“Nonsense, Elfie dear, this is no time for raillery. ‘Great events are on the wing.’ Men have heavy responsibilities just now, as you must know, living in this house. I cannot talk to you on the stairs, dear. Is there no place where you can take me for a quiet _tête-à-tête_?” inquired Albert. “Yes; there is the library and the drawing-room, both unoccupied at this hour.” “Take me to the place where we shall be least liable to interruption.” “Come to the library, then,” said Elfie, leading the way thither. When they were seated before the fire, Albert inquired: “How long have you been here, Elfie?” “For several weeks. Ever since our house was burned over our heads.” “Your house burned over your heads!” exclaimed Albert, in astonishment. “Yes, and we would have been lynched if we had not made our escape.” “Well, the violence of these Unionists in Virginia is certainly as horrible as anything in the Reign of Terror!” At the word “Unionists” Elfie stared. Then, as it dawned upon her mind that Albert was a Secessionist, that he took her for one, and that he supposed her house to have been burned by the Unionists, she grew very pale; but in the interests of her country she kept silent, and involuntarily she played the spy. Elfie, with her bitter experiences of secession persecutions, and with her keen perceptions, had begun to suspect the loyalty of Colonel Eastworth, and of all those strange visitors who came to see him in his rooms. But up to this time her suspicion was not strong enough to justify her interference in any way. Now, however, by certain words and tones of her lover, her suspicions were strengthened; and, in the interest of her host, as well as of her country, she instinctively kept silent, and involuntarily played the spy. “Yes,” continued Albert, “the outrages of the Unionists are really beyond belief, though, as yet, I have never heard of their burning any house except yours.” Still Elfie kept silent. She would let him betray himself if he wished to do so, but she would say nothing, not even for the sake of her country, to invite a confidence which she did not intend to keep. If Albert was a Secessionist, and mistook her for one, and under that mistake volunteered certain communications, the revelation of which would be important to the interests of her country, Elfrida would listen to him, but she would say nothing to draw him out. “Why did the Unionists burn your house?” indignantly demanded Albert. “The men who burned our house did so because we differed with them in the matter of States’ rights,” diplomatically answered Elfie. “Oh! of course! that is understood as the remote cause; but what was the proximate cause, the immediate provocation to such an outrage?” “We raised a flag that was obnoxious to their feelings!”