United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
Inside, the window was open, a dull fire still burned in the hearth, but
she noted that the sandwiches and wine remained as she had left them,
untouched. Evidently, she thought, the man had not had time to eat
before he was forced to leave. She crossed the room, intending to shut
the window but, ere she reached it, her eyes fell upon a dark heap on
the floor beside her bed. She halted, looking down with a sudden fear in
her heart and then breathed a sigh of relief.
“He took a disguise and left his clothes here,” she half murmured to
herself. But, when she stooped down to examine the meager bundle more
closely, she saw that there was a man still in the shabby uniform, a man
so thin and wasted as to be little more than a skeleton.
She thought at first that he was dead, but, snatching her hand-glass,
she held it in front of his parched lips and found it clouded. The man
was alive, how long he could remain so she dared not think. In the half
light from the fire, to her inexperienced eyes, he looked as if each
succeeding minute might easily be his last.
But what was she to do now? Whom could she trust? Certainly none of the
servants, who would probably scream in terror and alarm the entire
household at the first sight of the poor, huddled body. Her mind was
busy with this problem, but instinctively she had taken the glass of
wine and was trying to force a little of it through the pale lips, when
there came a knock at her door.
Instantly she was on her feet, her nerves taut; but by no means ready to
give up without a fight. So far her part had been passive, now that the
man could no longer help himself she meant to try her utmost to save
him. That it was Hal or Val Tracy coming on a search of the house, she
had no doubt. However they would not enter so long as she was there, and
she vowed to herself that she would remain in the room till Doomsday
rather than let either of them in.
“Who is it?” she asked, and expected to hear the deep voice of one of
the men, but greatly to her consternation the door was opened and in
walked Miss Imogene.
“It is I, honey,” said the dainty little lady, closing the door behind
her and advancing into the room. “What are you doing here in the dark?”
“I just came up for a moment,” Dorothea replied, without a tremor in her
voice. Here was a more dangerous situation even than she had anticipated
and her wits were working fast to meet it. “I will go down with you at
once.” She made a motion as if to start for the door, hoping that Miss
Ivory would take the hint and go out too; but the latter evidently had
no such intention for she stood before the fireplace, placing a dainty
foot upon the fender to warm it before the fitful blaze.
“Do put another log on the fire, child,” she requested. “My toes are icy
and—my dear, I want a little chat with you. I don’t think you can be
enjoying your party—hiding alone up here.”
“Oh, but really I have been—indeed I have been,” Dorothea protested. “I
just came up—”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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