Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1896-08-26

YOU"
Yet the next moment she bit her lips
as II the expression had unwittingly es.
capped her; and with a reckless shrug of
her shoulders she lay back on her nil.
low.
1t matters not" said Brant. coldlv.
you have used this house. and those
within it TO forward your designs. II
is not your fault that YOU found moth.
ing in the dispatch box YOU opened.
She stared ut him quickly; then
shrugged her shoulder again. ''Imight
have known she was false TO me- she
said bitterly, land that YOU would whee.
die her soul away as YOU have others.
Well-she betrayed mel For what?"
\ flush passed over Brnnt's face. But
with an effort he contained himself.
1t was the flower that betrayed YOU,
The flower whose red dust fell in the
box when YOU opened il on the desk
by the window in youder room. The
flower that stood in the window rs a
signal. The flower | myself removed
and so spoiled the miserable plot your
friends had concocted."
A look of mingled terror and awe
came into her face. 'You changed the
signal" she repeated, dazedly; then in
lower voice: THAT accounts for II
all" But the next moment she turned
again fiercely upon him: And Won
mean To tell me that she didn't help
you-that she didn't sell me-your wife
to you for-for what was it?-a look
"a kiss?"
tn hnt -, \ 4
the signal was changed and that She
herself restored it to it's place. 1t no
fault of hers nor of yours that am not
now n prisoner"
She passed her thin hand dazedly
across her forehead. II see" she NUT
tered. Then again bursting out pas
sionately, she said: Fool, YOU never
would have been touched. Do YOU
think that Lee would have gone for YOU
with higher game in your division
commander? No! Those supports were
feint TO draw him to your assistance
while our main column broke his CEN
ter. Yes, you may stare ut me, Clarence
Brant. You arc good lawyer-they say
dashing fighter, too. Inever thought
YOU coward, even in your irresolu-
ton, but YOU are fighting with men
drilled in the art of war and strategy
when You were n boy outcast on the
plains" She stopped, closed her eyes.
and then added YEARLY: "But that as
terday-to-day, who knows? All may
pe changed. The supports may still at
tack you. That was why / stopped to
write you that note an hour ago-when
L believed ! should be leaving here for
ever. Yes! I did it," she went on, with
half-wearied. half-dogged determina-
ton. You may as well know ALL | had
arranged to fly, your pickets were to
be drawn 10y friends of mine, who were
waiting for me beyond the lines. Well,
L fingered when / saw you arrive
fingered TO write you that note. And
was too late!"
But 8rant had been watching her
varying expression, her lsindling eve.
her strangs masculine grasp of military
knowledge, her soldierly phraseology,
all so new to her, that he scarcely
needed the feminine ending of her
speech. 1t seemed TO him no longer the
Diana OF his youthful fancy, but some
Pallas Athene who now looked up at
him from the pillow. He had never be-
fore fully believed in her unscliish de-
votion TO the cause, until now. when il
seemed TO have almost unseXed her. In
his widest comprehension of her he had
never dreamed her Joan of Arc. and
yet that was the face which might
have confronted him, exalted and in
spired, on the battlefield itself. He re-
called himself with an effort
II thank you for your would-be warn
ing he said, more gently, if not ten
derby, "and God knows / wish your
flight had been successful. But even
your warning is unnecessary For the
supports had already come up; they
had followed only the second signal and
dlverged to engage our division on the
left, leaving me alone. And their ruse
OF drawing our commander To assist me
would not have been successful, as I
had suspected 1t and sent n message TO
him that j wanted no help"
1t was the truth--it was the sole pur-
port of the note he had sent through
Miss Faulkner. He might not have dis
closed IL, but so great was the strange
domination of this woman still over him
that he felt compelled TO assert his SUI
periority. She fixed her eyes upon him.
And Miss Faulkner took your mes.
sage,' she said, slowly. "Don't denvit.
No one else could have passed through
our lines. and you gave her a safe con-
duct through yours. Yes, ( might
have known il. And this is the crca-
ture they sent me for an ally and CON
fdant!"
For an instant Brant felt the sting of
this enforced contrast between the two
women. But ne only said: "You forget
that ! did not know YOU were the spy,
cor do I believe that she suspected you
were my wife"
"Why should she?" she said. almost
fcrccly II am known among these
people only by the name Of Bcnhnm-
my maiden name. Yes! you can take
me out and shoot me under that name.
without disgracing yours. Nobody will
know that the southern spy was the
wife Of thc northern general. You scc1
have thought even o. that"
And thinking that" said Brant. slow.
ly. "you have put yoursclf-I will not
say in my power-for you arc in the
power OF any man in this camp, who
may know you. or even hear you speak
NpI1-fef ue understand each other