But others do! This +conspiracy is known to the government, the Federal officers have +been warned; General Sumner has been sent out here-- and his first +act was to change the command at Fort Alcatraz, and send your wife's +Southern friend--Captain Pinckney--to the right about! Yes-- +everything is known but ONE thing, and that is WHERE and HOW this +precious crew meet! That I alone know, and that I've told you!" + +"And I suppose," said Clarence, with an unchanged smile, "that this +valuable information came from your husband--my old friend, Jim +Hooker?" + +"No," she answered sharply, "it comes from Cencho--one of your own +peons--who is more true to you and the old Rancho than YOU have +ever been. He saw what was going on, and came to me, to warn you!" + +"But why not to me directly?" asked Clarence, with affected +incredulity. + +"Ask him!" she said viciously. "Perhaps he didn't want to warn the +master against the mistress. Perhaps he thought WE are still +friends. Perhaps"--she hesitated with a lower voice and a forced +smile--"perhaps he used to see us together in the old times." + +"Very likely," said Clarence quietly. "And for the sake of those +old times, Susy," he went on, with a singular gentleness that was +quite distinct from his paling face and set eyes, "I am going to +forget all that you have just said of me and mine, in all the old +willfulness and impatience that I see you still keep--with all your +old prettiness." He took his hat from the table and gravely held +out his hand. + +She was frightened for a moment with his impassive abstraction. In +the old days she had known it--had believed it was his dogged +"obstinacy"--but she knew the hopelessness of opposing it. Yet +with feminine persistency she again threw herself against it, as +against a wall. + +"You don't believe me! Well, go and see for yourself. They are at +Robles NOW. If you catch the early morning stage at Santa Clara +you will come upon them before they disperse. Dare you try it?" + +"Whatever I do," he returned smilingly, "I shall always be grateful +to you for giving me this opportunity of seeing you again AS YOU +WERE. Make my excuses to your husband. Good-night." + +"Clarence!" + +But he had already closed the door behind him. His face did not +relax its expression nor change as he looked again at the tray with +its broken viands before the door, the worn, stained hall carpet, or +the waiter who shuffled past him. He was apparently as critically +conscious of them and of the close odors of the hall, and the +atmosphere of listless decay and faded extravagance around him, as +before the interview. But if the woman he had just parted from had +watched him she would have supposed he still utterly disbelieved her +story. Yet he was conscious that all that he saw was a part of his +degradation, for he had believed every word she had uttered. +Through all her extravagance, envy, and revengefulness he saw the +central truth--that he had been deceived--not by his wife, but by +himself! He had suspected all this before. This was what had been +really troubling him--this was what he had put aside, rather than +his faith, not in her, but in his ideal. He remembered letters that +had passed between her and Captain Pinckney--letters that she had +openly sent to notorious Southern leaders; her nervous anxiety to +remain at the Rancho; the innuendoes and significant glances of +friends which he had put aside--as he had this woman's message! +Susy had told him nothing new of his wife--but the truth of HIMSELF! +And the revelation came from people who he was conscious were the +inferiors of himself and his wife. To an independent, proud, and +self-made man it was the culminating stroke. + +In the same abstracted voice he told the coachman to drive home. +The return seemed interminable--though he never shifted his +position. Yet when he drew up at his own door and looked at his +watch he found he had been absent only half an hour. Only half an +hour! As he entered the house he turned with the same abstraction +towards a mirror in the hall, as if he expected to see some outward +and visible change in himself in that time. Dismissing his servants +to bed, he went into his dressing-room, completely changed his +attire, put on a pair of long riding-boots, and throwing a serape +over his shoulders, paused a moment, took a pair of small "Derringer" +pistols from a box, put them in his pockets, and then slipped +cautiously down the staircase. A lack of confidence in his own +domestics had invaded him for the first time. The lights were out. +He silently opened the door and was in the street. + +He walked hastily a few squares to a livery stable whose proprietor +he knew. His first inquiry was for one "Redskin," a particular +horse; the second for its proprietor. Happily both were in. The +proprietor asked no question of a customer of Clarence's condition. +The horse, half Spanish, powerful and irascible, was quickly +saddled. As Clarence mounted, the man in an impulse of sociability +said,-- + +"Saw you at the theatre to-night, sir." + +"Ah," returned Clarence, quietly gathering up the reins. + +"Rather a smart trick of that woman with the flag," he went on +tentatively. Then, with a possible doubt of his customer's +politics, he added with a forced smile, "I reckon it's all party +fuss, though; there ain't any real danger." + +But fast as Clarence might ride the words lingered in his ears. He +saw through the man's hesitation; he, too, had probably heard that +Clarence Brant weakly sympathized with his wife's sentiments, and +dared not speak fully. And he understood the cowardly suggestion +that there was "no real danger." It had been Clarence's one +fallacy. He had believed the public excitement was only a +temporary outbreak of partisan feeling, soon to subside. Even now +he was conscious that he was less doubtful of the integrity of the +Union than of his own household. It was not the devotion of the +patriot, but the indignation of an outraged husband, that was +spurring him on. + +He knew that if he reached Woodville by five o'clock he could get +ferried across the bay at the Embarcadero, and catch the down coach +to Fair Plains, whence he could ride to the Rancho. As the coach +did not connect directly with San Francisco, the chance of his +surprising them was greater. Once clear of the city outskirts, he +bullied Redskin into irascible speed, and plunged into the rainy +darkness of the highroad. The way was familiar. For a while he +was content to feel the buffeting, caused by his rapid pace, of +wind and rain against his depressed head and shoulders in a sheer +brutal sense of opposition and power, or to relieve his pent-up +excitement by dashing through overflowed gullies in the road or +across the quaggy, sodden edges of meadowland, until he had +controlled Redskin's rebellious extravagance into a long steady +stride. Then he raised his head and straightened himself on the +saddle, to think. But to no purpose. He had no plan; everything +would depend upon the situation; the thought of forestalling any +action of the conspirators, by warning or calling in the aid of the +authorities, for an instant crossed his mind, but was as instantly +dismissed. He had but an instinct--to see with his own eyes what +his reason told him was true. Day was breaking through drifting +scud and pewter-colored clouds as he reached Woodville ferry, +checkered with splashes of the soil and the spume of his horse, +from whose neck and flanks the sweat rolled like lather. Yet he +was not conscious how intent had been his purpose until he felt a +sudden instinctive shock on seeing that the ferryboat was gone. +For an instant his wonderful self-possession abandoned him; he +could only gaze vacantly at the leaden-colored bay, without a +thought or expedient. But in another moment he saw that the boat +was returning from the distance. Had he lost his only chance? He +glanced hurriedly at his watch; he had come more quickly than he +imagined; there would still be time. He beckoned impatiently to +the ferryman; the boat--a ship's pinnace, with two men in it--crept +in with exasperating slowness. At last the two rowers suddenly +leaped ashore. + +"Ye might have come before, with the other passenger. We don't +reckon to run lightnin' trips on this ferry." + +But Clarence was himself again. "Twenty dollars for two more oars +in that boat," he said quietly, "and fifty if you get me over in +time to catch the down stage." + +The man glanced at Clarence's eyes. "Run up and rouse out Jake and +Sam," he said to the other boatman; then more leisurely, gazing at +his customer's travel-stained equipment, he said, "There must have +been a heap o' passengers got left by last night's boat. You're +the second man that took this route in a hurry." + +At any other time the coincidence might have struck Clarence. But +he only answered curtly, "Unless we are under way in ten minutes +you will find I am NOT the second man, and that our bargain's off." + +But here two men emerged from the shanty beside the ferryhouse, and +tumbled sleepily into the boat. Clarence seized an extra pair of +sculls that were standing against the shed, and threw them into the +stern. "I don't mind taking a hand myself for exercise," he said +quietly. + +The ferryman glanced again at Clarence's travel-worn figure and +determined eyes with mingled approval and surprise. He lingered a +moment with his oars lifted, looking at his passenger. "It ain't +no business o' mine, young man," he said deliberately, "but I +reckon you understand me when I say that I've just taken another +man over there." + +"I do," said Clarence impatiently. + +"And you still want to go?" + +"Certainly," replied Clarence, with a cold stare, taking up his +oars. + +The man shrugged his shoulders, bent himself for the stroke, and +the boat sprung forward. The others rowed strongly and rapidly, +the tough ashen blades springing like steel from the water, the +heavy boat seeming to leap in successive bounds until they were +fairly beyond the curving inshore current and clearing the placid, +misty surface of the bay. Clarence did not speak, but bent +abstractedly over his oar; the ferryman and his crew rowed in equal +panting silence; a few startled ducks whirred before them, but +dropped again to rest. In half an hour they were at the +Embarcadero. The time was fairly up. Clarence's eyes were eagerly +bent for the first appearance of the stage-coach around the little +promontory; the ferryman was as eagerly scanning the bare, empty +street of the still sleeping settlement. + +"I don't see him anywhere," said the ferryman with a glance, half +of astonishment and half of curiosity, at his solitary passenger. + +"See whom?" asked Clarence carelessly, as he handed the man his +promised fee. + +"The other man I ferried over to catch the stage. He must have +gone on without waiting. You're in luck, young fellow!" + +"I don't understand you," said Clarence impatiently. "What has +your previous passenger to do with me?" + +"Well, I reckon you know best. He's the kind of man, gin'rally +speaking, that other men, in a pow'ful hurry, don't care to meet-- +and, az a rule, don't FOLLER arter. It's gin'rally the other way." + +"What do you mean?" inquired Clarence sternly. "Of whom are you +speaking?" + +"The Chief of Police of San Francisco!" + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The laugh that instinctively broke from Clarence's lips was so +sincere and unaffected that the man was disconcerted, and at last +joined in it, a little shamefacedly. The grotesque blunder of +being taken as a fugitive from justice relieved Clarence's mind +from its acute tension,--he was momentarily diverted,--and it was +not until the boatman had departed, and he was again alone, that it +seemed to have any collateral significance. Then an uneasy +recollection of Susy's threat that she had the power to put his +wife in Fort Alcatraz came across him. Could she have already +warned the municipal authorities and this man? But he quickly +remembered that any action from such a warning could only have been +taken by the United States Marshal, and not by a civic official, +and dismissed the idea. + +Nevertheless, when the stage with its half-spent lamps still +burning dimly against the morning light swept round the curve and +rolled heavily up to the rude shanty which served as coach-office, +he became watchful. A single yawning individual in its doorway +received a few letters and parcels, but Clarence was evidently the +ONLY waiting passenger. Any hope that he might have entertained +that his mysterious predecessor would emerge from some seclusion at +that moment was disappointed. As he entered the coach he made a +rapid survey of his fellow-travelers, but satisfied himself that +the stranger was not among them. They were mainly small traders or +farmers, a miner or two, and apparently a Spanish-American of +better degree and personality. Possibly the circumstance that men +of this class usually preferred to travel on horseback and were +rarely seen in public conveyances attracted his attention, and +their eyes met more than once in mutual curiosity. Presently +Clarence addressed a remark to the stranger in Spanish; he replied +fluently and courteously, but at the next stopping-place he asked a +question of the expressman in an unmistakable Missouri accent. +Clarence's curiosity was satisfied; he was evidently one of those +early American settlers who had been so long domiciled in Southern +California as to adopt the speech as well as the habiliments of the +Spaniard. + +The conversation fell upon the political news of the previous +night, or rather seemed to be lazily continued from some previous, +more excited discussion, in which one of the contestants--a red- +bearded miner--had subsided into an occasional growl of surly +dissent. It struck Clarence that the Missourian had been an amused +auditor and even, judging from a twinkle in his eye, a mischievous +instigator of the controversy. He was not surprised, therefore, +when the man turned to him with a certain courtesy and said,-- + +"And what, sir, is the political feeling in YOUR district?" + +But Clarence was in no mood to be drawn out, and replied, almost +curtly, that as he had come only from San Francisco, they were +probably as well informed on that subject as himself. A quick and +searching glance from the stranger's eye made him regret his +answer, but in the silence that ensued the red-bearded miner, +evidently still rankling at heart, saw his opportunity. Slapping +his huge hands on his knees, and leaning far forward until he +seemed to plunge his flaming beard, like a firebrand, into the +controversy, he said grimly,-- + +"Well, I kin tell you, gen'l'men, THIS. It ain't goin' to be no +matter wot's the POLITICAL FEELING here or thar--it ain't goin' to +be no matter wot's the State's rights and wot's Fed'ral rights--it +ain't goin' to be no question whether the gov'ment's got the right +to relieve its own soldiers that those Secesh is besieging in Fort +Sumter or whether they haven't--but the first gun that's fired at +the flag blows the chains off every d--n nigger south of Mason and +Dixon's line! You hear me! I'm shoutin'! And whether you call +yourselves 'Secesh' or 'Union' or 'Copperhead' or 'Peace men,' +you've got to face it!" + +There was an angry start in one or two of the seats; one man caught +at the swinging side-strap and half rose, a husky voice began, +"It's a d----d"--and then all as suddenly subsided. Every eye was +turned to an insignificant figure in the back seat. It was a +woman, holding a child on her lap, and gazing out of the window +with her sex's profound unconcern in politics. Clarence understood +the rude chivalry of the road well enough to comprehend that this +unconscious but omnipotent figure had more than once that day +controlled the passions of the disputants. They dropped back +weakly to their seats, and their mutterings rolled off in the +rattle of the wheels. Clarence glanced at the Missourian; he was +regarding the red-bearded miner with a singular curiosity. + +The rain had ceased, but the afternoon shadows were deepening when +they at last reached Fair Plains, where Clarence expected to take +horse to the Rancho. He was astonished, however, to learn that all +the horses in the stable were engaged, but remembering that some of +his own stock were in pasturage with a tenant at Fair Plains, and +that he should probably have a better selection, he turned his +steps thither. Passing out of the stable-yard he recognized the +Missourian's voice in whispered conversation with the proprietor, +but the two men withdrew into the shadow as he approached. An ill- +defined uneasiness came over him; he knew the proprietor, who also +seemed to know the Missourian, and this evident avoidance of him +was significant. Perhaps his reputation as a doubtful Unionist had +preceded him, but this would not account for their conduct in a +district so strongly Southern in sympathy as Fair Plains. More +impressed by the occurrence than he cared to admit, when at last, +after some delay, he had secured his horse, and was once more in +the saddle, he kept a sharp lookout for his quondam companion. But +here another circumstance added to his suspicions: there was a main +road leading to Santa Inez, the next town, and the Rancho, and this +Clarence had purposely taken in order to watch the Missourian; but +there was also a cutoff directly to the Rancho, known only to the +habitues of the Rancho. After a few moments' rapid riding on a +mustang much superior to any in the hotel stables, he was satisfied +that the stranger must have taken the cut-off. Putting spurs to +his horse he trusted still to precede him to the Rancho--if that +were his destination. + +As he dashed along the familiar road, by a strange perversity of +fancy, instead of thinking of his purpose, he found himself +recalling the first time he had ridden that way in the flush of his +youth and hopefulness. The girl-sweetheart he was then going to +rejoin was now the wife of another; the woman who had been her +guardian was now his own wife. He had accepted without a pang the +young girl's dereliction, but it was through her revelation that he +was now about to confront the dereliction of his own wife. And +this was the reward of his youthful trust and loyalty! A bitter +laugh broke from his lips. It was part of his still youthful self- +delusion that he believed himself wiser and stronger for it. + +It was quite dark when he reached the upper field or first terrace +of the Rancho. He could see the white walls of the casa rising +dimly out of the green sea of early wild grasses, like a phantom +island. It was here that the cut-off joined the main road--now the +only one that led to the casa. He was satisfied that no one could +have preceded him from Fair Plains; but it was true that he must +take precautions against his own discovery. Dismounting near a +clump of willows, he unsaddled and unbridled his horse, and with a +cut of the riata over its haunches sent it flying across the field +in the direction of a band of feeding mustangs, which it presently +joined. Then, keeping well in the shadow of a belt of shrub-oaks, +he skirted the long lesser terraces of the casa, intending to +approach the house by way of the old garden and corral. A drizzling +rain, occasionally driven by the wind into long, misty, curtain-like +waves, obscured the prospect and favored his design. He reached the +low adobe wall of the corral in safety; looking over he could +detect, in spite of the darkness, that a number of the horses were +of alien brands, and even recognized one or two from the Santa Inez +district. The vague outline of buggies and carryalls filled the +long shed beside the stables. There WAS company at the casa--so far +Susy was right! + +Nevertheless, lingering still by the wall of the old garden for the +deepening of night, his nervous feverishness was again invaded and +benumbed by sullen memories. There was the opening left by the old +grille in the wall, behind which Mrs. Peyton stood on the morning +when he thought he was leaving the ranch forever; where he had +first clasped her in his arms, and stayed. A turn of the head, a +moment's indecision, a single glance of a languorous eye, had +brought this culmination. And now he stood again before that +ruined grille, his house and lands, even his NAME, misused by a +mad, scheming enthusiast, and himself a creeping spy of his own +dishonor! He turned with a bitter smile again to the garden. A +few dark red Castilian roses still leaned forward and swayed in the +wind with dripping leaves. It was here that the first morning of +his arrival he had kissed Susy; the perfume and color of her pink +skin came back to him with a sudden shock as he stood there; he +caught at a flower, drew it towards him, inhaled its odor in a long +breath that left him faint and leaning against the wall. Then +again he smiled, but this time more wickedly--in what he believed +his cynicism had sprung up the first instinct of revenge! + +It was now dark enough for him to venture across the carriage road +and make his way to the rear of the house. His first characteristic +instinct had been to enter openly at his own front gate, but the +terrible temptation to overhear and watch the conspiracy unobserved-- +that fascination common to deceived humanity to witness its own +shame--had now grown upon him. He knew that a word or gesture of +explanation, apology, appeal, or even terror from his wife would +check his rage and weaken his purpose. His perfect knowledge of the +house and the security of its inmates would enable him from some +obscure landing or gallery to participate in any secret conclave +they might hold in the patio--the only place suitable for so +numerous a rendezvous. The absence of light in the few external +windows pointed to this central gathering. And he had already +conceived his plan of entrance. + +Gaining the rear wall of the casa he began cautiously to skirt its +brambly base until he had reached a long, oven-like window half +obliterated by a monstrous passion vine. It was the window of what +had once been Mrs. Peyton's boudoir; the window by which he had +once forced an entrance to the house when it was in the hands of +squatters, the window from which Susy had signaled her Spanish +lover, the window whose grating had broken the neck of Judge +Peyton's presumed assassin. But these recollections no longer +delayed him; the moment for action had arrived. He knew that since +the tragedy the boudoir had been dismantled and shunned; the +servants believed it to be haunted by the assassin's ghost. With +the aid of the passion vine the ingress was easy; the interior +window was open; the rustle of dead leaves on the bare floor as he +entered, and the whir of a frightened bird by his ear, told the +story of its desolation and the source of the strange noises that +had been heard there. The door leading to the corridor was lightly +bolted, merely to keep it from rattling in the wind. Slipping the +bolt with the blade of his pocket-knife he peered into the dark +passage. The light streaming under a door to the left, and the +sound of voices, convinced him that his conjecture was right, and +the meeting was gathered on the broad balconies around the patio. +He knew that a narrow gallery, faced with Venetian blinds to +exclude the sun, looked down upon them. He managed to gain it +without discovery; luckily the blinds were still down; between +their slats, himself invisible, he could hear and see everything +that occurred. + +Yet even at this supreme moment the first thing that struck him was +the almost ludicrous contrast between the appearance of the meeting +and its tremendous object. Whether he was influenced by any +previous boyish conception of a clouded and gloomy conspiracy he +did not know, but he was for an instant almost disconcerted by the +apparent levity and festivity of the conclave. Decanters and +glasses stood on small tables before them; nearly all were drinking +and smoking. They comprised fifteen or twenty men, some of whose +faces were familiar to him elsewhere as Southern politicians; a +few, he was shocked to see, were well-known Northern Democrats. +Occupying a characteristically central position was the famous +Colonel Starbottle, of Virginia. Jaunty and youthful-looking in +his mask-like, beardless face, expansive and dignified in his +middle-aged port and carriage, he alone retained some of the +importance--albeit slightly theatrical and affected--of the +occasion. Clarence in his first hurried glance had not observed +his wife, and for a moment had felt relieved; but as Colonel +Starbottle arose at that moment, and with a studiously chivalrous +and courtly manner turned to his right, he saw that she was sitting +at the further end of the balcony, and that a man whom he recognized +as Captain Pinckney was standing beside her. The blood quickly +tightened around his heart, but left him cold and observant. + +"It was seldom, indeed," remarked Colonel Starbottle, placing his +fat fingers in the frill of his shirt front, "that a movement like +this was graced with the actual presence of a lofty, inspiring, yet +delicate spirit--a Boadicea--indeed, he might say a Joan of Arc--in +the person of their charming hostess, Mrs. Brant. Not only were +they favored by her social and hospitable ministration, but by her +active and enthusiastic cooperation in the glorious work they had +in hand. It was through her correspondence and earnest advocacy +that they were to be favored to-night with the aid and counsel of +one of the most distinguished and powerful men in the Southern +district of California, Judge Beeswinger, of Los Angeles. He had +not the honor of that gentleman's personal acquaintance; he +believed he was not far wrong in saying that this was also the +misfortune of every gentleman present; but the name itself was a +tower of strength. He would go further, and say that Mrs. Brant +herself was personally unacquainted with him, but it was through +the fervor, poetry, grace, and genius of her correspondence with +that gentleman that they were to have the honor of his presence +that very evening. It was understood that advices had been +received of his departure, and that he might be expected at Robles +at any moment." + +"But what proof have we of Judge Beeswinger's soundness?" said a +lazy Southern voice at the conclusion of Colonel Starbottle's +periods. "Nobody here seems to know him by sight: is it not risky +to admit a man to our meeting whom we are unable to identify?" + +"I reckon nobody but a fool or some prying mudsill of a Yankee +would trust his skin here," returned another; "and if he did we'd +know what to do with him." + +But Clarence's attention was riveted on his wife, and the +significant speech passed him as unheeded as had the colonel's +rhetoric. She was looking very handsome and slightly flushed, with +a proud light in her eyes that he had never seen before. Absorbed +in the discussion, she seemed to be paying little attention to +Captain Pinckney as she rose suddenly to her feet. + +"Judge Beeswinger will be attended here by Mr. MacNiel, of the Fair +Plains Hotel, who will vouch for him and introduce him," she said +in a clear voice, which rang with an imperiousness that Clarence +well remembered. "The judge was to arrive by the coach from +Martinez to Fair Plains, and is due now." + +"Is there no GENTLEMAN to introduce him? Must we take him on the +word of a common trader--by Jove! a whiskey-seller?" continued the +previous voice sneeringly. + +"On the word of a lady, Mr. Brooks," said Captain Pinckney, with a +slight gesture towards Mrs. Brant--"who answers for both." + +Clarence had started slightly at his wife's voice and the +information it conveyed. His fellow-passenger, and the confidant +of MacNiel, was the man they were expecting! If they had +recognized him, Clarence, would they not warn the company of his +proximity? He held his breath as the sound of voices came from the +outer gate of the courtyard. Mrs. Brant rose; at the same moment +the gate swung open, and a man entered. It WAS the Missourian. + +He turned with old-fashioned courtesy to the single woman standing +on the balcony. + +"My fair correspondent, I believe! I am Judge Beeswinger. Your +agent, MacNiel, passed me through your guards at the gate, but I +did not deem it advisable to bring him into this assembly of +gentlemen without your further consideration. I trust I was +right." + +The quiet dignity and self-possession, the quaint, old-fashioned +colonial precision of speech, modified by a soft Virginian +intonation, and, above all, some singular individuality of the man +himself, produced a profound sensation, and seemed to suddenly give +the gathering an impressiveness it had lacked before. For an +instant Clarence forgot himself and his personal wrongs in the +shock of indignation he felt at this potent addition to the ranks +of his enemies. He saw his wife's eyes sparkle with pride over her +acquisition, and noticed that Pinckney cast a disturbed glance at +the newcomer. + +The stranger ascended the few steps to the balcony and took Mrs. +Brant's hand with profound courtesy. "Introduce me to my +colleagues--distinctly and separately. It behooves a man at such a +moment to know to whom he entrusts his life and honor, and the life +and honor of his cause." + +It was evidently no mere formal courtesy to the stranger. As he +stepped forward along the balcony, and under Mrs. Brant's graceful +guidance was introduced to each of the members, he not only +listened with scrupulous care and attention to the name and +profession of each man, but bent upon him a clear, searching glance +that seemed to photograph him in his memory. With two exceptions. +He passed Colonel Starbottle's expanding shirt frill with a bow of +elaborate precision, and said, "Colonel Starbottle's fame requires +neither introduction nor explanation." He stopped before Captain +Pinckney and paused. + +"An officer of the United States army, I believe, sir?" + +"Yes." + +"Educated at West Point, I think, by the government, to whom you +have taken the oath of allegiance?" + +"Yes." + +"Very good, sir," said the stranger, turning away. + +"You have forgotten one other fact, sir," said Pinckney, with a +slightly supercilious air. + +"Indeed! What is it?" + +"I am, first of all, a native of the State of South Carolina!" + +A murmur of applause and approval ran round the balcony. Captain +Pinckney smiled and exchanged glances with Mrs. Brant, but the +stranger quietly returned to the central table beside Colonel +Starbottle. "I am not only an unexpected delegate to this august +assembly, gentlemen," he began gravely, "but I am the bearer of +perhaps equally unexpected news. By my position in the Southern +district I am in possession of dispatches received only this +morning by pony express. Fort Sumter has been besieged. The +United States flag, carrying relief to the beleaguered garrison, +has been fired upon by the State of South Carolina." + +A burst of almost hysteric applause and enthusiasm broke from the +assembly, and made the dim, vault-like passages and corridors of +the casa ring. Cheer after cheer went up to the veiled gallery and +the misty sky beyond. Men mounted on the tables and waved their +hands frantically, and in the midst of this bewildering turbulence +of sound and motion Clarence saw his wife mounted on a chair, with +burning cheeks and flashing eyes, waving her handkerchief like an +inspired priestess. Only the stranger, still standing beside +Colonel Starbottle, remained unmoved and impassive. Then, with an +imperative gesture, he demanded a sudden silence. + +"Convincing and unanimous as this demonstration is, gentlemen," he +began quietly, "it is my duty, nevertheless, to ask you if you have +seriously considered the meaning of the news I have brought. It is +my duty to tell you that it means civil war. It means the clash of +arms between two sections of a mighty country; it means the +disruption of friends, the breaking of family ties, the separation +of fathers and sons, of brothers and sisters--even, perhaps, to the +disseverment of husband and wife!" + +"It means the sovereignty of the South--and the breaking of a +covenant with lowborn traders and abolitionists," said Captain +Pinckney. + +"If there are any gentlemen present," continued the stranger, +without heeding the interruption, "who have pledged this State to +the support of the South in this emergency, or to the establishment +of a Pacific republic in aid and sympathy with it, whose names are +on this paper"--he lifted a sheet of paper lying before Colonel +Starbottle--"but who now feel that the gravity of the news demands +a more serious consideration of the purpose, they are at liberty to +withdraw from the meeting, giving their honor, as Southern +gentlemen, to keep the secret intact." + +"Not if I know it," interrupted a stalwart Kentuckian, as he rose +to his feet and strode down the steps to the patio. "For," he +added, placing his back against the gateway, "I'll shoot the first +coward that backs out now." + +A roar of laughter and approval followed, but was silenced again by +the quiet, unimpassioned voice of the stranger. "If, on the other +hand," he went on calmly, "you all feel that this news is the +fitting culmination and consecration of the hopes, wishes, and +plans of this meeting, you will assert it again, over your own +signatures, to Colonel Starbottle at this table." + +When the Kentuckian had risen, Clarence had started from his +concealment; when he now saw the eager figures pressing forward to +the table he hesitated no longer. Slipping along the passage, he +reached the staircase which led to the corridor in the rear of the +balcony. Descending this rapidly, he not only came upon the backs +of the excited crowd around the table, but even elbowed one of the +conspirators aside without being noticed. His wife, who had risen +from her chair at the end of the balcony, was already moving +towards the table. With a quick movement he seized her wrist, and +threw her back in the chair again. A cry broke from her lips as +she recognized him, but still holding her wrist, he stepped quickly +between her and the astonished crowd. There was a moment of +silence, then the cry of "Spy!" and "Seize him!" rose quickly, but +above all the voice and figure of the Missourian was heard +commanding them to stand back. Turning to Clarence, he said +quietly,-- + +"I should know your face, sir. Who are you?" + +"The husband of this woman and the master of this house," said +Clarence as quietly, but in a voice he hardly recognized as his +own. + +"Stand aside from her, then--unless you are hoping that her danger +may protect YOU!" said the Kentuckian, significantly drawing his +revolver. + +But Mrs. Brant sprang suddenly to her feet beside Clarence. + +"We are neither of us cowards, Mr. Brooks--though he speaks the +truth--and--more shame to me"--she added, with a look of savage +scorn at Clarence--"IS MY HUSBAND!" + +"What is your purpose in coming here?" continued Judge Beeswinger, +with his eyes fixed on Clarence. + +"I have given you all the information," said Clarence quietly, +"that is necessary to make you, as a gentleman, leave this house at +once--and that is my purpose. It is all the information you will +get from me as long as you and your friends insult my roof with +your uninvited presence. What I may have to say to you and each of +you hereafter--what I may choose to demand of you, according to +your own code of honor,"--he fixed his eyes on Captain Pinckney's,-- +"is another question, and one not usually discussed before a lady." + +"Pardon me. A moment--a single moment." + +It was the voice of Colonel Starbottle; it was the frilled shirt +front, the lightly buttoned blue coat with its expanding lapels, +like bursting petals, and the smiling mask of that gentleman rising +above the table and bowing to Clarence Brant and his wife with +infinite courtesy. "The--er--humiliating situation in which we +find ourselves, gentlemen,--the reluctant witnesses of--er--what we +trust is only a temporary disagreement between our charming hostess +and the--er--gentleman whom she recognized under the highest title +to our consideration,--is distressing to us all, and would seem to +amply justify that gentleman's claims to a personal satisfaction, +which I know we would all delight to give. But that situation +rests upon the supposition that our gathering here was of a purely +social or festive nature! It may be," continued the colonel with a +blandly reflective air, "that the spectacle of these decanters and +glasses, and the nectar furnished us by our Hebe-like hostess" (he +lifted a glass of whiskey and water to his lips while he bowed to +Mrs. Brant gracefully), "has led the gentleman to such a deduction. +But when I suggest to him that our meeting was of a business, or +private nature, it strikes me that the question of intrusion may be +fairly divided between him and ourselves. We may be even justified, +in view of that privacy, in asking him if his--er--entrance to +this house was--er--coincident with his appearance among us." + +"With my front door in possession of strangers," said Clarence, +more in reply to a sudden contemptuous glance from his wife than +Starbottle's insinuation, "I entered the house through the window." + +"Of my boudoir, where another intruder once broke his neck," +interrupted his wife with a mocking laugh. + +"Where I once helped this lady to regain possession of her house +when it was held by another party of illegal trespassers, who, +however, were content to call themselves 'jumpers,' and did not +claim the privacy of gentlemen." + +"Do you mean to imply, sir," began Colonel Starbottle haughtily, +"that"-- + +"I mean to imply, sir," said Clarence with quiet scorn, "that I +have neither the wish to know nor the slightest concern in any +purpose that brought you here, and that when you quit the house you +take your secrets and your privacy with you intact, without let or +hindrance from me." + +"Do you mean to say, Mr. Brant," said Judge Beeswinger, suppressing +the angry interruption of his fellows with a dominant wave of his +hand, as he fixed his eyes on Clarence keenly, "that you have no +sympathy with your wife's political sentiments?" + +"I have already given you the information necessary to make you +quit this house, and that is all you have a right to know," +returned Clarence with folded arms. + +"But I can answer for him," said Mrs. Brant, rising, with a +quivering voice and curling lip. "There IS no sympathy between us. +We are as far apart as the poles. We have nothing in common but +this house and his name." + +"But you are husband and wife, bound together by a sacred compact." + +"A compact!" echoed Mrs. Brant, with a bitter laugh. "Yes, the +compact that binds South Carolina to the nigger-worshipping +Massachusetts. The compact that links together white and black, +the gentleman and the trader, the planter and the poor white--the +compact of those UNITED States. Bah! THAT has been broken, and so +can this." + +Clarence's face paled. But before he could speak there was a rapid +clattering at the gate and a dismounted vaquero entered excitedly. +Turning to Mrs. Brant he said hurriedly, "Mother of God! the casa +is surrounded by a rabble of mounted men, and there is one among +them even now who demands admittance in the name of the Law." + +"This is your work," said Brooks, facing Clarence furiously. "You +have brought them with you, but, by God, they shall not save you!" +He would have clutched Clarence, but the powerful arm of Judge +Beeswinger intervened. Nevertheless, he still struggled to reach +Clarence, appealing to the others: "Are you fools to stand there +and let him triumph! Don't you see the cowardly Yankee trick he's +played upon us?" + +"He has not," said Mrs. Brant haughtily. "I have no reason to love +him or his friends; but I know he does not lie." + +"Gentlemen!--gentlemen!" implored Colonel Starbottle with beaming +and unctuous persuasion, "may I--er--remark--that all this is far +from the question? Are we to be alarmed because an unknown rabble, +no matter whence they come, demand entrance here in the name of the +Law? I am not aware of any law of the State of California that we +are infringing. By all means admit them." + +The gate was thrown open. A single thick-set man, apparently +unarmed and dressed like an ordinary traveler, followed by half a +dozen other equally unpretentious-looking men, entered. The leader +turned to the balcony. + +"I am the Chief of Police of San Francisco. I have warrants for +the arrest of Colonel Culpepper Starbottle, Joshua Brooks, Captain +Pinckney, Clarence Brant and Alice his wife, and others charged +with inciting to riot and unlawful practice calculated to disturb +the peace of the State of California and its relations with the +Federal government," said the leader, in a dry official voice. + +Clarence started. In spite of its monotonous utterance it was the +voice of the red-bearded controversialist of the stage-coach. But +where were his characteristic beard and hair? Involuntarily +Clarence glanced at Judge Beeswinger; that gentleman was quietly +regarding the stranger with an impassive face that betrayed no +recognition whatever. + +"But the city of San Francisco has no jurisdiction here," said +Colonel Starbottle, turning a bland smile towards his fellow- +members. "I am--er--sorry to inform you that you are simply +trespassing, sir." + +"I am here also as deputy sheriff," returned the stranger coolly. +"We were unable to locate the precise place of this meeting, +although we knew of its existence. I was sworn in this morning at +Santa Inez by the judge of this district, and these gentlemen with +me are my posse." + +There was a quick movement of resistance by the members, which was, +however, again waived blandly aside by Colonel Starbottle. Leaning +forward in a slightly forensic attitude, with his fingers on the +table and a shirt frill that seemed to have become of itself +erectile, he said, with pained but polite precision, "I grieve to +have to state, sir, that even that position is utterly untenable +here. I am a lawyer myself, as my friend here, Judge Beeswinger-- +eh? I beg your pardon!" + +The officer of the law had momentarily started, with his eyes fixed +on Judge Beeswinger, who, however, seemed to be quietly writing at +the table. + +"As Judge Beeswinger," continued Colonel Starbottle, "will probably +tell you and as a jurist himself, he will also probably agree with +me when I also inform you that, as the United States government is +an aggrieved party, it is a matter for the Federal courts to +prosecute, and that the only officer we can recognize is the United +States Marshal for the district. When I add that the marshal, +Colonel Crackenthorpe, is one of my oldest friends, and an active +sympathizer with the South in the present struggle, you will +understand that any action from him in this matter is exceedingly +improbable." + +The general murmur of laughter, relief, and approval was broken by +the quiet voice of Judge Beeswinger. + +"Let me see your warrant, Mr. Deputy Sheriff." + +The officer approached him with a slightly perplexed and constrained +air, and exhibited the paper. Judge Beeswinger handed it back to +him. "Colonel Starbottle is quite right in his contention," he said +quietly; "the only officer that this assembly can recognize is the +United States Marshal or his legal deputy. But Colonel Starbottle is +wrong in his supposition that Colonel Crackenthorpe still retains +the functions of that office. He was removed by the President of +the United States, and his successor was appointed and sworn in by +the Federal judge early this morning." He paused, and folding up +the paper on which he had been writing, placed it in the hands of +the deputy. "And this," he continued in the same even voice, +"constitutes you his deputy, and will enable you to carry out your +duty in coming here." + +"What the devil does this mean, sir? Who are you?" gasped Colonel +Starbottle, recoiling suddenly from the man at his side. + +"I am the new United States Marshal for the Southern District of +California." + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Unsuspected and astounding as the revelation was to Clarence, its +strange reception by the conspirators seemed to him as astounding. +He had started forward, half expecting that the complacent and +self-confessed spy would be immolated by his infuriated dupes. But +to his surprise the shock seemed to have changed their natures, and +given them the dignity they had lacked. The excitability, +irritation, and recklessness which had previously characterized +them had disappeared. The deputy and his posse, who had advanced +to the assistance of their revealed chief, met with no resistance. +They had evidently, as if with one accord, drawn away from Judge +Beeswinger, leaving a cleared space around him, and regarded their +captors with sullen contemptuous silence. It was only broken by +Colonel Starbottle:-- + +"Your duty commands you, sir, to use all possible diligence in +bringing us before the Federal judge of this district--unless your +master in Washington has violated the Constitution so far as to +remove him, too!" + +"I understand you perfectly," returned Judge Beeswinger, with +unchanged composure; "and as you know that Judge Wilson +unfortunately cannot be removed except through a regular course of +impeachment, I suppose you may still count upon his Southern +sympathies to befriend you. With that I have nothing to do; my +duty is complete when my deputy has brought you before him and I +have stated the circumstances of the arrest." + +"I congratulate you, sir," said Captain Pinckney, with an ironical +salute, "on your prompt reward for your treachery to the South, and +your equally prompt adoption of the peculiar tactics of your +friends in the way in which you have entered this house." + +"I am sorry I cannot congratulate YOU, sir," returned Judge +Beeswinger gravely, on breaking your oath to the government which +has educated and supported you and given you the epaulettes you +disgrace. Nor shall I discuss 'treachery' with the man who has not +only violated the trust of his country, but even the integrity of +his friend's household. It is for that reason that I withhold the +action of this warrant in so far as it affects the persons of the +master and mistress of this home. I am satisfied that Mr. Brant +has been as ignorant of what has been done here as I am that his +wife has been only the foolish dupe of a double traitor!" + +"Silence!" + +The words broke simultaneously from the lips of Clarence and +Captain Pinckney. They stood staring at each other--the one pale, +the other crimson--as Mrs. Brant, apparently oblivious of the +significance of their united adjuration, turned to Judge Beeswinger +in the fury of her still stifled rage and mortification. + +"Keep your mercy for your fellow-spy," she said, with a contemptuous +gesture towards her husband; "I go with these gentlemen!" + +"You will not," said Clarence quietly, "until I have said a word to +you alone." He laid his hand firmly upon her wrist. + +The deputy and his prisoners filed slowly out of the courtyard +together, the latter courteously saluting Mrs. Brant as they +passed, but turning from Judge Beeswinger in contemptuous silence. +The judge followed them to the gate, but there he paused. Turning +to Mrs. Brant, who was still half struggling in the strong grip of +her husband, he said,-- + +"Any compunction I may have had in misleading you by accepting your +invitation here I dismissed after I had entered this house. And I +trust," he added, turning to Clarence sternly, "I leave you the +master of it!" + +As the gate closed behind him, Clarence locked it. When his wife +turned upon him angrily, he said quietly,-- + +"I have no intention of restraining your liberty a moment after our +interview is over, but until then I do not intend to be disturbed." + +She threw herself disdainfully back in her chair, her hands clasped +in her lap in half-contemptuous resignation, with her eyes upon her +long slim arched feet crossed before her. Even in her attitude +there was something of her old fascination which, however, now +seemed to sting Clarence to the quick. + +"I have nothing to say to you in regard to what has just passed in +this house, except that as long as I remain even nominally its +master it shall not be repeated. Although I shall no longer +attempt to influence or control your political sympathies, I shall +not allow you to indulge them where in any way they seem to imply +my sanction. But so little do I oppose your liberty, that you are +free to rejoin your political companions whenever you choose to do +so on your own responsibility. But I must first know from your own +lips whether your sympathies are purely political--or a name for +something else?" + +She had alternately flushed and paled, although still keeping her +scornful attitude as he went on, but there was no mistaking the +genuineness of her vague wonderment at his concluding words. + +"I don't understand you," she said, lifting her eyes to his in a +moment of cold curiosity. "What do you mean?" + +"What do I mean? What did Judge Beeswinger mean when he called +Captain Pinckney a double traitor?" he said roughly. + +She sprang to her feet with flashing eyes. "And you--YOU! dare to +repeat the cowardly lie of a confessed spy. This, then, is what +you wished to tell me--this the insult for which you have kept me +here; because you are incapable of understanding unselfish +patriotism or devotion--even to your own cause--you dare to judge +me by your own base, Yankee-trading standards. Yes, it is worthy +of you!" She walked rapidly up and down, and then suddenly faced +him. "I understand it all; I appreciate your magnanimity now. You +are willing I should join the company of these chivalrous gentlemen +in order to give color to your calumnies! Say at once that it was +you who put up this spy to correspond with me--to come here--in +order to entrap me. Yes entrap me--I--who a moment ago stood up +for you before these gentlemen, and said you could not lie. Bah!" + +Struck only by the wild extravagance of her speech and temper, +Clarence did not know that when women are most illogical they are +apt to be most sincere, and from a man's standpoint her unreasoning +deductions appeared to him only as an affectation to gain time for +thought, or a theatrical display, like Susy's. And he was turning +half contemptuously away, when she again faced him with flashing +eyes. + +"Well, hear me! I accept; I leave here at once, to join my own +people, my own friends--those who understand me--put what +construction on it that you choose. Do your worst; you cannot do +more to separate us than you have done just now." + +She left him, and ran up the steps with a singular return of her +old occasional nymph-like nimbleness--the movement of a woman who +had never borne children--and a swish of her long skirts that he +remembered for many a day after, as she disappeared in the +corridor. He remained looking after her--indignant, outraged, and +unconvinced. There was a rattling at the gate. + +He remembered he had locked it. He opened it to the flushed pink +cheeks and dancing eyes of Susy. The rain was still dripping from +her wet cloak as she swung it from her shoulders. + +"I know it all!--all that's happened," she burst out with half- +girlish exuberance and half the actress's declamation. "We met +them all in the road--posse and prisoners. Chief Thompson knew me +and told me all. And so you've done it--and you're master in your +old house again. Clarence, old boy! Jim said you wouldn't do it-- +said you'd weaken on account of her! But I said 'No.' I knew you +better, old Clarence, and I saw it in your face, for all your +stiffness! ha! But for all that I was mighty nervous and uneasy, +and I just made Jim send an excuse to the theatre and we rushed it +down here! Lordy! but it looks natural to see the old house again! +And she--you packed her off with the others--didn't you? Tell me, +Clarence," in her old appealing voice, "you shook her, too!" + +Dazed and astounded, and yet experiencing a vague sense of relief +with something like his old tenderness towards the willful woman +before him, he had silently regarded her until her allusion to his +wife recalled him to himself. + +"Hush!" he said quickly, with a glance towards the corridor. + +"Ah!" said Susy, with a malicious smile, "then that's why Captain +Pinckney was lingering in the rear with the deputy." + +"Silence!" repeated Clarence sternly. "Go in there," pointing to +the garden room below the balcony, "and wait there with your +husband." + +He half led, half pushed her into the room which had been his +business office, and returned to the patio. A hesitating voice +from the balcony said, "Clarence!" + +It was his wife's voice, but modified and gentler--more like her +voice as he had first heard it, or as if it had been chastened by +some reminiscence of those days. It was his wife's face, too, that +looked down on his--paler than he had seen it since he entered the +house. She was shawled and hooded, carrying a traveling-bag in her +hand. + +"I am going, Clarence," she said, pausing before him, with gentle +gravity, "but not in anger. I even ask you to forgive me for the +foolish words that I think your still more foolish accusation"--she +smiled faintly--"dragged from me. I am going because I know that I +have brought--and that while I am here I shall always be bringing-- +upon you the imputation and even the responsibility of my own +faith! While I am proud to own it,--and if needs be suffer for +it,--I have no right to ruin your prospects, or even make you the +victim of the slurs that others may cast upon me. Let us part as +friends--separated only by our different political faiths, but +keeping all other faiths together--until God shall settle the right +of this struggle. Perhaps it may be soon--I sometimes think it may +be years of agony for all; but until then, good-by." + +She had slowly descended the steps to the patio, looking handsomer +than he had ever seen her, and as if sustained and upheld by the +enthusiasm of her cause. Her hand was outstretched towards his-- +his heart beat violently--in another moment he might have forgotten +all and clasped her to his breast. Suddenly she stopped, her +outstretched arm stiffened, her finger pointed to the chair on +which Susy's cloak was hanging. + +"What's that?" she said in a sharp, high, metallic voice. "Who is +here? Speak!" + +"Susy," said Clarence. + +She cast a scathing glance round the patio, and then settled her +piercing eyes on Clarence with a bitter smile. + +"Already!" + +Clarence felt the blood rush to his face as he stammered, "She knew +what was happening here, and came to give you warning." + +"Liar!" + +"Stop!" said Clarence, with a white face. "She came to tell me +that Captain Pinckney was still lingering for you in the road." + +He threw open the gate to let her pass. As she swept out she +lifted her hand. As he closed the gate there were the white marks +of her four fingers on his cheek. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +For once Susy had not exaggerated. Captain Pinckney WAS lingering, +with the deputy who had charge of him, on the trail near the casa. +It had already been pretty well understood by both captives and +captors that the arrest was simply a legal demonstration; that the +sympathizing Federal judge would undoubtedly order the discharge of +the prisoners on their own recognizances, and it was probable that +the deputy saw no harm in granting Pinckney's request--which was +virtually only a delay in his liberation. It was also possible +that Pinckney had worked upon the chivalrous sympathies of the man +by professing his disinclination to leave their devoted colleague, +Mrs. Brant, at the mercy of her antagonistic and cold-blooded +husband at such a crisis, and it is to be feared also that +Clarence, as a reputed lukewarm partisan, excited no personal +sympathy, even from his own party. Howbeit, the deputy agreed to +delay Pinckney's journey for a parting interview with his fair +hostess. + +How far this expressed the real sentiments of Captain Pinckney was +never known. Whether his political association with Mrs. Brant had +developed into a warmer solicitude, understood or ignored by her,-- +what were his hopes and aspirations regarding her future,--were by +the course of fate never disclosed. A man of easy ethics, but +rigid artificialities of honor, flattered and pampered by class +prejudice, a so-called "man of the world," with no experience +beyond his own limited circle, yet brave and devoted to that, it +were well perhaps to leave this last act of his inefficient life as +it was accepted by the deputy. + +Dismounting he approached the house from the garden. He was +already familiar with the low arched doorway which led to the +business room, and from which he could gain admittance to the +patio, but it so chanced that he entered the dark passage at the +moment that Clarence had thrust Susy into the business room, and +heard its door shut sharply. For an instant he believed that Mrs. +Brant had taken refuge there, but as he cautiously moved forward he +heard her voice in the patio beyond. Its accents struck him as +pleading; an intense curiosity drew him further along the passage. +Suddenly her voice seemed to change to angry denunciation, and the +word "Liar" rang upon his ears. It was followed by his own name +uttered sardonically by Clarence, the swift rustle of a skirt, the +clash of the gate, and then--forgetting everything, he burst into +the patio. + +Clarence was just turning from the gate with the marks of his +wife's hand still red on his white cheek. He saw Captain +Pinckney's eyes upon it, and the faint, half-malicious, half- +hysteric smile upon his lips. But without a start or gesture of +surprise he locked the gate, and turning to him, said with frigid +significance,-- + +"I thank you for returning so promptly, and for recognizing the +only thing I now require at your hand." + +But Captain Pinckney had recovered his supercilious ease with the +significant demand. + +"You seem to have had something already from another's hand, sir, +but I am at your service," he said lightly. + +"You will consider that I have accepted it from you," said +Clarence, drawing closer to him with a rigid face. "I suppose it +will not be necessary for me to return it--to make you understand +me." + +"Go on," said Pinckney, flushing slightly. "Make your terms; I am +ready." + +"But I'm not," said the unexpected voice of the deputy at the +grille of the gateway. "Excuse my interfering, gentlemen, but this +sort o' thing ain't down in my schedule. I've let this gentleman," +pointing to Captain Pinckney, "off for a minit to say 'good-by' to +a lady, who I reckon has just ridden off in her buggy with her +servant without saying by your leave, but I didn't calkelate to let +him inter another business, which, like as not, may prevent me from +delivering his body safe and sound into court. You hear me!" As +Clarence opened the gate he added, "I don't want ter spoil sport +between gents, but it's got to come in after I've done my duty." + +"I'll meet you, sir, anywhere, and with what weapons you choose," +said Pinckney, turning angrily upon Clarence, "as soon as this +farce--for which you and your friends are responsible--is over." +He was furious at the intimation that Mrs. Brant had escaped him. + +A different thought was in the husband's mind. "But what assurance +have I that you are going on with the deputy?" he said with +purposely insulting deliberation. + +"My word, sir," said Captain Pinckney sharply. + +"And if that ain't enuff, there's mine!" said the deputy. "For if +this gentleman swerves to the right or left betwixt this and Santa +Inez, I'll blow a hole through him myself. And that," he added +deprecatingly, "is saying a good deal for a man who doesn't want to +spoil sport, and for the matter of that is willing to stand by and +see fair play done at Santa Inez any time to-morrow before +breakfast." + +"Then I can count on you," said Clarence, with a sudden impulse +extending his hand. + +The man hesitated a moment and then grasped it. + +"Well, I wasn't expecting that," he said slowly; "but you look as +if you meant business, and if you ain't got anybody else to see you +through, I'm thar! I suppose this gentleman will have his friends." + +"I shall be there at six with my seconds," said Pinckney curtly. +"Lead on." + +The gate closed behind them. Clarence stood looking around the +empty patio and the silent house, from which it was now plain that +the servants had been withdrawn to insure the secrecy of the +conspiracy. Cool and collected as he knew he was, he remained for +a moment in hesitation. Then the sound of voices came to his ear +from the garden room, the light frivolity of Susy's laugh and +Hooker's huskier accents. He had forgotten they were there--he had +forgotten their existence! + +Trusting still to his calmness, he called to Hooker in his usual +voice. That gentleman appeared with a face which his attempts to +make unconcerned and impassive had, however, only deepened into +funereal gravity. + +"I have something to attend to," said Clarence, with a faint smile, +"and I must ask you and Susy to excuse me for a little while. She +knows the house perfectly, and will call the servants from the +annex to provide you both with refreshment until I join you a +little later." Satisfied from Hooker's manner that they knew +nothing of his later interview with Pinckney, he turned away and +ascended to his own room. + +There he threw himself into an armchair by the dim light of a +single candle as if to reflect. But he was conscious, even then, +of his own calmness and want of excitement, and that no reflection +was necessary. What he had done and what he intended to do was +quite clear, there was no alternative suggested or to be even +sought after. He had that sense of relief which comes with the +climax of all great struggles, even of defeat. + +He had never known before how hopeless and continuous had been that +struggle until now it was over. He had no fear of tomorrow, he +would meet it as he had to-day, with the same singular consciousness +of being equal to the occasion. There was even no necessity of +preparation for it; his will, leaving his fortune to his wife,-- +which seemed a slight thing now in this greater separation,--was +already in his safe in San Francisco, his pistols were in the next +room. He was even slightly disturbed by his own insensibility, and +passed into his wife's bedroom partly in the hope of disturbing his +serenity by some memento of their past. There was no disorder of +flight--everything was in its place, except the drawer of her desk, +which was still open, as if she had taken something from it as an +afterthought. There were letters and papers there, some of his own +and some in Captain Pinckney's handwriting. It did not occur to him +to look at them--even to justify himself, or excuse her. He knew +that his hatred of Captain Pinckney was not so much that he believed +him her lover, as his sudden conviction that she was like him! He +was the male of her species--a being antagonistic to himself, whom +he could fight, and crush, and revenge himself upon. But most of +all he loathed his past, not on account of her, but of his own +weakness that had made him her dupe and a misunderstood man to his +friends. He had been derelict of duty in his unselfish devotion to +her; he had stifled his ambition, and underrated his own +possibilities. No wonder that others had accepted him at his own +valuation. Clarence Brant was a modest man, but the egotism of +modesty is more fatal than that of pretension, for it has the +haunting consciousness of superior virtue. + +He re-entered his own room and again threw himself into his chair. +His calm was being succeeded by a physical weariness; he remembered +he had not slept the night before, and he ought to take some rest +to be fresh in the early morning. Yet he must also show himself +before his self-invited guests,--Susy and her husband,--or their +suspicions would be aroused. He would try to sleep for a little +while in the chair before he went downstairs again. He closed his +eyes oddly enough on a dim dreamy recollection of Susy in the old +days, in the little madrono hollow where she had once given him a +rendezvous. He forgot the maturer and critical uneasiness with +which he had then received her coquettish and willful advances, +which he now knew was the effect of the growing dominance of Mrs. +Peyton over him, and remembered only her bright, youthful eyes, and +the kisses he had pressed upon her soft fragrant cheek. The +faintness he had felt when waiting in the old rose garden, a few +hours ago, seemed to steal on him once more, and to lapse into a +pleasant drowsiness. He even seemed again to inhale the perfume of +the roses. + +"Clarence!" + +He started. He had been sleeping, but the voice sounded strangely +real. + +A light, girlish laugh followed. He sprang to his feet. It was +Susy standing beside him--and Susy even as she looked in the old +days! + +For with a flash of her old audacity, aided by her familiar +knowledge of the house and the bunch of household keys she had +found, which dangled from her girdle, as in the old fashion, she +had disinterred one of her old frocks from a closet, slipped it on, +and unloosening her brown hair had let it fall in rippling waves +down her back. It was Susy in her old girlishness, with the +instinct of the grown actress in the arrangement of her short skirt +over her pretty ankles and the half-conscious pose she had taken. + +"Poor dear old Clarence," she said, with dancing eyes; "I might +have won a dozen pairs of gloves from you while you slept there. +But you're tired, dear old boy, and you've had a hard time of it. +No matter; you've shown yourself a man at last, and I'm proud of +you." + +Half ashamed of the pleasure he felt even in his embarrassment, +Clarence stammered, "But this change--this dress." + +Susy clapped her hands like a child. "I knew it would surprise +you! It's an old frock I wore the year I went away with auntie. I +knew where it was hidden, and fished it out again with these keys, +Clarence; it seemed so like old times. Lord! when I was with the +old servants again, and you didn't come down, I just felt as if I'd +never been away, and I just rampaged free. It seemed to me, don't +you know, not as if I'd just come, but as if I'd always been right +here, and it was you who'd just come. Don't you understand! Just +as you came when me and Mary Rogers were here; don't you remember +her, Clarence, and how she used to do 'gooseberry' for us? Well, +just like that. So I said to Jim, 'I don't know you any more-- +get!' and I just slipped on this frock and ordered Manuela around +as I used to do--and she in fits of laughter; I reckon, Clarence, +she hasn't laughed as much since I left. And then I thought of +you--perhaps worried and flustered as yet over things, and the +change, and I just slipped into the kitchen and I told old fat +Conchita to make some of these tortillas you know,--with sugar and +cinnamon sprinkled on top,--and I tied on an apron and brought 'em +up to you on a tray with a glass of that old Catalan wine you used +to like. Then I sorter felt frightened when I got here, and I +didn't hear any noise, and I put the tray down in the hall and +peeped in and found you asleep. Sit still, I'll fetch em." + +She tripped out into the passage, returning with the tray, which +she put on the table beside Clarence, and then standing back a +little and with her hands tucked soubrette fashion in the tiny +pockets of her apron, gazed at him with a mischievous smile. + +It was impossible not to smile back as he nibbled the crisp Mexican +cake and drank the old mission wine. And Susy's tongue trilled an +accompaniment to his thanks. + +"Lord! it seems so nice to be here--just you and me, Clarence--like +in the old days--with nobody naggin' and swoopin' round after you. +Don't be greedy, Clarence, but give me a cake." She took one and +finished the dregs of his glass. + +Then sitting on the arm of his chair, she darted a violet ray of +half reproach and half mischievousness into his amused and +retrospective eyes. "There used to be room for two in that chair, +Klarns." + +The use of the old childish diminutive for his name seemed to him +natural as her familiarity, and he moved a little sideways to make +room for her with an instinct of pleasure, but the same sense of +irresponsibility that had characterized his reflections. +Nevertheless, he looked critically into the mischievous eyes, and +said quietly,-- + +"Where is your husband?" + +There was no trace of embarrassment, apology, or even of +consciousness in her pretty face as she replied, passing her +hand lightly through his hair,-- + +"Oh, Jim? I've packed him off!" + +"Packed him off!" echoed Clarence, slightly astonished. + +"Yes, to Fair Plains, full tilt after your wife's buggy. You see, +Clarence, after the old cat--that's your wife, please--left, I +wanted to make sure she had gone, and wasn't hangin' round to lead +you off again with your leg tied to her apron string like a +chicken's! No! I said to Jim, 'Just you ride after her until you +see she's safe and sound in the down coach from Fair Plains without +her knowin' it, and if she's inclined to hang back or wobble any, +you post back here and let me know!' I told him I would stay and +look after you to see you didn't bolt too!" She laughed, and then +added, "But I didn't think I should fall into the old ways so soon, +and have such a nice time. Did you, Clarence?" + +She looked so irresponsible, sitting there with her face near his, +and so childishly, or perhaps thoughtlessly, happy, that he could +only admire her levity, and even the slight shock that her flippant +allusion to his wife had given him seemed to him only a weakness of +his own. After all, was not hers the true philosophy? Why should +not these bright eyes see things more clearly than his own? +Nevertheless, with his eyes still fixed upon them, he continued,-- + +"And Jim was willing to go?" + +She stopped, with her fingers still lifting a lock of his hair. +"Why, yes, you silly--why shouldn't he? I'd like to see him +refuse. Why, Lord! Jim will do anything I ask him." She put down +the lock of hair, and suddenly looking full into his eyes, said, +"That's just the difference between him and me, and you and--that +woman!" + +"Then you love him!" + +"About as much as you love her," she said, with an unaffected +laugh; "only he don't wind me around his finger." + +No doubt she was right for all her thoughtlessness, and yet he was +going to fight about that woman to-morrow! No--he forgot; he was +going to fight Captain Pinckney because he was like her! + +Susy had put her finger on the crease between his brows which this +supposition had made, and tried to rub it out. + +"You know it as well as I do, Clarence," she said, with a pretty +wrinkling of her own brows, which was her nearest approach to +thoughtfulness. "You know you never really liked her, only you +thought her ways were grander and more proper than mine, and you +know you were always a little bit of a snob and a prig too--dear +boy. And Mrs. Peyton was--bless my soul!