But for a time she saw nothing of the man she sought. Now and then she would halt and look about her; but everything was silent and still, and, though she could imagine that the bushes hid all sorts of wild creatures, there was no movement to show of their existence. She set off again, a little discouraged, but after a moment or two a sharp cracking of a twig off to her right, brought her to a stop. Again she looked back, peering into the closely growing underbrush and straining her ears, but there was no further sound and once more she walked slowly on. For several minutes she continued on her way, when a low whistle halted her in her tracks. She was certain now that she was followed. She had felt it vaguely before, and the cracking of the twig had confirmed this sensation. Now the whistle was sure evidence, and she stood still and waited. In a moment or two she heard the rustling sound of something moving through the bushes toward her, but could see nothing until a voice addressed her out of the thicket ten yards or so away. “Are you looking for any one in particular?” came the low-toned inquiry. “Yes,” she answered, boldly, but her heart was beating a little faster than was its wont. “Who sent you?” was the next challenge. “Hal May,” she returned. The bushes parted and the man whose face she had seen at the window the night of her first party at the Mays’ stood before her. But at the sight of him she drew back with a little cry of surprise and fear. “You’re not Lee Hendon?” she faltered. “You can’t be!” “Of course I am,” he replied gravely, and then Dorothea understood something in Hal’s talk that had puzzled her, for Lee Hendon was dressed in the uniform of a Union officer. CHAPTER XXI IN COULTER WOODS The first thought that came into Dorothea’s mind when she saw Lee Hendon in the uniform of a Northern officer was concerned with April. “Does she know?” the girl questioned herself, and found no ready answer. The suspicion had held in her mind that April was in communication with Lee Hendon; but it was not a suspicion likely to be shared by Hal, who, it was plain enough, had confided his mission to her, because, so far as he was aware, there was no other in the household who would have undertaken it. This passed through her mind in a flash, for the young man before her seemed ill at ease and glanced about him apprehensively. “You are very good to have come,” he said most politely. “I do not know who you are; but—” “I am Mrs. May’s niece,” Dorothea interrupted. “My name is Dorothea Drummond and my home was in England.” “Oh, I see,” Hendon replied comprehendingly. “I am most anxious to know how Hal is coming on. He was in a rather desperate condition when I last saw him.”