"Pooh!" she replied, ever so prettily, "do you suppose I don't know? Ferry's scouts are at Clifton, and you've got a despatch for Lieutenant--eh,--Durand--hem!" She posed playfully. "Now, tell me; you're not to report to him till daylight, are you? Then why need you hurry on now? This house where I am is the only safe place for you to sleep in between here and Clifton. I'll wake you, myself, in good time." My heart pounded and rose in my throat, yet I managed to say, "My orders are plain." I flinched visibly, for again I had told too much. I pretended to listen toward the depths of the wood. She struck a mock-sentimental attitude and murmured musically-- "'The beating of our own hearts Was all the sound we heard.' "Yes,"--she put away gaiety--"your orders are plain; and they're as cruel as they are plain!" "Cruel to you?" I took her hand from my arm and held it. "Oh! cruel to you, Richard, dear; to you! And--yes!--yes!--I'll confess. I'll confess--if only you'll do as I beg! Yes, ah yes, cruel to me! But don't ask how, and we'll see if you are man enough to keep a real woman's real secret! And first, promise me not to put up at that house which the General and Lieutenant Ferry--" "Lieutenant Ferry is not sending me to any house." "Pardon me, I know better. This is his scheme." She laid her free hand on our two. "Tell me you will not go to that house!" I attempted an evasion. "Oh--a blanket on the ground--face covered up in it from the mosquitos--is really--" "Right!" She laughed. "I wish a woman could choose that way. Oh! if you'll do that I'll go with you and stand guard over you!" Dolt that I was, I would have drawn her close, but she put me off with an outstretched arm and forbidden smile. "No!--No! this is a matter of life and death." I stepped back, heaving. "Who and what are you? Who and what are you?" "Why, who and what should I be?" "Charlotte Oliver!" "Hmm; Charlotte Oliver. Are you sure you have the name just right?" "Why haven't I got it right?" "Oh, I don't doubt you have; though I didn't know but it might be Charlie Toliver or something." I dilated. "Who told--did Ned Ferry tell you that story?" "He did. Or, to be accurate, Lieutenant Ferry-Durand. My dear Richard, we cannot be witty and remain un-talked-about." "I--I believe it yet! You are Charlotte Oliver!" She became frigid. "Do you know who and what Charlotte Oliver is?--No? Well, to begin with, she's a married woman--but pshaw! you believe nothing till it's proved. If I tell you who and what I am will you do what I've asked you; will you promise not to stop at Lucius Oliver's house?" She softly reached for my hand and pressed and stroked it. "Don't stop there, dear. Oh, say you will not!" "Is it so dangerous?" "General Austin believes it is. You're being used to bait a trap, Richard." I laughed a gay disdain. "Who is Lucius; is he Charlotte's husband?"