--a Benham and a planter's +daughter, and I--I was only a picked-up orphan! That's where Jim +is better than you--now sit still, goosey!--even if I don't like +him as much. Oh, I know what you're always thinking, you're +thinking we're both exaggerated and theatrical, ain't you? But +don't you think it's a heap better to be exaggerated and theatrical +about things that are just sentimental and romantic than to be so +awfully possessed and overcome about things that are only real? +There, you needn't stare at me so! It's true. You've had your +fill of grandeur and propriety, and--here you are. And," she added +with a little chuckle, as she tucked up her feet and leaned a +little closer to him, "here's ME." + +He did not speak, but his arm quite unconsciously passed round her +small waist. + +"You see, Clarence," she went on with equal unconsciousness of the +act, "you ought never to have let me go--never! You ought to have +kept me here--or run away with me. And you oughtn't to have tried +to make me proper. And you oughtn't to have driven me to flirt +with that horrid Spaniard, and you oughtn't to have been so +horribly cold and severe when I did. And you oughtn't to have made +me take up with Jim, who was the only one who thought me his equal. +I might have been very silly and capricious; I might have been very +vain, but my vanity isn't a bit worse than your pride; my love of +praise and applause in the theatre isn't a bit more horrid than +your fears of what people might think of you or me. That's gospel +truth, isn't it, Clarence? Tell me! Don't look that way and this-- +look at ME! I ain't poisonous, Clarence. Why, one of your cheeks +is redder than the other, Clarence; that's the one that's turned +from me. Come," she went on, taking the lapels of his coat between +her hands and half shaking him, half drawing him nearer her bright +face. "Tell me--isn't it true?" + +"I was thinking of you just now when I fell asleep, Susy," he said. +He did not know why he said it; he had not intended to tell her, he +had only meant to avoid a direct answer to her question; yet even +now he went on. "And I thought of you when I was out there in the +rose garden waiting to come in here." + +"You did?" she said, drawing in her breath. A wave of delicate +pink color came up to her very eyes, it seemed to him as quickly +and as innocently as when she was a girl. "And what DID you think, +Klarns," she half whispered--"tell me." + +He did not speak, but answered her blue eyes and then her lips, as +her arms slipped quite naturally around his neck. + + . . . . . . + +The dawn was breaking as Clarence and Jim Hooker emerged together +from the gate of the casa. Mr. Hooker looked sleepy. He had +found, after his return from Fair Plains, that his host had an +early engagement at Santa Inez, and he had insisted upon rising to +see him off. It was with difficulty, indeed, that Clarence could +prevent his accompanying him. Clarence had not revealed to Susy +the night before the real object of his journey, nor did Hooker +evidently suspect it, yet when the former had mounted his horse, he +hesitated for an instant, extending his hand. + +"If I should happen to be detained," he began with a half smile. + +But Jim was struggling with a yawn. "That's all right--don't mind +us," he said, stretching his arms. Clarence's hesitating hand +dropped to his side, and with a light reckless laugh and a half +sense of providential relief he galloped away. + +What happened immediately thereafter during his solitary ride to +Santa Inez, looking back upon it in after years, seemed but a +confused recollection, more like a dream. The long stretches of +vague distance, gradually opening clearer with the rising sun in an +unclouded sky; the meeting with a few early or belated travelers +and his unconscious avoidance of them, as if they might know of his +object; the black shadows of foreshortened cattle rising before him +on the plain and arousing the same uneasy sensation of their being +waylaying men; the wondering recognition of houses and landmarks he +had long been familiar with; his purposeless attempts to recall the +circumstances in which he had known them--all these were like a +dream. So, too, were the recollections of the night before, the +episode with Susy, already mingled and blended with the memory of +their previous past; his futile attempts to look forward to the +future, always, however, abandoned with relief at the thought that +the next few hours might make them unnecessary. So also was the +sudden realization that Santa Inez was before him, when he had +thought he was not yet halfway there, and as he dismounted before +the Court House his singular feeling--followed, however, by no fear +or distress--was that he had come so early to the rendezvous that +he was not yet quite prepared for it. + +This same sense of unreality pervaded his meeting with the deputy +sheriff, at the news that the Federal judge had, as was expected, +dismissed the prisoners on their own recognizances, and that +Captain Pinckney was at the hotel at breakfast. In the like +abstracted manner he replied to the one or two questions of the +deputy, exhibited the pistols he had brought with him, and finally +accompanied him to a little meadow hidden by trees, below the +hotel, where the other principal and his seconds were awaiting +them. And here he awoke--clear-eyed, keen, forceful, and intense! + +So stimulated were his faculties that his sense of hearing in its +acuteness took in every word of the conversation between the +seconds, a few paces distant. He heard his adversary's seconds say +carelessly to the deputy sheriff, "I presume this is a case where +there will be no apology or mediation," and the deputy's reply, "I +reckon my man means business, but he seems a little queer." He +heard the other second laugh, and say lightly, "They're apt to be +so when it's their first time out," followed by the more anxious +aside of the other second as the deputy turned away,--"Yes, but by +G-d I don't like his looks!" His sense of sight was also so acute +that having lost the choice of position, when the coin was tossed, +and being turned with his face to the sun, even through the glare +he saw, with unerring distinctness of outline, the black-coated +figure of his opponent moved into range--saw the perfect outline of +his features, and how the easy, supercilious smile, as he threw +away his cigar, appeared to drop out of his face with a kind of +vacant awe as he faced him. He felt his nerves become as steel as +the counting began, and at the word "three," knew he had fired by +the recoil of the pistol in his leveled hand, simultaneously with +its utterance. And at the same moment, still standing like a rock, +he saw his adversary miserably collapse, his legs grotesquely +curving inwards under him,--without even the dignity of death in +his fall,--and so sink helplessly like a felled bull to the ground. +Still erect, and lowering only the muzzle of his pistol, as a thin +feather of smoke curled up its shining side, he saw the doctor and +seconds run quickly to the heap, try to lift its limp impotence +into shape, and let it drop again with the words, "Right through +the forehead, by G-d!" + +"You've done for him," said the deputy, turning to Clarence with a +singular look of curiosity, "and I reckon you had better get out of +this mighty quick. They didn't expect it; they're just ragin'; +they may round on you--and"--he added, more slowly, "they seem to +have just found out who you are." + +Even while he was speaking, Clarence, with his quickened ear, heard +the words, "One of Hamilton Brant's pups" "Just like his father," +from the group around the dead man. He did not hesitate, but +walked coolly towards them. Yet a certain fierce pride--which he +had never known before--stirred in his veins as their voices hushed +and they half recoiled before him. + +"Am I to understand from my second, gentlemen," he said, looking +round the group, "that you are not satisfied?" + +"The fight was square enough," said Pinckney's second in some +embarrassment, "but I reckon that he," pointing to the dead man, +"did not know who you were." + +"Do you mean that he did not know that I was the son of a man +proficient in the use of arms?" + +"I reckon that's about it," returned the second, glancing at the +others. + +"I am glad to say, sir, that I have a better opinion of his +courage," said Clarence, lifting his hat to the dead body as he +turned away. + +Yet he was conscious of no remorse, concern, or even pity in his +act. Perhaps this was visible in his face, for the group appeared +awed by this perfection of the duelist's coolness, and even +returned his formal parting salutation with a vague and timid +respect. He thanked the deputy, regained the hotel, saddled his +horse and galloped away. + +But not towards the Rancho. Now that he could think of his future, +that had no place in his reflections; even the episode of Susy was +forgotten in the new and strange conception of himself and his +irresponsibility which had come upon him with the killing of +Pinckney and the words of his second. It was his dead father who +had stiffened his arm and directed the fatal shot! It was +hereditary influences--which others had been so quick to recognize-- +that had brought about this completing climax of his trouble. How +else could he account for it that he--a conscientious, peaceful, +sensitive man, tender and forgiving as he had believed himself to +be--could now feel so little sorrow or compunction for his +culminating act? He had read of successful duelists who were +haunted by remorse for their first victim; who retained a terrible +consciousness of the appearance of the dead man; he had no such +feeling; he had only a grim contentment in the wiped-out +inefficient life, and contempt for the limp and helpless body. He +suddenly recalled his callousness as a boy when face to face with +the victims of the Indian massacre, his sense of fastidious +superciliousness in the discovery of the body of Susy's mother!-- +surely it was the cold blood of his father influencing him ever +thus. What had he to do with affection, with domestic happiness, +with the ordinary ambitions of man's life--whose blood was frozen +at its source! Yet even with this very thought came once more the +old inconsistent tenderness he had as a boy lavished upon the +almost unknown and fugitive father who had forsaken his childish +companionship, and remembered him only by secret gifts. He +remembered how he had worshiped him even while the pious padres at +San Jose were endeavoring to eliminate this terrible poison from +his blood and combat his hereditary instinct in his conflicts with +his school-fellows. And it was a part of this inconsistency that, +riding away from the scene of his first bloodshed, his eyes were +dimmed with moisture, not for his victim, but for the one being who +he believed had impelled him to the act. + +This and more was in his mind during his long ride to Fair Plains, +his journey by coach to the Embarcadero, his midnight passage +across the dark waters of the bay, and his re-entrance to San +Francisco, but what should be his future was still unsettled. + +As he wound round the crest of Russian Hill and looked down again +upon the awakened city, he was startled to see that it was +fluttering and streaming with bunting. From every public building +and hotel, from the roofs of private houses, and even the windows +of lonely dwellings, flapped and waved the striped and starry +banner. The steady breath of the sea carried it out from masts and +yards of ships at their wharves, from the battlements of the forts +Alcatraz and Yerba Bueno. He remembered that the ferryman had told +him that the news from Fort Sumter had swept the city with a +revulsion of patriotic sentiment, and that there was no doubt that +the State was saved to the Union. He looked down upon it with +haggard, bewildered eyes, and then a strange gasp and fullness of +the throat! For afar a solitary bugle had blown the "reveille" at +Fort Alcatraz. + + + +PART II. + +CHAPTER I. + + +Night at last, and the stir and tumult of a great fight over. Even +the excitement that had swept this portion of the battlefield--only +a small section of a vaster area of struggle--into which a brigade +had marched, held its own, been beaten back, recovered its ground, +and pursuing, had passed out of it forever, leaving only its dead +behind, and knowing nothing more of that struggle than its own +impact and momentum--even this wild excitement had long since +evaporated with the stinging smoke of gunpowder, the acrid smell of +burning rags from the clothing of a dead soldier fired by a +bursting shell, or the heated reek of sweat and leather. A cool +breath that seemed to bring back once more the odor of the upturned +earthworks along the now dumb line of battle began to move from the +suggestive darkness beyond. + +But into that awful penetralia of death and silence there was no +invasion--there had been no retreat. A few of the wounded had been +brought out, under fire, but the others had been left with the dead +for the morning light and succor. For it was known that in that +horrible obscurity, riderless horses, frantic with the smell of +blood, galloped wildly here and there, or, maddened by wounds, +plunged furiously at the intruder; that the wounded soldier, still +armed, could not always distinguish friend from foe or from the +ghouls of camp followers who stripped the dead in the darkness and +struggled with the dying. A shot or two heard somewhere in that +obscurity counted as nothing with the long fusillade that had swept +it in the daytime; the passing of a single life, more or less, +amounted to little in the long roll-call of the day's slaughter. + +But with the first beams of the morning sun--and the slowly moving +"relief detail" from the camp--came a weird half-resurrection of +that ghastly field. Then it was that the long rays of sunlight, +streaming away a mile beyond the battle line, pointed out the first +harvest of the dead where the reserves had been posted. There they +lay in heaps and piles, killed by solid shot or bursting shells +that had leaped the battle line to plunge into the waiting ranks +beyond. As the sun lifted higher its beams fell within the range +of musketry fire, where the dead lay thicker,--even as they had +fallen when killed outright,--with arms extended and feet at all +angles to the field. As it touched these dead upturned faces, +strangely enough it brought out no expression of pain or anguish-- +but rather as if death had arrested them only in surprise and awe. +It revealed on the lips of those who had been mortally wounded and +had turned upon their side the relief which death had brought their +suffering, sometimes shown in a faint smile. Mounting higher, it +glanced upon the actual battle line, curiously curving for the +shelter of walls, fences, and breastworks, and here the dead lay, +even as when they lay and fired, their faces prone in the grass but +their muskets still resting across the breastworks. Exposed to +grape and canister from the battery on the ridge, death had come to +them mercifully also--through the head and throat. And now the +whole field lay bare in the sunlight, broken with grotesque shadows +cast from sitting, crouching, half-recumbent but always rigid +figures, which might have been effigies on their own monuments. +One half-kneeling soldier, with head bowed between his stiffened +hands, might have stood for a carven figure of Grief at the feet of +his dead comrade. A captain, shot through the brain in the act of +mounting a wall, lay sideways half across it, his lips parted with +a word of command; his sword still pointing over the barrier the +way that they should go. + +But it was not until the sun had mounted higher that it struck the +central horror of the field and seemed to linger there in dazzling +persistence, now and then returning to it in startling flashes that +it might be seen of men and those who brought succor. A tiny brook +had run obliquely near the battle line. It was here that, the +night before the battle, friend and foe had filled their canteens +side by side with soldierly recklessness--or perhaps a higher +instinct--purposely ignoring each other's presence; it was here +that the wounded had afterwards crept, crawled, and dragged +themselves, here they had pushed, wrangled, striven, and fought for +a draught of that precious fluid which assuaged the thirst of their +wounds--or happily put them out of their misery forever; here +overborne, crushed, suffocated by numbers, pouring their own blood +into the flood, and tumbling after it with their helpless bodies, +they dammed the stream, until recoiling, red and angry, it had +burst its banks and overflowed the cotton-field in a broad pool +that now sparkled in the sunlight. But below this human dam--a +mile away--where the brook still crept sluggishly, the ambulance +horses sniffed and started from it. + +The detail moved on slowly, doing their work expeditiously, and +apparently callously, but really only with that mechanical movement +that saves emotion. Only once they were moved to an outbreak of +indignation,--the discovery of the body of an officer whose pockets +were turned inside out, but whose hand was still tightly grasped on +his buttoned waistcoat, as if resisting the outrage that had been +done while still in life. As the men disengaged the stiffened hand +something slipped from the waistcoat to the ground. The corporal +picked it up and handed it to his officer. It was a sealed packet. +The officer received it with the carelessness which long experience +of these pathetic missives from the dying to their living relations +had induced, and dropped it in the pocket of his tunic, with the +half-dozen others that he had picked up that morning, and moved on +with the detail. A little further on they halted, in the attitude +of attention, as a mounted officer appeared, riding slowly down the +line. + +There was something more than the habitual respect of their +superior in their faces as he came forward. For it was the general +who had commanded the brigade the day before,--the man who had +leaped with one bound into the foremost rank of military leaders. +It was his invincible spirit that had led the advance, held back +defeat against overwhelming numbers, sustained the rally, impressed +his subordinate officers with his own undeviating purpose, and even +infused them with an almost superstitious belief in his destiny of +success. It was this man who had done what it was deemed impossible +to do,--what even at the time it was thought unwise and unstrategic +to do,--who had held a weak position, of apparently no importance, +under the mandate of an incomprehensible order from his superior, +which at best asked only for a sacrifice and was rewarded with a +victory. He had decimated his brigade, but the wounded and dying +had cheered him as he passed, and the survivors had pursued the +enemy until the bugle called them back. For such a record he looked +still too young and scholarly, albeit his handsome face was dark and +energetic, and his manner taciturn. + +His quick eye had already caught sight of the rifled body of the +officer, and contracted. As the captain of the detail saluted him +he said curtly,-- + +"I thought the orders were to fire upon any one desecrating the +dead?" + +"They are, General; but the hyenas don't give us a chance. That's +all yonder poor fellow saved from their claws," replied the +officer, as he held up the sealed packet. "It has no address." + +The general took it, examined the envelope, thrust it into his +belt, and said,-- + +"I will take charge of it." + +The sound of horses' hoofs came from the rocky roadside beyond +the brook. Both men turned. A number of field officers were +approaching. + +"The division staff," said the captain, in a lower voice, falling +back. + +They came slowly forward, a central figure on a gray horse leading +here--as in history. A short, thick-set man with a grizzled beard +closely cropped around an inscrutable mouth, and the serious +formality of a respectable country deacon in his aspect, which even +the major-generals blazon on the shoulder-strap of his loose tunic +on his soldierly seat in the saddle could not entirely obliterate. +He had evidently perceived the general of brigade, and quickened +his horse as the latter drew up. The staff followed more leisurely, +but still with some curiosity, to witness the meeting of the first +general of the army with the youngest. The division general +saluted, but almost instantly withdrew his leathern gauntlet, and +offered his bared hand to the brigadier. The words of heroes are +scant. The drawn-up detail, the waiting staff listened. This was +all they heard:-- + +"Halleck tells me you're from California?" + +"Yes, General." + +"Ah! I lived there, too, in the early days." + +"Wonderful country. Developed greatly since my time, I suppose?" + +"Yes, General." + +"Great resources; finest wheat-growing country in the world, sir. +You don't happen to know what the actual crop was this year?" + +"Hardly, General! but something enormous." + +"Yes, I have always said it would be. Have a cigar?" + +He handed his cigar-case to the brigadier. Then he took one +himself, lighted it at the smouldering end of the one he had taken +from his mouth, was about to throw the stump carelessly down, but, +suddenly recollecting himself, leaned over his horse, and dropped +it carefully a few inches away from the face of a dead soldier. +Then, straightening himself in the saddle, he shoved his horse +against the brigadier, moving him a little further on, while a +slight movement of his hand kept the staff from following. + +"A heavy loss here!" + +"I'm afraid so, General." + +"It couldn't be helped. We had to rush in your brigade to gain +time, and occupy the enemy, until we could change front." + +The young general looked at the shrewd, cold eyes of his chief. + +"Change front?" he echoed. + +"Yes. Before a gun was fired, we discovered that the enemy was in +complete possession of all our plans, and knew every detail of our +forward movement. All had to be changed." + +The younger man now instantly understood the incomprehensible order +of the day before. + +The general of division continued, with his first touch of official +formality,-- + +"You understand, therefore, General Brant, that in the face of this +extraordinary treachery, the utmost vigilance is required, and a +complete surveillance of your camp followers and civilians, to +detect the actual spy within our lines, or the traitor we are +harboring, who has become possessed of this information. You will +overhaul your brigade, and weed out all suspects, and in the +position which you are to take to-morrow, and the plantation you +will occupy, you will see that your private quarters, as well as +your lines, are cleared of all but those you can vouch for." + +He reined in his horse, again extended his hand, saluted, and +rejoined his staff. + +Brigadier-General Clarence Brant remained for a moment with his +head bent in thoughtful contemplation of the coolness of his +veteran chief under this exciting disclosure, and the strategy with +which he had frustrated the traitor's success. Then his eye caught +the sealed packet in his belt. He mechanically drew it out, and +broke the seal. The envelope was filled with papers and memorandums. +But as he looked at them his face darkened and his brow knit. He +glanced quickly around him. The staff had trotted away; the captain +and his detail were continuing their work at a little distance. He +took a long breath, for he was holding in his hand a tracing of +their camp, even of the position he was to occupy tomorrow, and a +detailed account of the movements, plans, and force of the whole +division as had been arranged in council of war the day before the +battle! But there was no indication of the writer or his intentions. + +He thrust the papers hurriedly back into the envelope, but placed +it, this time, in his breast. He galloped towards the captain. + +"Let me see again the officer from whom you took that packet!" + +The captain led him to where the body lay, with others, extended +more decently on the grass awaiting removal. General Brant with +difficulty repressed an ejaculation. + +"Why, it's one of our own men," he said quickly. + +"Yes, General. They say it's Lieutenant Wainwright, a regular, of +the paymaster general's department." + +"Then what was he doing here?" asked General Brant sternly. + +"I can't make out, sir, unless he went into the last advance as a +volunteer. Wanted to see the fight, I suppose. He was a dashing +fellow, a West Pointer,--and a Southerner, too,--a Virginian." + +"A Southerner!" echoed Brant quickly. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Search him again," said Brant quietly. He had recovered his usual +coolness, and as the captain again examined the body, he took out +his tablets and wrote a few lines. It was an order to search the +quarters of Lieutenant Wainwright and bring all papers, letters, +and documents to him. He then beckoned one of the detail towards +him. "Take that to the provost marshal at once. Well, Captain," +he added calmly, as the officer again approached him, "what do you +find?" + +"Only this, sir," returned the captain, with a half smile, producing +a small photograph. "I suppose it was overlooked, too." + +He handed it to Brant. + +There was a sudden fixing of his commanding officer's eyes, but his +face did not otherwise change. + +"It's the usual find, General. Always a photograph! But this time +a handsome woman!" + +"Very," said Clarence Brant quietly. It was the portrait of his +own wife. + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Nevertheless, so complete was his control of voice and manner that, +as he rode on to his quarters, no one would have dreamed that +General Brant had just looked upon the likeness of the wife from +whom he had parted in anger four years ago. Still less would they +have suspected the strange fear that came upon him that in some way +she was connected with the treachery he had just discovered. He +had heard from her only once, and then through her late husband's +lawyer, in regard to her Californian property, and believed that +she had gone to her relations in Alabama, where she had identified +herself with the Southern cause, even to the sacrifice of her +private fortune. He had heard her name mentioned in the Southern +press as a fascinating society leader, and even coadjutrix of +Southern politicians,--but he had no reason to believe that she had +taken so active or so desperate a part in the struggle. He tried +to think that his uneasiness sprang from his recollection of the +previous treachery of Captain Pinckney, and the part that she had +played in the Californian conspiracy, although he had long since +acquitted her of the betrayal of any nearer trust. But there was a +fateful similarity in the two cases. There was no doubt that this +Lieutenant Wainwright was a traitor in the camp,--that he had +succumbed to the usual sophistry of his class in regard to his +superior allegiance to his native State. But was there the +inducement of another emotion, or was the photograph only the +souvenir of a fascinating priestess of rebellion, whom the dead man +had met? There was perhaps less of feeling than scorn in the first +suggestion, but he was nevertheless relieved when the provost +marshal found no other incriminating papers in Wainwright's +effects. Nor did he reveal to the division general the finding of +the photograph. It was sufficient to disclose the work of the +traitor without adding what might be a clue to his wife's +participation in it, near or remote. There was risk enough in the +former course,--which his duty made imperative. He hardly dared to +think of the past day's slaughter, which--there was no doubt now-- +had been due to the previous work of the spy, and how his brigade +had been selected--by the irony of Fate--to suffer for and yet +retrieve it. If she had had a hand in this wicked plot, ought he +to spare her? Or was his destiny and hers to be thus monstrously +linked together? + +Luckily, however, the expiation of the chief offender and the +timely discovery of his papers enabled the division commander to +keep the affair discreetly silent, and to enjoin equal secrecy on +the part of Brant. The latter, however, did not relax his +vigilance, and after the advance the next day he made a minute +inspection of the ground he was to occupy, its approaches and +connections with the outlying country, and the rebel lines; +increased the stringency of picket and sentry regulations, and +exercised a rigid surveillance of non-combatants and civilians +within the lines, even to the lowest canteener or camp follower. +Then he turned his attention to the house he was to occupy as his +headquarters. + +It was a fine specimen of the old colonial planter's house, with +its broad veranda, its great detached offices and negro quarters, +and had, thus far, escaped the ravages and billeting of the war. +It had been occupied by its owner up to a few days before the +engagement, and so great had been the confidence of the enemy in +their success that it had been used as the Confederate headquarters +on the morning of the decisive battle. Jasmine and rose, unstained +by the sulphur of gunpowder, twined around its ruined columns and +half hid the recessed windows; the careless flower garden was still +in its unkempt and unplucked luxuriance; the courtyard before the +stables alone showed marks of the late military occupancy, and was +pulverized by the uneasy horse-hoofs of the waiting staff. But the +mingled impress of barbaric prodigality with patriarchal simplicity +was still there in the domestic arrangements of a race who lived on +half equal familiarity with strangers and their own servants. + +The negro servants still remained, with a certain cat-like fidelity +to the place, and adapted themselves to the Northern invaders with +a childlike enjoyment of the novelty of change. Brant, nevertheless, +looked them over with an experienced eye, and satisfied himself of +their trustworthiness; there was the usual number of "boys," +gray-haired and grizzled in body service, and the "mammys" and +"aunties" of the kitchen. There were two or three rooms in the wing +which still contained private articles, pictures and souvenirs of +the family, and a "young lady's" boudoir, which Brant, with +characteristic delicacy, kept carefully isolated and intact from his +military household, and accessible only to the family servants. The +room he had selected for himself was nearest it,--a small, plainly +furnished apartment, with an almost conventual simplicity in its +cold, white walls and draperies, and the narrow, nun-like bed. It +struck him that it might have belonged to some prim elder daughter +or maiden aunt, who had acted as housekeeper, as it commanded the +wing and servants' offices, with easy access to the central hall. + +There followed a week of inactivity in which Brant felt a singular +resemblance in this Southern mansion to the old casa at Robles. +The afternoon shadows of the deep verandas recalled the old +monastic gloom of the Spanish house, which even the presence of a +lounging officer or waiting orderly could not entirely dissipate, +and the scent of the rose and jasmine from his windows overcame him +with sad memories. He began to chafe under this inaction, and long +again for the excitement of the march and bivouac, in which, for +the past four years, he had buried his past. + +He was sitting one afternoon alone before his reports and +dispatches, when this influence seemed so strong that he half +impulsively laid them aside to indulge in along reverie. He was +recalling his last day at Robles, the early morning duel with +Pinckney, the return to San Francisco, and the sudden resolution +which sent him that day across the continent to offer his services +to the Government. He remembered his delay in the Western town, +where a volunteer regiment was being recruited, his entrance into +it as a private, his rapid selection, through the force of his +sheer devotion and intelligent concentration, to the captaincy of +his company; his swift promotion on hard-fought fields to the head +of the regiment, and the singular success that had followed his +resistless energy, which left him no time to think of anything but +his duty. The sudden intrusion of his wife upon his career now, +even