At this point Dorothea lost track of what Mr. Davis was saying. In a flash everything was clear to her and a great impulse to run to April with this news brought her to her feet and, without a thought of Harriot, she left the building and started for home, half running. In her thoughts was but one object: to tell April that her lover was an honorable man; there was no room in her mind for anything else as she hurried to the house. At the front door she met Merry. “Where is Miss April?” she demanded. “Land sakes, Miss Dee!” exclaimed Merry, her eyes opening wide with surprise. “You sure is in a hurry. Lil’ Miss, she’s upstaihs in her room, I reckon.” Dorothea did not wait to explain, but climbing the stairs, two steps at a time, she went directly to April’s room and, without the formality of knocking, burst open the door and rushed in. April, sitting by her desk, glanced up, a look of annoyance coming into her face; but this changed on the instant at her cousin’s words. “Oh, April!” cried Dorothea, with a sob in her voice, “he isn’t a traitor after all. He’s been a Confederate spy all the time, and—” “Who are you talking about?” demanded April, now on her feet, a bright light of happiness coming into her eyes as she guessed at the meaning of this abrupt announcement. “Who is it, Dorothea?” “Why, Lee Hendon, of course!” came the happy answer. CHAPTER XXVII A RACE AGAINST DEATH It was inevitable that sooner or later April and Dorothea should understand each other and be free to express the warm feeling each had in her heart for the other. And here was the incident that was to break down all barriers of misunderstanding. April realized that Dorothea, with a quick sympathy, had hurried to her with the news that would be more welcome than any other. For an instant they looked deep into each other’s eyes and then April took her cousin in her arms and hugged her close. “And so it was poor Lee you saw at the window that night,” April said an hour or so later. “I didn’t know he was there.” “And I thought you had gone out to meet him,” Dorothea explained. “Oh, no,” exclaimed April with a blush. “If I’d known he was there I shouldn’t have gone. I was such a stubborn, stupid girl. No, I didn’t go to meet him, but, you know, Dee, it was an anniversary, that night, the anniversary of the day Lee asked me to marry him. I didn’t forget that, you know, and—and—well, I couldn’t stand it any more. I had to get away by myself for a minute or two and I didn’t want any one to know. And Lee remembered too. I wish I could see him and ask him to forgive me.” And then for the first time Dorothea recollected that Lee Hendon might be in peril of his life at that moment. In the excitement of discovering the real truth about him she had forgotten what Tracy had told her, and her heart held a sudden pang of anxiety.