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Page 44
"'I'm very glad to see you. I was just wondering if we'd ever meet
again.' She only stared at me. Then I said: 'I'm sorry, but I'll have to
ask you for those papers.' I knew by the look of them that they were
some sort of despatches.
"At that she laughed in a kind of a friendly, cocksure way. She wasn't
afraid of anything, that girl. 'No,' she threw at me--just like
that--'No.'" The General tossed back his big head and did a poor
imitation of a girl's light tone--a poor imitation, but the way he did
it was winning. "'No,' said she, shaking her head sidewise. 'You can't
have those papers--not ever,' and with that she swept them together and
popped them into a drawer of the table and then hopped up on the table
and sat there laughing at me, with her little riding-hoots swinging. 'At
least, unless you knock me down, and I don't believe you'll do that,'
said she.
"Well, I had to have those papers. I didn't know how important they
might be, but if this girl was sending information to the Southern
commanders I was inclined to think it would be accurate and worth while.
It wouldn't do not to capture it. At the same time I wouldn't have laid
a finger on her, to compel her, for a million dollars. I stood and
stared like a blockhead for a minute, at my wit's end, and she sat there
and smiled. All of a sudden I had an idea. I caught the end of the table
and tipped it up, and off slid the young lady, and I snatched at the
knob of the drawer, and had the papers in a second.
"It was simple, but it worked. Then it was her turn to look foolish. Of
course she had a temper, with that colored hair, and she was raging. She
looked at me as if she'd like to tear me to pieces. There wasn't
anything she could say, however, and not lose her dignity, and I guess
she pretty nearly exploded for a minute, and then, in a flash, the joke
of it struck her. Her eyes began to dance, and she laughed because she
couldn't help it, and I with her. For a whole minute we forgot what a
big business we were both after, and acted like two children.
"'That's right,' said I finally. 'I had to get them, but I did it in the
kindest spirit. I see you understand that.'
"'Oh, I don't care,' she answered with her chin up--a little way she
had. 'They're not much, anyway. I hadn't got to the important part.'
"'Won't you finish?' said I politely, and pretended to offer her the
papers--and then I got serious. 'What are you doing here?' I asked her.
'Where are you going?'
"She looked up at me, and--I knew she liked me. She caught her breath
before she answered. 'What right have you got to ask me questions?' said
she, making a bluff at righteous indignation.
"But I just gripped her fingers into mine--it was getting to be a habit,
holding her hand.
"'And what are _you_ doing here?' she went on saucily, but her voice was
a whisper, and she let her hand lie.
"'I'll tell you what I'm doing,' said I. 'I'm obeying the Bible. My
Bible tells me to love my enemies, and I'm going to. I do,' said I.
'What does your Bible tell you?'
"'My Bible tells me to resist the devil and he will flee from me,' she
answered back like a flash, standing up straight and looking at me
squarely, as solemn as a church.
"'Well, I guess I'm not that kind of a devil,' said I. 'I don't want to
flee worth a cent.'
"And at that she broke into a laugh and showed all her little teeth at
me. That was one of the prettiest things about her, the row of small
white teeth she showed every time she laughed.
"'Just at that second the old negro stuck his head in at the door.
'We're busy, uncle,' said I. 'I'll give you five dollars for five
minutes.'
"But the girl put her hand on my arm to stop me, 'What is it, Uncle
Ebenezer?' she asked him anxiously.
"'It's young Marse, Miss Lindy,' the man said, 'Him'n Marse Philip
Breck'nridge 'n' Marse Tom's ridin' down de branch right now. Close to
hyer--dey'll be hyer in fo'-five minutes.'
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