Five minutes afterward, I knew that any thing but apathy possessed him.

All at once he rose in his chair, and his eyes were fixed upon me with a glance so piercing and melancholy, that they dwell still in my memory, and will always dwell there.

"I said we were playing a comedy here in Richmond, colonel," he said, in tones so deep and solemn that they made me start; "I am playing my part with the rest; I play it in public, and even in private, as before you to-night. I sit here, indolently smoking and uttering my jests and plat.i.tudes, and, at the moment that I am speaking, my heart is breaking! I am a Virginian--I love this soil more than all the rest of the world--not a foot but is dear and sacred, and a vulgar horde are about to trample it under foot, and enslave its people. Every pulse of my being throbs with agony at the thought! I can not sleep. I have lost all taste for food. One thought alone haunts me--that the land of Washington, Jefferson, Mason, Henry, and Randolph, is to become the helpless prey of the sc.u.m of Europe and the North! My family has lived here for more than two hundred years. I have been, and am to-day, proud beyond words, of my birthright! I am a Virginian! a Virginian of Virginians! I have for forty years had no thought but the honor of Virginia. I have fought for her, and her only, in the senate and cabinet of the old government at Washington. I have dedicated all my powers to her--shrunk from nothing in my path--given my days and nights for years, and was willing to pour out my blood for Virginia; and now she is about to be trampled upon, her great statues hurled down, her escutcheon blotted, her altars overturned! And I, who have had no thought but her honor and glory, am to be driven, at the end of a long career, to a foreign land! I am to crouch yonder in Canada, with my bursting brow in my two hands--and every newspaper is to tell me 'the negro and the bayonet rule Virginia!' Can you wonder, then, that I am gloomy--that despair lies under all this jesting? _You_ are happy. You go yonder, where a bullet may end you. Would to G.o.d that I had entered the army, old as I am, and that at least I could hope for a death of honor, in arms for Virginia!"

VII.

SECRET SERVICE.

The statesman leaned back in his great chair, and was silent. At the same moment a tap was heard at the door; it opened noiselessly, and Nighthawk glided into the apartment.

Under his cloak I saw the gray uniform of a Confederate soldier; in his hand he carried a letter.

Nighthawk saluted Mr. X----- and myself with benignant respect. His quick eye, however, had caught the gloomy and agitated expression of the statesman's countenance, and he was silent.

"Well," said Mr. X-----, raising his head, with a deep sigh. Then pa.s.sing his hand over his face, he seemed to brush away all emotion.

When he again looked up, his face was as calm and unmoved as at the commencement of our interview.

"You see I begin a new scene in this comedy," he said to me in a low tone.

And turning to Nighthawk, he said:--

"Well, you followed that agreeable person?"

"Yes, sir," said Nighthawk, with great respect.

"She turned out to be the character you supposed? Speak before Colonel Surry."

Nighthawk bowed.

"I never had any doubt of her character, sir," he said. "You will remember that she called on you a week ago, announcing that she was a spy, who had lately visited the Federal lines and Washington. You described her to me, and informed me that you had given her another appointment for to-night; when I a.s.sured you that I knew her; she was an enemy, who had come as a spy upon _us_; and you directed me to be here to-night, and follow her, after your interview."

"Well," said Mr. X-----, quietly, "you followed her!"

"Yes, sir. On leaving you, after making her pretended report of affairs in Washington, she got into her carriage, and the driver started rapidly, going up Capitol and Grace streets. I followed on foot, and had to run--but I am used to that, sir. The carriage stopped at a house in the upper part of the city--a Mr. Blocque's; the lady got out, telling the driver to wait, and went into the house, where she staid for about half an hour. She then came out--I was in the shadow of a tree, not ten yards from the spot, and as she got into the carriage, I could see that she held in her hand a letter. As the driver closed the door, she said, 'Take me to the flag-of-truce bureau, on Ninth Street, next door to the war office.' The driver mounted his box, and set off--and crossing the street, I commenced running to get a-head. In this I succeeded, and reached the bureau five minutes before the carriage.

"Well, sir, I hastened up stairs, and went into the bureau, where three or four clerks were examining the letters left to be sent by the flag-of-truce boat to-morrow. They were laughing and jesting as they read aloud the odd letters from the Libby and other prisons--some of which, I a.s.sure you, were very amusing, sir--when the lady's footsteps were heard upon the stairs, and she came in, smiling.

"I had turned my back, having given some excuse for my presence to one of the clerks, who is an acquaintance. Thus the lady, who knows me, could not see my face; but I could, by looking out of the corners of my eyes, see _her_. She came in, in her rich gray cloak, smiling on the clerks, and handing an open letter to one of them, said:--"'Will you oblige me by sending that to my sister in New York, by the flag-of-truce boat, to-morrow, sir?'

