The young lady blushed resentfully. "I see as little romance as joke in
it," she said.

"It was a cannon," returned Ferris, without taking any notice of her,
and with a sort of absent laugh, "that would make it very lively for
the Southerners--if they had it. Poor fellow! I suppose he came with
high hopes of me, and expected me to receive his invention with
eloquent praises. I've no doubt he figured himself furnished not only
with a passport, but with a letter from me to President Lincoln, and
foresaw his own triumphal entry into Washington, and his honorable
interviews with the admiring generals of the Union forces, to whom he
should display his wonderful cannon. Too bad; isn't it?"

"And why didn't you give him the passport and the letter?" asked Mrs.
Vervain.

"Oh, that's a state secret," returned Ferris.

"And you think he won't do for our purpose?"

"I don't indeed."

"Well, I'm not so sure of it. Tell me something more about him."

"I don't know anything more about him. Besides, there isn't time."

The gondola had already entered the canal, and was swiftly approaching
the hotel.