The Shades of the Wilderness: A Story of Lee's Great StandAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
History
The Shades of the Wilderness: A Story of Lee's Great Stand
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Juvenile fiction
"No, but he carries on a lot of blockade running, chiefly through
Norfolk and Wilmington. I think the papers related to several blockade
running vessels coming out from England, and of course the Yankee
blockading ships will be ready for them. There's not a trace of the
man who took them."
"Something is deucedly sinister about it," said Bagby. "It seems to be
the work of one man, and he must have a hiding place in Richmond, but
we can't find it. Kenton, you and Dalton are army officers, supposedly
of intelligence. Now, why don't you find this mysterious terror? Ah,
will you excuse me for a minute! I see Miss Carden leaving the counter
with her basket, and there is no other seamstress in Richmond who can
put the ruffles on a man's finest shirt as she can. She's been doing
work for me for some time."
He arose, and, leaving them, bowed very politely to the seamstress. Her
face, although thin and lined, was that of an educated woman of strong
character. Harry thought it probable that she was a lady in the
conventional meaning of the word. Many a woman of breeding and culture
was now compelled to earn her own living in the South. She and Bagby
exchanged only a few words, he returning to his chair, and she leaving
the hotel at a side door, walking with dignity.
"I've seen Miss Carden three times before, once on the train, once at
this hotel and once at Mr. Curtis's house; can you tell me anything
about her?" said Harry.
"It's an ordinary tale," replied Bagby. "I think she lived well up the
valley and her house being destroyed in some raid of the Federal troops
she came down to the capital to earn a living. She's been doing work
for me and others I know for a year past, and I know she's not been out
of Richmond in that time."
The talk changed now to the books that had come through from Europe in
the blockade runners. There was a new novel by Dickens and another by
Thackeray, new at least to the South, and the members of the Mosaic
Club were soon deep in criticism and defense.
Harry strolled away after a while. He did not tell his
friends--nothing was to be gained by telling them--that he was
absolutely sure of the identity of the spy, that it was Shepard. The
question of identity did not matter if they caught him, and his old
feeling that it was a duel between Shepard and himself returned. He
believed that the duty to catch the man had been laid upon him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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