MISS WILLIFRED DECLARES HERSELF
I glanced at the various rooms up stairs, but nothing seemed exactly
suitable for our purpose, and, finally, taking a trooper along to hold a
light, explored the basement with better results. Here I found a
considerable cellar, divided into two sections, the floor of stone
slabs, and the walls well bricked. Iron bars, firmly set, protected the
small windows, and altogether the place appeared favorable for our
purpose. To be sure, desperate prisoners could not be confined in such
quarters for any length of time, but it would answer temporarily,
providing we left a guard within. Satisfied as to this, after fixing up
a stout bar across the door, I returned to the first floor, and gave
orders to have the men taken below. We could not differentiate between
officers and privates, but robbed the rooms up stairs of bed-clothing,
and thus made them as comfortable as possible. Bell and the clergy-man
made voluble protests, but yielded to the inevitable, being persuaded by
the revolvers of the guards to accompany the others. So far as arms
went we were now well supplied, having added to our original equipment
the officers' pistols, and the carbines of the men captured in the
stable. This matter settled I turned to the consideration of the case of
the two men remaining in the front parlor.
Here was a more serious problem, for I could not herd Major Hardy with
those fellows below, nor was I willing to humiliate Le Gaire by any such
treatment. Not that I thought him too good to associate with these
others, but Billie must not think I was actuated by any feelings of
revenge. I talked the situation over with the sergeant, who proved a
hard-headed, practical man, and we decided upon an upstairs room, over
the kitchen, which had only one small window, through which a man of
ordinary size could hardly crawl. I went up to examine this more
carefully, and to nail down the window frame. As I came out into the
hall again, rather dreading the impending interview in the parlor, I saw
her coming alone up the broad stairway. She did not see me until her
foot was upon the last step, and then she stopped, suddenly, one hand
gripping the rail, her cheeks burning. One glance into her eyes caused
me to nerve myself for an unpleasant session.
"I have been waiting for you to return," she said very coldly, yet with
a slight falter in the voice, "and when I spoke to the sergeant, he said
you were up here."
I bowed, hat in hand, and waited, unwilling to speak until I knew
something of her purpose.
"Lieutenant Galesworth, what is the meaning of all this? What do you
propose doing with my father and Captain Le Gaire?"
"Did they send you to me to find out?"
"No; father merely supposed I was going to my own room after something I
needed."
"And Le Gaire?" I insisted.
She looked at me frankly, her eyes utterly fearless.
"We have scarcely spoken, and--and he certainly would never have advised
my coming to you. I came of my own volition, because--well, because you
claimed this was all a service to me. I--I do not understand what you
meant, or--or why you hold us prisoners."
I thought I saw light now. She forced herself to be angry with me, but
face to face was unable to carry out the programme.
"Will you come up here, Miss Billie?" I asked. "Let us take this settee
a moment, and I will endeavor to explain. We are alone here, and I would
not care to talk freely before the others. I prefer them to think this
is purely a military affair, don't you?"
She hesitated, biting her lip, and standing motionless. My hand was
extended, but she ignored it, yet, after a moment, she stepped up beside
me, her hand on the settee.
"It--it is not a military affair then?"
"Only incidentally--I told you the truth before."
"I--I do not remember."
"Perhaps I failed to make all clear; indeed, I was a little hazy myself,
events crowded upon us so rapidly. Won't you sit down while I talk?"
She sank upon the settee, as though to an order, looking into my face,
with an expression in her eyes I was unable to comprehend.
"I have wanted to see you alone," I began, determined there should be no
lack of courage on my part. "There is no longer need of any secrets
between us. We have met only once before to-night, but that meeting was
of such a character that we were instantly acquainted. To be sure we
were working at cross-purposes, and you outwitted me, but later you
squared all that by saving me from capture."
"Why go over that unfortunate occurrence?" she interrupted. "Do you not
suppose I regret that enough already?"
"I doubt if you regret it at all."
"But I do--I haven't had a moment's peace since."
"Indeed! Why?" and I bent lower, eager to read her eyes. "Because even
in that little time you had learned to care for me?"
"Your words are insolent," rising to her feet, proudly, but I remained
directly in her path.
"No, Miss Willifred," earnestly, "they are not, because they come from
the heart. You are a woman, and therefore you understand. You cannot be
angry with me, no matter how hard you try. You are endeavoring to
deceive yourself, but the effort is useless. You do care for me--that
was why you waited for me to get safely across the river; that was why
you have come to me now. Ever since I left you in the grape arbor I have
been in your thoughts."
"And why I was also about to marry Captain Le Gaire, I suppose," she
interposed defiantly, but with eyes unable to meet mine.
"I can comprehend that easily enough, helped by what I overheard. You
cannot tell me you desired to marry Captain Le Gaire--can you?"
"No," for I stopped, and thus compelled an answer. "It would be useless
to deny that."
"I was so sure of this that I acted, took the one course open to me to
prevent your doing this wrong. I deliberately determined to risk your
displeasure rather than permit the sacrifice. You were marrying him
merely because you had promised, because you could not explain to your
father why your feelings had changed--you were afraid to confess that
you loved a Yankee."
"But I didn't--it was not that!"
"Then what was it?"
She remained silent, but now I was fully aroused.
"Billie," my voice low, and barely reaching her ear. "When I rode away
that night I knew I loved you. I was a Yankee soldier, but I had been
captured by a Rebel. I scarcely possessed a hope then of meeting you
again, but I did believe you already realized what kind of a man Le
Gaire was. I could not conceive that you would marry him, and I swore to
myself to seek you out at the earliest moment possible. Don't draw back
from me, dear, but listen--you must listen. This means as much to you
as to me."
