After supper that night Val Tracy sought her out, and for a few moments they were alone on the lawn. “I don’t deserve to have you speak to me,” he told her. “And I’m not one to make excuses, but, faith! I was a bit upset.” “Of course you were,” she answered readily with a smile. “It was very upsetting all ’round. I was so surprised when you came rushing up that I couldn’t say a word.” “And I had to let the fellow off, knowing all the time what was depending upon it,” he answered. “I’ll be glad when this pesky war is over—and it won’t be very long now or I’m greatly mistaken.” “And the South will lose?” Dorothea half questioned. Tracy shook his head affirmatively. “It has lost!” he admitted. “Not that I would say that to any one but you.” “I’m glad,” Dorothea said, impulsively. “And I shouldn’t say that to any one but you!” she added with a low laugh. He smiled in answer, but his face went grave in a moment. “So you’re against us, after all,” he remarked. “No, that isn’t quite it, either,” Dorothea tried to explain. “I’m not against anybody. At least not as I see it now. Mr. Lincoln, you know, started me thinking long ago. But, since I’ve been here, it seems as if it was only the South that was against things—and they don’t understand. It is when the war is over that they will see how mistaken they have been. Then they’ll find that Mr. Lincoln is their best friend. You know, Captain Tracy,” she went on, lowering her voice a little, “Mr. Lincoln would be a friend to anybody who gave him a chance.” “You seem a great admirer of his,” Tracy said shortly. “And so would you be, if you knew him,” she replied promptly. “Maybe,” he replied, “and, sure, you’d be the one to convince me. But I’m not hiding the fact that I don’t like to be fighting on the losing side. If it hadn’t been for Hendon we might have pulled through after all.” “Do you mean you think he gave the information to the Yankees about your plan?” she asked. “Of course I do,” he replied. “Who else was there?” “Well, it wasn’t Mr. Hendon,” Dorothea returned positively. “He didn’t know about it. How could he have known if I didn’t tell him? And I didn’t.” “Faith, that’s the truth,” Tracy admitted with a shake of his head. “I had it so firmly in my mind that he was a traitor that I forgot to put two and two together. Are you sure, though?” “Of course I can’t be absolutely positive,” Dorothea explained. “But I can assure you he didn’t learn of it from me, and—” she hesitated a moment, “and I have seen a man who did know of it.” He looked at her a moment closely, then shook his head slowly. “It’s not for me to doubt what you say or to ask questions,” he began; but she interrupted. “One thing I should like you to understand,” she said. “I had no hand in it, either directly or indirectly. It was all an accident, my finding out. Please believe that I wouldn’t stay here in this house and abuse its hospitality.”