Why had she done this? Through
personal interest in me? Through some wild impulse of the moment? I
could not even guess; only, I was assured of one thing: her secret
motive involved no lack of loyalty to the cause of the South. Realizing
this I dare not presume on her continued friendliness, dare not sit
there and lie calmly, filling these men with false information, and
permitting imagination to run rampant. Her eyes condemned that, and I
felt the slightest indiscretion on my part would result in betrayal.
Perhaps even then she regretted her hasty action, and sought some excuse
for blurting out the truth. Fortunately conversation drifted into safe
channels. Bell was full of reminiscences of Big Shanty, requiring on my
part but brief acquiescence, and, after a very few personal questions by
the others, sufficiently direct to demand reply, Beauregard asked me
about the disposition of Johnston's forces, to which I was fortunately
able to respond intelligently, giving him many details, sufficiently
interesting, although of no great value. To his desire for information
relative to Chambers' advance from the south, and the number of his
troops, I was obliged to guess rather vaguely, but finally got away with
a vivid description of Miss Hardy's night ride, which caused even the
girl herself to laugh, and chime in with a word or two.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93