le! Clear out!"

Then he turned to the beautiful woman in white who stood only a few feet
away, no longer timid but in entire possession of her faculties before
what, she knew, might prove a greater danger than a drunkard.

"Madam," said the Union officer as he doffed his hat, "I couldn't
apologize for this, no matter how hard I tried; but, believe me, I
regret it--deeply."

In answer she slowly raised her heavy lidded eyes and gave him her
first thrust--smoothly and deftly.

"No apology is demanded," she murmured in soft tones. "I was merely
unfamiliar with the Union's method of attack."

"Attack!" he repeated, astounded, and stepped back.

"What else?" she asked, simply. "My home is over-run; my servant
assaulted--by a drunken ruffian."

"The man will be punished," was the stern reply, "to the limit of my
authority."

"He _should_ be. We know him," the Southern woman said bitterly. "Before
the war he was our overseer. He was cruel to the negroes and my husband
gave him a taste of his own discipline--with a riding whip!"

"Ah, I see," Morrison nodded. "But it is not always in an officer's
power to control each individual in the service--especially at such a
time. Yet I assure you on the part of the Union--and mine--that there
was no intention of attack."

Mrs. Cary had chosen this moment in which to draw her visitor off the
veranda and when she had successfully brought him to the foot of the
steps she looked up in smiling sarcasm with another thrust.

"Oh! Then since your visit would seem a _social_ one--how may I serve
you, sir?"

Morrison laughed lightly. This pretty cat could scratch.

"I'm afraid, dear madam, you are wrong again. My detachment is on
foraging duty. It is not a pleasant task--but our army is in need of
horses and supplies, and by the rules of war, I must take what I can
find."

"Even by force?" came the quiet inquiry.

"Yes, even force," he answered, reddening. "With its proper limitations.
I rob you, it is true, but by virtue of necessity. In return I can only
offer, as I would to every other woman of the South, all courtesy and
protection at my command," and Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison, for the
second time, took off his hat.

The Southern woman swept him a curtsey filled with graceful mockery.

"I thank you. There is consolation--and even flattery--in being
plundered by a gentleman." She made a short gesture which took in
house, plantation and all the Cary possessions. "I regr