Page:Randall Parrish - The Red Mist.djvu/161

 Rh made the plunge. "I have done nothing I need be ashamed to confess. If I have taken my life in my hands to serve the cause of the South, it was in obedience to the orders of my superiors."

"Whose orders?"

"General Jackson directly; although Robert E. Lee was present, and gave final instructions."

"To come here secretly, in disguise? for what object?"

"To learn what I could of General Ramsay's forces in this district, and the disposition of the mountain men, and their leaders. There is, in war, nothing dishonorable in such a service. I am doing my duty as a soldier."

Her hands concealed her face, and I could judge nothing as to its expression; whether, or not, my words had any weight with her. She sat motionless, bent slightly forward. At last she said slowly:

"I—I know enough of of army life to be aware that men are not ordered to such hazardous work—they are asked to volunteer. Only a brave man would assume such a risk; only a man who believed in himself, and his cause. I—I like you better because you have told me. I believe you are honest with me now. I did not know what to do, or what to say before. I knew you were not Raymond, and that you were acting a lie—but could