Part 14 (1/2)
”You young fool! I can tell you that you will speak before another twenty-four hours, or I'll hang you for a spy if it cost me my command.
Major Brennan, take this young popinjay to the Mansion House under guard.”
Brennan stepped forward, smiling as if he enjoyed the part a.s.signed to him.
”Come on, you Johnny,” he said coa.r.s.ely, his hand closing heavily on my arm. Then, seeming unable to repress his pleasure at the ending of the interview, and his present sense of power, he bent lower, so that his insolent words should not reach the others, and hissed hotly:
”Stealing women is probably more in your line than this.”
At the sneering words, and the insulting look which accompanied them, my blood, already boiling, leaped into sudden fire. All the fierce hatred engendered within me by his past treatment, his cowardly insinuations, his unknown yet intimate relations.h.i.+p to the woman I loved, flamed up in irresistible power, and I struck him with my open hand across the lips.
”You miserable hound!” I cried madly. ”None but a coward would taunt a helpless prisoner. I only hope I may yet be free long enough to write the lie with steel across your heart.”
Before he could move Sheridan was upon his feet and between us.
”Back, both of you!” he ordered sharply. ”There shall be no brawling here. Major Brennan, you will remain; I would speak with you further regarding this matter. Lieutenant Caton, take charge of the prisoner.”
CHAPTER XII
UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH
At this late date I doubt greatly if my situation at that time was so desperate as I then conceived it. I question now whether the death sentence would ever have been executed. But then, with the memory of Sheridan's rage and my own hot-headed retort, I fully believed my fate was destined to be that of the condemned spy, unless she who alone might tell the whole truth should voluntarily do so. That circ.u.mstances had left me in the power of one whose fierce dislike was already evident was beyond question, and I had yielded to his goading to such an extent as to give those in authority every excuse for the exercise of extreme military power. Yet of one thing I was firmly resolved--no thoughtless word of mine should ever endanger the reputation of Edith Brennan. Right or wrong, I would go to a death of dishonor before I would speak without her authority. Love and pride conspired to make this decision adamant. There might, indeed, be no reason why I should not speak with utmost freedom; but as to this I could not judge, and therefore preferred the safer side of silence. The action of Brennan had impressed this upon me as a duty; had caused me to feel that I could best serve her by blotting out the adventures of the night before. Seemingly it was her own desire, and as a gentleman, an officer, a man of honor, I might not even question that decree.
Deeply as these considerations would have affected me under ordinary conditions, one doubt now overshadowed them all. Was the man I struck the husband of the woman I loved? This was what I desired to know even above my own fate. I scarcely doubted, yet would not yield the slight hope I retained that it might prove otherwise. A trick of chance speech seemed to solve the problem, to answer that question which I durst not ask directly.
”Come,” said Caton, briefly, and I turned and accompanied him without thought of resistance. At the front door he ordered the little squad of waiting soldiers to fall in, and taking me by the arm, led the way down the gravelled path to the road. I was impressed by his seeming carelessness, but as we cleared the gateway he spoke, and his words helped me to comprehend.
”Captain Wayne,” he said quietly, so that the words could not be overheard, ”you do not recognize me, but I was the officer who conducted you to headquarters when you brought the flag in at Wilson Creek. Of course I must perform the duty given me, but I wish you to understand that I wholly believe your word.”
He stopped, extended his hand, and I accepted it silently.
”There must surely be some grave personal reason which seals your lips?” he questioned.
”There is.”
”I thought as much. I chanced to overhear the words, or rather a portion of them, which Brennan whispered, and have no doubt if they were explained to the General he would feel more kindly disposed toward you.”
It was asked as a question, and I felt obliged to reply.
”I appreciate deeply your desire to aid me, but there are circ.u.mstances involving others which compel me for the present to silence. Indeed my possible fate does not so greatly trouble me, only that I possess a strong desire to have freedom long enough to cross swords with this major of yours. The quarrel between us has become bitterly personal, and I hunger for a chance to have it out. Do you know, is he a man who would fight?”
The young fellow stiffened slightly.
”We are serving upon the same staff,” he said more abruptly, ”and while we have never been close friends, yet I cannot honorably take sides against him. He has been out twice within the last three years to my knowledge, and is not devoid either of courage or skill. Possibly, however, the arrival of his wife may make him less a fire-eater.”
”His wife?”
I stopped so suddenly that he involuntarily tightened his grip upon my arm as though suspicious of an attempt to escape.