felt she had little to be
anxious over.

"You probably are not aware," he continued, "what a very serious
affair it is considered here to assist in hiding a slave of that sort
under assumed names or occupations. But if it is discovered it would
prove ruinous to you just now."

"In three days I shall be out of the country," she answered, briefly.
"I go down to Savannah, secure Louise from this blunder--for there
is really nothing to be proven against her as a spy--and then,
farewell, or ill, to Carolina. I do not expect to enter it again. My
arrangements are all made. Nothing has been forgotten. As to my
good Louise, your informer has not been made acquainted with all the
facts. It is true she was a Georgian slave, but is so no longer.
For over a year she has been in possession of the papers establishing
her freedom. Her own money, and a clever lawyer, arranged all that
without any trouble whatever. What Monsieur Loring would do if he knew
I had a maid whose name was assumed, I neither know nor care. He
could not identify her as the girl Rhoda Larue, even if he saw her.
His sight has failed until he could not distinguish you from
Colonel McVeigh if across the room. I learned that fact through
Madame McVeigh before leaving Mobile, so, you perceive, I have not
risked so much in making the journey with my pretty maid; and I shall
risk no more when I make my adieus the day after tomorrow."

She laughed, and looked up in his face. He looked down in her's, but
he did not laugh.

"And the estate you have just purchased in order to enjoy this
Eden-like plantation life?"

"The purpose for which it was purchased will be carried out quite as
well without my presence," she said, quietly. "I never meant to live
there."

"Well, that beats me!" he said, halting, and looking squarely down at
her. "You spend thousands to establish yourself in the heart of a
seceding country, and gain the confidence of the natives, and then
toss it all aside as though it were only a trifle! You must have spent
fortunes from your own pocket to help the Federals!"

"So your President was good enough to say in the letter I tried to
show you--and did not," she replied, and then smiled, as she added,
"but you are mistaken, Captain Monroe; it was only one fortune spent,
and I will be recompensed."

"When?"

"When that long-talked-of emancipation is announced."

The bright music of a mazurka stole out of the open windows, and
across the level cou