feelings, but you must not remain here; every moment of delay increases
your danger. Sheridan and those of his staff who would surely recognize
you were expected back before this, and may appear at any moment--yet
how can you get away? how is it possible for me to assist you?"

There was an eager anxiety in her face that piqued me. Like most lovers
I chose to give it a wrong interpretation.

"You are anxious to be rid of me?" I asked, ashamed of the words even
as I uttered them.

"That remark is unworthy of you," and she arose to her feet almost
haughtily. "My sole thought in this is the terrible risk you incur in
remaining here."

"Your interest then is personal to me, may I believe?"

"I am a loyal woman," proudly, "and would do nothing whatever to
imperil the cause of my country; but your condemnation is unjust, and I
am, in a measure, responsible for it. I assist you, Captain Wayne, for
your own sake, and in response to my individual sense of honor."

God knows I could not speak, although my heart seemed bursting within
my bosom. By sheer power of her will, her pride, her perfect womanhood,
she held me from her as though a wall divided us. Not for an instant
did she permit me to forget that she was the wife of another.

"Have you formulated any plan?" she asked quickly, and her rising color
made me feel that she had deciphered my struggle in my eyes.