rd more or less,
an idea omitted or added, a syllable misplaced, can transform a whole
sentence, and make what was before harmless, really shocking!

And if it had not been for Ada and Marie--! Blessed angels! they
entreated him not to deliver any of his messages, insisting that there
must be a mistake, that if he knew me he would understand that it was
impossible for me to have sent such a message by a stranger. And
although at first he declared he felt obliged to discharge the task
imposed on him, they finally succeeded in persuading him to relinquish
the errand, promising to be responsible for the consequences.

"Ah me!" I gasped last night, making frantic grimaces in the dark, and
pinching myself in disgust, "why can't they let me alone?... O
women--women! I wish he could marry all of you, so you would let me
alone! Take him, please; but _en grace_ don't disgrace me in the
excitement of the race!"

Friday, 25th.

Write me down a witch, a prophetess, or what you will. I am certainly
something! All has come to pass on that very disagreeable subject very
much as I feared. Perhaps no one in my position would speak freely on
the subject; for that very reason I shall not hesitate to discuss it.

Know, then, that this morning, He went North along with many other
Confederate prisoners, to be exchanged. And he left--he who has written
so incessantly and so imploringly for me to visit his prison--he left
without seeing me. Bon! Wonder what happened?

* * * * * * * * * * *

Evening.

I have learned more. He has not yet left; part of the mystery is
unraveled, only I have neither patience nor desire to seek for more.
These women--! Hush! to slander is too much like them; be yourself.

My sweet little lisper informed a select circle of friends the other
night, when questioned, that the individual had not called on me, and,
what was more, would not do so. "Pray, how do you happen to be so
intimately acquainted with the affairs of two who are strangers to
you?" asked a lady present. She declined saying how she had obtained
her information, only asserting that it was so. "In fact, you cannot
expect _any_ Confederate _gentleman_ to call at the house of Judge
Morgan, a professed Unionist," she continued. So that is the story she
told to keep him from seeing me. She h