THE FAIR COURIER. 93

 

“We'll find a way to the truth!” he at
length exclaimed impatiently, after trying
in vain to get some satisfactory statement
from the firm-hearted girl, who did not
once lose her presence of mind during the
trying interview. ‘Take her over to my
quarters at the farm-house, and see that
she don’t escape you.”

The officer to whom this command was
given removed Emily, under a guard, to a
house near at hand, and locked her in one
of the rooms. The moment she was alone,
she took from her pocket a pair of scissors,
and hurriedly ripping open a part of her
dress, took therefrom a small piece of paper,
folded and sealed. This was the despatch
she was bearing to General Sumter. To
crumple it in her hand and throw it from the
window was her first impulse; but her ear
caught the sound of a sentinel’s tread, and
that idea was abandoned. Hurriedly glanc-
ing around in the dim twilight, she sought
in vain for some mode of hiding the de-
spatch, which, if found upon her, betrayed

XxI.—H