Page:Randall Parrish--My Lady of the South.djvu/67

CAUGHT IN THE TRAP to say in my own defence. To be a Federal soldier is not a crime, nor evidence of a debased manhood. That we should differ in time of war does not mean that all which is gentlemanly should be enrolled upon the one side. There are true, honest, upright men wearing both uniforms—the difference between us is political. I am in the Northern army because I am a Northerner, because I have been educated in the principles of that section of the country, and have been called upon to fight to sustain them. Surely you cannot despise me for that alone. That would not be just, nor womanly. I am going to appeal to you simply as a man, not as a partisan. Forget that I was born north, and you south of Mason and Dixon's line, and judge my actions from a fairer standard. Can you do this?"

She did not move nor answer, yet her very silence gave me renewed courage.

"I know you can and will. You have the face and eyes of a woman to be trusted, to be confided in—"

"How do you know that?"

"Because I saw you yesterday, while you were talking with the negro Joe, in the tool-shed."

"You—you were there?—you overheard?"

"Yes," I confessed unwillingly, for her tone was a rebuke. "But I was not an eavesdropper from choice. I was there in concealment, and had fallen asleep. Your voices awoke me."

I knew she was staring toward me, still dazed by the discovery of who I was, unable to decide what to do or [ 59 ]