so you could git away? And then you went back and
captured him? That don't look fair, does it?" He regarded me with
serious countenance.

"It is a lady, General, and I did not want her to fall in rough hands."
He uttered an exclamation of impatience and surprise, and made an
indignant gesture. "Now, look here, Shannon, that is a matter that I
won't tolerate. I've a great mind to----" He paused, hearing the voice
of his wife, who was visiting him. "Go back in there and tell Mrs.
Forrest to come in here a minute, and do you stay out till I call you.
I'm going to look into this business, and if it ain't perfectly square
all the way through you'll pay for it."

I hunted for Mrs. Forrest, hat in hand, and soon found her. I must have
had a queer expression on my face, for she observed it. "You must be
frightened," she said.

"I am, madam, for another as well as myself," and then I told her, as
we walked along very slowly, just how the matter lay. She regarded me
very seriously for a moment, and then smiled. She was a handsome lady,
and this smile of hers, full of promise as it was, made her face the
most beautiful I have ever seen before or since. It is a large saying,
but it is true.

I remember that I remained in the corridor cooling my heels a weary
time, but finally Mrs. Forrest came out. "You may go in now," she said.
"It is all right; I'm glad I was called; I think I have made the
General understand everything as I do. There are some things that men
do not understand as well as women, and it is just as well that they do
not. I am sure you will be very kind to that little woman in there."

I tried to thank her, but there is a gratitude that cannot be expressed
in words, and I could but stand before her mumbling with my head bent.
"I know what you would say," she remarked, graciously. "The General and
I have perfect confidence in you."

I went into the room where General Forrest and Jane Ryder were.
"Shannon, what are you and Herndon up to? What do you mean by going on
in this way?" He spoke with some severity, but there was a humorous
twinkle in his blue-gray eyes. "More than that, you took occasion to
prejudice the jury. What did you say to Mrs. Forrest?"

"I simply asked her to be kind to the lady in here."

"Well, she was all of that," said the General, "and she threatened me
with her displeasure if I wasn't kind to you, and as she's the only
human being that I'm really afeared of, I reckon I'll have to let