in this accidental and perhaps innocent way, had seriously +unsettled him. + +The shadows were growing heavier and deeper, it lacked only a few +moments of the sunset bugle, when he was recalled to himself by +that singular instinctive consciousness, common to humanity, of +being intently looked at. He turned quickly,--the door behind him +closed softly. He rose and slipped into the hall. The tall figure +of a woman was going down the passage. She was erect and graceful; +but, as she turned towards the door leading to the offices, he +distinctly saw the gaudily turbaned head and black silhouette of a +negress. Nevertheless, he halted a moment at the door of the next +room. + +"See who that woman is who has just passed, Mr. Martin. She +doesn't seem to belong to the house." + +The young officer rose, put on his cap, and departed. In a few +moments he returned. + +"Was she tall, sir, of a good figure, and very straight?" + +"Yes." + +"She is a servant of our neighbors, the Manlys, who occasionally +visits the servants here. A mulatto, I think." + +Brant reflected. Many of the mulattoes and negresses were of good +figure, and the habit of carrying burdens on their heads gave them +a singularly erect carriage. + +The lieutenant looked at his chief. + +"Have you any orders to give concerning her, General?" + +"No," said Brant, after a moment's pause, and turned away. + +The officer smiled. It seemed a good story to tell at mess of this +human weakness of his handsome, reserved, and ascetic-looking +leader. + +A few mornings afterwards Brant was interrupted over his reports by +the almost abrupt entrance of the officer of the day. His face was +flushed, and it was evident that only the presence of his superior +restrained his excitement. He held a paper in his hand. + +"A lady presents this order and pass from Washington, countersigned +by the division general." + +"A lady?" + +"Yes, sir, she is dressed as such. But she has not only declined +the most ordinary civilities and courtesies we have offered her, +but she has insulted Mr. Martin and myself grossly, and demands to +be shown to you--alone." + +Brant took the paper. It was a special order from the President, +passing Miss Matilda Faulkner through the Federal lines to visit +her uncle's home, known as "Gray Oaks," now held and occupied as +the headquarters of Brant's Brigade, in order to arrange for the +preservation and disposal of certain family effects and private +property that still remained there, or to take and carry away such +property; and invoking all necessary aid and assistance from the +United States forces in such occupancy. It was countersigned by +the division commander. It was perfectly regular and of undoubted +authenticity. He had heard of passes of this kind,--the terror of +the army,--issued in Washington under some strange controlling +influence and against military protest; but he did not let his +subordinate see the uneasiness with which it filled him. + +"Show her in," he said quietly. + +But she had already entered, brushing scornfully past the officer, +and drawing her skirt aside, as if contaminated: a very pretty +Southern girl, scornful and red-lipped, clad in a gray riding- +habit, and still carrying her riding-whip clenched ominously in her +slim, gauntleted hand! + +"You have my permit in your hand," she said brusquely, hardly +raising her eyes to Brant. "I suppose it's all straight enough,-- +and even if it isn't, I don't reckon to be kept waiting with those +hirelings." + +"Your 'permit' is 'straight' enough, Miss Faulkner," said Brant, +slowly reading her name from the document before him. "But, as it +does not seem to include permission to insult my officers, you will +perhaps allow them first to retire." + +He made a sign to the officer, who passed out of the door. + +As it closed, he went on, in a gentle but coldly unimpassioned +voice,-- + +"I perceive you are a Southern lady, and therefore I need not +remind you that it is not considered good form to treat even the +slaves of those one does not like uncivilly, and I must, therefore, +ask you to keep your active animosity for myself." + +The young girl lifted her eyes. She had evidently not expected to +meet a man so young, so handsome, so refined, and so coldly +invincible in manner. Still less was she prepared for that kind of +antagonism. In keeping up her preconcerted attitude towards the +"Northern hireling," she had been met with official brusqueness, +contemptuous silence, or aggrieved indignation,--but nothing so +exasperating as this. She even fancied that this elegant but +sardonic-looking soldier was mocking her. She bit her red lip, +but, with a scornful gesture of her riding-whip, said,-- + +"I reckon that your knowledge of Southern ladies is, for certain +reasons, not very extensive." + +"Pardon me; I have had the honor of marrying one." + +Apparently more exasperated than before, she turned upon him +abruptly. + +"You say my pass is all right. Then I presume I may attend to the +business that brought me here." + +"Certainly; but you will forgive me if I imagined that an +expression of contempt for your hosts was a part of it." + +He rang a bell on the table. It was responded to by an orderly. + +"Send all the household servants here." + +The room was presently filled with the dusky faces of the negro +retainers. Here and there was the gleaming of white teeth, but a +majority of the assembly wore the true negro serious acceptance of +the importance of "an occasion." One or two even affected an +official and soldierly bearing. And, as he fully expected, there +were several glances of significant recognition of the stranger. + +"You will give," said Brant sternly, "every aid and attention to +the wants of this young lady, who is here to represent the +interests of your old master. As she will be entirely dependent +upon you in all things connected with her visit here, see to it +that she does not have to complain to me of any inattention,--or be +obliged to ask for other assistance." + +As Miss Faulkner, albeit a trifle paler in the cheek, but as +scornful as ever, was about to follow the servants from the room, +Brant stopped her, with a coldly courteous gesture. + +"You will understand, therefore, Miss Faulkner, that you have your +wish, and that you will not be exposed to any contact with the +members of my military family, nor they with you." + +"Am I then to be a prisoner in this house--and under a free pass of +your--President?" she said indignantly. + +"By no means! You are free to come and go, and see whom you +please. I have no power to control your actions. But I have the +power to control theirs." + +She swept furiously from the room. + +"That is quite enough to fill her with a desire to flirt with every +man here," said Brant to himself, with a faint smile; "but I fancy +they have had a taste enough of her quality." + +Nevertheless he sat down and wrote a few lines to the division +commander, pointing out that he had already placed the owner's +private property under strict surveillance, that it was cared for +and perfectly preserved by the household servants, and that the +pass was evidently obtained as a subterfuge. + +To this he received a formal reply, regretting that the authorities +at Washington still found it necessary to put this kind of risk and +burden on the army in the field, but that the order emanated from +the highest authority, and must be strictly obeyed. At the bottom +of the page was a characteristic line in pencil in the general's +own hand--"Not the kind that is dangerous." + +A flush mounted Brant's cheeks, as if it contained not only a +hidden, but a personal significance. He had thought of his own +wife! + +Singularly enough, a day or two later, at dinner, the conversation +turned upon the intense sectional feeling of Southern women, +probably induced by their late experiences. Brant, at the head of +the table, in his habitual abstraction, was scarcely following the +somewhat excited diction of Colonel Strangeways, one of his staff. + +"No, sir," reiterated that indignant warrior, "take my word for it! +A Southern woman isn't to be trusted on this point, whether as a +sister, sweetheart, or wife. And when she is trusted, she's bound +to get the better of the man in any of those relations!" + +The dead silence that followed, the ominous joggle of a glass at +the speaker's elbow, the quick, sympathetic glance that Brant +instinctively felt was directed at his own face, and the abrupt +change of subject, could not but arrest his attention, even if he +had overlooked the speech. His face, however, betrayed nothing. +It had never, however, occurred to him before that his family +affairs might be known--neither had he ever thought of keeping them +a secret. It seemed so purely a personal and private misfortune, +that he had never dreamed of its having any public interest. And +even now he was a little ashamed of what he believed was his +sensitiveness to mere conventional criticism, which, with the +instinct of a proud man, he had despised. + +He was not far wrong in his sardonic intuition of the effect of his +prohibition upon Miss Faulkner's feelings. Certainly that young +lady, when not engaged in her mysterious occupation of arranging +her uncle's effects, occasionally was seen in the garden, and in +the woods beyond. Although her presence was the signal for the +"oblique" of any lounging "shoulder strap," or the vacant "front" +of a posted sentry, she seemed to regard their occasional proximity +with less active disfavor. Once, when she had mounted the wall to +gather a magnolia blossom, the chair by which she had ascended +rolled over, leaving her on the wall. At a signal from the guard- +room, two sappers and miners appeared carrying a scaling-ladder, +which they placed silently against the wall, and as silently +withdrew. On another occasion, the same spirited young lady, whom +Brant was satisfied would have probably imperiled her life under +fire in devotion to her cause, was brought ignominiously to bay in +the field by that most appalling of domestic animals, the wandering +and untrammeled cow! Brant could not help smiling as he heard the +quick, harsh call to "Turn out, guard," saw the men march stolidly +with fixed bayonets to the vicinity of the affrighted animal, who +fled, leaving the fair stranger to walk shamefacedly to the house. +He was surprised, however, that she should have halted before his +door, and with tremulous indignation, said,-- + +"I thank you, sir, for your chivalrousness in turning a defenseless +woman into ridicule." + +"I regret, Miss Faulkner," began Brant gravely, "that you should +believe that I am able to control the advances of farmyard cattle +as easily as"-- But he stopped, as he saw that the angry flash of +her blue eyes, as she darted past him, was set in tears. A little +remorseful on the following day, he added a word to his ordinary +cap-lifting when she went by, but she retained a reproachful +silence. Later in the day, he received from her servant a +respectful request for an interview, and was relieved to find that +she entered his presence with no trace of her former aggression, +but rather with the resignation of a deeply injured, yet not +entirely unforgiving, woman. + +"I thought," she began coldly, "that I ought to inform you that I +would probably be able to conclude my business here by the day +after to-morrow, and that you would then be relieved of my +presence. I am aware--indeed," she added, bitterly, "I could +scarcely help perceiving, that it has been an exceedingly irksome +one." + +"I trust," began Brant coldly, "that no gentleman of my command +has"-- + +"No!" + +She interrupted him quickly, with a return of her former manner, +and a passionate sweep of the hand. + +"Do you suppose for a moment that I am speaking--that I am even +thinking--of them? What are they to me?" + +"Thank you. I am glad to know that they are nothing; and that I +may now trust that you have consulted my wishes, and have reserved +your animosity solely for me," returned Brant quietly. "That being +so, I see no reason for your hurrying your departure in the least." + +She rose instantly. + +"I have," she said slowly, controlling herself with a slight +effort, "found some one who will take my duty off my hands. She is +a servant of one of your neighbors,--who is an old friend of my +uncle's. The woman is familiar with the house, and our private +property. I will give her full instructions to act for me, and +even an authorization in writing, if you prefer it. She is already +in the habit of coming here; but her visits will give you very +little trouble. And, as she is a slave, or, as you call it, I +believe, a chattel, she will be already quite accustomed to the +treatment which her class are in the habit of receiving from +Northern hands." + +Without waiting to perceive the effect of her Parthian shot, she +swept proudly out of the room. + +"I wonder what she means," mused Brant, as her quick step died away +in the passage. "One thing is certain,--a woman like that is +altogether too impulsive for a spy." + +Later, in the twilight, he saw her walking in the garden. There +was a figure at her side. A little curious, he examined it more +closely from his window. It was already familiar to him,--the +erect, shapely form of his neighbor's servant. A thoughtful look +passed over his face as he muttered,--"So this is to be her +deputy." + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Called to a general council of officers at divisional headquarters +the next day, Brant had little time for further speculation +regarding his strange guest, but a remark from the division +commander, that he preferred to commit the general plan of a +movement then under discussion to their memories rather than to +written orders in the ordinary routine, seemed to show that his +chief still suspected the existence of a spy. He, therefore, told +him of his late interview with Miss Faulkner, and her probable +withdrawal in favor of a mulatto neighbor. The division commander +received the information with indifference. + +"They're much too clever to employ a hussy like that, who shows her +hand at every turn, either as a spy or a messenger of spies,--and +the mulattoes are too stupid, to say nothing of their probable +fidelity to us. No, General, if we are watched, it is by an eagle, +and not a mocking-bird. Miss Faulkner has nothing worse about her +than her tongue; and there isn't the nigger blood in the whole South +that would risk a noose for her, or for any of their masters or +mistresses!" + +It was, therefore, perhaps, with some mitigation of his usual +critical severity that he saw her walking before him alone in the +lane as he rode home to quarters. She was apparently lost in a +half-impatient, half-moody reverie, which even the trotting hoof- +beats of his own and his orderly's horse had not disturbed. From +time to time she struck the myrtle hedge beside her with the head +of a large flower which hung by its stalk from her listless hands, +or held it to her face as if to inhale its perfume. Dismissing his +orderly by a side path, he rode gently forward, but, to his +surprise, without turning, or seeming to be aware of his presence, +she quickened her pace, and even appeared to look from side to side +for some avenue of escape. If only to mend matters, he was obliged +to ride quickly forward to her side, where he threw himself from +his horse, flung the reins on his arm, and began to walk beside +her. She at first turned a slightly flushed cheek away from him, +and then looked up with a purely simulated start of surprise. + +"I am afraid," he said gently, "that I am the first to break my own +orders in regard to any intrusion on your privacy. But I wanted to +ask you if I could give you any aid whatever in the change you +think of making." + +He was quite sincere,--had been touched by her manifest disturbance, +and, despite his masculine relentlessness of criticism, he had an +intuition of feminine suffering that was in itself feminine. + +"Meaning, that you are in a hurry to get rid of me," she said +curtly, without raising her eyes. + +"Meaning that I only wish to expedite a business which I think is +unpleasant to you, but which I believe you have undertaken from +unselfish devotion." + +The scant expression of a reserved nature is sometimes more +attractive to women than the most fluent vivacity. Possibly there +was also a melancholy grace in this sardonic soldier's manner that +affected her, for she looked up, and said impulsively,-- + +"You think so?" + +But he met her eager eyes with some surprise. + +"I certainly do," he replied more coldly. "I can imagine your +feelings on finding your uncle's home in the possession of your +enemies, and your presence under the family roof only a sufferance. +I can hardly believe it a pleasure to you, or a task you would have +accepted for yourself alone." + +"But," she said, turning towards him wickedly, "what if I did it +only to excite my revenge; what if I knew it would give me courage +to incite my people to carry war into your own homes; to make you +of the North feel as I feel, and taste our bitterness?" + +"I could easily understand that, too," he returned, with listless +coldness, "although I don't admit that revenge is an unmixed +pleasure, even to a woman." + +"A woman!" she repeated indignantly. "There is no sex in a war +like this." + +"You are spoiling your flower," he said quietly. "It is very +pretty, and a native one, too; not an invader, or even transplanted. +May I look at it?" + +She hesitated, half recoiling for an instant, and her hand +trembled. Then, suddenly and abruptly she said, with a hysteric +little laugh, "Take it, then," and almost thrust it in his hand. + +It certainly was a pretty flower, not unlike a lily in appearance, +with a bell-like cup and long anthers covered with a fine pollen, +like red dust. As he lifted it to his face, to inhale its perfume, +she uttered a slight cry, and snatched it from his hand. + +"There!" she said, with the same nervous laugh. "I knew you would; +I ought to have warned you. The pollen comes off so easily, and +leaves a stain. And you've got some on your cheek. Look!" she +continued, taking her handkerchief from her pocket and wiping his +cheek; "see there!" The delicate cambric showed a blood-red +streak. + +"It grows in a swamp," she continued, in the same excited strain; +"we call it dragon's teeth,--like the kind that was sown in the +story, you know. We children used to find it, and then paint our +faces and lips with it. We called it our rouge. I was almost +tempted to try it again when I found it just now. It took me back +so to the old times." + +Following her odd manner rather than her words, as she turned her +face towards him suddenly, Brant was inclined to think that she had +tried it already, so scarlet was her cheek. But it presently paled +again under his cold scrutiny. + +"You must miss the old times," he said calmly. "I am afraid you +found very little of them left, except in these flowers." + +"And hardly these," she said bitterly. "Your troops had found a +way through the marsh, and had trampled down the bushes." + +Brant's brow clouded. He remembered that the brook, which had run +red during the fight, had lost itself in this marsh. It did not +increase his liking for this beautiful but blindly vicious animal +at his side, and even his momentary pity for her was fading fast. +She was incorrigible. They walked on for a few moments in silence. + +"You said," she began at last, in a gentler and even hesitating +voice, "that your wife was a Southern woman." + +He checked an irritated start with difficulty. + +"I believe I did," he said coldly, as if he regretted it. + +"And of course you taught her YOUR gospel,--the gospel according to +St. Lincoln. Oh, I know," she went on hurriedly, as if conscious +of his irritation and seeking to allay it. "She was a woman and +loved you, and thought with your thoughts and saw only with your +eyes. Yes, that's the way with us,--I suppose we all do it!" she +added bitterly. + +"She had her own opinions," said Brant briefly, as he recovered +himself. + +Nevertheless, his manner so decidedly closed all further discussion +that there was nothing left for the young girl but silence. But it +was broken by her in a few moments in her old contemptuous voice +and manner. + +"Pray don't trouble yourself to accompany me any further, General +Brant. Unless, of course, you are afraid I may come across some of +your--your soldiers. I promise you I won't eat them." + +"I am afraid you must suffer my company a little longer, Miss +Faulkner, on account of those same soldiers," returned Brant +gravely. "You may not know that this road, in which I find you, +takes you through a cordon of pickets. If you were alone you would +be stopped, questioned, and, failing to give the password, you +would be detained, sent to the guard-house, and"--he stopped, and +fixed his eyes on her keenly as he added, "and searched." + +"You would not dare to search a woman!" she said indignantly, +although her flush gave way to a slight pallor. + +"You said just now that there should be no sex in a war like this," +returned Brant carelessly, but without abating his scrutinizing +gaze. + +"Then it IS war?" she said quickly, with a white, significant face. + +His look of scrutiny turned to one of puzzled wonder. But at the +same moment there was the flash of a bayonet in the hedge, a voice +called "Halt!" and a soldier stepped into the road. + +General Brant advanced, met the salute of the picket with a few +formal words, and then turned towards his fair companion, as +another soldier and a sergeant joined the group. + +"Miss Faulkner is new to the camp, took the wrong turning, and was +unwittingly leaving the lines when I joined her." He fixed his +eyes intently on her now colorless face, but she did not return his +look. "You will show her the shortest way to quarters," he +continued, to the sergeant, "and should she at any time again lose +her way, you will again conduct her home,--but without detaining or +reporting her." + +He lifted his cap, remounted his horse, and rode away, as the young +girl, with a proud, indifferent step, moved down the road with the +sergeant. A mounted officer passed him and saluted,--it was one of +his own staff. From some strange instinct, he knew that he had +witnessed the scene, and from some equally strange intuition he was +annoyed by it. But he continued his way, visiting one or two +outposts, and returned by a long detour to his quarters. As he +stepped upon the veranda he saw Miss Faulkner at the bottom of the +garden talking with some one across the hedge. By the aid of his +glass he could recognize the shapely figure of the mulatto woman +which he had seen before. But by its aid he also discovered that +she was carrying a flower exactly like the one which Miss Faulkner +still held in her hand. Had she been with Miss Faulkner in the +lane, and if so, why had she disappeared when he came up? Impelled +by something stronger than mere curiosity, he walked quickly down +the garden, but she evidently had noticed him, for she as quickly +disappeared. Not caring to meet Miss Faulkner again, he retraced +his steps, resolving that he would, on the first opportunity, +personally examine and interrogate this new visitor. For if she +were to take Miss Faulkner's place in a subordinate capacity, this +precaution was clearly within his rights. + +He re-entered his room and seated himself at his desk before the +dispatches, orders, and reports awaiting him. He found himself, +however, working half mechanically, and recurring to his late +interview with Miss Faulkner in the lane. If she had any +inclination to act the spy, or to use her position here as a means +of communicating with the enemy's lines, he thought he had +thoroughly frightened her. Nevertheless, now, for the first time, +he was inclined to accept his chief's opinion of her. She was not +only too clumsy and inexperienced, but she totally lacked the self- +restraint of a spy. Her nervous agitation in the lane was due to +something more disturbing than his mere possible intrusion upon her +confidences with the mulatto. The significance of her question, +"Then it IS war?" was at best a threat, and that implied hesitation. +He recalled her strange allusion to his wife; was it merely the +outcome of his own foolish confession on their first interview, or +was it a concealed ironical taunt? Being satisfied, however, that +she was not likely to imperil his public duty in any way, he was +angry with himself for speculating further. But, although he still +felt towards her the same antagonism she had at first provoked, he +was conscious that she was beginning to exercise a strange +fascination over him. + +Dismissing her at last with an effort, he finished his work and +then rose, and unlocking a closet, took out a small dispatch-box, +to which he intended to intrust a few more important orders and +memoranda. As he opened it with a key on his watch-chain, he was +struck with a faint perfume that seemed to come from it,--a perfume +that he remembered. Was it the smell of the flower that Miss +Faulkner carried, or the scent of the handkerchief with which she +had wiped his cheek, or a mingling of both? Or was he under some +spell to think of that wretched girl, and her witch-like flower? +He leaned over the box and suddenly started. Upon the outer +covering of a dispatch was a singular blood-red streak! He examined +it closely,--it was the powdery stain of the lily pollen,--exactly +as he had seen it on her handkerchief. + +There could be no mistake. He passed his finger over the stain; he +could still feel the slippery, infinitesimal powder of the pollen. +It was not there when he had closed the box that morning; it was +impossible that it should be there unless the box had been opened +in his absence. He re-examined the contents of the box; the papers +were all there. More than that, they were papers of no importance +except to him personally; contained no plans nor key to any +military secret; he had been far too wise to intrust any to the +accidents of this alien house. The prying intruder, whoever it +was, had gained nothing! But there was unmistakably the attempt! +And the existence of a would-be spy within the purlieus of the +house was equally clear. + +He called an officer from the next room. + +"Has any one been here since my absence?" + +"No, General." + +"Has any one passed through the hall?" + +He had fully anticipated the answer, as the subaltern replied, +"Only the women servants." + +He re-entered the room. Closing the door, he again carefully +examined the box, his table, the papers upon it, the chair before +it, and even the Chinese matting on the floor, for any further +indication of the pollen. It hardly seemed possible that any one +could have entered the room with the flower in their hand without +scattering some of the tell-tale dust elsewhere; it was too large a +flower to be worn on the breast or in the hair. Again, no one +would have dared to linger there long enough to have made an +examination of the box, with an officer in the next room, and the +sergeant passing. The box had been removed, and the examination +made elsewhere! + +An idea seized him. Miss Faulkner was still absent, the mulatto +had apparently gone home. He quickly mounted the staircase, but +instead of entering his room, turned suddenly aside into the wing +which had been reserved. The first door yielded as he turned its +knob gently and entered a room which he at once recognized as the +"young lady's boudoir." But the dusty and draped furniture had +been rearranged and uncovered, and the apartment bore every sign of +present use. Yet, although there was unmistakable evidence of its +being used by a person of taste and refinement, he was surprised to +see that the garments hanging in an open press were such as were +used by negro servants, and that a gaudy handkerchief such as +housemaids used for turbans was lying on the pretty silk coverlet. +He did not linger over these details, but cast a rapid glance round +the room. Then his eyes became fixed on a fanciful writing-desk, +which stood by the window. For, in a handsome vase placed on its +level top, and drooping on a portfolio below, hung a cluster of the +very flowers that Miss Faulkner had carried! + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +It seemed plain to Brant that the dispatch-box had been conveyed +here and opened for security on this desk, and in the hurry of +examining the papers the flower had been jostled and the fallen +grains of pollen overlooked by the spy. There were one or two +freckles of red on the desk, which made this accident appear the +more probable. But he was equally struck by another circumstance. +The desk stood immediately before the window. As he glanced +mechanically from it, he was surprised to see that it commanded an +extensive view of the slope below the eminence on which the house +stood, even beyond his furthest line of pickets. The vase of +flowers, each of which was nearly as large as a magnolia blossom, +and striking in color, occupied a central position before it, and +no doubt could be quite distinctly seen from a distance. From this +circumstance he could not resist the strong impression that this +fateful and extraordinary blossom, carried by Miss Faulkner and the +mulatto, and so strikingly "in evidence" at the window, was in some +way a signal. Obeying an impulse which he was conscious had a half +superstitious foundation, he carefully lifted the vase from its +position before the window, and placed it on a side table. Then he +cautiously slipped from the room. + +But he could not easily shake off the perplexity which the +occurrence had caused, although he was satisfied that it was +fraught with no military or strategic danger to his command, and +that the unknown spy had obtained no information whatever. Yet he +was forced to admit to himself that he was more concerned in his +attempts to justify the conduct of Miss Faulkner with this later +revelation. It was quite possible that the dispatch-box had been +purloined by some one else during her absence from the house, as +the presence of the mulatto servant in his room would have been +less suspicious than hers. There was really little evidence to +connect Miss Faulkner with the actual outrage,--rather might not +the real spy have taken advantage of her visit here, to throw +suspicion upon her? He remembered her singular manner,--the +strange inconsistency with which she had forced this flower upon +him. She would hardly have done so had she been conscious of its +having so serious an import. Yet, what was the secret of her +manifest agitation? A sudden inspiration flashed across his mind; +a smile came upon his lips. She was in love! The enemy's line +contained some sighing Strephon of a young subaltern with whom she +was in communication, and for whom she had undertaken this quest. +The flower was their language of correspondence, no doubt. It +explained also the young girl's animosity against the younger +officers,--his adversaries; against himself,--their commander. He +had previously wondered why, if she were indeed a spy, she had not +chosen, upon some equally specious order from Washington, the +headquarters of the division commander, whose secrets were more +valuable. This was explained by the fact that she was nearer the +lines and her lover in her present abode. He had no idea that he +was making excuses for her,--he believed himself only just. The +recollection of what she had said of the power of love, albeit it +had hurt him cruelly at the time, was now clearer to him, and even +seemed to mitigate her offense. She would be here but a day or two +longer; he could afford to wait without interrogating her. + +But as to the real intruder, spy or thief,--that was another +affair, and quickly settled. He gave an order to the officer of +the day peremptorily forbidding the entrance of alien servants or +slaves within the precincts of the headquarters. Any one thus +trespassing was to be brought before him. The officer looked +surprised, he even fancied disappointed. The graces of the mulatto +woman's figure had evidently not been thrown away upon his +subalterns. + +An hour or two later, when he was mounting his horse for a round of +inspection, he was surprised to see Miss Faulkner, accompanied by +the mulatto woman, running hurriedly to the house. He had +forgotten his late order until he saw the latter halted by the +sentries, but the young girl came flying on, regardless of her +companion. Her skirt was held in one hand, her straw hat had +fallen back in her flight, and was caught only by a ribbon around +her swelling throat, and her loosened hair lay in a black rippled +loop on one shoulder. For an instant Brant thought that she was +seeking him in indignation at his order, but a second look at her +set face, eager eyes, and parted scarlet lips, showed him that she +had not even noticed him in the concentration of her purpose. She +swept by him into the hall, he heard the swish of her skirt and +rapid feet on the stairs,--she was gone. What had happened, or was +this another of her moods? + +But he was called to himself by the apparition of a corporal +standing before him, with the mulatto woman,--the first capture +under his order. She was tall, well-formed, but unmistakably +showing the negro type, even in her small features. Her black eyes +were excited, but unintelligent; her manner dogged, but with the +obstinacy of half-conscious stupidity. Brant felt not only +disappointed, but had a singular impression that she was not the +same woman that he had first seen. Yet there was the tall, +graceful figure, the dark profile, and the turbaned head that he +had once followed down the passage by his room. + +Her story was as stupidly simple. She had known "Missy" from a +chile! She had just traipsed over to see her that afternoon; they +were walking together when the sojers stopped her. She had never +been stopped before, even by "the patter rollers."