b well done," said Talbot.

They went back to the sitting-room, where the lady of the house was
still confiding her angry thoughts to the red coals.

"Our search is ended," said Talbot politely to Miss Grayson, "and I am
glad to say that we have found nothing."

The lady's gaze was not deflected a particle, nor did she reply.

"I bid you good-day, Miss Grayson," continued Talbot, "and hope that you
will not be annoyed again in this manner."

Still no reply nor any change in the confidences passing between the
lady and the red coals.

Talbot gathered up his men with a look and hurried outside the house,
followed in equal haste by Prescott.

"How warm it is out here!" exclaimed Talbot, as he stood in the snow.

"Warm?" said Prescott in surprise, looking around at the chill world.

"Yes, in comparison with the temperature in there," said Talbot,
pointing to Miss Grayson's house.

Prescott laughed, and he felt a selfish joy that the task had been
Talbot's and not his. But he was filled, too, with wonder. What had
become of Miss Catherwood?

They had just turned into the main street, when they met Mr. Sefton, who
seemed expectant.

"Did you find the spy, Mr. Talbot?" he asked.

"No," replied Talbot, with ill-concealed aversion; "there was nothing in
the house."

"I thought it likely that some one would be found there," said the
Secretary thoughtfully. "Miss Grayson has never hidden her Northern
sympathies, and a woman is just fanatic enough to help in such a
business."

Then he dismissed Talbot and his men--the Secretary had at times a curt
and commanding manner--and took Prescott's arm in his with an appearance
of great friendship and confidence.

"I want to talk with you a bit about this affair, Captain Prescott," he
said. "You are going back to the front soon, and in the shock of the
great battles that are surely coming such a little thing will disappear
from your mind; but it has its importance, nevertheless. Now we do not
know whom to trust. I may have seemed unduly zealous. Confess that you
have thought so, Captain Prescott."

Prescott did not reply and the Secretary smiled.

"I knew it," he continued; "you have thought so, and so have many others
in Richmond, but I must do my duty, nevertheless. This spy, I am sure,
is yet in the city; but while she cannot get out herself, she may have
ways of forwarding to the enemy what she steals from us. There is where
the real danger lies, and I am of the o