Her provoking coldness was all that was needed to overcome the slight restraint the captain still exercised.  Instantly his real nature came to the fore.

“Then I’ll make him do the explaining,” he threatened fiercely.  “I know how to deal with men.  Where is the fellow?  In that room?”

There was a brief silence.  I could distinguish his rapid breathing, and the slight rustle of her skirts as she sank back into a chair.

“Well, are you going to tell me?  Or must I hunt for myself?”

“Captain Le Gaire,” she began quietly, without even a tremor in the soft voice, “possibly you forget whom I am.  The gentlemen of my acquaintance have never been accustomed to question the motives actuating my conduct.  You imagine yourself talking to some darky on your Louisiana plantation.  Is this the manner in which you propose treating me after marriage?”

He laughed uneasily.

“Why, I meant nothing, Billie.  Don’t take it in that way.  Surely you understand I have a right to be curious as to your companion.”

“Yes; but not to carry your curiosity to the point of discourtesy.  I have not the slightest objection to answering your questions, if you only ask with some respect.”

“You always hold me at arm’s length.”

“Do I?  Well, this is hardly the best time to discuss that.  What was it you wished to know?”

“Who is the fellow travelling with you?”

“Didn’t the judge tell you?”

“He said he was a Confederate spy dressed in the uniform of a Yankee lieutenant whom you had brought through the lines.”

“Well, isn’t that information sufficient?”

The gallant captain again smothered an oath, evidently tried to the limit by the girl’s cool indifference.

“Of course it isn’t.  That might answer for Moran, for he has no personal interest in the affair.  But it’s altogether different with me.  It’s merely accident that I rode in here this morning, and I immediately discover the woman I am engaged to marry was out all night riding around with a stranger, eating breakfast with him when I arrive.  Do you suppose that is pleasant?”

“No; yet my explanation ought to be sufficient.”

“Explanation!  You have made none.”

“Oh, yes; Judge Moran told you the circumstances.”

I heard him stomp roughly across the floor, his spurs clanking.

“Explanation, nothing!  Who is the fellow?”

“Really I don’t know.”

“Don’t know?  Do you mean to say you rode with him alone all night, and took breakfast with him this morning, without even learning his name?”

“He said his name was Galesworth, but I don’t know that he told the truth.”

“You pretend indifference well,” the man sneered.

“It is no pretence; I am indifferent.  Why should I be otherwise?  I am not interested in spies.  I may assist one through the lines to serve the Confederacy, but that is no evidence that I feel any personal interest in the man.  Anyhow that is the extent of my knowledge in this case, and I haven’t the slightest desire to increase it.  When are you going to ride on?”