* Her old massa +(Manly) had gib leaf to go see Miss Tilly, and hadn't said nuffin +about no "orders." + + +* i. e., patrols,--a civic home-guard in the South that kept +surveillance of slaves. + + +More annoyed than he cared to confess, Brant briefly dismissed her +with a warning. As he cantered down the slope the view of the +distant pickets recalled the window in the wing, and he turned in +his saddle to look at it. There it was--the largest and most +dominant window in that part of the building--and within it, a +distinct and vivid object almost filling the opening, was the vase +of flowers, which he had a few hours ago removed, RESTORED TO +ITS ORIGINAL POSITION! He smiled. The hurried entrance and +consternation of Miss Faulkner were now fully explained. He had +interrupted some impassioned message, perhaps even countermanded +some affectionate rendezvous beyond the lines. And it seemed to +settle the fact that it was she who had done the signaling! But +would not this also make her cognizant of the taking of the +dispatch-box? He reflected, however, that the room was apparently +occupied by the mulatto woman--he remembered the calico dresses and +turban on the bed--and it was possible that Miss Faulkner had only +visited it for the purpose of signaling to her lover. Although +this circumstance did not tend to make his mind easier, it was, +however, presently diverted by a new arrival and a strange +recognition. + +As he rode through the camp a group of officers congregated before +a large mess tent appeared to be highly amused by the conversation-- +half monologue and half harangue of a singular-looking individual +who stood in the centre. He wore a "slouch" hat, to the band of +which he had imparted a military air by the addition of a gold +cord, but the brim was caught up at the side in a peculiarly +theatrical and highly artificial fashion. A heavy cavalry sabre +depended from a broad-buckled belt under his black frock coat, with +the addition of two revolvers--minus their holsters--stuck on +either side of the buckle, after the style of a stage smuggler. A +pair of long enameled leather riding boots, with the tops turned +deeply over, as if they had once done duty for the representative +of a cavalier, completed his extraordinary equipment. The group +were so absorbed in him that they did not perceive the approach of +their chief and his orderly; and Brant, with a sign to the latter, +halted only a few paces from this central figure. His speech was a +singular mingling of high-flown and exalted epithets, with inexact +pronunciation and occasional lapses of Western slang. + +"Well, I ain't purtendin' to any stratutegical smartness, and I +didn't gradooate at West Point as one of those Apocryphal +Engineers; I don't do much talking about 'flank' movements or +'recognizances in force' or 'Ekellon skirmishing,' but when it +comes down to square Ingin fightin', I reckon I kin have my say. +There are men who don't know the Army Contractor," he added darkly, +"who mebbe have heard of 'Red Jim.' I don't mention names, +gentlemen, but only the other day a man that you all know says to +me, 'If I only knew what you do about scoutin' I wouldn't be +wanting for information as I do.' I ain't goin' to say who it was, +or break any confidences between gentlemen by saying how many stars +he had on his shoulder strap; but he was a man who knew what he was +saying. And I say agin, gentlemen, that the curse of the Northern +Army is the want of proper scoutin'. What was it caused Bull's +Run?--Want o' scoutin'. What was it rolled up Pope?--Want o' +scoutin'. What caused the slaughter at the Wilderness?--Want o' +scoutin'--Ingin scoutin'! Why, only the other day, gentlemen, I +was approached to know what I'd take to organize a scoutin' force. +And what did I say?--'No, General; it ain't because I represent one +of the largest Army Beef Contracts in this country,' says I. 'It +ain't because I belong, so to speak, to the "Sinews of War;" but +because I'd want about ten thousand trained Ingins from the +Reservations!' And the regular West Point, high-toned, scientific +inkybus that weighs so heavily on our army don't see it--and won't +have it! Then Sherman, he sez to me"-- + +But here a roar of laughter interrupted him, and in the cross fire +of sarcastic interrogations that began Brant saw, with relief, a +chance of escape. For in the voice, manner, and, above all, the +characteristic temperament of the stranger, he had recognized his +old playmate and the husband of Susy,--the redoubtable Jim Hooker! +There was no mistaking that gloomy audacity; that mysterious +significance; that magnificent lying. But even at that moment +Clarence Brant's heart had gone out, with all his old loyalty of +feeling, towards his old companion. He knew that a public +recognition of him then and there would plunge Hooker into +confusion; he felt keenly the ironical plaudits and laughter of his +officers over the manifest weakness and vanity of the ex-teamster, +ex-rancher, ex-actor, and husband of his old girl sweetheart, and +would have spared him the knowledge that he had overheard it. +Turning hastily to the orderly, he bade him bring the stranger to +his headquarters, and rode away unperceived. + +He had heard enough, however, to account for his presence there, +and the singular chance that had brought them again together. He +was evidently one of those large civil contractors of supplies whom +the Government was obliged to employ, who visited the camp half +officially, and whom the army alternately depended upon and abused. +Brant had dealt with his underlings in the Commissariat, and even +now remembered that he had heard he was coming, but had overlooked +the significance of his name. But how he came to leave his +theatrical profession, how he had attained a position which implied +a command of considerable capital--for many of the contractors had +already amassed large fortunes--and what had become of Susy and her +ambitions in this radical change of circumstances, were things +still to be learned. In his own changed conditions he had seldom +thought of her; it was with a strange feeling of irritation and +half responsibility that he now recalled their last interview and +the emotion to which he had yielded. + +He had not long to wait. He had scarcely regained the quarters at +his own private office before he heard the step of the orderly upon +the veranda and the trailing clank of Hooker's sabre. He did not +know, however, that Hooker, without recognizing his name, had +received the message as a personal tribute, and had left his +sarcastic companions triumphantly, with the air of going to a +confidential interview, to which his well-known military criticism +had entitled him. It was with a bearing of gloomy importance and +his characteristic, sullen, sidelong glance that he entered the +apartment and did not look up until Brant had signaled the orderly +to withdraw, and closed the door behind him. And then he recognized +his old boyish companion--the preferred favorite of fortune! + +For a moment he gasped with astonishment. For a moment gloomy +incredulity, suspicion, delight, pride, admiration, even affection, +struggled for mastery in his sullen, staring eyes and open, +twitching mouth. For here was Clarence Brant, handsomer than ever, +more superior than ever, in the majesty of uniform and authority +which fitted him--the younger man--by reason of his four years of +active service, with the careless ease and bearing of the veteran! +Here was the hero whose name was already so famous that the mere +coincidence of it with that of the modest civilian he had known +would have struck him as preposterous. Yet here he was--supreme, +and dazzling--surrounded by the pomp and circumstance of war--into +whose reserved presence he, Jim Hooker, had been ushered with the +formality of challenge, saluting, and presented bayonets! + +Luckily, Brant had taken advantage of his first gratified +ejaculation to shake him warmly by the hand, and then, with both +hands laid familiarly on his shoulder, force him down into a chair. +Luckily, for by that time Jim Hooker had, with characteristic +gloominess, found time to taste the pangs of envy--an envy the more +keen since, in spite of his success as a peaceful contractor, he +had always secretly longed for military display and distinction. +He looked at the man who had achieved it, as he firmly believed, by +sheer luck and accident, and his eyes darkened. Then, with +characteristic weakness and vanity, he began to resist his first +impressions of Clarence's superiority, and to air his own +importance. He leaned heavily back in the chair in which he had +been thus genially forced, drew off his gauntlet and attempted to +thrust it through his belt, as he had seen Brant do, but failed on +account of his pistols already occupying that position, dropped it, +got his sword between his legs in attempting to pick it up, and +then leaned back again, with half-closed eyes serenely indifferent +of his old companion's smiling face. + +"I reckon," he began slowly, with a slightly patronizing air, "that +we'd have met, sooner or later, at Washington, or at Grant's +headquarters, for Hooker, Meacham & Co. go everywhere, and are +about as well known as major-generals, to say nothin'," he went on, +with a sidelong glance at Brant's shoulder-straps, "of brigadiers; +and it's rather strange--only, of course, you're kind of fresh in +the service--that you ain't heard of me afore." + +"But I'm very glad to hear of you now, Jim," said Brant, smiling, +"and from your own lips--which I am also delighted to find," he +added mischievously, "are still as frankly communicative on that +topic as of old. But I congratulate you, old fellow, on your good +fortune. When did you leave the stage?" + +Mr. Hooker frowned slightly. + +"I never was really on the stage, you know," he said, waving his +hand with assumed negligence. "Only went on to please my wife. +Mrs. Hooker wouldn't act with vulgar professionals, don't you see! +I was really manager most of the time, and lessee of the theatre. +Went East when the war broke out, to offer my sword and knowledge +of Ingin fightin' to Uncle Sam! Drifted into a big pork contract +at St. Louis, with Fremont. Been at it ever since. Offered a +commission in the reg'lar service lots o' times. Refused." + +"Why?" asked Brant demurely. + +"Too much West Point starch around to suit ME," returned Hooker +darkly. "And too many spies!" + +"Spies?" echoed Brant abstractedly, with a momentary reminiscence +of Miss Faulkner. + +"Yes, spies," continued Hooker, with dogged mystery. "One half of +Washington is watching t'other half, and, from the President's wife +down, most of the women are secesh!" + +Brant suddenly fixed his keen eyes on his guest. But the next +moment he reflected that this was only Jim Hooker's usual speech, +and possessed no ulterior significance. He smiled again, and said, +more gently,-- + +"And how is Mrs. Hooker?" + +Mr. Hooker fixed his eyes on the ceiling, rose, and pretended to +look out of the window; then, taking his seat again by the table, +as if fronting an imaginary audience, and pulling slowly at his +gauntlets after the usual theatrical indication of perfect +sangfroid, said,-- + +"There ain't any!" + +"Good heavens!" said Brant, with genuine emotion. "I beg your +pardon. Really, I"-- + +"Mrs. Hooker and me are divorced," continued Hooker, slightly +changing his attitude, and leaning heavily on his sabre, with his +eyes still on his fanciful audience. "There was, you understand"-- +lightly tossing his gauntlet aside--"incompatibility of temper-- +and--we--parted! Ha!" + +He uttered a low, bitter, scornful laugh, which, however, produced +the distinct impression in Brant's mind that up to that moment he +had never had the slightest feeling in the matter whatever. + +"You seemed to be on such good terms with each other!" murmured +Brant vaguely. + +"Seemed!" said Hooker bitterly, glancing sardonically at an ideal +second row in the pit before him, "yes--seemed! There were other +differences, social and political. You understand that; you have +suffered, too." He reached out his hand and pressed Brant's, in +heavy effusiveness. "But," he continued haughtily, lightly tossing +his glove again, "we are also men of the world; we let that pass." + +And it was possible that he found the strain of his present +attitude too great, for he changed to an easier position. + +"But," said Brant curiously, "I always thought that Mrs. Hooker was +intensely Union and Northern?" + +"Put on!" said Hooker, in his natural voice. + +"But you remember the incident of the flag?" persisted Brant. + +"Mrs. Hooker was always an actress," said Hooker significantly. +"But," he added cheerfully, "Mrs. Hooker is now the wife of Senator +Boompointer, one of the wealthiest and most powerful Republicans in +Washington--carries the patronage of the whole West in his vest +pocket." + +"Yet, if she is not a Republican, why did she"--began Brant. + +"For a purpose," replied Hooker darkly. "But," he added again, +with greater cheerfulness, "she belongs to the very elite of +Washington society. Goes to all the foreign ambassadors' balls, +and is a power at the White House. Her picture is in all the +first-class illustrated papers." + +The singular but unmistakable pride of the man in the importance of +the wife from whom he was divorced, and for whom he did not care, +would have offended Brant's delicacy, or at least have excited his +ridicule, but for the reason that he was more deeply stung by +Hooker's allusion to his own wife and his degrading similitude of +their two conditions. But he dismissed the former as part of +Hooker's invincible and still boyish extravagance, and the latter +as part of his equally characteristic assumption. Perhaps he was +conscious, too, notwithstanding the lapse of years and the +condonation of separation and forgetfulness, that he deserved +little delicacy from the hands of Susy's husband. Nevertheless, he +dreaded to hear him speak again of her; and the fear was realized +in a question. + +"Does she know you are here?" + +"Who?" said Brant curtly. + +"Your wife. That is--I reckon she's your wife still, eh?" + +"Yes; but I do not know what she knows," returned Brant quietly. +He had regained his self-composure. + +"Susy,--Mrs. Senator Boompointer, that is,"--said Hooker, with an +apparent dignity in his late wife's new title, "allowed that she'd +gone abroad on a secret mission from the Southern Confederacy to +them crowned heads over there. She was good at ropin' men in, you +know. Anyhow, Susy, afore she was Mrs. Boompointer, was dead set +on findin' out where she was, but never could. She seemed to drop +out of sight a year ago. Some said one thing, and some said +another. But you can bet your bottom dollar that Mrs. Senator +Boompointer, who knows how to pull all the wires in Washington, +will know, if any one does." + +"But is Mrs. Boompointer really disaffected, and a Southern +sympathizer?" said Brant, "or is it only caprice or fashion?" + +While speaking he had risen, with a half-abstracted face, and had +gone to the window, where he stood in a listening attitude. +Presently he opened the window, and stepped outside. Hooker +wonderingly followed him. One or two officers had already stepped +out of their rooms, and were standing upon the veranda; another had +halted in the path. Then one quickly re-entered the house, +reappeared with his cap and sword in his hand, and ran lightly +toward the guard-house. A slight crackling noise seemed to come +from beyond the garden wall. + +"What's up?" said Hooker, with staring eyes. + +"Picket firing!" + +The crackling suddenly became a long rattle. Brant re-entered the +room, and picked up his hat. + +"You'll excuse me for a few moments." + +A faint sound, soft yet full, and not unlike a bursting bubble, +made the house appear to leap elastically, like the rebound of a +rubber ball. + +"What's that?" gasped Hooker. + +"Cannon, out of range!" + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +In another instant bugles were ringing through the camp, with the +hurrying hoofs of mounted officers and the trampling of forming +men. The house itself was almost deserted. Although the single +cannon-shot had been enough to show that it was no mere skirmishing +of pickets, Brant still did not believe in any serious attack of +the enemy. His position, as in the previous engagement, had no +strategic importance to them; they were no doubt only making a +feint against it to conceal some advance upon the centre of the +army two miles away. Satisfied that he was in easy supporting +distance of his division commander, he extended his line along the +ridge, ready to fall back in that direction, while retarding their +advance and masking the position of his own chief. He gave a few +orders necessary to the probable abandonment of the house, and then +returned to it. Shot and shell were already dropping in the field +below. A thin ridge of blue haze showed the line of skirmish fire. +A small conical, white cloud, like a bursting cotton-pod, revealed +an open battery in the willow-fringed meadow. Yet the pastoral +peacefulness of the house was unchanged. The afternoon sun lay +softly on its deep verandas; the pot pourri incense of fallen rose- +leaves haunted it still. + +He entered his room through the French window on the veranda, when +the door leading from the passage was suddenly flung open, and Miss +Faulkner swept quickly inside, closed the door behind her, and +leaned back against it, panting and breathless. + +Clarence was startled, and for a moment ashamed. He had suddenly +realized that in the excitement he had entirely forgotten her and +the dangers to which she might be exposed. She had probably heard +the firing, her womanly fears had been awakened; she had come to +him for protection. But as he turned towards her with a reassuring +smile, he was shocked to see that her agitation and pallor were far +beyond any physical cause. She motioned him desperately to shut +the window by which he had entered, and said, with white lips,-- + +"I must speak with you alone!" + +"Certainly. But there is no immediate danger to you even here--and +I can soon put you beyond the reach of any possible harm." + +"Harm--to me! God! if it were only that!" + +He stared at her uneasily. + +"Listen," she said gaspingly, "listen to me! Then hate, despise +me--kill me if you will. For you are betrayed and ruined--cut off +and surrounded! It has been helped on by me, but I swear to you +the blow did not come from MY hand. I would have saved you. God +only knows how it happened--it was Fate!" + +In an instant Brant saw the whole truth instinctively and clearly. +But with the revelation came the usual calmness and perfect self- +possession which never yet had failed him in any emergency. With +the sound of the increasing cannonade and its shifting position +made clearer to his ears, the view of his whole threatened position +spread out like a map before his eyes, the swift calculation of the +time his men could hold the ridge in his mind--even a hurried +estimate of the precious moments he could give to the wretched +woman before him--he even then, gravely and gently, led her to a +chair and said in a calm voice,-- + +"That is not enough! Speak slowly, plainly. I must know +everything. How and in what way have you betrayed me?" + +She looked at him imploringly--reassured, yet awed by his +gentleness. + +"You won't believe me; you cannot believe me! for I do not even +know. I have taken and exchanged letters--whose contents I never +saw--between the Confederates and a spy who comes to this house, +but who is far away by this time. I did it because I thought you +hated and despised me because I thought it was my duty to help my +cause--because you said it was 'war' between us--but I never spied +on you. I swear it." + +"Then how do you know of this attack?" he said calmly. + +She brightened, half timidly, half hopefully. + +"There is a window in the wing of this house that overlooks the +slope near the Confederate lines. There was a signal placed in it-- +not by me--but I know it meant that as long as it was there the +plot, whatever it was, was not ripe, and that no attack would be +made on you as long as it was visible. That much I know,--that +much the spy had to tell me, for we both had to guard that room in +turns. I wanted to keep this dreadful thing off--until"--her voice +trembled, "until," she added hurriedly, seeing his calm eyes were +reading her very soul, "until I went away--and for that purpose I +withheld some of the letters that were given me. But this morning, +while I was away from the house, I looked back and saw that the +signal was no longer there. Some one had changed it. I ran back, +but I was too late--God help me!--as you see." + +The truth flashed upon Brant. It was his own hand that had +precipitated the attack. But a larger truth came to him now, like +a dazzling inspiration. If he had thus precipitated the attack +before they were ready, there was a chance that it was imperfect, +and there was still hope. But there was no trace of this visible +in his face as he fixed his eyes calmly on hers, although his +pulses were halting in expectancy as he said-- + +"Then the spy had suspected you, and changed it." + +"Oh, no," she said eagerly, "for the spy was with me and was +frightened too. We both ran back together--you remember--she was +stopped by the patrol!" + +She checked herself suddenly, but too late. Her cheeks blazed, her +head sank, with the foolish identification of the spy into which +her eagerness had betrayed her. + +But Brant appeared not to notice it. He was, in fact, puzzling his +brain to conceive what information the stupid mulatto woman could +have obtained here. His strength, his position was no secret to +the enemy--there was nothing to gain from him. She must have been, +like the trembling, eager woman before him, a mere tool of others. + +"Did this woman live here?" he said. + +"No," she said. "She lived with the Manlys, but had friends whom +she visited at your general's headquarters." + +With difficulty Brant suppressed a start. It was clear to him now. +The information had been obtained at the division headquarters, and +passed through his camp as being nearest the Confederate lines. +But what was the information--and what movement had he precipitated? +It was clear that this woman did not know. He looked at her keenly. +A sudden explosion shook the house,--a drift of smoke passed the +window,--a shell had burst in the garden. + +She had been gazing at him despairingly, wistfully--but did not +blanch or start. + +An idea took possession of him. He approached her, and took her +cold hand. A half-smile parted her pale lips. + +"You have courage--you have devotion," he said gravely. "I believe +you regret the step you have taken. If you could undo what you +have done, even at peril to yourself, dare you do it?" + +"Yes," she said breathlessly. + +"You are known to the enemy. If I am surrounded, you could pass +through their lines unquestioned?" + +"Yes," she said eagerly. + +"A note from me would pass you again through the pickets of our +headquarters. But you would bear a note to the general that no +eyes but his must see. It would not implicate you or yours; would +only be a word of warning." + +"And you," she said quickly, "would be saved! They would come to +your assistance! You would not then be taken?" + +He smiled gently. + +"Perhaps--who knows!" + +He sat down and wrote hurriedly. + +"This," he said, handing her a slip of paper, "is a pass. You will +use it beyond your own lines. This note," he continued, handing +her a sealed envelope, "is for the general. No one else must see +it or know of it--not even your lover, should you meet him!" + +"My lover!" she said indignantly, with a flash of her old savagery; +"what do you mean? I have no lover!" + +Brant glanced at her flushed face. + +"I thought," he said quietly, "that there was some one you cared +for in yonder lines--some one you wrote to. It would have been an +excuse"-- + +He stopped, as her face paled again, and her hands dropped heavily +at her side. + +"Good God!--you thought that, too! You thought that I would +sacrifice you for another man!" + +"Pardon me," said Brant quickly. "I was foolish. But whether your +lover is a man or a cause, you have shown a woman's devotion. And, +in repairing your fault, you are showing more than a woman's +courage now." + +To his surprise, the color had again mounted her pretty cheeks, and +even a flash of mischief shone in her blue eyes. + +"It would have been an excuse," she murmured, "yes--to save a man, +surely!" Then she said quickly, "I will go. At once! I am +ready!" + +"One moment," he said gravely. "Although this pass and an escort +insure your probable safe conduct, this is 'war' and danger! You +are still a spy! Are you ready to go?" + +"I am," she said proudly, tossing back a braid of her fallen hair. +Yet a moment after she hesitated. Then she said, in a lower voice, +"Are you ready to forgive?" + +"In either case," he said, touched by her manner; "and God speed +you!" + +He extended his hand, and left a slight pressure on her cold +fingers. But they slipped quickly from his grasp, and she turned +away with a heightened color. + +He stepped to the door. One or two aides-de-camp, withheld by his +order against intrusion, were waiting eagerly with reports. The +horse of a mounted field officer was pawing the garden turf. The +officers stared at the young girl. + +"Take Miss Faulkner, with a flag, to some safe point of the enemy's +line. She is a non-combatant of their own, and will receive their +protection." + +He had scarcely exchanged a dozen words with the aides-de-camp +before the field officer hurriedly entered. Taking Brant aside, he +said quickly,-- + +"Pardon me, General; but there is a strong feeling among the men +that this attack is the result of some information obtained by the +enemy. You must know that the woman you have just given a +safeguard to is suspected, and the men are indignant." + +"The more reason why she should be conveyed beyond any consequences +of their folly, Major," said Brant frigidly, "and I look to you for +her safe convoy. There is nothing in this attack to show that the +enemy has received any information regarding us. But I would +suggest that it would be better to see that my orders are carried +out regarding the slaves and non-combatants who are passing our +lines from divisional headquarters, where valuable information may +be obtained, than in the surveillance of a testy and outspoken +girl." + +An angry flush crossed the major's cheek as he saluted and fell +back, and Brant turned to the aide-de-camp. The news was grave. +The column of the enemy was moving against the ridge--it was no +longer possible to hold it--and the brigade was cut off from its +communication with the divisional headquarters, although as yet no +combined movement was made against it. Brant's secret fears that +it was an intended impact against the centre were confirmed. Would +his communication to the divisional commander pass through the +attacking column in time? + +Yet one thing puzzled him. The enemy, after forcing his flank, had +shown no disposition, even with their overwhelming force, to turn +aside and crush him. He could easily have fallen back, when it was +possible to hold the ridge no longer, without pursuit. His other +flank and rear were not threatened, as they might have been, by the +division of so large an attacking column, which was moving steadily +on towards the ridge. It was this fact that seemed to show a +failure or imperfection in the enemy's plan. It was possible that +his precipitation of the attack by the changed signal had been the +cause of it. Doubtless some provision had been made to attack him +in flank and rear, but in the unexpected hurry of the onset it had +to be abandoned. He could still save himself, as his officers +knew; but his conviction that he might yet be able to support his +divisional commander by holding his position doggedly, but coolly +awaiting his opportunity, was strong. More than that, it was his +temperament and instinct. + +Harrying them in flank and rear, contesting the ground inch by +inch, and holding his own against the artillery sent to dislodge +him, or the outriding cavalry that, circling round, swept through +his open ranks, he saw his files melt away beside this steady +current without flinching. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Yet all along the fateful ridge--now obscured and confused with +thin crossing smoke-drifts from file-firing, like partly rubbed-out +slate-pencil marks; or else, when cleared of those drifts, +presenting only an indistinguishable map of zigzag lines of +straggling wagons and horses, unintelligible to any eye but his-- +the singular magnetism of the chief was felt everywhere: whether it +was shown in the quick closing in of resistance to some sharper +onset of the enemy or the more dogged stand of inaction under fire, +his power was always dominant. A word or two of comprehensive +direction sent through an aide-de-camp, or the sudden relief of his +dark, watchful, composed face uplifted above a line of bayonets, +never failed in their magic. Like all born leaders, he seemed in +these emergencies to hold a charmed life--infecting his followers +with a like disbelief in death; men dropped to right and left of +him with serene assurance in their ghastly faces or a cry of life +and confidence in their last gasp. Stragglers fell in and closed +up under his passing glance; a hopeless, inextricable wrangle +around an overturned caisson, at a turn of the road, resolved +itself into an orderly, quiet, deliberate clearing away of the +impediment before the significant waiting of that dark, silent +horseman. + +Yet under this imperturbable mask he was keenly conscious of +everything; in that apparent concentration there was a sharpening +of all his senses and his impressibility: he saw the first trace of +doubt or alarm in the face of a subaltern to whom he was giving an +order; the first touch of sluggishness in a re-forming line; the +more significant clumsiness of a living evolution that he knew was +clogged by the dead bodies of comrades; the ominous silence of a +breastwork; the awful inertia of some rigidly kneeling files +beyond, which still kept their form but never would move again; the +melting away of skirmish points; the sudden gaps here and there; +the sickening incurving of what a moment before had been a straight +line--all these he saw in all their fatal significance. But even +at this moment, coming upon a hasty barricade of overset commissary +wagons, he stopped to glance at a familiar figure he had seen but +an hour ago, who now seemed to be commanding a group of collected +stragglers and camp followers. Mounted on a wheel, with a revolver +in each hand and a bowie knife between his teeth--theatrical even +in his paroxysm of undoubted courage--glared Jim Hooker. And +Clarence Brant, with the whole responsibility of the field on his +shoulders, even at that desperate moment, found himself recalling a +vivid picture of the actor Hooker personating the character of "Red +Dick" in "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower," as he had seen him in a +California theatre five years before. + +It wanted still an hour of the darkness that would probably close +the fight of that day. Could he hold out, keeping his offensive +position so long? A hasty council with his officers showed him +that the weakness of their position had already infected them. +They reminded him that his line of retreat was still open--that in +the course of the night the enemy, although still pressing towards +the division centre, might yet turn and outflank him--or that their +strangely delayed supports might come up before morning. Brant's +glass, however, remained fixed on the main column, still pursuing +its way along the ridge. It struck him suddenly, however, that the +steady current had stopped, spread out along the crest on both +sides, and was now at right angles with its previous course. There +had been a check! The next moment the thunder of guns along the +whole horizon, and the rising cloud of smoke, revealed a line of +battle. The division centre was engaged. The opportunity he had +longed for had come--the desperate chance to throw himself on their +rear and cut his way through to the division--but it had come too +late! He looked at his shattered ranks--scarce a regiment remained. +Even as a demonstration, the attack would fail against the enemy's +superior numbers. Nothing clearly was left to him now but to remain +where he was--within supporting distance, and await the issue of the +fight beyond. He was putting up his glass, when the dull boom of +cannon in the extreme western limit of the horizon attracted his +attention. By the still gleaming sky he could see a long gray line +stealing up from the valley from the distant rear of the headquarters +to join the main column. They were the missing supports! His heart +leaped. He held the key of the mystery now. The one imperfect +detail of the enemy's plan was before him. The supports, coming +later from the west, had only seen the second signal from the +window--when Miss Faulkner had replaced the vase--and had avoided +his position. It was impossible to limit the effect of this +blunder. If the young girl who had thus saved him had reached the +division commander with his message in time, he might be forewarned, +and even profit by it. His own position would be less precarious, +as the enemy, already engaged in front, would be unable to recover +their position in the rear and correct the blunder. The bulk of +their column had already streamed past him. If defeated, there was +always the danger that it might be rolled back upon him--but he +conjectured that the division commander would attempt to prevent the +junction of the supports with the main column by breaking between +them, crowding them from the ridge, and joining him. As the last +stragglers of the rear guard swept by, Brant's bugles were already +recalling the skirmishers. He redoubled his pickets, and resolved +to wait and watch. + +And there was the more painful duty of looking after the wounded +and the dead. The larger rooms of the headquarters had already +been used as a hospital. Passing from cot to cot, recognizing in +the faces now drawn with agony, or staring in vacant unconsciousness, +the features that he had seen only a few hours before flushed with +enthusiasm and excitement, something of his old doubting, questioning +nature returned. Was there no way but this? How far was HE--moving +among them unscathed and uninjured-- responsible? + +And if not he--who then? His mind went back bitterly to the old +days of the conspiracy--to the inception of that struggle which was +bearing such ghastly fruit. He thought of his traitorous wife, +until he felt his cheeks tingle, and he was fain to avert his eyes +from those of his prostrate comrades, in a strange fear that, with +the clairvoyance of dying men, they should read his secret. + +It was past midnight when, without undressing, he threw himself +upon his bed in the little convent-like cell to snatch a few +moments of sleep. Its spotless, peaceful walls and draperies +affected him strangely, as if he had brought into its immaculate +serenity the sanguine stain of war. He was awakened suddenly from +a deep slumber by an indefinite sense of alarm. His first thought +was that he had been summoned to repel an attack. He sat up and +listened; everything was silent except the measured tread of the +sentry on the gravel walk below. But the door was open. He sprang +to his feet and slipped into the gallery in time to see the tall +figure of a woman glide before the last moonlit window at its +farthest end. He could not see her face--but the characteristic +turbaned head of the negro race was plainly visible. + +He did not care to follow her or even to alarm the guard. If it +were the spy or one of her emissaries, she was powerless now to do +any harm, and under his late orders and the rigorous vigilance of +his sentinels she could not leave the lines--or, indeed, the house. +She probably knew this as well as he did; it was, therefore, no +doubt only an accidental intrusion of one of the servants. He +re-entered the room, and stood for a few moments by the window, +looking over the moonlit ridge. The sounds of distant cannon had +long since ceased. Wide awake, and refreshed by the keen morning +air, which alone of all created things seemed to have shaken the +burden of the dreadful yesterday from its dewy wings, he turned +away and lit a candle on the table. As he was rebuckling his sword +belt he saw a piece of paper lying on the foot of the bed from +which he had just risen. Taking it to the candle, he read in a +roughly scrawled hand: + +"You are asleep when you should be on the march. You have no time +to lose. Before daybreak the supports of the column you have been +foolishly resisting will be upon you.