“No,” replied Josephine. “This is our safest place for the present. The avenues of escape from the city are all closed; and we should find it difficult to go where we would not be tracked. The danger is not immediate. Do not look so wild, Darling. I swear to you that I will protect you to the last. Whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge.” CHAPTER XXXIII. SATAN AMUSES HIMSELF “We can die; And, dying nobly, though we leave behind us These clods of flesh, that are too massy burdens, Our living souls fly crowned with living conquests.” _Beaumont and Fletcher._ Vance sat in his room at the St. Charles. He seemed plunged in meditation. His fingers were playing with a little gold cross he wore round his neck; a trinket made very precious by the dying kiss and pious faith of Estelle. It recalled to him daily those memorable moments of their last earthly parting. And she now seemed so near to him, so truly alive to him, in all his perplexities, that he would hardly have been surprised to see her suddenly standing in immortal youth by his side. How could he, while thus possessed with her enchanting image, evoke from his heart any warmer sentiment than that of friendship for any other woman? He thought of the so-called Perdita. He feared he would have to leave the city without getting any further light than Miss Tremaine had vouchsafed on the mystery that surrounded that interesting young person. One thing, on reconsideration, puzzled him and excited his distrust in Laura’s story. Perdita had pretended that the name Brown was improvised for the occasion,—assumed while she was conversing with him. Could she have been deceiving? There were still other reflections that brought anxiety. He had not yet heard from Peek. Could that faithful friend have failed in all his inquiries for Hyde? The immediate matter for consideration, however, was the danger that began to darken over Vance’s own path. It had been ascertained by leading Secessionists, interested in providing for the financial wants of the Rebellion, that Vance had drawn more than a hundred thousand dollars of special deposits of gold from the banks since the fall of Sumter. The question was now put to him by the usurpers, What had been done with that money? He was summoned to appear before the authorities with an explanation. A committee would be in session that very evening to hear his statement. There was still another subject to awaken his concern. Kenrick had been called on to set at rest certain unfavorable reports, by appearing before that same committee, and accepting a captaincy in the confederate army. Onslow was to be presented with a colonel’s commission.