“I saw a boy, bringing in kettles and things, and I heard you call him Gill, or something. I never noticed him particularly. Why should I, little cockatrice of a brigand!” snapped Elfie. “He was very well worth looking at. A pretty boy, about sixteen years of age, with the blackest hair and rosiest cheeks I ever saw in a lad. He sought refuge with the Free Sword about a week ago. He told a sad tale—oh, it was a very common one—of how his home had been sacked and burned and his father and brother killed and himself taken prisoner by the Yankees; and how at last he had made his escape and reached our encampment.” “Young scamp! better he had been sent to join his father and brother than lived to become a guerrilla.” “Upon my word, Elfie, you are not very polite to me—all things considered,” said Alberta. “I have no right to be—‘all things considered,’” retorted Elfie. “I do the best I can for you, under the circumstances.” “And I behave as well as I can, ‘under the circumstances.’” “Of what do you complain?” “That I am kept here against my will.” “Not by me. But let us return to our mutton. This boy, Elfie. Too delicate for rough military work, the colonel placed him about me as a sort of page. I declare in five days the gentle boy quite won my heart. But now——” —“How would the Free Sword like the idea of the pretty page winning his lady’s heart?” jeered Elfie, maliciously. “Girl! I am deeply and thoroughly ashamed of you! My interest in the lonely boy is sisterly, motherly—what you will. And Colonel Corsoni knows that the woman who gladly gave up earth and heaven for _his_ love, is his own soul and body for time and eternity. He knows that I am fond of the boy; but he knows also that I would cast that boy into a burning fire if it were to please _him_—Corsoni!” “Well, but what about the blessed boy. Is it he that you are watching and listening for?” “Yes, yes, yes! He has disappeared. The men say that he was a spy. Some say that he is no boy, but a disguised girl. Others deny that and pretend to recognize him, now that it is too late, as an orderly whom they had seen in attendance upon Major Rosenthal.” “Whe-ew!” exclaimed Elfie under her breath, as a light broke slowly over her face. “Now Colonel Corsoni has sent out men in pursuit of the boy. If he really was a spy, and succeeds in effecting his escape, he will make for the nearest fort in the lines forming the Southern Defences of Washington, which are on this side of the river, you know; and he will betray the retreat of the Free Sword and bring the enemy upon us probably before we can escape.” “Lord grant he may!” muttered Elfie between her teeth. “And on the other hand, if he should be re-captured, he will certainly be doomed to death, for the Free Sword never yet spared a spy. Every way I look the prospect is full of horror. It is for our returning scouts with their prisoner that I listen so anxiously.” “You say that Colonel Corsoni never yet spared a spy.” “Never.”