--From one who would save YOU, +but hates your cause." + +A smile of scorn passed his lips. The handwriting was unknown and +evidently disguised. The purport of the message had not alarmed +him; but suddenly a suspicion flashed upon him--that it came from +Miss Faulkner! She had failed in her attempt to pass through the +enemy's lines--or she had never tried to. She had deceived him--or +had thought better of her chivalrous impulse, and now sought to +mitigate her second treachery by this second warning. And he had +let her messenger escape him! + +He hurriedly descended the stairs. The sound of voices was +approaching him. He halted, and recognized the faces of the +brigade surgeon and one of his aides-de-camp. + +"We were hesitating whether to disturb you, general, but it may be +an affair of some importance. Under your orders a negro woman was +just now challenged stealing out of the lines. Attempting to +escape, she was chased, there was a struggle and scramble over the +wall, and she fell, striking her head. She was brought into the +guardhouse unconscious." + +"Very good. I will see her," said Brant, with a feeling of relief. + +"One moment, general. We thought you would perhaps prefer to see +her alone," said the surgeon, "for when I endeavored to bring her +to, and was sponging her face and head to discover her injuries, +her color came off! She was a white woman--stained and disguised +as a mulatto." + +For an instant Brant's heart sank. It was Miss Faulkner. + +"Did you recognize her?" he said, glancing from the one to the +other. "Have you seen her here before?" + +"No, sir," replied the aide-de-camp. "But she seemed to be quite a +superior woman--a lady, I should say." + +Brant breathed more freely. + +"Where is she now?" he asked. + +"In the guardhouse. We thought it better not to bring her into +hospital, among the men, until we had your orders." + +"You have done well," returned Brant gravely. "And you will keep +this to yourselves for the present; but see that she is brought +here quietly and with as little publicity as possible. Put her in +my room above, which I give up to her and any necessary attendant. +But you will look carefully after her, doctor,"--he turned to the +surgeon,--"and when she recovers consciousness let me know." + +He moved away. Although attaching little importance to the +mysterious message, whether sent by Miss Faulkner or emanating from +the stranger herself, which, he reasoned, was based only upon a +knowledge of the original plan of attack, he nevertheless quickly +dispatched a small scouting party in the direction from which the +attack might come, with orders to fall back and report at once. +With a certain half irony of recollection he had selected Jim +Hooker to accompany the party as a volunteer. This done, he +returned to the gallery. The surgeon met him at the door. + +"The indications of concussion are passing away," he said, "but she +seems to be suffering from the exhaustion following some great +nervous excitement. You may go in--she may rally from it at any +moment." + +With the artificial step and mysterious hush of the ordinary +visitor to a sick bed, Brant entered the room. But some instinct +greater than this common expression of humanity held him suddenly +in awe. The room seemed no longer his--it had slipped back into +that austere conventual privacy which had first impressed him. Yet +he hesitated; another strange suggestion--it seemed almost a vague +recollection--overcame him like some lingering perfume, far off and +pathetic, in its dying familiarity. He turned his eyes almost +timidly towards the bed. The coverlet was drawn up near the throat +of the figure to replace the striped cotton gown stained with blood +and dust, which had been hurriedly torn off and thrown on a chair. +The pale face, cleansed of blood and disguising color, the long +hair, still damp from the surgeon's sponge, lay rigidly back on the +pillow. Suddenly this man of steady nerve uttered a faint cry, +and, with a face as white as the upturned one before him, fell on +his knees beside the bed. For the face that lay there was his +wife's! + +Yes, hers! But the beautiful hair that she had gloried in--the +hair that in his youth he had thought had once fallen like a +benediction on his shoulder--was streaked with gray along the blue- +veined hollows of the temples; the orbits of those clear eyes, +beneath their delicately arched brows, were ringed with days of +suffering; only the clear-cut profile, even to the delicate +imperiousness of lips and nostril, was still there in all its +beauty. The coverlet had slipped from her shoulder; its familiar +cold contour startled him. He remembered how, in their early +married days, he had felt the sanctity of that Diana-like +revelation, and the still nymph-like austerity which clung to this +strange, childless woman. He even fancied that he breathed again +the subtle characteristic perfume of the laces, embroideries, and +delicate enwrappings in her chamber at Robles. Perhaps it was the +intensity of his gaze--perhaps it was the magnetism of his +presence--but her lips parted with a half sigh, half moan. Her +head, although her eyes were still closed, turned on the pillow +instinctively towards him. He rose from his knees. Her eyes +opened slowly. As the first glare of wonderment cleared from them, +they met him--in the old antagonism of spirit. Yet her first +gesture was a pathetic feminine movement with both hands to arrange +her straggling hair. It brought her white fingers, cleaned of +their disguising stains, as a sudden revelation to her of what had +happened; she instantly slipped them back under the coverlet again. +Brant did not speak, but with folded arms stood gazing upon her. +And it was her voice that first broke the silence. + +"You have recognized me? Well, I suppose you know all," she said, +with a weak half-defiance. + +He bowed his head. He felt as yet he could not trust his voice, +and envied her her own. + +"I may sit up, mayn't I?" She managed, by sheer force of will, to +struggle to a sitting posture. Then, as the coverlet slipped from +the bare shoulder, she said, as she drew it, with a shiver of +disgust, around her again,-- + +"I forgot that you strip women, you Northern soldiers! But I +forgot, too," she added, with a sarcastic smile, "that you are also +my husband, and I am in your room." + +The contemptuous significance of her speech dispelled the last +lingering remnant of Brant's dream. In a voice as dry as her own, +he said,-- + +"I am afraid you will now have to remember only that I am a +Northern general, and you a Southern spy." + +"So be it," she said gravely. Then impulsively, "But I have not +spied on YOU." + +Yet, the next moment, she bit her lips as if the expression had +unwittingly escaped her; and with a reckless shrug of her shoulders +she lay back on her pillow. + +"It matters not," said Brant coldly. "You have used this house and +those within it to forward your designs. It is not your fault that +you found nothing in the dispatch-box you opened." + +She stared at him quickly; then shrugged her shoulders again. + +"I might have known she was false to me," she said bitterly, "and +that you would wheedle her soul away as you have others. Well, she +betrayed me! For what?" + +A flush passed over Brant's face. But with an effort he contained +himself. + +"It was the flower that betrayed you! The flower whose red dust +fell in the box when you opened it on the desk by the window in +yonder room--the flower that stood in the window as a signal--the +flower I myself removed, and so spoiled the miserable plot that +your friends concocted." + +A look of mingled terror and awe came into her face. + +"YOU changed the signal!" she repeated dazedly; then, in a lower +voice, "that accounts for it all!" But the next moment she turned +again fiercely upon him. "And you mean to tell me that she didn't +help you--that she didn't sell me--your wife--to you for--for what +was it? A look--a kiss!" + +"I mean to say that she did not know the signal was changed, and +that she herself restored it to its place. It is no fault of hers +nor yours that I am not here a prisoner." + +She passed her thin hand dazedly across her forehead. + +"I see," she muttered. Then again bursting out passionately, she +said--"Fool! you never would have been touched! Do you think that +Lee would have gone for you, with higher game in your division +commander? No! Those supports were a feint to draw him to your +assistance while our main column broke his centre. Yes, you may +stare at me, Clarence Brant. You are a good lawyer--they say a +dashing fighter, too. I never thought you a coward, even in your +irresolution; but you are fighting with men drilled in the art of +war and strategy when you were a boy outcast on the plains." She +stopped, closed her eyes, and then added, wearily--"But that was +yesterday--to-day, who knows? All may be changed. The supports +may still attack you. That was why I stopped to write you that +note an hour ago, when I believed I should be leaving here for +ever. Yes, I did it!" she went on, with half-wearied, half-dogged +determination. "You may as well know all. I had arranged to fly. +Your pickets were to be drawn by friends of mine, who were waiting +for me beyond your lines. Well, I lingered here when I saw you +arrive--lingered to write you that note. And--I was too late!" + +But Brant had been watching her varying expression, her kindling +eye, her strange masculine grasp of military knowledge, her +soldierly phraseology, all so new to her, that he scarcely heeded +the feminine ending of her speech. It seemed to him no longer the +Diana of his youthful fancy, but some Pallas Athene, who now looked +up at him from the pillow. He had never before fully believed in +her unselfish devotion to the cause until now, when it seemed to +have almost unsexed her. In his wildest comprehension of her he +had never dreamed her a Joan of Arc, and yet hers was the face +which might have confronted him, exalted and inspired, on the +battlefield itself. He recalled himself with an effort. + +"I thank you for your would-be warning," he said more gently, if +not so tenderly, "and God knows I wish your flight had been +successful. But even your warning is unnecessary, for the supports +had already come up; they had followed the second signal, and +diverged to engage our division on the left, leaving me alone. And +their ruse of drawing our commander to assist me would not have +been successful, as I had suspected it, and sent a message to him +that I wanted no help." + +It was the truth; it was the sole purport of the note he had sent +through Miss Faulkner. He would not have disclosed his sacrifice; +but so great was the strange domination of this woman still over +him, that he felt compelled to assert his superiority. She fixed +her eyes upon him. + +"And Miss Faulkner took your message?" she said slowly. "Don't +deny it! No one else could have passed through our lines; and you +gave her a safe conduct through yours. Yes, I might have known it. +And this was the creature they sent me for an ally and confidant!" + +For an instant Brant felt the sting of this enforced contrast +between the two women. But he only said,-- + +"You forget that I did not know you were the spy, nor do I believe +that she suspected you were my wife." + +"Why should she?" she said almost fiercely. "I am known among +these people only by the name of Benham---my maiden name. Yes!-- +you can take me out, and shoot me under that name, without +disgracing yours. Nobody will know that the Southern spy was the +wife of the Northern general! You see, I have thought even of +that!" + +"And thinking of that," said Brant slowly, "you have put yourself-- +I will not say in my power, for you are in the power of any man in +this camp who may know you, or even hear you speak. Well, let us +understand each other plainly. I do not know how great a sacrifice +your devotion to your cause demands of you; I do know what it seems +to demand of me. Hear me, then! I will do my best to protect you, +and get you safely away from here; but, failing that, I tell you +plainly that I shall blow out your brains and my own together." + +She knew that he would do it. Yet her eyes suddenly beamed with a +new and awakening light; she put back her hair again, and half +raised herself upon the pillow, to gaze at his dark, set face. + +"And as I shall let no other life but ours be periled in this +affair," he went on quietly, "and will accompany you myself in some +disguise beyond the lines, we will together take the risks--or the +bullets of the sentries that may save us both all further trouble. +An hour or two more will settle that. Until then your weak +condition will excuse you from any disturbance or intrusion here. +The mulatto woman you have sometimes personated may be still in +this house; I will appoint her to attend you. I suppose you can +trust her, for you must personate her again, and escape in her +clothes, while she takes your place in this room as my prisoner." + +"Clarence!" + +Her voice had changed suddenly; it was no longer bitter and +stridulous, but low and thrilling as he had heard her call to him +that night in the patio of Robles. He turned quickly. She was +leaning from the bed--her thin, white hands stretched appealingly +towards him. + +"Let us go together, Clarence," she said eagerly. "Let us leave +this horrible place--these wicked, cruel people--forever. Come +with me! Come with me to my people--to my own faith--to my own +house--which shall be yours! Come with me to defend it with your +good sword, Clarence, against those vile invaders with whom you +have nothing in common, and who are the dirt under your feet. Yes, +yes! I know it!--I have done you wrong--I have lied to you when I +spoke against your skill and power. You are a hero--a born leader +of men! I know it! Have I not heard it from the men who have +fought against you, and yet admired and understood you, ay, better +than your own?--gallant men, Clarence, soldiers bred who did not +know what you were to me nor how proud I was of you even while I +hated you? Come with me! Think what we would do together--with +one faith--one cause--one ambition! Think, Clarence, there is no +limit you might not attain! We are no niggards of our rewards and +honors--we have no hireling votes to truckle to--we know our +friends! Even I--Clarence--I"--there was a strange pathos in the +sudden humility that seemed to overcome her--"I have had my reward +and known my power. I have been sent abroad, in the confidence of +the highest--to the highest. Don't turn from me. I am offering +you no bribe, Clarence, only your deserts. Come with me. Leave +these curs behind, and live the hero that you are!" + +He turned his blazing eyes upon her. + +"If you were a man"--he began passionately, then stopped. + +"No! I am only a woman and must fight in a woman's way," she +interrupted bitterly. "Yes! I intreat, I implore, I wheedle, I +flatter, I fawn, I lie! I creep where you stand upright, and pass +through doors to which you would not bow. You wear your blazon of +honor on your shoulder; I hide mine in a slave's gown. And yet I +have worked and striven and suffered! Listen, Clarence," her voice +again sank to its appealing minor,--"I know what you men call +'honor,' that which makes you cling to a merely spoken word, or an +empty oath. Well, let that pass! I am weary; I have done my share +of this work, you have done yours. Let us both fly; let us leave +the fight to those who shall come after us, and let us go together +to some distant land where the sounds of these guns or the blood of +our brothers no longer cry out to us for vengeance! There are +those living here--I have met them, Clarence," she went on +hurriedly, "who think it wrong to lift up fratricidal hands in the +struggle, yet who cannot live under the Northern yoke. They are," +her voice hesitated, "good men and women--they are respected--they +are"-- + +"Recreants and slaves, before whom you, spy as you are--stand a +queen!" broke in Brant, passionately. He stopped and turned +towards the window. After a pause he came back again towards the +bed--paused again and then said in a lower voice--"Four years ago, +Alice, in the patio of our house at Robles, I might have listened +to this proposal, and--I tremble to think--I might have accepted +it! I loved you; I was as weak, as selfish, as unreflecting, my +life was as purposeless--but for you--as the creatures you speak +of. But give me now, at least, the credit of a devotion to my +cause equal to your own--a credit which I have never denied you! +For the night that you left me, I awoke to a sense of my own +worthlessness and degradation--perhaps I have even to thank you for +that awakening--and I realized the bitter truth. But that night I +found my true vocation--my purpose, my manhood"-- + +A bitter laugh came from the pillow on which she had languidly +thrown herself. + +"I believe I left you with Mrs. Hooker--spare me the details." + +The blood rushed to Brant's face and then receded as suddenly. + +"You left me with Captain Pinckney, who had tempted you, and whom I +killed!" he said furiously. + +They were both staring savagely at each other. Suddenly he said, +"Hush!" and sprang towards the door, as the sound of hurried +footsteps echoed along the passage. But he was too late; it was +thrown open to the officer of the guard, who appeared, standing on +the threshold. + +"Two Confederate officers arrested hovering around our pickets. +They demand to see you." + +Before Brant could interpose, two men in riding cloaks of +Confederate gray stepped into the room with a jaunty and self- +confident air. + +"Not DEMAND, general," said the foremost, a tall, distinguished- +looking man, lifting his hand with a graceful deprecating air. "In +fact, too sorry to bother you with an affair of no importance +except to ourselves. A bit of after-dinner bravado brought us in +contact with your pickets, and, of course, we had to take the +consequences. Served us right, and we were lucky not to have got a +bullet through us. Gad! I'm afraid my men would have been less +discreet! I am Colonel Lagrange, of the 5th Tennessee; my young +friend here is Captain Faulkner, of the 1st Kentucky. Some excuse +for a youngster like him--none for me! I"-- + +He stopped, for his eyes suddenly fell upon the bed and its +occupant. Both he and his companion started. But to the natural, +unaffected dismay of a gentleman who had unwittingly intruded upon +a lady's bedchamber, Brant's quick eye saw a more disastrous +concern superadded. Colonel Lagrange was quick to recover himself, +as they both removed their caps. + +"A thousand pardons," he said, hurriedly stepping backwards to the +door. "But I hardly need say to a fellow-officer, general, that we +had no idea of making so gross an intrusion! We heard some cock- +and-bull story of your being occupied--cross-questioning an escaped +or escaping nigger--or we should never have forced ourselves upon +you." + +Brant glanced quickly at his wife. Her face had apparently become +rigid on the entrance of the two men; her eyes were coldly fixed +upon the ceiling. He bowed formally, and, with a wave of his hand +towards the door, said,-- + +"I will hear your story below, gentleman." + +He followed them from the room, stopped to quietly turn the key in +the lock, and then motioned them to precede him down the staircase. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Not a word was exchanged till they had reached the lower landing +and Brant's private room. Dismissing his subaltern and orderly +with a sign, Brant turned towards his prisoners. The jaunty ease, +but not the self-possession, had gone from Lagrange's face; the +eyes of Captain Faulkner were fixed on his older companion with a +half-humorous look of perplexity. + +"I am afraid I can only repeat, general, that our foolhardy freak +has put us in collision with your sentries," said Lagrange, with a +slight hauteur, that replaced his former jauntiness; "and we were +very properly made prisoners. If you will accept my parole, I have +no doubt our commander will proceed to exchange a couple of gallant +fellows of yours, whom I have had the honor of meeting within our +own lines, and whom you must miss probably more than I fear our +superiors miss us." + +"Whatever brought you here, gentlemen," said Brant drily, "I am +glad, for your sakes, that you are in uniform, although it does +not, unfortunately, relieve me of an unpleasant duty." + +"I don't think I understand you," returned Lagrange, coldly. + +"If you had not been in uniform, you would probably have been shot +down as spies, without the trouble of capture," said Brant quietly. + +"Do you mean to imply, sir"--began Lagrange sternly. + +"I mean to say that the existence of a Confederate spy between this +camp and the division headquarters is sufficiently well known to us +to justify the strongest action." + +"And pray, how can that affect us?" said Lagrange haughtily. + +"I need not inform so old a soldier as Colonel Lagrange that the +aiding, abetting, and even receiving information from a spy or +traitor within one's lines is an equally dangerous service." + +"Perhaps you would like to satisfy yourself, General," said Colonel +Lagrange, with an ironical laugh. "Pray do not hesitate on account +of our uniform. Search us if you like." + +"Not on entering my lines, Colonel," replied Brant, with quiet +significance. + +Lagrange's cheek flushed. But he recovered himself quickly, and +with a formal bow said,-- + +"You will, then, perhaps, let us know your pleasure?" + +"My DUTY, Colonel, is to keep you both close prisoners here until I +have an opportunity to forward you to the division commander, with +a report of the circumstances of your arrest. That I propose to +do. How soon I may have that opportunity, or if I am ever to have +it," continued Brant, fixing his clear eyes significantly on +Lagrange, "depends upon the chances of war, which you probably +understand as well as I do." + +"We should never think of making any calculation on the action of +an officer of such infinite resources as General Brant," said +Lagrange ironically. + +"You will, no doubt, have an opportunity of stating your own case +to the division commander," continued Brant, with an unmoved face. +"And," he continued, turning for the first time to Captain +Faulkner, "when you tell the commander what I believe to be the +fact--from your name and resemblance--that you are a relation of +the young lady who for the last three weeks has been an inmate of +this house under a pass from Washington, you will, I have no doubt, +favorably explain your own propinquity to my lines." + +"My sister Tilly!" said the young officer impulsively. "But she is +no longer here. She passed through the lines back to Washington +yesterday. No," he added, with a light laugh, "I'm afraid that +excuse won't count for to-day." + +A sudden frown upon the face of the elder officer, added to the +perfect ingenuousness of Faulkner's speech, satisfied Brant that he +had not only elicited the truth, but that Miss Faulkner had been +successful. But he was sincere in his suggestion that her +relationship to the young officer would incline the division +commander to look leniently upon his fault, for he was conscious of +a singular satisfaction in thus being able to serve her. Of the +real object of the two men before him he had no doubt. They were +"the friends" of his wife, who were waiting for her outside the +lines! Chance alone had saved her from being arrested with them, +with the consequent exposure of her treachery before his own men, +who, as yet, had no proof of her guilt, nor any suspicion of her +actual identity. Meanwhile his own chance of conveying her with +safety beyond his lines was not affected by the incident; the +prisoners dare not reveal what they knew of her, and it was with a +grim triumph that he thought of compassing her escape without their +aid. Nothing of this, however, was visible in his face, which the +younger man watched with a kind of boyish curiosity, while Colonel +Lagrange regarded the ceiling with a politely repressed yawn. "I +regret," concluded Brant, as he summoned the officer of the guard, +"that I shall have to deprive you of each other's company during +the time you are here; but I shall see that you, separately, want +for nothing in your confinement." + +"If this is with a view to separate interrogatory, general, I can +retire now," said Lagrange, rising, with ironical politeness. + +"I believe I have all the information I require," returned Brant, +with undisturbed composure. Giving the necessary orders to his +subaltern, he acknowledged with equal calm the formal salutes of +the two prisoners as they were led away, and returned quickly to +his bedroom above. He paused instinctively for a moment before the +closed door, and listened. There was no sound from within. He +unlocked the door, and opened it. + +So quiet was the interior that for an instant, without glancing at +the bed, he cast a quick look at the window, which, till then, he +had forgotten, and which he remembered gave upon the veranda roof. +But it was still closed, and as he approached the bed, he saw his +wife still lying there, in the attitude in which he had left her. +But her eyes were ringed, and slightly filmed, as if with recent +tears. + +It was perhaps this circumstance that softened his voice, still +harsh with command, as he said,-- + +"I suppose you knew those two men?" + +"Yes." + +"And that I have put it out of their power to help you?" + +"I do." + +There was something so strangely submissive in her voice that he +again looked suspiciously at her. But he was shocked to see that +she was quite pale now, and that the fire had gone out of her dark +eyes. + +"Then I may tell you what is my plan to save you. But, first, you +must find this mulatto woman who has acted as your double." + +"She is here." + +"Here?" + +"Yes." + +"How do you know it?" he asked, in quick suspicion. + +"She was not to leave this place until she knew I was safe within +our lines. I have some friends who are faithful to me." After a +pause she added, "She has been here already." + +He looked at her, startled. "Impossible--I"-- + +"You locked the door. Yes! but she has a second key. And even if +she had not, there is another entrance from that closet. You do +not know this house: you have been here two weeks; I spent two +years of my life, as a girl, in this room." + +An indescribable sensation came over him; he remembered how he had +felt when he first occupied it; this was followed by a keen sense +of shame on reflecting that he had been, ever since, but a helpless +puppet in the power of his enemies, and that she could have escaped +if she would, even now. + +"Perhaps," he said grimly, "you have already arranged your plans?" + +She looked at him with a singular reproachfulness even in her +submission. + +"I have only told her to be ready to change clothes with me and +help me color my face and hands at the time appointed. I have left +the rest to you." + +"Then this is my plan. I have changed only a detail. You and she +must both leave this house at the same time, by different exits, +but one of them must be private--and unknown to my men. Do you +know of such a one?" + +"Yes," she said, "in the rear of the negro quarters." + +"Good," he replied, "that will be your way out. She will leave +here, publicly, through the parade, armed with a pass from me. She +will be overhauled and challenged by the first sentry near the +guardhouse, below the wall. She will be subjected to some delay +and scrutiny, which she will, however, be able to pass better than +you would. This will create the momentary diversion that we +require. In the mean time, you will have left the house by the +rear, and you will then keep in the shadow of the hedge until you +can drop down along the Run, where it empties into the swamp. +That," he continued, fixing his keen eyes upon her, "is the one +weak point in the position of this place that is neither overlooked +nor defended. But perhaps," he added again grimly, "you already +know it." + +"It is the marsh where the flowers grow, near the path where you +met Miss Faulkner. I had crossed the marsh to give her a letter," +she said slowly. + +A bitter smile came over Brant's face, but passed as quickly. + +"Enough," he said quietly, "I will meet you beside the Run, and +cross the marsh with you until you are within hailing distance of +your lines. I will be in plain clothes, Alice," he went on slowly, +"for it will not be the commander of this force who accompanies +you, but your husband, and, without disgracing his uniform, he will +drop to your level; for the instant he passes his own lines, in +disguise, he will become, like you, a spy, and amenable to its +penalties." + +Her eyes seemed suddenly to leap up to his with that strange look +of awakening and enthusiasm which he had noted before. And in its +complete prepossession of all her instincts she rose from the bed, +unheeding her bared arms and shoulders and loosened hair, and stood +upright before him. For an instant husband and wife regarded each +other as unreservedly as in their own chamber at Robles. + +"When shall I go?" + +He glanced through the window already growing lighter with the +coming dawn. The relief would pass in a few moments; the time +seemed propitious. + +"At once," he said. "I will send Rose to you." + +But his wife had already passed into the closet, and was tapping +upon some inner door. He heard the sound of hinges turning and the +rustling of garments. She reappeared, holding the curtains of the +closet together with her hand, and said,-- + +"Go! When she comes to your office for the pass, you will know +that I have gone." + +He turned away. + +"Stop!" she said faintly. + +He turned back. Her expression had again changed. Her face was +deadly pale; a strange tremor seemed to have taken possession of +her. Her hands dropped from the curtain. Her beautiful arms moved +slightly forward; it seemed to him that she would in the next +moment have extended them towards him. But even then she said +hurriedly, "Go! Go!" and slipped again behind the curtains. + +He quickly descended the stairs as the sound of trampling feet on +the road, and the hurried word of command, announced the return of +the scouting party. The officer had little report to make beyond +the fact that a morning mist, creeping along the valley, prevented +any further observation, and bade fair to interrupt their own +communications with the camp. Everything was quiet in the west, +although the enemy's lines along the ridge seemed to have receded. + +Brant had listened impatiently, for a new idea had seized him. +Hooker was of the party, and was the one man in whom he could +partly confide, and obtain a disguise. He at once made his way to +the commissary wagons--one of which he knew Hooker used as a tent. +Hastily telling him that he wished to visit the pickets without +recognition, he induced him to lend him his slouched hat and frock +coat, leaving with him his own distinguishing tunic, hat, and +sword. He resisted the belt and pistols which Hooker would have +forced upon him. As he left the wagon he was amusedly conscious +that his old companion was characteristically examining the +garments he had left behind with mingled admiration and envy. But +he did not know, as he slipped out of the camp, that Mr. Hooker was +quietly trying them on, before a broken mirror in the wagon-head! + +The gray light of that summer morning was already so strong that, +to avoid detection, he quickly dropped into the shadow of the gully +that sloped towards the Run. The hot mist which the scouts had +seen was now lying like a tranquil sea between him and the pickets +of the enemy's rear-guard, which it seemed to submerge, and was +clinging in moist tenuous swathes--like drawn-out cotton wool-- +along the ridge, half obliterating its face. From the valley in +the rear it was already stealing in a thin white line up the slope +like the advance of a ghostly column, with a stealthiness that, in +spite of himself, touched him with superstitious significance. A +warm perfume, languid and treacherous--as from the swamp magnolia-- +seemed to rise from the half-hidden marsh. An ominous silence, +that appeared to be a part of this veiling of all things under the +clear opal-tinted sky above, was so little like the hush of rest +and peace, that he half-yearned for the outburst of musketry and +tumult of attack that might dispel it. All that he had ever heard +or dreamed of the insidious South, with its languid subtleties of +climate and of race, seemed to encompass him here. + +But the next moment he saw the figure he was waiting for stealing +towards him from the shadow of the gulley beneath the negro +quarters. + +Even in that uncertain light there was no mistaking the tall +figure, the gaudily striped clinging gown and turbaned head. And +then a strange revulsion of feeling, quite characteristic of the +emotional side of his singular temperament, overcame him. He was +taking leave of his wife--the dream of his youth--perhaps forever! +It should be no parting in anger as at Robles; it should be with a +tenderness that would blot out their past in their separate +memories--God knows! it might even be that a parting at that moment +was a joining of them in eternity. In his momentary exaltation it +even struck him that it was a duty, no less sacred, no less +unselfish than the one to which he had devoted his life. The light +was growing stronger; he could hear voices in the nearest picket +line, and the sound of a cough in the invading mist. He made a +hurried sign to the on-coming figure to follow him, ran ahead, and +halted at last in the cover of a hackmatack bush. Still gazing +forward over the marsh, he stealthily held out his hand behind him +as the rustling skirt came nearer. At last his hand was touched-- +but even at that touch he started and turned quickly. + +It was not his wife, but Rose!