by Thomas Dixon
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE ACCUSATION
Captain Welford had entered the Secret Service of the Confederacybelieving firmly that Socola was a Federal spy. He would not make knownhis suspicions until he had secured evidence on which to demand hisarrest.
This evidence he found most difficult to secure. For months he hadwatched the handsome foreigner with the patience of a hound. He hadtaken particular pains to hold Jennie's friendship in order to be thrownwith Socola on every possible occasion. His men from the Secret ServiceDepartment had followed Socola's every movement day and night with noresults.
He pretended the most philosophic acceptance of the situation andbantered the lovers with expressions of his surprise that an earlymarriage had not been announced.
Socola received the Captain's professions of friendship with no sign ofsuspicion. He read Dick's mind as an open book. He saw through hispretentions and the tragic purpose which underlay his good-naturedbanter. He knew instinctively that his movements were watched and movedwith the utmost caution. For a time he found it impossible to visit thehouse on Church Hill. Detectives were on his heels the moment he turnedhis steps to that hill.
The boarding house in which he lived was watched day and night. And yetso carefully had he executed his work the men who were hounding him werecompletely puzzled. They could not know, of course, that Socola hadchosen as his secretary a man in the Department of State. This man hehad involved in his conspiracy so completely and hopelessly from thefirst interview that there was no retreat. He had risked his own life onhis judgment of character the day he made his first proposition. But hisestimate had proven correct. The fellow blustered and then accepted thebribe and entered with enthusiasm into his service.
Through this clerk the wily director of the Federal Bureau ofInformation was compelled now to communicate with Miss Van Lew. Socolahad secured his services in the nick of time. He had been an old friendof the Van Lew family before the war, their people were distantlyrelated and no suspicion could attach to his visits to her house unlessmade at an unusual hour.
It was nearly a year from the day he began his watch before CaptainWelford succeeded in connecting the stenographer in the Department ofState with the woman on Church Hill.
He had been quietly studying "Crazy Bet" for months. From the first hehad accused this woman of being a spy. The older men in the Departmentlaughed. Miss Van Lew was the standard joke of the amateurs who enteredthe Service. The older men all knew that she was a harmless fool whosemind had been unbalanced by her love for negroes and her abolitionideas.
With characteristic stubbornness Dick refused to accept their decisionand set about in his own way to watch her. She was in the habit now ofmaking more and more frequent trips to Libby Prison, carrying flowersand delicacies to the Northern prisoners. Dick had observed the use ofan old fashioned French platter with an extremely thick bottom. Hecalled the attention of the guard to this platter.
The keen ears of the woman had heard it mentioned. The double bottom atthat moment was harmless. The messages she had carried to the prisonershad all been taken from their hiding place and the platter returned toher through the bars.
She hurried home before the guard could make up his mind to examine thecontrivance. The next day Dick was on the watch. The Captain whisperedto the guard who halted "Crazy Bet" at the door.
"I'll have to examine that thing," he said sharply.
"Take it then!" she said with a foolish laugh.
She slipped the old shawl from around it and suddenly plumped theplatter squarely into the guard's hands. The double bottom that day wasfilled with boiling water.
"Hell fire!" the guard yelled, dropping the platter with a crash.
He blew on his fingers and let her pick it up and pass on.
The woman had fooled the guard completely, but she had not been sosuccessful with Dick. The trick was _too_ smoothly done. No woman withan unbalanced mind would have been capable of it.
With extraordinary care the Captain followed her through the crowdedstreets and saw her pass Socola in front of the Custom House. No sign ofrecognition was made by either, but he saw the stenographer stoop andpick up something from the edge of the sidewalk.
He would have thought nothing of such an act had he not been followingthis woman on whom his suspicions had been fixed. He leaped at once tothe truth.
Miss Van Lew had dropped a cypher message and Socola had taken it.
He watched her again the next day, and, suddenly turning the corner ofan obscure street, saw Socola speak to her in low quick tones, raisinghis voice on his appearance to an idle conventional greeting.
He passed them without apparently noticing anything unusual and hurriedto his office with his suspicions now a burning certainty. He had onlyto wait his opportunity to trap his quarry in the possession of adispatch that would send him to the gallows.
His evidence was not yet sufficient to ask for his arrest. It wassufficient to convince Jennie Barton whose loyalty to the South was sointense she would not walk on the same side of the street with Miss VanLew.
