"I have nothing to say to you in regard to what has just passed in this
house, except that as long as I remain even nominally its master it
shall not be repeated. Although I shall no longer attempt to influence
or control your political sympathies, I shall not allow you to indulge
them where in any way they seem to imply my sanction. But so little do
I oppose your liberty, that you are free to rejoin your political
companions whenever you choose to do so on your own responsibility. But
I must first know from your own lips whether your sympathies are purely
political--or a name for something else?"

She had alternately flushed and paled, although still keeping her
scornful attitude as he went on, but there was no mistaking the
genuineness of her vague wonderment at his concluding words.

"I don't understand you," she said, lifting her eyes to his in a moment
of cold curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? What did Judge Beeswinger mean when he called Captain
Pinckney a double traitor?" he said roughly.

She sprang to her feet with flashing eyes. "And you--YOU! dare to repeat
the cowardly lie of a confessed spy. This, then, is what you wished to
tell me--this the insult for which you have kept me here; because you
are incapable of understanding unselfish patriotism or devotion--even
to your own cause--you dare to judge me by your own base, Yankee-trading
standards. Yes, it is worthy of you!" She walked rapidly up and down,
and then suddenly faced him. "I understand it all; I appreciate your
magnanimity now. You are willing I should join the company of these
chivalrous gentlemen in order to give color to your calumnies! Say at