--her mulatto double! Her face was +rigid with fright, her beady eyes staring in their china sockets, +her white teeth chattering. Yet she would have spoken. + +"Hush!" he said, clutching her hand, in a fierce whisper. "Not a +word!" + +She was holding something white in her fingers; he snatched it +quickly. It was a note from his wife--not in the disguised hand of +her first warning, but in one that he remembered as if it were a +voice from their past. + +"Forgive me for disobeying you to save you from capture, disgrace, +or death--which would have come to you where you were going! I +have taken Rose's pass. You need not fear that your honor will +suffer by it, for if I am stopped I shall confess that I took it +from her. Think no more of me, Clarence, but only of yourself. +You are in danger." + +He crushed the letter in his hand. + +"Tell me," he said in a fierce whisper, seizing her arm, "and speak +low. When did you leave her?" + +"Sho'ly just now!" gasped the frightened woman. + +He flung her aside. There might be still time to overtake and save +her before she reached the picket lines. He ran up the gully, and +out on to the slope towards the first guard-post. But a familiar +challenge reached his ear, and his heart stopped beating. + +"Who goes there?" + +There was a pause, a rattle of arms voices--another pause--and +Brant stood breathlessly listening. Then the voice rose again +slowly and clearly: "Pass the mulatto woman!" + +Thank God! she was saved! But the thought had scarcely crossed his +mind before it seemed to him that a blinding crackle of sparks +burst out along the whole slope below the wall, a characteristic +yell which he knew too well rang in his ears, and an undulating +line of dusty figures came leaping like gray wolves out of the mist +upon his pickets. He heard the shouts of his men falling back as +they fired; the harsh commands of a few officers hurrying to their +posts, and knew that he had been hopelessly surprised and surrounded! + +He ran forward among his disorganized men. To his consternation no +one seemed to heed him! Then the remembrance of his disguise +flashed upon him. But he had only time to throw away his hat and +snatch a sword from a falling lieutenant, before a scorching flash +seemed to pass before his eyes and burn through his hair, and he +dropped like a log beside his subaltern. + + . . . . . . + +An aching under the bandage around his head where a spent bullet +had grazed his scalp, and the sound of impossible voices in his +ears were all he knew as he struggled slowly back to consciousness +again. Even then it still seemed a delusion,--for he was lying on +a cot in his own hospital, yet with officers of the division staff +around him, and the division commander himself standing by his +side, and regarding him with an air of grave but not unkindly +concern. But the wounded man felt instinctively that it was not +the effect of his physical condition, and a sense of shame came +suddenly over him, which was not dissipated by his superior's +words. For, motioning the others aside, the major-general leaned +over his cot, and said,-- + +"Until a few moments ago, the report was that you had been captured +in the first rush of the rear-guard which we were rolling up for +your attack, and when you were picked up, just now, in plain +clothes on the slope, you were not recognized. The one thing +seemed to be as improbable as the other," he added significantly. + +The miserable truth flashed across Brant's mind. Hooker must have +been captured in his clothes--perhaps in some extravagant sally-- +and had not been recognized in the confusion by his own officers. +Nevertheless, he raised his eyes to his superior. + +"You got my note?" + +The general's brow darkened. + +"Yes," he said slowly, "but finding you thus unprepared--I had been +thinking just now that you had been deceived by that woman--or by +others--and that it was a clumsy forgery." He stopped, and seeing +the hopeless bewilderment in the face of the wounded man, added +more kindly: "But we will not talk of that in your present +condition. The doctor says a few hours will put you straight +again. Get strong, for I want you to lose no time--for your own +sake--to report yourself at Washington." + +"Report myself--at Washington!" repeated Brant slowly. + +"That was last night's order," said the commander, with military +curtness. Then he burst out: "I don't understand it, Brant! I +believe you have been misunderstood, misrepresented, perhaps +maligned and I shall make it MY business to see the thing through-- +but those are the Department orders. And for the present--I am +sorry to say you are relieved of your command." + +He turned away, and Brant closed his eyes. With them it seemed to +him that he closed his career. No one would ever understand his +explanation--even had he been tempted to give one, and he knew he +never would. Everything was over now! Even this wretched bullet +had not struck him fairly, and culminated his fate as it might! +For an instant, he recalled his wife's last offer to fly with him +beyond the seas--beyond this cruel injustice--but even as he +recalled it, he knew that flight meant the worst of all--a half- +confession! But she had escaped! Thank God for that! Again and +again in his hopeless perplexity this comfort returned to him,--he +had saved her; he had done his duty. And harping upon this in his +strange fatalism, it at last seemed to him that this was for what +he had lived--for what he had suffered--for what he had fitly ended +his career. Perhaps it was left for him now to pass his remaining +years in forgotten exile--even as his father had--his father!--his +breath came quickly at the thought--God knows! perhaps as +wrongfully accused! It may have been a Providence that she had +borne him no child, to whom this dreadful heritage could be again +transmitted. + +There was something of this strange and fateful resignation in his +face, a few hours later, when he was able to be helped again into +the saddle. But he could see in the eyes of the few comrades who +commiseratingly took leave of him, a vague, half-repressed awe of +some indefinite weakness in the man, that mingled with their +heartfelt parting with a gallant soldier. Yet even this touched +him no longer. He cast a glance at the house and the room where he +had parted from her, at the slope from which she had passed--and +rode away. + +And then, as his figure disappeared down the road, the restrained +commentary of wonder, surmise, and criticism broke out:-- + +"It must have been something mighty bad, for the old man, who +swears by him, looked rather troubled. And it was deuced queer, +you know, this changing clothes with somebody, just before this +surprise!" + +"Nonsense! It's something away back of that! Didn't you hear the +old man say that the orders for him to report himself came from +Washington LAST NIGHT? No!"--the speaker lowered his voice-- +"Strangeways says that he had regularly sold himself out to one of +them d----d secesh woman spies! It's the old Marc Antony business +over again!" + +"Now I think of it," said a younger subaltern, "he did seem +mightily taken with one of those quadroons or mulattoes he issued +orders against. I suppose that was a blind for us! I remember the +first day he saw her; he was regularly keen to know all about her." + +Major Curtis gave a short laugh. + +"That mulatto, Martin, was a white woman, burnt-corked! She was +trying to get through the lines last night, and fell off a wall or +got a knock on the head from a sentry's carbine. When she was +brought in, Doctor Simmons set to washing the blood off her face; +the cork came off and the whole thing came out. Brant hushed it +up--and the woman, too--in his own quarters! It's supposed now +that she got away somehow in the rush!" + +"It goes further back than that, gentlemen," said the adjutant +authoritatively. "They say his wife was a howling secessionist, +four years ago, in California, was mixed up in a conspiracy, and he +had to leave on account of it. Look how thick he and that Miss +Faulkner became, before he helped HER off!" + +"That's your jealousy, Tommy; she knew he was, by all odds, the +biggest man here, and a good deal more, too, and you had no show!" + +In the laugh that followed, it would seem that Brant's eulogy had +been spoken and forgotten. But as Lieutenant Martin was turning +away, a lingering corporal touched his cap. + +"You were speaking of those prowling mulattoes, sir. You know the +general passed one out this morning." + +"So I have heard." + +"I reckon she didn't get very far. It was just at the time that we +were driven in by their first fire, and I think she got her share +of it, too. Do you mind walking this way, sir!" + +The lieutenant did not mind, although he rather languidly followed. +When they had reached the top of the gully, the corporal pointed to +what seemed to be a bit of striped calico hanging on a thorn bush +in the ravine. + +"That's her," said the corporal. "I know the dress; I was on guard +when she was passed. The searchers, who were picking up our men, +haven't got to her yet; but she ain't moved or stirred these two +hours. Would you like to go down and see her?" + +The lieutenant hesitated. He was young, and slightly fastidious as +to unnecessary unpleasantness. He believed he would wait until the +searchers brought her up, when the corporal might call him. + +The mist came up gloriously from the swamp like a golden halo. And +as Clarence Brant, already forgotten, rode moodily through it +towards Washington, hugging to his heart the solitary comfort of +his great sacrifice, his wife, Alice Brant, for whom he had made +it, was lying in the ravine, dead and uncared for. Perhaps it was +part of the inconsistency of her sex that she was pierced with the +bullets of those she had loved, and was wearing the garments of the +race that she had wronged. + + + +PART III. + + +CHAPTER I. + + +It was sunset of a hot day at Washington. Even at that hour the +broad avenues, which diverged from the Capitol like the rays of +another sun, were fierce and glittering. The sterile distances +between glowed more cruelly than ever, and pedestrians, keeping in +the scant shade, hesitated on the curbstones before plunging into +the Sahara-like waste of crossings. The city seemed deserted. +Even that vast army of contractors, speculators, place-hunters, and +lobbyists, which hung on the heels of the other army, and had +turned this pacific camp of the nation into a battlefield of +ignoble conflict and contention--more disastrous than the one to +the South--had slunk into their holes in hotel back bedrooms, in +shady barrooms, or in the negro quarters of Georgetown, as if the +majestic, white-robed Goddess enthroned upon the dome of the +Capitol had at last descended among them and was smiting to right +and left with the flat and flash of her insufferable sword. + +Into this stifling atmosphere of greed and corruption Clarence +Brant stepped from the shadow of the War Department. For the last +three weeks he had haunted its ante-rooms and audience-chambers, in +the vain hope of righting himself before his superiors, who were +content, without formulating charges against him, to keep him in +this disgrace of inaction and the anxiety of suspense. Unable to +ascertain the details of the accusation, and conscious of his own +secret, he was debarred the last resort of demanding a court- +martial, which he knew could only exonerate him by the exposure of +the guilt of his wife, whom he still hoped had safely escaped. His +division commander, in active operations in the field, had no time +to help him at Washington. Elbowed aside by greedy contractors, +forestalled by selfish politicians, and disdaining the ordinary +method of influence, he had no friend to turn to. In his few years +of campaigning he had lost his instinct of diplomacy, without +acquiring a soldier's bluntness. + +The nearly level rays of the sun forced him at last to turn aside +into one of the openings of a large building--a famous caravansary +of that hotel-haunted capital, and he presently found himself in +the luxurious bar-room, fragrant with mint, and cool with ice-slabs +piled symmetrically on its marble counters. A few groups of men +were seeking coolness at small tables with glasses before them and +palm-leaf fans in their hands, but a larger and noisier assemblage +was collected before the bar, where a man, collarless and in his +shirt-sleeves, with his back to the counter, was pretentiously +addressing them. Brant, who had moodily dropped into a chair in +the corner, after ordering a cooling drink as an excuse for his +temporary refuge from the stifling street, half-regretted his +enforced participation in their conviviality. But a sudden +lowering of the speaker's voice into a note of gloomy significance +seemed familiar to him. He glanced at him quickly, from the shadow +of his corner. He was not mistaken--it was Jim Hooker! + +For the first time in his life, Brant wished to evade him. In the +days of his own prosperity his heart had always gone out towards +this old companion of his boyhood; in his present humiliation his +presence jarred upon him. He would have slipped away, but to do so +he would have had to pass before the counter again, and Hooker, +with the self-consciousness of a story-teller, had an eye on his +audience. Brant, with a palm-leaf fan before his face, was obliged +to listen. + +"Yes, gentlemen," said Hooker, examining his glass dramatically, +"when a man's been cooped up in a Rebel prison, with a death line +before him that he's obliged to cross every time he wants a square +drink, it seems sort of like a dream of his boyhood to be standin' +here comf'ble before his liquor, alongside o' white men once more. +And when he knows he's bin put to all that trouble jest to save the +reputation of another man, and the secrets of a few high and mighty +ones, it's almost enough to make his liquor go agin him." He +stopped theatrically, seemed to choke emotionally over his brandy +squash, but with a pause of dramatic determination finally dashed +it down. "No, gentlemen," he continued gloomily, "I don't say what +I'm back in Washington FOR--I don't say what I've been sayin' to +myself when I've bin picking the weevils outer my biscuits in Libby +Prison--but ef you don't see some pretty big men in the War +Department obliged to climb down in the next few days, my name +ain't Jim Hooker, of Hooker, Meacham & Co., Army Beef Contractors, +and the man who saved the fight at Gray Oaks!" + +The smile of satisfaction that went around his audience--an audience +quick to seize the weakness of any performance--might have startled +a vanity less oblivious than Hooker's; but it only aroused Brant's +indignation and pity, and made his position still more intolerable. +But Hooker, scornfully expectorating a thin stream of tobacco juice +against the spittoon, remained for an instant gloomily silent. + +"Tell us about the fight again," said a smiling auditor. + +Hooker looked around the room with a certain dark suspiciousness, +and then, in an affected lower voice, which his theatrical +experience made perfectly audible, went on:-- + +"It ain't much to speak of, and if it wasn't for the principle of +the thing, I wouldn't be talking. A man who's seen Injin fightin' +don't go much on this here West Point fightin' by rule-of-three-- +but that ain't here or there! Well, I'd bin out a-scoutin'--just +to help the boys along, and I was sittin' in my wagon about +daybreak, when along comes a brigadier-general, and he looks into +the wagon flap. I oughter to tell you first, gentlemen, that every +minit he was expecting an attack--but he didn't let on a hint of it +to me. 'How are you, Jim?' said he. 'How are you, general?' said +I. 'Would you mind lendin' me your coat and hat?' says he. 'I've +got a little game here with our pickets, and I don't want to be +recognized.' 'Anything to oblige, general,' said I, and with that +I strips off my coat and hat, and he peels and puts them on. +'Nearly the same figure, Jim,' he says, lookin' at me, 'suppose you +try on my things and see.' With that he hands me his coat--full +uniform, by G-d!--with the little gold cords and laces and the +epaulettes with a star, and I puts it on--quite innocent-like. And +then he says, handin' me his sword and belt, 'Same inches round the +waist, I reckon,' and I puts that on too. 'You may as well keep +'em on till I come back,' says he, 'for it's mighty damp and +malarious at this time around the swamp.' And with that he lights +out. Well, gentlemen, I hadn't sat there five minutes before Bang! +bang! rattle! rattle! kershiz! and I hears a yell. I steps out of +the wagon; everything's quite dark, but the rattle goes on. Then +along trots an orderly, leadin' a horse. 'Mount, general,' he +says, 'we're attacked--the rear-guard's on us!'" + +He paused, looked round his audience, and then in a lower voice, +said darkly,-- + +"I ain't a fool, an' in that minute a man's brain works at high +pressure, and I saw it all! I saw the little game of the brigadier +to skunk away in my clothes and leave me to be captured in his. +But I ain't a dog neither, and I mounted that horse, gentlemen, and +lit out to where the men were formin'! I didn't dare to speak, +lest they should know me, but I waved my sword, and by G-d! they +followed me! And the next minit we was in the thick of it. I had +my hat as full of holes as that ice strainer; I had a dozen bullets +through my coat, the fringe of my epaulettes was shot away, but I +kept the boys at their work--and we stopped 'em! Stopped 'em, +gentlemen, until we heard the bugles of the rest of our division, +that all this time had been rolling that blasted rear-guard over on +us! And it saved the fight; but the next minute the Johnny Rebs +made a last dash and cut me off--and there I was--by G-d, a +prisoner! Me that had saved the fight!" + +A ripple of ironical applause went round as Hooker gloomily drained +his glass, and then held up his hand in scornful deprecation. + +"I said I was a prisoner, gentlemen," he went on bitterly; "but +that ain't all! I asked to see Johnston, told him what I had done, +and demanded to be exchanged for a general officer. He said, 'You +be d----d.' I then sent word to the division commander-in-chief, +and told him how I had saved Gray Oaks when his brigadier ran away, +and he said, 'You be d----d.' I've bin 'You be d----d' from the +lowest non-com. to the commander-in-chief, and when I was at last +exchanged, I was exchanged, gentlemen, for two mules and a broken +wagon. But I'm here, gentlemen--as I was thar!" + +"Why don't you see the President about it?" asked a bystander, in +affected commiseration. + +Mr. Hooker stared contemptuously at the suggestion, and expectorated +his scornful dissent. + +"Not much!" he said. "But I'm going to see the man that carries +him and his Cabinet in his breeches-pocket--Senator Boompointer." + +"Boompointer's a big man," continued his auditor doubtfully. "Do +you know him?" + +"Know him?" Mr. Hooker laughed a bitter, sardonic laugh. "Well, +gentlemen, I ain't the kind o' man to go in for family influence; +but," he added, with gloomy elevation, "considering he's an +intimate relation of mine, BY MARRIAGE, I should say I did." + +Brant heard no more; the facing around of his old companion towards +the bar gave him that opportunity of escaping he had been waiting +for. The defection of Hooker and his peculiar inventions were too +characteristic of him to excite surprise, and, although they no +longer awakened his good-humored tolerance, they were powerless to +affect him in his greater trouble. Only one thing he learned--that +Hooker knew nothing of his wife being in camp as a spy--the +incident would have been too tempting to have escaped his dramatic +embellishment. And the allusion to Senator Boompointer, monstrous +as it seemed in Hooker's mouth, gave him a grim temptation. He had +heard of Boompointer's wonderful power; he believed that Susy would +and could help him--Clarence--whether she did or did not help +Hooker. But the next moment he dismissed the idea, with a flushing +cheek. How low had he already sunk, even to think of it! + +It had been once or twice in his mind to seek the President, and, +under a promise of secrecy, reveal a part of his story. He had +heard many anecdotes of his goodness of heart and generous +tolerance of all things, but with this was joined--so said +contemporaneous history--a flippancy of speech and a brutality of +directness from which Clarence's sensibility shrank. Would he see +anything in his wife but a common spy on his army; would he see +anything in him but the weak victim, like many others, of a +scheming woman? Stories current in camp and Congress of the way +that this grim humorist had, with an apposite anecdote or a rugged +illustration, brushed away the most delicate sentiment or the +subtlest poetry, even as he had exposed the sham of Puritanic +morality or of Epicurean ethics. Brant had even solicited an +audience, but had retired awkwardly, and with his confidence +unspoken, before the dark, humorous eyes, that seemed almost too +tolerant of his grievance. He had been to levees, and his heart +had sunk equally before the vulgar crowd, who seemed to regard this +man as their own buffoon, and the pompousness of position, learning +and dignity, which he seemed to delight to shake and disturb. + +One afternoon, a few days later, in sheer listlessness of purpose, +he found himself again at the White House. The President was +giving audience to a deputation of fanatics, who, with a pathetic +simplicity almost equal to his own pathetic tolerance, were urging +upon this ruler of millions the policy of an insignificant score, +and Brant listened to his patient, practical response of facts and +logic, clothed in simple but sinewy English, up to the inevitable +climax of humorous illustration, which the young brigadier could +now see was necessary to relieve the grimness of his refusal. For +the first time Brant felt the courage to address him, and resolved +to wait until the deputation retired. As they left the gallery he +lingered in the ante-room for the President to appear. But, as he +did not come, afraid of losing his chances, he returned to the +gallery. Alone in his privacy and shadow, the man he had just left +was standing by a column, in motionless abstraction, looking over +the distant garden. But the kindly, humorous face was almost +tragic with an intensity of weariness! Every line of those strong, +rustic features was relaxed under a burden which even the long, +lank, angular figure--overgrown and unfinished as his own West-- +seemed to be distorted in its efforts to adjust itself to; while +the dark, deep-set eyes were abstracted with the vague prescience +of the prophet and the martyr. Shocked at that sudden change, +Brant felt his cheek burn with shame. And he was about to break +upon that wearied man's unbending; he was about to add his petty +burden to the shoulders of this Western Atlas. He drew back +silently, and descended the stairs. + +But before he had left the house, while mingling with the crowd in +one of the larger rooms, he saw the President reappear beside an +important, prosperous-looking figure, on whom the kindly giant was +now smiling with humorous toleration. He noticed the divided +attention of the crowd; the name of Senator Boompointer was upon +every lip; he was nearly face to face with that famous dispenser of +place and preferment--this second husband of Susy! An indescribable +feeling--half cynical, half fateful--came over him. He would not +have been surprised to see Jim Hooker join the throng, which now +seemed to him to even dwarf the lonely central figure that had so +lately touched him! He wanted to escape it all! + +But his fate brought him to the entrance at the same moment that +Boompointer was leaving it, and that distinguished man brushed +hastily by him as a gorgeous carriage, drawn by two spirited +horses, and driven by a resplendent negro coachman, dashed up. +It was the Boompointer carriage. + +A fashionably-dressed, pretty woman, who, in style, bearing, +opulent contentment, and ingenuous self-consciousness, was in +perfect keeping with the slight ostentation of the equipage, was +its only occupant. As Boompointer stepped into the vehicle, her +blue eyes fell for an instant on Brant. A happy, childlike pink +flush came into her cheeks, and a violet ray of recognition and +mischief darted from her eyes to his. For it was Susy. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +When Brant returned to his hotel there was an augmented respect in +the voice of the clerk as he handed him a note with the remark that +it had been left by Senator Boompointer's coachman. He had no +difficulty in recognizing Susy's peculiarly Brobdingnagian school- +girl hand. + +"Kla'uns, I call it real mean! I believe you just HOPED I wouldn't +know you. If you're a bit like your old self you'll come right off +here--this very night! I've got a big party on--but we can talk +somewhere between the acts! Haven't I growed? Tell me! And my! +what a gloomy swell the young brigadier is! The carriage will come +for you--so you have no excuse." + +The effect of this childish note upon Brant was strangely out of +proportion to its triviality. But then it was Susy's very +triviality--so expressive of her characteristic irresponsibility-- +which had always affected him at such moments. Again, as at +Robles, he felt it react against his own ethics. Was she not right +in her delightful materialism? Was she not happier than if she had +been consistently true to Mrs. Peyton, to the convent, to the +episode of her theatrical career, to Jim Hooker--even to himself? +And did he conscientiously believe that Hooker or himself had +suffered from her inconsistency? No! From all that he had heard, +she was a suitable helpmate to the senator, in her social +attractiveness, her charming ostentations, her engaging vanity that +disarmed suspicion, and her lack of responsibility even in her +partisanship. Nobody ever dared to hold the senator responsible +for her promises, even while enjoying the fellowship of both, and +it is said that the worthy man singularly profited by it. Looking +upon the invitation as a possible distraction to his gloomy +thoughts, Brant resolved to go. + +The moon was high as the carriage whirled him out of the still +stifling avenues towards the Soldiers' Home--a sylvan suburb +frequented by cabinet ministers and the President--where the good +Senator had "decreed," like Kubla Khan, "a stately pleasure dome," +to entertain his friends and partisans. As they approached the +house, the trembling light like fireflies through the leaves, the +warm silence broken only by a military band playing a drowsy waltz +on the veranda, and the heavy odors of jessamine in the air, +thrilled Brant with a sense of shame as he thought of his old +comrades in the field. But this was presently dissipated by the +uniforms that met him in the hall, with the presence of some of his +distinguished superiors. At the head of the stairs, with a +circling background of the shining crosses and ribbons of the +diplomatic corps, stood Susy--her bare arms and neck glittering +with diamonds, her face radiant with childlike vivacity. A +significant pressure of her little glove as he made his bow seemed +to be his only welcome, but a moment later she caught his arm. +"You've yet to know HIM," she said in a half whisper; "he thinks a +good deal of himself--just like Jim. But he makes others believe +it, and that's where poor Jim slipped up." She paused before the +man thus characteristically disposed of, and presented Brant. It +was the man he had seen before--material, capable, dogmatic. A +glance from his shrewd eyes--accustomed to the weighing of men's +weaknesses and ambitions--and a few hurried phrases, apparently +satisfied him that Brant was not just then important or available +to him, and the two men, a moment later, drifted easily apart. +Brant sauntered listlessly through the crowded rooms, half +remorsefully conscious that he had taken some irrevocable step, and +none the less assured by the presence of two or three reporters and +correspondents who were dogging his steps, or the glance of two or +three pretty women whose curiosity had evidently been aroused by +the singular abstraction of this handsome, distinguished, but +sardonic-looking officer. But the next moment he was genuinely +moved. + +A tall young woman had just glided into the centre of the room with +an indolent yet supple gracefulness that seemed familiar to him. A +change in her position suddenly revealed her face. It was Miss +Faulkner. Previously he had known her only in the riding habit of +Confederate gray which she had at first affected, or in the light +muslin morning dress she had worn at Gray Oaks. It seemed to him, +to-night, that the studied elegance of her full dress became her +still more; that the pretty willfulness of her chin and shoulders +was chastened and modified by the pearls round her fair throat. +Suddenly their eyes met; her face paled visibly; he fancied that +she almost leaned against her companion for support; then she met +his glance again with a face into which the color had as suddenly +rushed, but with eyes that seemed to be appealing to him even to +the point of pain and fright. Brant was not conceited; he could +see that the girl's agitation was not the effect of any mere +personal influence in his recognition, but of something else. He +turned hastily away; when he looked around again she was gone. + +Nevertheless he felt filled with a vague irritation. Did she think +him such a fool as to imperil her safety by openly recognizing her +without her consent? Did she think that he would dare to presume +upon the service she had done him? Or, more outrageous thought, +had she heard of his disgrace, known its cause, and feared that he +would drag her into a disclosure to save himself? No, no; she +could not think that! She had perhaps regretted what she had done +in a freak of girlish chivalry; she had returned to her old +feelings and partisanship; she was only startled at meeting the +single witness of her folly. Well, she need not fear! He would as +studiously avoid her hereafter, and she should know it. And yet-- +yes, there was a "yet." For he could not forget--indeed, in the +past three weeks it had been more often before him than he cared to +think--that she was the one human being who had been capable of a +great act of self-sacrifice for him--her enemy, her accuser, the +man who had scarcely treated her civilly. He was ashamed to +remember now that this thought had occurred to him at the bedside +of his wife--at the hour of her escape--even on the fatal slope on +which he had been struck down. And now this fond illusion must go +with the rest--the girl who had served him so loyally was ashamed +of it! A bitter smile crossed his face. + +"Well, I don't wonder! Here are all the women asking me who is +that good-looking Mephistopheles, with the burning eyes, who is +prowling around my rooms as if searching for a victim. Why, you're +smiling for all the world like poor Jim when he used to do the Red +Avenger." + +Susy's voice--and illustration--recalled him to himself. + +"Furious I may be," he said with a gentler smile, although his eyes +still glittered, "furious that I have to wait until the one woman I +came to see--the one woman I have not seen for so long, while these +puppets have been nightly dancing before her--can give me a few +moments from them, to talk of the old days." + +In his reaction he was quite sincere, although he felt a slight +sense of remorse as he saw the quick, faint color rise, as in those +old days, even through the to-night's powder of her cheek. + +"That's like the old Kla'uns," she said, with a slight pressure of +his arm, "but we will not have a chance to speak until later. When +they are nearly all gone, you'll take me to get a little refreshment, +and we'll have a chat in the conservatory. But you must drop that +awfully wicked look and make yourself generally agreeable to those +women until then." + +It was, perhaps, part of this reaction which enabled him to obey +his hostess' commands with a certain recklessness that, however, +seemed to be in keeping with the previous Satanic reputation he had +all unconsciously achieved. The women listened to the cynical +flippancy of this good-looking soldier with an undisguised +admiration which in turn excited curiosity and envy from his own +sex. He saw the whispered questioning, the lifted eyebrows, +scornful shrugging of shoulders--and knew that the story of his +disgrace was in the air. But I fear this only excited him to +further recklessness and triumph. Once he thought he recognized +Miss Faulkner's figure at a distance, and even fancied that she had +been watching him; but he only redoubled his attentions to the fair +woman beside him, and looked no more. + +Yet he was glad when the guests began to drop off, the great +rooms thinned, and Susy, appearing on the arm of her husband, +coquettishly reminded him of his promise. + +"For I want to talk to you of old times. General Brant," she went +on, turning explanatorily to Boompointer, "married my adopted +mother in California--at Robles, a dear old place where I spent +my earliest years. So, you see, we are sort of relations by +marriage," she added, with delightful naivete. + +Hooker's own vainglorious allusion to his relations to the man +before him flashed across Brant's mind, but it left now only a +smile on his lips. He felt he had already become a part of the +irresponsible comedy played around him. Why should he resist, or +examine its ethics too closely? He offered his arm to Susy as they +descended the stairs, but, instead of pausing in the supper-room, +she simply passed through it with a significant pressure on his +arm, and, drawing aside a muslin curtain, stepped into the moonlit +conservatory. Behind the curtain there was a small rustic settee; +without releasing his arm she sat down, so that when he dropped +beside her, their hands met, and mutually clasped. + +"Now, Kla'uns," she said, with a slight, comfortable shiver as she +nestled beside him, "it's a little like your chair down at old +Robles, isn't it?