ll me here to cross-examine me--"

"No--no--dear heart--just to have you soothe my fears and make me laugh
again--"

"But how is it possible--once this thought has found its way into your
mind? If I am a spy, as your Captain Welford says, it is my business to
deceive the enemy. I couldn't tell the truth and live in Richmond. I
would swing from the nearest limb if I should be discovered--"

Jennie covered her face with her hands:

"Don't--don't--please--"

"Can't you see how useless such a question?"

"You can't convince me?" she asked pathetically.

"I won't try," he said firmly. "You must trust me because you love me.
Nothing I could say could convince you--"

He paused and held her hands in a desperate clasp--

"Trust me, dear--I promise in good time to convince you that I am all
your heart has told you--"

"You must convince me now--or I'll die," she sobbed.

"You're asking the impossible--"

He stroked her hand with tender touch, rose and led her to the door.

"You'll try to trust me?"

There was an unreal sound in her voice as Jennie slowly replied:

"Yes--I'll try."

Socola hurried to the house on Church Hill and dispatched a courier on a
mission of tragic importance. Kilpatrick and Dahlgren were preparing to
capture Richmond by a daring raid of three thousand cavalrymen.

Jennie watched him go with the determination to know the truth at all
hazards.

CHAPTER XXXVI

THE FATAL DEED

The battle of Gettysburg and the disaster of the fall of Vicksburg once
more gave to the Johnston junta in the Confederate Congress their
opportunity to harass the President.

Their power for evil had been greatly diminished by the pressure of the
swiftly moving tragedy of the war.

The appearance of this Congress was curiously plain and uninteresting.
With the exception of J. L. M. Curry of Alabama and Barksdale of
Mississippi there was not a man among them of constructive ability as a
statesman. Foote of Tennessee was noted for his high-flown English, his
endless harangues and his elaborate historical illustrations. Had his
ability been equal to the intensity of his hatred for Davis he would
have been a dangerous man to the administration. James Lyons of Virginia
stood six feet three in his stockings, had fine, even, white teeth, and
was considered the handsomest man in the assembly.

Yancey, the fierce, uncompromising agitator of secession, was too
violent to command the influence to which his ge