possibly excuse you, Mr. Elder," remarked the judge, in a
tone of surprise, "the case has progressed too far already for any
excuse. Continue, Lieutenant Shackleford," he continued, speaking to
Harry.

"As I was observing," Harry went on, "this soldier departed for
Virginia, and shortly after his departure, a villain, who had
addressed his wife in former years and been rejected, assumed the
sheep's garb and resumed his acquaintance with her. Many were the
kindnesses he extended towards her, and the delicate manner in which
he performed those little acts of courtesy, that lend a charm to
society, disarmed any suspicion of his sincerity of purpose. But under
the guise of friendship, the villain designed to overcome a lonely
woman. With that subtlety and deception which every _roue_ possesses,
he ingratiated himself in her confidence and favor until she began to
regard him in the light of a brother. But the hour approached when the
mask he had worn so long would be thrown aside and his unhallowed
desires be avowed. The soldier was taken prisoner at Fort Donelson,
and within four months after, New Orleans fell. Then the persecutions
of the unprincipled villain commenced. A Northern man, he did not at
the commencement of the war avow his sympathies to be with the people
of his section, but, pretending friendship for the South, remained in
our midst until Butler and his infamous cohorts had gained possession
of the city, when he proclaimed himself a Unionist, and gaining the
favor of that disgrace to the name of man, was soon able to intimidate
the cowardly or beggar the brave. One of his first attempts was to
compel this lady to yield to his hellish passions. With contempt she
spurned his offers and ordered him never more to cross the threshold
of her house. Swearing vengeance against her, he left, and on the
following morning she received an order to leave the limits of the
city, that day, and prepare to enter the Confederate lines. The
dangers which then threatened her, she deemed vanished, for she feared
more to remain in the midst of our enemies than to enter our lines.
The order was therefore received with joy, and she prepared to depart.
Though a pang of sorrow may have filled her heart at being compelled
to relinquish her comfortable home, though she saw before her days,
weeks, months, perhaps years of hardship, not one feeling of remorse
at having rejected the offers of a libertine, ever entered the mind of
the sol