a secret and disloyal organization known as the “Knights of the Golden Circle,” the present object of which was the destruction of the Union and the perpetuation of slavery.  In the city of New York the spirit of rebellion was as rampant in the breasts of tens of thousands as in Richmond, and Mr. Vosburgh knew it.  His great sagacity and the means of information at his command enabled him to penetrate much of the intrigue that was taking place, and to guess at far more.  He became haggard and almost sleepless from his labors and anxieties, for he knew that the loyal people of the North were living over a volcano.

Marian shared in this solicitude, and was his chief confidante.  He wished her, with her mother, to go to some safe and secluded place in the country, and offered to lease again the cottage which they had occupied the previous summer, but Marian said that she would not leave him, and that he must not ask her to do so.  Mrs. Vosburgh was eventually induced to visit relatives in New England, and then father and daughter watched events with a hundred-fold more anxiety than that of the majority, because they were better informed and more deeply involved in the issues at stake than many others.  But beyond all thought of worldly interests, their intense loyal feeling burned with a pure, unwavering flame.

In addition to all that occupied her mind in connection with her father’s cares and duties, she had other grounds for anxiety.  Strahan wrote that his regiment was marching northward, and that he soon expected to take part in the chief battle of the war.  Every day she hoped for some news from Lane, but none came.  His wishes in regard to Mammy Borden and her son had been well carried out.  Mr. Vosburgh had been led to suspect that the man in charge of his offices was becoming rather too curious in regard to his affairs, and too well informed about them.  Therefore Zeb was installed in his place; and when Mrs. Vosburgh departed on her visit Marian dismissed the girl who had succeeded Sally Maguire, and employed the colored woman in her stead.  She felt that this action would be pleasing to Lane, and that it was the very least that she could do.

Moreover, Mammy Borden was what she termed a “character,” one to whom she could speak with something of the freedom natural to the ladies of the Southern household.  The former slave could describe a phase of life and society that was full of novelty and romance to Marian, and “de young ladies,” especially “Missy S’wanee,” were types of the Southern girl of whom she never wearied of hearing.  From the quaint talk of her new servant she learned to understand the domestic life of those whom she had regarded as enemies, and was compelled to admit that in womanly spirit and dauntless patriotism they were her equals, and had proved it by facing dangers and hardships from which she had been shielded.  More than all, the old colored woman was a protegee of Captain Lane and was never weary of chanting his praises.