"
"My sister Tilly!" said the young officer impulsively. "But she is no
longer here. She passed through the lines back to Washington yesterday.
No," he added, with a light laugh, "I'm afraid that excuse won't count
for to-day."
A sudden frown upon the face of the elder officer, added to the perfect
ingenuousness of Faulkner's speech, satisfied Brant that he had not only
elicited the truth, but that Miss Faulkner had been successful. But he
was sincere in his suggestion that her relationship to the young officer
would incline the division commander to look leniently upon his fault,
for he was conscious of a singular satisfaction in thus being able to
serve her. Of the real object of the two men before him he had no doubt.
They were "the friends" of his wife, who were waiting for her outside
the lines! Chance alone had saved her from being arrested with them,
with the consequent exposure of her treachery before his own men, who,
as yet, had no proof of her guilt, nor any suspicion of her actual
identity. Meanwhile his own chance of conveying her with safety beyond
his lines was not affected by the incident; the prisoners dare not
reveal what they knew of her, and it was with a grim triumph that he
thought of compassing her escape without their aid.
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