"That is splendid!" said Symonds, with satisfaction. "I was afraid something had happened to you, Captain, and have just been over to the Bureau to find out if they had news of you. They told me they knew nothing of your whereabouts, so I stopped here to ask Major Goddard if he could tell me where you were." "Was Colonel Baker at the Bureau?" "No, sir; he is in Baltimore, but will be back to-night." "What has Miss Newton been doing since her return to Washington?" "Nothing of a suspicious character. I hear that she is going to Mrs. Arnold's ball to-night." "Well, we will put an end to her masterly inactivity." Lloyd chuckled so vindictively that Symonds glanced at him in surprise. "You seem to hate Miss Newton, Captain?" "Hate? Well, perhaps that is too strong a word, Symonds, though I can be a good hater of those who have wronged me. Miss Newton's cleverness put me on my mettle. I cannot say I enjoyed being outwitted by a girl, but I could forgive her that. What has roused my dislike, my bitter dislike, is that she has turned Major Goddard against me. I can never forgive her for that. He has been my lifelong friend; now, he avoids me--and it cuts deep!" Lloyd spoke with intense feeling. "How comes it, then, that you have the same rooms here?" "Probably Major Goddard is planning to move to another boarding house; I have not seen him since my return. Mrs. Lane told me he had gone for a drive, accompanied by his attendant. I am glad he is out, for I do not relish telling him Miss Newton will be arrested to-night. I prefer to have him learn it from some one else." "You say you have absolute proof of her guilt?" questioned Symonds. "Absolute. She will not slip through my fingers this time. As I told you in Winchester, Symonds, I was convinced that Major Goddard, to shield Miss Newton, told a deliberate lie when he said he had been in that room over half an hour. I was sure she had seen and talked with that rebel spy; so I wasted no time making further inquiries at the house, but, with Colonel Young's permission, took Belden and started in pursuit of him. "Belden knows that country like a book, and he guessed the route the rebel would take. We had two of the best horses in the cavalry, and, to cut a long story short, we headed him off, and forced him back toward our lines. His horse was almost spent when we came up with him. It was two to one. He died bravely. We found his name on an envelope, 'George Pegram, --th Virginia Cavalry,' and this paper." Lloyd unbuttoned his coat, and drew out a leather wallet. "Here it is--see"--he opened a small crumpled paper--"not only the cipher message verbatim, as received that afternoon in Winchester, but the key to our code. It is damning evidence, and it will hang her." He folded the paper, replaced it in his pocketbook, which he slipped back in his inside coat pocket; then resumed his story: