“Ah, yes; those who have all to lose by the crash when it comes, are bending every energy to impress the North that we are all of one mind down here; we are not.  I am talking frankly with you, because my friend Mrs. Lanview has made me fully acquainted with your circumstances.  I have asked you for a talk here because I dare not have you at my house.  No one suspects my loyalty to this Davis masquerade; but there are many of us who are doing, and shall do, all the better work for the Union cause.  You are just the man needed for a great work here; you are believed to be secretly in favor of the Confederate cause—­an ambassador, in short.  Now, the special purpose of this talk is this:  The men caught at Rosedale three weeks ago are to be tried before a military court.  If you and this young man Perley could escape before the event, it would be impossible to convict them.  Mrs. Lanview tells me that you are very closely allied to the younger prisoner, Moore, and that for his sake you will do all in your power to avoid testifying.”

“I will cut out my tongue before a syllable from me shall bring danger to that noble fellow!”

“Exactly.  I expected as much.  Now, can you not manage to inspire Perley with the same sentiment?  If you can, we feel confident that the court will be unable to secure evidence sufficient to convict.  I leave the details to your own ingenuity.  Your absence would deprive the judge-advocate of the vital witnesses, but your refusal to testify would only bring you into danger, and prolong the proceedings; and with time we hope to effect an escape.  Sh!  As I say, Mr. Sprague, the heart of the South beats with one impulse, the triumph of the noblest inspiration of a great people.”

The warning and sudden change in topic were caused by the apparition of a dame who came rustling in, a vision of youthful charms and vivaciousness.

“Mrs. Didier Rodney—­Mr. Sprague,” Mrs. Gannat said, cordially.  “You are sent by inspiration, for I am doing my poor best to convince this obdurate Yankee to turn from evil courses and do a duty by the country that will in future make his name illustrious.”

“And I have no doubt you have shaken his obstinacy, if there be any left,” Mrs. Rodney murmured, studying Jack attentively.  “I have just been dining at the Executive Mansion, and Mr. Davis, hearing your name, lamented that women were not eligible to office.  If they were, he declared that Mistress Gannat should be appointed ambassadress to France, and that, within ten days of her reception at the Tuileries, there would be a treaty of alliance signed between France and the Confederacy!”

“I take that as rather an admission of weakness on your President’s part,” Jack said, as the lady glanced inquiringly at him, “since it is a poor cause that requires the strongest advocates.”

“Ah! a Southern man would never have said a thing so uncivil as that,” Mrs. Rodney cried, reproachfully.  “You pay Mrs. Gannat a compliment at the cost of the Confederacy.”