ly proper--"I scarcely know why I am here,
but I wish to repeat that I did not come with any bad intent. I am a
Confederate soldier, but the Confederacy is not yet so far reduced that
it needs to war on women."

Yet he knew as he spoke that he had believed her a spy and his full duty
demanded that he deliver her to his Government; but perhaps there was a
difference between one's duty and one's full duty.

"I merely wished to know that you were safe here," he continued, "and
now I shall go."

"We thank you for your forbearance, Captain Prescott," said the elder
woman, but the younger said nothing, and Prescott waited a moment,
hoping that she would do so. Still she did not speak, and as she moved
toward the door she did not offer her hand.

"She has no thanks for me, after all that I have done," thought
Prescott, and there was a little flame of anger in his heart. Why should
he trouble himself about her?

"Ladies," he said, with an embarrassed air, "you will pardon me if I
open the door an inch or two and look out before I go. You understand
why."

"Oh, certainly," replied Miss Catherwood, and again that faint smile
lurked for a moment in the corners of her mouth. "We are Pariahs, and it
would ill suit the fair fame of Captain Prescott to be seen coming from
this house."

"You are of the North and I of the South and that is all," said
Prescott, and, bowing, he left, forgetting in his annoyance to take that
precautionary look before opening wide the door.

But the little street was empty and he walked thoughtfully back to his
mother's house.

CHAPTER VIII

THE PALL OF WINTER

The deep snow was followed by the beginning of a thaw, interrupted by a
sudden and very sharp cold spell, when the mercury went down to zero and
the water from the melting snow turned to ice. Richmond was encased in a
sheath of gleaming white. The cold wintry sun was reflected from roofs
of ice, the streets were covered with it, icicles hung like rows of
spears from the eaves, and the human breath smoked at the touch of the
air.

And as the winter pressed down closer and heavier on Richmond, so did
the omens of her fate. Higher and higher went the price of food, and
lower and lower sank the hopes of her people. Their momentary joy under
the influence of such events as the Morgan reception was like the result
of a stimulant or narcotic, quickly over and leaving the body lethargic
and dull. But this dullness had in it no though