“We are Beauregard’s advance scouts; he is moving eastward.”

“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.  The realization of all this confused me so that I missed a part of what was being said, and only aroused as the man spoke more sharply.

“That’s all right, of course; I understand what brought you here, but where is that fellow you had with you?”

“Who?” it was an indignant voice.

“Oh, you understand, Miss Innocence,” a slight sneer in the utterance.  “There was a man in your company when you arrived, dressed as a Yank.  Moran told me so.  You were breakfasting together—­the table proves that.”

“Well, what of it?  I explained his presence to the judge.  Am I obliged to account for all my actions to every one I meet?”

The officer, evidently acquainted with the lady’s disposition, and aware that driving would never do, changed his tone, crossing the room toward her, and lowering his voice.

“No, not to every one, Billie, but surely you cannot deny I have some right to this information.  Would you wish me to be riding the country at night with a strange woman?”

“If it became part of your duty—­yes.  I have no remembrance of ever interfering with your freedom, Captain Le Gaire.”

I could hear the man’s teeth click, as though in an effort to restrain an oath.

“By God, but you are irritating!” he burst forth impetuously.  “One would think I were no more to you than a stranger.  This is no light affair to be laughed away.  Have you forgotten our engagement already?”

“That is scarcely probable.  You remind me of it often enough.  Don’t crush my hand so.”