"I don't know. I asked, but the captain had seen no one. I cannot tell you how the man looked, acted, or exactly what he said. The first glance at him awoke my sympathy, before he had spoken a word, for his uniform was torn and covered with dirt, and his face all blood from a wound on the temple. He was trembling like a child, and could hardly talk. I washed his wound out, and bound it up before I even asked a question. By that time he was himself again, and began to explain. Is it necessary for me to repeat what he said?" "I would rather you would; don't you think I ought to know?" "I suppose you had, but--but it is not a pleasant task. I could not help but believe what he said, for he told it so naturally; he--he almost seemed to regret the necessity, and--and I never once dreamed he would lie to me. Then father said just enough to apparently confirm it all, and--and other things happened." "Yes, I know," understanding her embarrassment. "You mustn't think I blame you. You have known me such a little while." "But I should have sought after the truth, nevertheless, for I certainly had no cause to believe you capable of so cowardly an action. I--surely knew you better than that. But this was what he said: that you came into the room below promising to release the others, but threatening to take him prisoner with you into the Federal lines. He protested, and--and then you referred to me in a way he could not stand, and blows were exchanged. As a result he dared you to fight him, and you couldn't refuse before your own men, although you endeavored to back out. That you chose pistols for weapons, and compelled their acceptance. On the field, he said, you fired before the word was spoken, and while he was still lying on the ground, shocked by the bullet, you flung the derringer at him, cutting his forehead; then drew your own revolver. Unarmed, believing he was to be murdered, he turned and ran." "And you actually believed all this of me?" "Why," bewildered, "he was a soldier, and my father's friend. How could I imagine he would run without cause? His story sounded true, as he told it, and he was hurt." "He must have got that when he fell--his head struck something. And is that all?" "Yes; only we talked about how he might get away. He was here until father came for me, and then stepped into the other room. When I came back, he had gone. A little later I heard you searching the rooms, and went out into the hall believing it might be he." "You saw nothing more of him?" "No." "Nor of the man you mistook for a guard?" She shook her head positively. "Only the once." Then, after hesitating, her eyes uplifted to mine." Lieutenant Galesworth, you did not encounter Captain Le Gaire alive in the hall?" "I never saw him alive after he ran from the field. The noise you heard was when I tripped and fell, my revolver dropping to the floor. It was then I discovered his dead body. You will believe this?"