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Page 43
"'Well?' said I.
"She looked up at me and laughed, showing a row of white teeth. That was
the first time I ever saw her laugh. 'I knew you'd come back,' said she,
as mischievous as a child, and her eyes danced.
"I didn't mean to be made a fool of, for I had my duty to think about,
so I spoke rather shortly. 'Well, and now I'm here--what?'
"With that she drew an excited little gasp. 'I couldn't let you be
killed,' she brought out in a sort of breathless whisper, so low I had
to bend over close to hear her. 'You mustn't go on--in that
direction--you'll be taken. The Union army's been defeated--at
Chancellorsville. They're driven north of the Rappahannock--to Falmouth.
Our troops are in their old camps. There's an outpost across the
ford--just over the hill.'
"It was the first I'd heard of the defeat at Chancellorsville, and it
stunned me for a second. 'Are you telling me the truth?' I asked her
pretty sharply.
"'You know I am,' she said, as haughty as you please all of a sudden,
and drew herself up with her head in the air.
"And I did know it. Something else struck me just about then. The old
lady and the servants were gone from the hall. There wasn't anybody in
it but herself and me; my men were out of sight on the driveway. I
forgot our army and the war and everything else, and I caught her bands
in between mine, and said I, 'Why couldn't you let me be killed?'"
At his words I drew a quick breath, too. For a moment I was the
Southern girl with the red-gold hair. I could feel the clasp of the
young officer's hands; I could hear his voice asking the rough, tender
question, "Why couldn't you let me be killed?"
"It was mighty still for a minute. Then she lifted up her eyes as I held
her fingers in a vise, and gave me a steady look. That was all--but it
was plenty.
"I don't know how I got on my horse or what order I gave, but my head
was clear enough for business purposes, and I had to use it--quickly,
too. There were thick woods near by, and I hurried my party into them
and gave men and horses a short rest till I could decide what to do. The
Confederates were east of us, around Chancellorsville and in the
triangle between the Rapidan and the Rappahannock, so that It was unsafe
travelling in that direction. It's the business of an aide-de-camp
carrying despatches to steal as quietly as possible through an enemy's
country, and the one fatal thing is to be captured. So I concluded I
wouldn't get into the thick of it till I had to, but would turn west
and make a _d�tour_, crossing by Morton's Ford, farther up the Rapidan.
Germania Ford lies in a deep loop of the river, and that made our ride
longer, but we found a road and crossed all right as I planned it, and
then we doubled back, as we had to, eastward.
"It was a pretty ride in the May weather, through that beautiful
Virginia country. We kept in the woods and the lonely roads as much as
we could and hardly saw a soul for hours, and though I knew we were
getting into dangerous parts again, I hoped we might work through all
right. Of course I thought first about my errand, and my mind was on
every turn of the road and every speck in the landscape, but all the
same there was one corner of it--or of something--that didn't forget
that red-headed girl--not an instant. I kept wondering if I'd ever see
her again, and I was mighty clear that I would, if there was enough left
of me by the time I could get off duty to go and look her up. The touch
of her hands stayed with me all day.
"About two o'clock or so we passed a house, just a cabin, but a neat
sort of place, and I looked at it as I did at everything, and saw an old
negro with grizzled hair standing some distance in front of it. Now
everything reminded me of that girl because she was on my mind, and
instantly I was struck with the idea, that the old fellow looked like
the servant who had been locking the bag in the house by Germania Ford.
I wasn't sure it was the same darky, but I thought I'd see. There was a
patch of woods back of the house, and I ordered the party to wait there
till I joined them, and I threw my bridle to a soldier and turned in at
the gate. The man loped out for the house, but I halted him. Then I went
along past the negro to the cabin, and opened the door, which had been
shut tight.
"There was a table littered with papers in the middle of the room, and
behind it, in a gray riding-habit, with a gray soldier-cap on her red
hair, writing for dear life, sat the girl. She lifted her head quick, as
the door swung open, and then made a jump to get between me and the
table. I took off my cap, and said I:
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