MY LADY OF THE SOUTH
I learned their decision. Every hour of delay might aid me. If Daniels was in the house, he may have learned, or suspected my predicament, and either he or O'Brien could guide a troop of horse there from our lines in twelve hours. They would certainly be searching after me, and where would they be so likely to search as here? I had completed my meal and was sitting with head buried in my hands, my thoughts insensibly drifting to Jean Denslow. If I could only really understand her; if I could know how she felt toward me now under the shadow of this crime. Of course I was in her thought merely as a chance acquaintance, an enemy, indeed, so far as the uniform went, yet she had exhibited some interest, and perhaps still retained a slight doubt of my guilt. Girl though she was in years, yet hers was the heart of a woman, and I felt that she would stand for all she deemed to be right in face of them all. If I only knew she retained confidence in me, I could meet courageously the rest. I was staring down at the bricks, so deeply immersed in gloomy conjectures as to be unconscious of all else; I heard no sound, and yet something told me of another presence. As my eyes lifted I saw her, standing alone just within the closed door, looking at me.
[ 158 ]
