do so
for anything I know; but he pretends to be a violent Secessionist,
which, as he comes from Vermont, is not natural, and I imagine he would
sing a different tune if the bluecoats ever get to Richmond. Still I
have nothing particular to say against him, except that I don't like
him, and I don't trust him. So long as everything goes on well for the
Confederacy I don't suppose it matters, but if we should ever get the
worst of it you will see that fellow will be mischievous.

[Illustration: Map--THE COUNTRY BETWEEN RICHMOND AND FORT MONROE.]

"However, I hear that he has obeyed your orders, and that there has been
no flogging on the estate since I went away. In fact, as far as I can
see, he does not keep anything like such a sharp hand over the slaves as
he used to do; and in some of the fields the work seems to be done in a
very slovenly way. What his game is I don't know; but I have no doubt
whatever that he has some game in his mind."

"You are a most prejudiced boy," Mrs. Wingfield said, laughing. "First
of all the man is too strict, and you were furious about it; now you
think he is too lenient, and at once you suspect he has what you call a
game of some sort or other on. You are hard to please, indeed."

Vincent smiled. "Well, as I told you once before, we shall see. I hope I
am wrong, and that Pearson is all that you believe him to be. I own that
I may be prejudiced against him, but nothing will persuade me that it
was not from him that Jackson learned that Dinah was here, and it was to
that we owe the visit of the sheriff and the searching the plantation
for Tony. However, whatever the man is at heart, he can, as far as I
see, do you no injury as long as things go on as they are, and I
sincerely trust he will never have an opportunity of doing so."

During the winter Vincent had made the acquaintance of many of the
Southern leaders. The town was the center of the movement, the heart of
the Confederacy. It was against it, as the capital of the Southern
States, that the efforts of the Northerners were principally directed,
and to it flocked the leading men from all parts of the country.
Although every Virginian family had some of its members at the front,
and a feeling of anxiety reigned everywhere, a semblance of gayety was
kept up. The theater was opened, and parties and balls given in order to
keep up the spirits of the people by the example of those of higher
rank.

These balls differed widely in appe