Page:Randall Parrish--My Lady of the South.djvu/170

MY LADY OF THE SOUTH a gentleman. I am only a girl, Lieutenant King, with no very wide experience in life, yet I cannot be mistaken altogether in your character. I not only believe you guiltless of this crime, but I trust you otherwise, or I should not be here."

I stepped forward, bowing in acknowledgment of her words, but she remained motionless, the expression of her face holding me silent.

"Will you give me your word that I am right?"

"Before God, yes," earnestly. "I know nothing of the crime except what I told in the library."

"And I may trust you?"

"To the end of the world, Miss Denslow."

Her questioning eyes fell, the long lashes concealing their depths, but there was no change in her posture. There was a certain reserve about her manner which held me motionless and at a distance. However we might trust each other no action of hers invited to intimacy.

"Lieutenant King," her words spoken slowly, yet with sufficient clearness, "I should hardly have come here under ordinary conditions. I do not wish to be misunderstood. I am a daughter of the South loyal to the interests f the Confederacy. While I believe you guiltless of this cruel murder, yet you have entered this house as a Yankee officer, searching for one who is very dear to me, beyond all his claims upon my protection as a soldier of my country. To protect him I made you captive, and I consider you now as rightfully a prisoner of war. I have been trusted to guard you, and intend to be loyal to my trust [ 160 ]