"But I cannot--I must not."
"What is there to prevent? Your pride of the South? Your adherence to
the Confederacy? I care nothing for that; we are not Rebel and Yankee,
but man and woman. As to Le Gaire, I have no respect for his claim upon
you, nor would your father have if he knew the truth. It is all an
accident our meeting again, but it was one of God's accidents. I
thought I was sent here to capture Johnston, but my real mission was to
save you. I've gone too far now to retreat. So have you."
"I?" in half indignant surprise.
"Dear, do you suppose I would dare this if I doubted you?--if I did not
believe your heart was mine?"
"And if convinced otherwise, what would you do?"
The tone in which this was spoken, the swift question startled me.
"Do? Why, there would be nothing to do, except return."
"Leaving your prisoners?"
I glanced out through the nearest window, noting the sky growing gray in
the east, and suddenly realized that, if we succeeded in getting away
ourselves now, the transporting of Confederates under guard would be
scarcely possible. She seemed to read all this in my face, before I
could frame an answer.
"I have listened to you, Lieutenant Galesworth," she burst forth,
"because I had to. You have had everything your own way thus far, but
now it is my turn. I am a woman, a woman of the South, a soldier's
daughter, and am not likely to surrender my heart, my principles, my
life before such an assault. You have taken too much for granted;
because I have not wished to hurt you, you have believed my silence
indicative of love; you have construed friendship into devotion. Now it
is my turn to speak. I did like you, and helped you; without doubt I was
indiscreet, but I thought only of friendship, supposing we would part
then, never to meet again. Under those circumstances," and her voice
faltered slightly, "it may be that I said and did more than I should,
enough--well, enough to encourage you. But--but I thought it all over
with. You knew of Captain Le Gaire, and that should have been
sufficient. Yet you come here, in face of all this, and--and dare to
make love to me."
"But you are forgetting what I overheard--the fact that I know your real
feelings toward Le Gaire."
"No, I do not forget, but that was nothing--nothing to do with you. It
was merely the result of a mood, a whim, a lovers' quarrel. No, don't
speak, don't stop me. I am not going to lie. It was not a mood, nor a
whim. I had been analyzing my own heart, and discovered Captain Le Gaire
was not what I had believed him to be. The very fact that both he and my
father so took everything for granted, arranged all details without
consulting my wishes, made me rebellious. But your dictation is even
worse than theirs. They had some right, while you have none, absolutely
none, Lieutenant Galesworth--have you?"
"I--I hardly know," confused by this direct question, and the flash of
her eyes. "I supposed I had."
"Yet with nothing but imagination to build upon. Have I ever told you I
did not care for Captain Le Gaire, or that I loved you?"
"No," I admitted, feeling myself driven relentlessly to the wall.
"I am not angry at you, for I understand how all this has occurred. I
believe you have been inspired by the highest motives, and a desire to
serve me. If I am angry at any one, it is myself. I have permitted you
to go too far, to assume too much. Now it ends, for I am going to marry
Captain Le Gaire."
She stood up straight before me, her head poised proudly, her cheeks
flushed, her eyes bright with excitement. Never before had she appeared
more attractive, and the love that swelled up into my heart seemed to
choke all utterance. Could I have mistaken everything? Could I have
deceived myself so completely? Did these hard words represent her true
purpose, or were they merely wrung out of her by stress of circumstance?
I could not determine, but I knew this--I could not turn about now and
retreat. If I did that I would certainly lose, while if I fought it out
there was still hope. No woman--at least no woman like Willifred
Hardy--ever loved a coward, or a quitter, and I was determined she
should not catalogue me in either class. All this came to me rather in
instinct than thought, yet I was ready enough when she began
questioning.
"Now you will go away, won't you?"
"Go away?"
"Yes, back to your own people, and leave us alone. There is no reason
why you should stay here longer. You are not serving me, nor your cause.
Release your prisoners, and get away safely before you yourself are
captured."
"Did Le Gaire tell you to make this proposition?"
"Certainly not," indignantly, "I have not spoken to Captain Le Gaire."
"Well, Miss Billie," soberly, "I accept your words just as they are
spoken, and will trouble you no longer with my attentions. But this has
become a military matter now. It is too late for us to attempt getting
back, but I have sent a man for reinforcements, and we shall hold this
house until they come. I do not propose to release a single prisoner, or
permit a rumor of what has occurred here to reach Confederate
headquarters. You are also a prisoner, although I will accept
your parole."
She flung back her head defiantly.
"Which I refuse to give."
"Then obey my orders; is that your room yonder?"
"Yes."
"I will trouble you to go in there."
She stared at me, biting her lip, with foot tapping the carpet, but I
had spoken sternly.
"Do you mean that?"
"Every word. I hope I shall not have to call one of my men, and place
you under guard."
There could be no doubt she was angry, yet I was the master, and, after
one glance into my face, her eyes burning, she swept by me, and entered
the room designated. I gave a glance about its interior, marking the
distance to the ground; then took the key-and inserted it in the outer
lock. She stood silently facing me, her face flushed, her bosom rising
and falling swiftly.
"I regret very much this necessity," I apologized, "but you have left me
no alternative."
"I have no desire to be spared," she returned, "and no favors to ask,
Lieutenant Galesworth."
Our eyes met, mine, I am sure, as resolute as her own, and I stepped
back into the hall, closing and locking the door.