"
"Then these papers must reach him at once. Don't stop to ask questions,
Gerald, but send some man; have him kill his horse if necessary. Oh,
don't stand there looking at me, but go! I'll explain later."
I heard the rustle of papers, the rapid movement of the man as he left
the room, the quick breathing of the excited woman. Then she crossed the
room to the window, and the next moment a horse galloped past. My head
whirled--then it was not quinine for the hospitals which had brought her
through the lines; she had deliberately lied to me, and instead, was a
bearer of despatches. Sudden anger at the trick banished every other
feeling; yet what could I do? My hand gripped the knob of the door,
every nerve throbbing, when I heard the officer's voice again in the
breakfast room.
"He's off; now let's have the straight of all this, Billie."
Billie! I grasped the full truth of it in an instant. Lord! I had been a
fool. The woman had played with me as though I were a mere child; had
been laughing at me all night; and doubtless intended now to hand me
over prisoner to this squad of gray-jackets. Billie! The very person I
was seeking; the only one who could hope to get through after all others
had failed. And I had supposed "Billie" was a man, never once thinking
of the name as a pet feminine one of the South.
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