lpless!"

Socola made no answer. A thoughtful dreamy look masked his handsome
features.

Jennie read the next sentence from the Dahlgren paper in high quivering
tones:

"The men must be kept together and well in hand, and once in the
city, it must be destroyed and _Jeff Davis and his Cabinet_ killed--"

The girl paused and fixed her gaze on Socola.

"The man who planned that raid came with the willful and deliberate
murder of unarmed men in his soul. The man who helped him inside is
equally guilty of his crime--"

She resumed her reading without waiting for reply.

"Prisoners will go along with combustible material. The officer must
use his discretion about the time of assisting us. Pioneers must be
prepared to construct a bridge or destroy one. They must have plenty
of oakum and turpentine for burning, which will be rolled in soaked
balls, and given to the men to burn when we get into the city--"

Socola lifted his hand.

"Please, dear--these instructions are not mine. I do not excuse or
palliate them. The daring youngster who conceived this paid the penalty
with his life. It's all that any of us can give for his country. There's
something that interests me now far more than this sensation--far more
than the mere fact that my true business here has been discovered by you
and my life forfeited to your Government--"

"And that is?"

"That the woman I love can deliver me to death--"

"You doubt it?"

"I had not believed it possible."

"I'll show you."

Jennie stepped to the door and pulled the old-fashioned bell-cord.

A servant appeared.

In strained tones the girl said:

"Go to Captain Welford's office and ask him to come here immediately
with two soldiers--"

"Yassam--"

The negro bowed and hurried from the house, and Jennie sat down in
silence beside the door.

Socola confronted her, his hands gripped in nervous agony behind his
back, his slender figure erect, his breath coming in deep excited
draughts.

"You think that I'll submit to my fate without a fight?"

"You've got to submit. Your escape from Richmond is a physical
impossibility--"

He searched the depths of her heart.

"I was not thinking of my body just then. I have no desire to live if
you can hand me to my executioner--"

He paused and a sob came from the girl's distracted soul.

He moved a step closer.

"I'm not afraid to die--you must know that--I'm not a coward--"

"No. I could