wers, being evasive, only created stronger
suspicions against her in the mind of Lord Rawdon.

"We'll find a way to the truth!" he at length exclaimed impatiently,
after trying in vain to get some satisfactory statement from the
firm-hearted girl, who did not once lose her presence of mind during
the trying interview. "Take her over to my quarters at the farm-house,
and see that she don't escape you."

The officer to whom this command was given removed Emily, under a
guard, to a house near at hand, and locked her in one of the rooms. The
moment she was alone, she took from her pocket a pair of scissors, and
hurriedly ripping open a part of her dress, took therefrom a small
piece of paper, folded and sealed. This was the despatch she was
bearing to General Sumter. To crumple it in her hand and throw it from
the window was her first impulse; but her ear caught the sound of a
sentinel's tread, and that idea was abandoned. Hurriedly glancing
around in the dim twilight, she sought in vain for some mode of hiding
the despatch, which, if found upon her, betrayed every thing. That her
person would be searched, she had good reason to believe; and, in all
probability, every part of the room would be searched also. To hesitate
long would be to make discovery sure. Every moment she expected some
one to enter. While she stood irresolute, a thought glanced through her
mind, and acting upon it instantly, she tore off a part of the
despatch, and thrusting it into her mouth, chewed and swallowed it.
Another and another piece disappeared in the same way; but, ere the
whole was destroyed, the door opened, and a woman entered. Turning her
back quickly, Emily crowded all that remained of the paper in her
mouth, and covering her face tightly with her hands, held them there,
as if weeping, until the last particle of the tell-tale despatch had
disappeared. Then turning to the woman who had addressed her
repeatedly, she said in a calm voice--

"By what authority am I detained and shut up a prisoner in this room?"

"By the authority of Lord Rawdon," replied the woman in a severe tone.

"He might find work more befitting the position of his noble lordship,
I should think," returned Emily, with ill-concealed contempt, "than
making prisoners of young girls, who, while travelling the highway,
happen to be so unfortunate as to fall in with his scouts."

"You'd better keep your saucy tongue still, or it may get its owner
into a worse trouble," r