Sheridan looked annoyed, yet turned back to me without administering the sharp rebuke which seemed burning upon his lips. “Were you wearing that cavalry cloak within our lines?” he questioned sternly. “I was not, sir; it was indeed lying upon the floor of the hut when Major Brennan entered, but I had nothing to do with it.” He gazed at me searchingly for a moment in silence. “I regret we have treated you with so little consideration,” he said apologetically, “but you were supposed to be merely a spy. May I ask your name and rank?” “Captain Wayne, ----th Virginia Cavalry.” “Why were you within our lines?” “I was passing through them with despatches.” “For whom?” “You certainly realize that I must decline to answer.” “Major Brennan,” he asked, turning aside again, “was this officer searched by your party?” “He was, sir, but no papers were found. He stated to me later that his despatch was verbal.” “Had it been delivered?” “I so understood him.” “Well, how did he account to you for being where he was found?” Brennan hesitated, and glanced uneasily toward me. Like a flash the thought came that the man was striving to keep her name entirely out of sight: he did not wish her presence mentioned. “There was no explanation attempted,” he said finally. “He seemed simply to be hiding there.” “Alone?” Again I caught his eyes, and it almost seemed that I read entreaty in them. “Excepting the wife of the mountaineer,” he answered hoarsely. “Is this true?” asked Sheridan, his stern face fronting me. I made my decision instantly. There might be some reason, possibly her own request, whereby her being alone with me that night should remain untold. Very well, it would never be borne to other ears through any failure of my lips to guard the secret. She had voluntarily pledged herself to go to Sheridan in my defence; until she did so, her secret, if secret indeed it was, should remain safe with me. I could do no less in honor. “It is not altogether true,” I said firmly, “and no one knows this better than Major Brennan. I was there, as I told him, wholly because of an accident upon the road, but as to its particulars I must most respectfully decline to answer.” “You realize what such a refusal may mean to you?” “I understand fully the construction which may unjustly be placed upon it by those who desire to condemn me, but at present I can make no more definite reply. I have reason to believe the full facts will be presented to you by one in whose word you will have confidence.” I caught a gleam of positive delight in Brennan's eyes, and instantly wondered if this seeming reluctance upon his part was not merely a clever mode of tricking me into silence,--into what might seem an insolent contempt of Federal authority. I would wait and see. There would surely be ample time for her to act if she desired to do so. Anyway, I was little disposed to find shelter behind a woman's skirts.