"'If there is nothing contraband in it, madam,' said the clerk.

"'Oh!' she replied, with a laugh, 'it is only on family matters. My sister is a Southerner, and so am I, sir. You can read the letter; it is not very dangerous!'

"And she smiled so sweetly that the clerk was almost ashamed to read the letter. He, however, glanced his eye over it, and evidently found nothing wrong in it. While he was doing so, the lady walked toward the mail-bags in which the clerks had been placing such letters as they found un.o.bjectionable, the others being marked, 'Condemned,' and thrown into a basket. As she pa.s.sed near one of the bags, I saw the lady, whom I was closely watching, flirt her cloak, as though by accident, across the mouth of one of the mail-bags, and at the same instant her hand stole down and dropped a letter into the bag. As she did so, the clerk, who had finished reading _the other letter_, bowed, and said:---

"'There is nothing objectionable in this, madam, and it will be sent, of course.'

"'I was sure of that, sir,' replied the lady, with a smile. 'I am very much obliged. Good evening, sir!'

"And she sailed out, all the clerks politely rising as she did so.

"No sooner had the door closed than I darted upon the bag in which I had seen her drop the letter. The clerks wished to stop me, but I informed them of what I had seen. If they doubted, they could see for themselves that the letter, which I had easily found, was not sealed with the seal of the bureau. They looked at it, and at once acknowledged their error.

"'Arrest her!' exclaimed one of them, suddenly. The rapid rolling of a carriage came like an echo to his words.

"'It is useless, gentlemen,' I said. 'I know where to find the lady, and will look to the whole affair. You know I am in the secret service, and will be personally responsible for every thing. I will take this letter to the official who directed me to watch the lady who brought it.'

"To this, no objection was made, as I am known at the office. I came away; returned as quickly as possible; and here is the letter, sir."

With which words Nighthawk drew his hand from under his cloak, and presented the letter to Mr. X-----, who had listened in silence to his narrative.

VIII.

BY FLAG-OF-TRUCE BOAT.

MR. X----- took the letter, broke the seal, and ran his eye over the contents.

"Decidedly, that woman is a skilful person," he said; "she fishes in troubled waters with the coolness of an experienced hand."

And presenting the letter to me, the statesman said:--

"Would you like to see a specimen of the sort of doc.u.ments which go on file in the departments, colonel?"

I took the letter, and read the following words:--

"RICHMOND, 18 _Dec'r_, 1864.

"Tell, _you know who_, that I have just seen the honorable Mr.-----" (here the writer gave the real name and official position of Mr. X-----), "and have had a long conversation with him. He is fully convinced that I am a good Confederate, and spoke without reserve of matters the most private. He is in high spirits, and looks on the rebel cause as certain to succeed. I never saw one more blinded to the real state of things. Richmond is full of misery, and the people seem in despair, but this high official, who represents the whole government, is evidently certain of Lee's success. I found him in a garrulous mood, and he did not conceal his views. The government has just received heavy supplies from the south, by the Danville railroad--others are coming--the whole country in rear of Sherman is rising--and Lee, he stated, would soon be re-enforced by between fifty and seventy-five thousand men. What was more important still, was a dispatch, which he read me, from England. This startled me. There seems no doubt that England is about to recognize the Confederacy. When he had finished reading this dispatch, on the back of which I could see the English postmark, he said to me--these are his words:--'You see, things were never brighter; it is only a question of time; and by holding out a little longer, we shall compel the enemy to retire and give up the contest. With the re-enforcements coming, Lee will have about one hundred thousand men. With that force, he will be able to repulse all General Grant's a.s.saults. Things look dark at this moment, but the cause was never more hopeful.'

"He seemed insane, but I give you his words. It is certain that these are the views of the government, and that our authorities are much mistaken in supposing the Confederacy at its last gasp. It is impossible that the honorable Mr.----- was attempting to deceive me; because I carried him a letter from -----" (here the writer gave the name of a prominent official of the Confederate Government, which I suppress) "who vouched for me, and declared that I was pa.s.sionately Southern in my sympathies.

"I shall see the honorable Mr.----- in a day or two again. In the mean while, I am staying, _incognita_, at the house of our friend, Mr.

Blocque, who has afforded me every facility in return for the _safeguard_ I brought him, to protect his property when we occupy Richmond. The city is in a terrible state. Mr. Blocque has just come in, and informs me that he has been garroted near the capitol, and robbed of ten thousand dollars in good money. He is in despair.

"As soon as I have finished some important private business, which keeps me in the Confederate lines, I shall be with ----- again. Tell him to be in good spirits. This city has still a great deal of money h.o.a.rded in garrets--and we shall soon be here. Then we can retire on a competence--and when _Fonthill_ is confiscated, we will purchase it, and live in affluence.

"LUCRETIA."