--tell me! And to think it's five years ago! +But, Kla'uns, what's the matter? You are changed," she said, +looking at his dark face in the moonlight, "or you have something +to tell me." + +"I have." + +"And it's something dreadful, I know!" she said, wrinkling her +brows with a pretty terror. "Couldn't you pretend you had told it +to me, and let us go on just the same? Couldn't you, Kla'uns? +Tell me!" + +"I am afraid I couldn't," he said, with a sad smile. + +"Is it about yourself, Kla'uns? You know," she went on with +cheerful rapidity, "I know everything about you--I always did, you +know--and I don't care, and never did care, and it don't, and never +did, make the slightest difference to me. So don't tell it, and +waste time, Kla'uns." + +"It's not about me, but about my wife!" he said slowly. + +Her expression changed slightly + +"Oh, her!" she said after a pause. Then, half-resignedly, "Go on, +Kla'uns." + +He began. He had a dozen times rehearsed to himself his miserable +story, always feeling it keenly, and even fearing that he might be +carried away by emotion or morbid sentiment in telling it to +another. But, to his astonishment, he found himself telling it +practically, calmly, almost cynically, to his old playmate, +repressing the half devotion and even tenderness that had governed +him, from the time that his wife, disguised as the mulatto woman, +had secretly watched him at his office, to the hour that he had +passed through the lines. He withheld only the incident of Miss +Faulkner's complicity and sacrifice. + +"And she got away, after having kicked you out of your place, +Kla'uns?" said Susy, when he had ended. + +Clarence stiffened beside her. But he felt he had gone too far to +quarrel with his confidante. + +"She went away. I honestly believe we shall never meet again, or I +should not be telling you this!" + +"Kla'uns," she said lightly, taking his hand again, "don't you +believe it! She won't let you go. You're one of those men that a +woman, when she's once hooked on to, won't let go of, even when she +believes she no longer loves him, or meets bigger and better men. +I reckon it's because you're so different from other men; maybe +there are so many different things about you to hook on to, and you +don't slip off as easily as the others. Now, if you were like old +Peyton, her first husband, or like poor Jim, or even my Boompointer, +you'd be all right! No, my boy, all we can do is to try to keep her +from getting at you here. I reckon she won't trust herself in +Washington again in a hurry." + +"But I cannot stay here; my career is in the field." + +"Your career is alongside o' me, honey--and Boompointer. But +nearer ME. We'll fix all that. I heard something about your being +in disgrace, but the story was that you were sweet on some secesh +girl down there, and neglected your business, Kla'uns. But, Lordy! +to think it was only your own wife! Never mind; we'll straighten +that out. We've had worse jobs than that on. Why, there was that +commissary who was buying up dead horses at one end of the field, +and selling them to the Government for mess beef at the other; and +there was that general who wouldn't make an attack when it rained; +and the other general--you know who I mean, Kla'uns--who wouldn't +invade the State where his sister lived; but we straightened them +out, somehow, and they were a heap worse than you. We'll get you a +position in the war department here, one of the bureau offices, +where you keep your rank and your uniform--you don't look bad in +it, Kla'uns--on better pay. And you'll come and see me, and we'll +talk over old times." + +Brant felt his heart turn sick within him. But he was at her mercy +now! He said, with an effort,-- + +"But I've told you that my career--nay, my LIFE--now is in the +field." + +"Don't you be a fool, Kla'uns, and leave it there! You have done +your work of fighting--mighty good fighting, too,--and everybody +knows it. You've earned a change. Let others take your place." + +He shuddered, as he remembered that his wife had made the same +appeal. Was he a fool then, and these two women--so totally unlike +in everything--right in this? + +"Come, Kla'uns," said Susy, relapsing again against his shoulder. +"Now talk to me! You don't say what you think of me, of my home, +of my furniture, of my position--even of him! Tell me!" + +"I find you well, prosperous, and happy," he said, with a faint +smile. + +"Is that all? And how do I look?" + +She turned her still youthful, mischievous face towards him in the +moonlight. The witchery of her blue eyes was still there as of +old, the same frank irresponsibility beamed from them; her parted +lips seemed to give him back the breath of his youth. He started, +but she did not. + +"Susy, dear!" + +It was her husband's voice. + +"I quite forgot," the Senator went on, as he drew the curtain +aside, "that you are engaged with a friend; but Miss Faulkner is +waiting to say good-night, and I volunteered to find you." + +"Tell her to wait a moment," said Susy, with an impatience that was +as undisguised as it was without embarrassment or confusion. + +But Miss Faulkner, unconsciously following Mr. Boompointer, was +already upon them. For a moment the whole four were silent, +although perfectly composed. Senator Boompointer, unconscious of +any infelicity in his interruption, was calmly waiting. Clarence, +opposed suddenly to the young girl whom he believed was avoiding +his recognition, rose, coldly imperturbable. Miss Faulkner, +looking taller and more erect in the long folds of her satin cloak, +neither paled nor blushed, as she regarded Susy and Brant with a +smile of well-bred apology. + +"I expect to leave Washington to-morrow, and may not be able to +call again," she said, "or I would not have so particularly pressed +a leave-taking upon you." + +"I was talking with my old friend, General Brant," said Susy, more +by way of introduction than apology. + +Brant bowed. For an instant the clear eyes of Miss Faulkner +slipped icily across his as she made him an old-fashioned Southern +courtesy, and, taking Susy's arm, she left the room. Brant did not +linger, but took leave of his host almost in the same breath. At +the front door a well-appointed carriage of one of the Legations +had just rolled into waiting. He looked back; he saw Miss +Faulkner, erect and looking like a bride in her gauzy draperies, +descending the stairs before the waiting servants. He felt his +heart beat strangely. He hesitated, recalled himself with an +effort, hurriedly stepped from the porch into the path, as he heard +the carriage door close behind him in the distance, and then felt +the dust from her horse's hoofs rise around him as she drove past +him and away. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Although Brant was convinced as soon as he left the house that he +could not accept anything from the Boompointer influence, and that +his interview with Susy was fruitless, he knew that he must +temporize. While he did not believe that his old playmate would +willingly betray him, he was uneasy when he thought of the vanity +and impulsiveness which might compromise him--or of a possible +jealousy that might seek revenge. Yet he had no reason to believe +that Susy's nature was jealous, or that she was likely to have any +cause; but the fact remained that Miss Faulkner's innocent +intrusion upon their tete-a-tete affected him more strongly than +anything else in his interview with Susy. Once out of the +atmosphere of that house, it struck him, too, that Miss Faulkner +was almost as much of an alien in it as himself. He wondered what +she had been doing there. Could it be possible that she was +obtaining information for the South? But he rejected the idea as +quickly as it had occurred to him. Perhaps there could be no +stronger proof of the unconscious influence the young girl already +had over him. + +He remembered the liveries of the diplomatic carriage that had +borne her away, and ascertained without difficulty that her sister +had married one of the foreign ministers, and that she was a guest +in his house. But he was the more astonished to hear that she and +her sister were considered to be Southern Unionists--and were +greatly petted in governmental circles for their sacrificing +fidelity to the flag. His informant, an official in the State +Department, added that Miss Matilda might have been a good deal of +a madcap at the outbreak of the war--for the sisters had a brother +in the Confederate service--but that she had changed greatly, and, +indeed, within a month. "For," he added, "she was at the White +House for the first time last week, and they say the President +talked more to her than to any other woman." + +The indescribable sensation with which this simple information +filled Brant startled him more than the news itself. Hope, joy, +fear, distrust, and despair, alternately distracted him. He +recalled Miss Faulkner's almost agonizing glance of appeal to him in +the drawing-room at Susy's, and it seemed to be equally consistent +with the truth of what he had just heard--or some monstrous +treachery and deceit of which she might be capable. Even now she +might be a secret emissary of some spy within the President's +family; she might have been in correspondence with some traitor in +the Boompointer clique, and her imploring glance only the result of +a fear of exposure. Or, again, she might have truly recanted after +her escapade at Gray Oaks, and feared only his recollection of her +as go-between of spies. And yet both of these presumptions were +inconsistent with her conduct in the conservatory. It seemed +impossible that this impulsive woman, capable of doing what he had +himself known her to do, and equally sensitive to the shame or joy +of such impulses, should be the same conventional woman of society +who had so coldly recognized and parted from him. + +But this interval of doubt was transitory. The next day he +received a dispatch from the War Department, ordering him to report +himself for duty at once. With a beating heart he hurried to the +Secretary. But that official had merely left a memorandum with his +assistant directing General Brant to accompany some fresh levies to +a camp of "organization" near the front. Brant felt a chill of +disappointment. Duties of this kind had been left to dubious +regular army veterans, hurriedly displaced general officers, and +favored detrimentals. But if it was not restoration, it was no +longer inaction, and it was at least a release from Washington. + +It was also evidently the result of some influence--but hardly that +of the Boompointers, for he knew that Susy wished to keep him at +the Capital. Was there another power at work to send him away from +Washington? His previous doubts returned. Nor were they dissipated +when the chief of the bureau placed a letter before him with the +remark that it had been entrusted to him by a lady with the request +that it should be delivered only into his own hands. + +"She did not know your hotel address, but ascertained you were to +call here. She said it was of some importance. There is no mystery +about it, General," continued the official with a mischievous glance +at Brant's handsome, perplexed face, "although it's from a very +pretty woman--whom we all know." + +"Mrs. Boompointer?" suggested Brant, with affected lightness. + +It was a maladroit speech. The official's face darkened. + +"We have not yet become a Postal Department for the Boompointers, +General," he said dryly, "however great their influence elsewhere. +It was from rather a different style of woman--Miss Faulkner. You +will receive your papers later at your hotel, and leave to-night." + +Brant's unlucky slip was still potent enough to divert the official +attention, or he would have noticed the change in his visitor's +face, and the abruptness of his departure. + +Once in the street, Brant tore off the envelope. But beneath it +was another, on which was written in a delicate, refined hand: +"Please do not open this until you reach your destination." + +Then she knew he was going! And perhaps this was her influence? +All his suspicions again returned. She knew he was going near the +lines, and his very appointment, through her power, might be a plot +to serve her and the enemy! Was this letter, which she was +entrusting to him, the cover of some missive to her Southern +friends which she expected him to carry--perhaps as a return for +her own act of self-sacrifice? Was this the appeal she had been +making to his chivalry, his gratitude, his honor? The perspiration +stood in beads on his forehead. What defect lay hidden in his +nature that seemed to make him an easy victim of these intriguing +women? He had not even the excuse of gallantry; less susceptible +to the potencies of the sex than most men, he was still compelled +to bear that reputation. He remembered his coldness to Miss +Faulkner in the first days of their meeting, and her effect upon +his subalterns. Why had she selected him from among them--when she +could have modeled the others like wax to her purposes? Why? And +yet with the question came a possible answer that he hardly dared +to think of--that in its very vagueness seemed to fill him with a +stimulating thrill and hopefulness. He quickened his pace. He +would take the letter, and yet be master of himself when the time +came to open it. + +That time came three days later, in his tent at Three Pines +Crossing. As he broke open the envelope, he was relieved to find +that it contained no other inclosure, and seemed intended only for +himself. It began abruptly:-- + +"When you read this, you will understand why I did not speak to you +when we met last night; why I even dreaded that you might speak to +me, knowing, as I did, what I ought to tell you at that place and +moment--something you could only know from me. I did not know you +were in Washington, although I knew you were relieved; I had no way +of seeing you or sending to you before, and I only came to Mrs. +Boompointer's party in the hope of hearing news of you. + +"You know that my brother was captured by your pickets in company +with another officer. He thinks you suspected the truth--that he +and his friend were hovering near your lines to effect the escape +of the spy. But he says that, although they failed to help her, +she did escape, or was passed through the lines by your connivance. +He says that you seemed to know her, that from what Rose--the +mulatto woman--told him, you and she were evidently old friends. +I would not speak of this, nor intrude upon your private affairs, +only that I think you ought to know that I had no knowledge of it +when I was in your house, but believed her to be a stranger to you. +You gave me no intimation that you knew her, and I believed that +you were frank with me. But I should not speak of this at all--for +I believe that it would have made no difference to me in repairing +the wrong that I thought I had done you--only that, as I am forced +by circumstances to tell you the terrible ending of this story, you +ought to know it all. + +"My brother wrote to me that the evening after you left, the +burying party picked up the body of what they believed to be a +mulatto woman lying on the slope. It was not Rose, but the body of +the very woman--the real and only spy--whom you had passed through +the lines. She was accidentally killed by the Confederates in the +first attack upon you, at daybreak. But only my brother and his +friend recognized her through her blackened face and disguise, and +on the plea that she was a servant of one of their friends, they +got permission from the division commander to take her away, and +she was buried by her friends and among her people in the little +cemetery of Three Pines Crossing, not far from where you have gone. +My brother thought that I ought to tell you this: it seems that he +and his friend had a strange sympathy for you in what they appear +to know or guess of your relations with that woman, and I think he +was touched by what he thought was your kindness and chivalry to +him on account of his sister. But I do not think he ever knew, or +will know, how great is the task that he has imposed upon me. + +"You know now, do you not, WHY I did not speak to you when we +first met; it seemed so impossible to do it in an atmosphere and a +festivity that was so incongruous with the dreadful message I was +charged with. And when I had to meet you later--perhaps I may have +wronged you--but it seemed to me that you were so preoccupied and +interested with other things that I might perhaps only be wearying +you with something you cared little for, or perhaps already knew +and had quickly forgotten. + +"I had been wanting to say something else to you when I had got rid +of my dreadful message. I do not know if you still care to hear +it. But you were once generous enough to think that I had done you +a service in bringing a letter to your commander. Although I know +better than anybody else the genuine devotion to your duty that +made you accept my poor service, from all that I can hear, you have +never had the credit of it. Will you not try me again? I am more +in favor here, and I might yet be more successful in showing your +superiors how true you have been to your trust, even if you have +little faith in your friend, Matilda Faulkner." + +For a long time he remained motionless, with the letter in his +hand. Then he arose, ordered his horse, and galloped away. + +There was little difficulty in finding the cemetery of Three Pines +Crossing--a hillside slope, hearsed with pine and cypress, and +starred with white crosses, that in the distance looked like +flowers. Still less was there in finding the newer marble shaft +among the older lichen-spotted slabs, which bore the simple words: +"Alice Benham, Martyr." A few Confederate soldiers, under still +plainer and newer wooden headstones, carved only with initials, lay +at her feet. Brant sank on his knees beside the grave, but he was +shocked to see that the base of the marble was stained with the red +pollen of the fateful lily, whose blossoms had been heaped upon her +mound, but whose fallen petals lay dark and sodden in decay. + +How long he remained there he did not know. And then a solitary +bugle from the camp seemed to summon him, as it had once before +summoned him, and he went away--as he had gone before--to a +separation that he now knew was for all time. + +Then followed a month of superintendence and drill, and the +infusing into the little camp under his instruction the spirit +which seemed to be passing out of his own life forever. Shut in by +alien hills on the borderland of the great struggle, from time to +time reports reached him of the bitter fighting, and almost +disastrous successes of his old division commander. Orders came +from Washington to hurry the preparation of his raw levies to the +field, and a faint hope sprang up in his mind. But following it +came another dispatch ordering his return to the Capital. + +He reached it with neither hope nor fear--so benumbed had become +his spirit under this last trial, and what seemed to be now the +mockery of this last sacrifice to his wife. Though it was no +longer a question of her life and safety, he knew that he could +still preserve her memory from stain by keeping her secret, even +though its divulgings might clear his own. For that reason, he had +even hesitated to inform Susy of her death, in the fear that, in +her thoughtless irresponsibility and impulsiveness, she might be +tempted to use it in his favor. He had made his late appointment a +plea for her withholding any present efforts to assist him. He +even avoided the Boompointers' house, in what he believed was +partly a duty to the memory of his wife. But he saw no inconsistency +in occasionally extending his lonely walks to the vicinity of a +foreign Legation, or in being lifted with a certain expectation at +the sight of its liveries on the Avenue. There was a craving for +sympathy in his heart, which Miss Faulkner's letter had awakened. + +Meantime, he had reported himself for duty at the War Department-- +with little hope, however, in that formality. But he was surprised +the next day when the chief of the bureau informed him that his +claim was before the President. + +"I was not aware that I had presented any claim," he said, a little +haughtily. + +The bureau chief looked up with some surprise. This quiet, +patient, reserved man had puzzled him once or twice before. + +"Perhaps I should say 'case,' General," he said, drily. "But the +personal interest of the highest executive in the land strikes me +as being desirable in anything." + +"I only mean that I have obeyed the orders of the department in +reporting myself here, as I have done," said Brant, with less +feeling, but none the less firmness; "and I should imagine it was +not the duty of a soldier to question them. Which I fancy a +'claim' or a 'case' would imply." + +He had no idea of taking this attitude before, but the +disappointments of the past month, added to this first official +notice of his disgrace, had brought forward that dogged, reckless, +yet half-scornful obstinacy that was part of his nature. + +The official smiled. + +"I suppose, then, you are waiting to hear from the President," he +said drily. + +"I am awaiting orders from the department," returned Brant quietly, +"but whether they originate in the President as commander-in-chief, +or not--it is not for me to inquire." + +Even when he reached his hotel this half-savage indifference which +had taken the place of his former incertitude had not changed. It +seemed to him that he had reached the crisis of his life where he +was no longer a free agent, and could wait, superior alike to +effort or expectation. And it was with a merely dispassionate +curiosity that he found a note the next morning from the +President's private secretary, informing him that the President +would see him early that day. + +A few hours later he was ushered through the public rooms of the +White House to a more secluded part of the household. The +messenger stopped before a modest door and knocked. It was opened +by a tall figure--the President himself. He reached out a long arm +to Brant, who stood hesitatingly on the threshold, grasped his +hand, and led him into the room. It had a single, large, +elaborately draped window and a handsome medallioned carpet, which +contrasted with the otherwise almost appalling simplicity of the +furniture. A single plain angular desk, with a blotting pad and a +few sheets of large foolscap upon it, a waste-paper basket and four +plain armchairs, completed the interior with a contrast as simple +and homely as its long-limbed, black-coated occupant. Releasing +the hand of the general to shut a door which opened into another +apartment, the President shoved an armchair towards him and sank +somewhat wearily into another before the desk. But only for a +moment; the long shambling limbs did not seem to adjust themselves +easily to the chair; the high narrow shoulders drooped to find a +more comfortable lounging attitude, shifted from side to side, and +the long legs moved dispersedly. Yet the face that was turned +towards Brant was humorous and tranquil. + +"I was told I should have to send for you if I wished to see you," +he said smilingly. + +Already mollified, and perhaps again falling under the previous +influence of this singular man, Brant began somewhat hesitatingly +to explain. + +But the President checked him gently,-- + +"You don't understand. It was something new to my experience here +to find an able-bodied American citizen with an honest genuine +grievance who had to have it drawn from him like a decayed tooth. +But you have been here before. I seem to remember your face." + +Brant's reserve had gone. He admitted that he had twice sought an +audience--but-- + +"You dodged the dentist! That was wrong." As Brant made a slight +movement of deprecation the President continued: "I understand! +Not from fear of giving pain to yourself but to others. I don't +know that THAT is right, either. A certain amount of pain must be +suffered in this world--even by one's enemies. Well, I have looked +into your case, General Brant." He took up a piece of paper from +his desk, scrawled with two or three notes in pencil. "I think +this is the way it stands. You were commanding a position at Gray +Oaks when information was received by the department that, either +through neglect or complicity, spies were passing through your +lines. There was no attempt to prove your neglect; your orders, +the facts of your personal care and precaution, were all before the +department. But it was also shown that your wife, from whom you +were only temporarily separated, was a notorious secessionist; +that, before the war, you yourself were suspected, and that, +therefore, you were quite capable of evading your own orders, which +you may have only given as a blind. On this information you were +relieved by the department of your command. Later on it was +discovered that the spy was none other than your own wife, +disguised as a mulatto; that, after her arrest by your own +soldiers, you connived at her escape--and this was considered +conclusive proof of--well, let us say--your treachery." + +"But I did not know it was my wife until she was arrested," said +Brant impulsvely. + +The President knitted his eyebrows humorously. + +"Don't let us travel out of the record, General. You're as bad as +the department. The question was one of your personal treachery, +but you need not accept the fact that you were justly removed +because your wife was a spy. Now, General, I am an old lawyer, and +I don't mind telling you that in Illinois we wouldn't hang a yellow +dog on that evidence before the department. But when I was asked +to look into the matter by your friends, I discovered something of +more importance to you. I had been trying to find a scrap of +evidence that would justify the presumption that you had sent +information to the enemy. I found that it was based upon the fact +of the enemy being in possession of knowledge at the first battle +at Gray Oaks, which could only have been obtained from our side, +and which led to a Federal disaster; that you, however, retrieved +by your gallantry. I then asked the secretary if he was prepared +to show that you had sent the information with that view, or that +you had been overtaken by a tardy sense of repentance. He preferred +to consider my suggestion as humorous. But the inquiry led to my +further discovery that the only treasonable correspondence actually +in evidence was found upon the body of a trusted Federal officer, +and had been forwarded to the division commander. But there was no +record of it in the case." + +"Why, I forwarded it myself," said Brant eagerly. + +"So the division commander writes," said the President, smiling, +"and he forwarded it to the department. But it was suppressed in +some way. Have you any enemies, General Brant?" + +"Not that I know of." + +"Then you probably have. You are young and successful. Think of +the hundred other officers who naturally believe themselves better +than you are, and haven't a traitorous wife. Still, the department +may have made an example of you for the benefit of the only man who +couldn't profit by it." + +"Might it not have been, sir, that this suppression was for the +good report of the service--as the chief offender was dead?" + +"I am glad to hear you say so, General, for it is the argument I +have used successfully in behalf of your wife." + +"Then you know it all, sir?" said Brant after a gloomy pause. + +"All, I think. Come, General, you seemed just now to be uncertain +about your enemies. Let me assure you, you need not be so in +regard to your friends." + +"I dare to hope I have found one, sir," said Brant with almost +boyish timidity. + +"Oh, not me!" said the President, with a laugh of deprecation. +"Some one much more potent." + +"May I know his name, Mr. President?" + +"No, for it is a woman. You were nearly ruined by one, General. I +suppose it's quite right that you should be saved by one. And, of +course, irregularly." + +"A woman!" echoed Brant. + +"Yes; one who was willing to confess herself a worse spy than your +wife--a double traitor--to save you! Upon my word, General, I +don't know if the department was far wrong; a man with such an +alternately unsettling and convincing effect upon a woman's highest +political convictions should be under some restraint. Luckily the +department knows nothing of it." + +"Nor would any one else have known from me," said Brant eagerly. +"I trust that she did not think--that you, sir, did not for an +instant believe that I"-- + +"Oh dear, no! Nobody would have believed you! It was her free +confidence to me. That was what made the affair so difficult to +handle. For even her bringing your dispatch to the division +commander looked bad for you; and you know he even doubted its +authenticity." + +"Does she--does Miss Faulkner know the spy was my wife?" hesitated +Brant. + +The President twisted himself in his chair, so as to regard Brant +more gravely with his deep-set eyes, and then thoughtfully rubbed +his leg. + +"Don't let us travel out of the record, General," he said after a +pause. But as the color surged into Brant's cheek he raised his +eyes to the ceiling, and said, in half-humorous recollection,-- + +"No, I think THAT fact was first gathered from your other friend-- +Mr. Hooker." + +"Hooker!" said Brant, indignantly; "did he come here?" + +"Pray don't destroy my faith in Mr. Hooker, General," said the +President, in half-weary, half-humorous deprecation. "Don't tell +me that any of his inventions are TRUE! Leave me at least that +magnificent liar--the one perfectly intelligible witness you have. +For from the time that he first appeared here with a grievance and +a claim for a commission, he has been an unspeakable joy to me and +a convincing testimony to you. Other witnesses have been partisans +and prejudiced; Mr. Hooker was frankly true to himself. How else +should I have known of the care you took to disguise yourself, save +the honor of your uniform, and run the risk of being shot as an +unknown spy at your wife's side, except from his magnificent +version of HIS part in it? How else should I have known the story +of your discovery of the Californian conspiracy, except from his +supreme portrayal of it, with himself as the hero? No, you must +not forget to thank Mr. Hooker when you meet him. Miss Faulkner is +at present more accessible; she is calling on some members of my +family in the next room. Shall I leave you with her?" + +Brant rose with a pale face and a quickly throbbing heart as the +President, glancing at the clock, untwisted himself from the chair, +and shook himself out full length, and rose gradually to his feet. + +"Your wish for active service is granted, General Brant," he said +slowly, "and you will at once rejoin your old division commander, +who is now at the head of the Tenth Army Corps. But," he said, +after a deliberate pause, "there are certain rules and regulations +of your service that even I cannot, with decent respect to your +department, override. You will, therefore, understand that you +cannot rejoin the army in your former position." + +The slight flush that came to Brant's cheek quickly passed. And +there was only the unmistakable sparkle of renewed youth in his +frank eyes as he said-- + +"Let me go to the front again, Mr. President, and I care not HOW." + +The President smiled, and, laying his heavy hand on Brant's +shoulder, pushed him gently towards the door of the inner room. + +"I was only about to say," he added, as he opened the door, "that +it would be necessary for you to rejoin your promoted commander as +a major-general. And," he continued, lifting his voice, as he +gently pushed his guest into the room, "he hasn't even thanked me +for it, Miss Faulkner!" + +The door closed behind him, and he stood for a moment dazed, and +still hearing the distant voice of the President, in the room he +had just quitted, now welcoming a new visitor. But the room before +him, opening into a conservatory, was empty, save for a single +figure that turned, half timidly, half mischievously, towards him. +The same quick, sympathetic glance was in both their faces; the +same timid, happy look in both their eyes. He moved quickly to her +side. + +"Then you knew that--that--woman was my wife?" he said, hurriedly, +as he grasped her hand. + +She cast a half-appealing look at his face--a half-frightened one +around the room and at the open door beyond. + +"Let us," she said faintly, "go into the conservatory." + + . . . . . . + +It is but a few years ago that the veracious chronicler of these +pages moved with a wondering crowd of sightseers in the gardens of +the White House. The war cloud had long since lifted and vanished; +the Potomac flowed peacefully by and on to where once lay the broad +plantation of a great Confederate leader--now a national cemetery +that had gathered the soldier dead of both sections side by side in +equal rest and honor--and the great goddess once more looked down +serenely from the dome of the white Capitol. The chronicler's +attention was attracted by an erect, handsome soldierly-looking +man, with a beard and moustache slightly streaked with gray, +pointing out the various objects of interest to a boy of twelve or +fourteen at his side. + +"Yes; although, as I told you, this house belongs only to the +President of the United States and his family," said the gentleman, +smilingly, "in that little conservatory I proposed to your mother." + +"Oh! Clarence, how can you!" said the lady, reprovingly, "you know +it was LONG after that!" + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Clarence, by Bret Harte + diff --git a/old/clrnc10.zip b/old/clrnc10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..97bb9b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/clrnc10.zip |