He rushed to the Barton house.
Jennie saw before he spoke that he bore a message of tragic import.
"What is it, Dick?" she asked under her breath. "Why do you look at meso?"
"Jennie," he began seriously, "you are sure that you love the South?"
"Don't ask me idiotic questions," she answered sternly; "what are youdriving at?"
"If I prove to you that the man to whom you have pledged your love is animpostor--"
She lifted her head in a gesture of cold protest.
"I thought we had settled that question."
"But you must listen to me," he went on with calm persistence. "If Iprove to you that this man is a Federal spy--"
Jennie broke into a laugh.
"I can't get mad at you--you're such a big clumsy goose--"
"I said if I _prove_ it--"
There was no mistaking the fact that he was in dead earnest.
The girl's face went white and her eyes took on a hard glitter.
"Now, Dick Welford, that you've said it--you've _got_ to prove it--"
The Captain lifted his hand solemnly.
"I'll prove it. You know Miss Van Lew, the old abolitionist on ChurchHill?--"
"I don't know that such a creature walks the earth."
"You've heard of her?"
"Yes."
"You know that she is a traitor to her own people?"
"I've heard it."
The Captain paused and looked straight at her with searching gaze.
"I just ran into Socola talking to this woman--"
"Is that all?"
"No."
"What else?"
"Yesterday I saw them pass each other on Main Street. Socola stooped andpicked up something from the pavement--"
"Something she dropped?"
"I'm sure of it--"
"But you didn't see her drop it?"
"No--"
"How can you be so absurd!"
"You don't believe what I tell you?"
"But it proves nothing--"
"To me, it's as plain as day--"
"Because you hate him. I'm ashamed of you, Dick."
"Mark my words, I'll prove it before I'm through."
"I'll give you the chance now--that's his knock on the front door--"
"I'd rather not make my accusation to-day--"
"You've made it to me."
"You're a loyal Southern girl. I had the right to make it to you."
The girl laughed.
"And I'll demand of him an explanation--"
Before he could protest Socola walked into the room and grasped Jennie'shand.
"Captain Welford," she laughed, "has just accused you of hobnobbing withthe enemy on the streets--what explanation can you offer?"
"Need I explain?" he asked lightly.
"Miss Van Lew _is_ a suspicious character."
"That's my excuse, I fear. She is a cha
racter. I've been curious to knowif she is really sane. I stopped her on the street and asked her aquestion. Is it forbidden in Richmond?"
He spoke with easy convincing carelessness.
Jennie smiled.
"Captain Welford evidently thinks so--"
"And you?"
"I am quite satisfied with your explanation--"
Dick took a step closer and faced his enemy.
"Well, I'm not Signor Socola--if that's your name--"
"Dick!" Jennie interrupted angrily.
The Captain ignored the interruption, holding the eye of the man hehated.
"You spoke to that woman in low quick tones--"
"Your imagination is vivid, Captain--"
Dick squared his jaw into Socola's face.
"It's vivid enough to see through you. I'm going to wring your neckbefore we're through with this thing--"
Jennie thrust her trembling figure between the two men and confrontedDick.
"Jennie thrust her trembling little figure between thetwo men and confronted Dick."]
"How dare you insult the man I love in my presence, Dick Welford?"
"Because I love the South better than my life and you do, too, JennieBarton--"
The girl's eyes flashed with rage.
"Leave this room, sir!"
Dick still faced Socola.
"Get out of this town to-night--or I'll wring your neck, you damnedspy!"
"Leave this room, Dick Welford!" Jennie repeated.
The Captain turned and left without even a glance over his broadshoulders.
"I couldn't strike him in your presence, dear," Socola apologized.
"You behaved splendidly. I'm proud of your perfect poise and mastery ofyourself. Our Southern men splutter easily."
Socola took her hand and pressed it.
"You don't believe this?"
"I'd sooner doubt my own heart--I'd sooner doubt God--"
"I'll prove to you that I'm worthy of your love," he murmured gently.
He knelt that night and tried to ask God to show him the way. His heartwas rising in fierce rebellion at the deception into which he hadentrapped himself. And yet never had his country's need been so bitterand the service he was rendering so priceless. He rose at last with facestern and pale. He would fight to the end.