Still less would they have suspected the strange
fear that came upon him that in some way she was connected with the
treachery he had just discovered. He had heard from her only once, and
then through her late husband's lawyer, in regard to her Californian
property, and believed that she had gone to her relations in Alabama,
where she had identified herself with the Southern cause, even to the
sacrifice of her private fortune. He had heard her name mentioned in the
Southern press as a fascinating society leader, and even coadjutrix
of Southern politicians,--but he had no reason to believe that she had
taken so active or so desperate a part in the struggle. He tried to
think that his uneasiness sprang from his recollection of the previous
treachery of Captain Pinckney, and the part that she had played in the
Californian conspiracy, although he had long since acquitted her of the
betrayal of any nearer trust. But there was a fateful similarity in
the two cases. There was no doubt that this Lieutenant Wainwright was
a traitor in the camp,--that he had succumbed to the usual sophistry of
his class in regard to his superior allegiance to his native State. But
was there the inducement of another emotion, or was the photograph only
the souvenir of a fascinating priestess of rebellion, whom the dead
man had met? There was perhaps less of feeling than scorn in the first
suggestion, but he was nevertheless relieved when the provost marshal
found no other incriminating papers in Wainwright's effects.
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