"You will accompany me, and permit me to advise you, for your own sake, to be as civil as possible in your answers to-night, for the "old man"
is in one of his tantrums."
We crossed the rather dimly lighted hall, which had a sentry posted at either end of it, and then my conductor threw open a side door, and silently motioned for me to enter in advance of him. It was a s.p.a.cious room, elegant in all its appointments, but my hasty glance revealed only three occupants. Sitting at a handsomely polished mahogany writing-table near the centre of the apartment was a short, stoutly built man, with straggly beard and fierce, stern eyes. I recognized him at once, although he wore neither uniform nor other insignia of rank.
Close beside him stood a colonel of engineers, possibly his chief of staff, while to the right, leaning negligently with one arm on the mantel-shelf above the fireplace, and smiling insolently at me, was Brennan.
The sight of him stiffened me like a drink of brandy, and as the young aide closed the door in my rear, I stepped instantly forward to the table, facing him who I knew must be in command, and removing my hat, saluted.
"This is the prisoner you sent for, sir," announced the aide.
The officer, who remained seated, looked at me intently,
"Have I ever met you before?" he questioned, as though doubting his memory.
"You have, General Sheridan," I replied, "I was with General Early during your conference at White Horse Tavern. I also bore a flag to you after the cavalry skirmish at Wilson"s Ford."
"I remember," shortly, and as he spoke he wheeled in his chair to face Brennan.
"I thought you reported this officer as a spy?" he said sternly. "He is in uniform, and doubtless told you his name and rank."
"I certainly had every reason to believe he penetrated our lines in disguise," was the instant reply. "This cavalry cloak was found with him, and consequently I naturally supposed his claim of rank to be false."
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 pa.s.sing 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 hoa.r.s.ely.
"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.
Sheridan straightened in his chair, and looked across the table at me almost angrily.
"Very well, sir," he said gravely. "Your fate is in your own hands, and will depend very largely upon your replies to my questions. You claim to have been the bearer of despatches, and hence no spy, yet you possess nothing to substantiate your claim. As your regiment is with Lee, I presume you were seeking Longstreet. Were your despatches delivered?"
"I have reason to believe so."
"By yourself?"
"By the sergeant who accompanied me, and who continued the journey after I was detained."
"Is Lee contemplating an immediate movement?"
"General Sheridan," I exclaimed indignantly, "you must surely forget that I am an officer of the Confederate Army. You certainly have no reason to expect that I will so far disregard my obvious duty as to answer such a question."
"Your refusal to explain why you were hiding within our lines is ample reason for my insistence," he said tartly, "and I am not accustomed to treating spies with any great consideration, even when they claim Rebel commissions. You are not the first to seek escape in that way. Was your despatch the cause of the hurried departure of Longstreet"s troops eastward?"
This last question was hurled directly at me, and I noticed that every eye in the room was eagerly scanning my face. I had the quick, fiery temper of a boy then, and my cheeks flushed.
"I positively decline to answer one word relative to the despatches intrusted to me," I said deliberately, and my voice shook with sudden rush of anger. "And no officer who did not dishonor the uniform he wore would insult me with the question."
A bombsh.e.l.l exploding in the room could not have astonished them as did my answer. I realized to the full the probable result, but my spirit was high, and I felt the utter uselessness of prolonging the interview.
Sooner or later the same end must come.
Sheridan"s face, naturally flushed, instantly grew crimson, and a dangerous light flamed into his fierce eyes. For a moment he seemed unable to speak; then he thundered forth: