ime, and the one whose thought had
planned it, only one other person knew of the existence of that
garret room, and for long years she was too frightened to tell what
she had seen in an unexpected moment.

[Illustration: MISS VAN LEW BRINGING FOOD TO THE UNION SOLDIER IN THE
SECRET ROOM]

Betty Van Lew's niece was visiting in the old house during the
blackest period of the struggle between the North and South. She was a
little girl, and her bump of curiosity was well developed. After
tossing restlessly in bed on a hot night, she opened her door in order
to get some air. To her surprise she saw Aunt Betty tiptoeing through
the other end of the dark hall, carrying something in her hand. With
equal stealth the curious child followed the creeping figure up
through the dark, silent house into the garret--saw a hand reach
behind an old chest of drawers standing against the wall in the
garret, and with utter amaze saw a black hole in the wall yawn before
her eyes. There stood her aunt before the opening of the wall, shading
with cautious hand the candle she carried, while facing her stood a
gaunt, hollow-eyed, bearded man in uniform reaching out a greedy hand
for the food on the plate. The man saw the child's eyes burning
through the darkness back of the older woman, but she put a chubby
finger on her lip, and ran away before he had a chance to realize that
she was flesh and blood and not an apparition. Panting, she ran
swiftly down the long staircase and, with her heart beating fast from
fright, flung herself on the bed and buried her head in the pillows,
lying there for a long time, so it seemed to her. Then, scarcely
daring to breathe, for fear of being discovered, she stole out of bed
again, opened her door, and once more crept up through the silent
mansion, this time alone. In a moment she stood outside the place
where the hole in the wall had opened before her amazed vision. Not a
sound in the great, dark garret! Putting her mouth close to the
partition she called softly to the soldier, and presently a deep voice
told her how to press the spring and open the secret door. Then, a
shivering but determined little white-robed figure, she stood before
the yawning chasm and talked with the big, Union soldier, who seemed
delighted at the sound of his own voice, and years afterward she
remembered how he had looked as he said:

"My! what a spanking you would have got if your aunt had turned
around!" She did not dare to stand