could
scarcely fail this time to relate in full the details of our encounter,
and the girl would realize at once her injustice toward me. I hardly
knew what I dared hope as a result, but she was impulsive, warm-hearted,
and would surely endeavor to make amends. Bell came back from the front
of the house.

"Some fight going on out there," indicating the north and east, "and
seems to be drifting this way."

"Our fellows are driving you," I replied. "Have been noticing that all
the morning; looks as if your left and centre were giving way."

"Wait until Chambers gets up, and you'll hear another tune," his pride
touched. "What's the sergeant doing?"

"Evidently going to get a look at the attic." Then, deciding
quickly,--"I am going to turn you all loose, and try to get back to our
lines, as soon as we can gain some understanding of this death mystery,
Bell. It looks as though the battle would end up somewhere about here,
and I can hardly expect to fight the entire Confederate army with ten
men and a sergeant. It's a dignified retreat for me. Where now?"

"To help your man. I am crazy to get away. I'm a soldier, Galesworth,
and they're wondering out there why I am not in my place. The earlier
you say go, the better pleased I'll be."

He clambered out the window to where Miles was perched on the steep
roof, and I was left alone, with no noise in my ears but the continuous
firing, the reverberations already jarring the house. I found it
difficult to collect my thoughts, or to reason out the situation.
Everything had occurred so swiftly, so unexpectedly, as to leave me
confused--the surging of battle our way, the affair with Le Gaire, his
strange death, the thought which had taken possession of Billie, the
skulking murderer hid somewhere within the house--all combined to leave
me in a state of perplexity. I should have withdrawn my men before
daylight; there was no sign of any Federal troops advancing up the
ravine, and probably my messenger had failed to get through. It looked
as though we were left to our fate. Every moment counted, and yet I
could not leave until this mystery was made clear, and Miss Willifred
convinced of my innocence. I was so involved in the tangled threads that
to run away was almost a confession, and must risk remaining, moment by
moment, in hope some discovery would make it all plain. Yet the longer I
thought the less I understood. Le Gaire had come to Billie wounded--but
how? His very conditio