"No."

"Is Paigecourt--your own house--ah--occupied?"

"It is."

"By an overseer?"

"By a housekeeper. The overseer occupies his own quarters."

"I see. So you hold slaves."

"There are negroes on the plantations. Mr. Paige, my father, freed
his slaves befo' I was married."

The man looked surprised and incredulous.

"How did your father come to do that? I never heard of a Southern
slave owner voluntarily freeing his slaves."

"A number of gentlemen have done so, at va'ious times, and fo'
va'ious reasons," said Celia quietly. "Mr. Paige's reason was a
personal matter. . . . Am I obliged to give it to you?"

"I think you had better," said the detective, watching her.

"Ve'y well. Mr. Paige happened to find among family papers a
letter written by General Washington to my grandfather, in which
his Excellency said;

"'I never mean to possess another slave, it being now among my
first wishes to see slavery, in this country, abolished by law.'
That is why my father freed his slaves."

The detective blinked; then, reddening, started toward the door,
until he suddenly remembered his rudiments of manners. So he
halted, bowed jerkily, clapped the hat on his head and the cigar
into his mouth, and hastily disappeared.

When Celia scornfully informed Ailsa what had happened, the latter
looked worried.

"You see," she said, "how easily trouble is created. Somehow the
Government has learned about your coming here."

"Oh, I had to have a pass."

"Of course. And somebody has informed somebody that you own
Paigecourt, and that you hold slaves there, and therefore you might
be a suspicious person. And they told that detective to find out
all about you. You see, dear, for Curt's sake and Stephen's sake
as well as for your own, you will have to be particularly careful.
You see it, don't you?"

"Yes," said Celia, thoughtfully, "I----"

The sudden thunder of a field battery drowned her voice. Ailsa ran
to the door and looked out, and a soldier shouted to her the news
of the _Monitor's_ combat with the _Merrimac_. Battery after
battery saluted; regiment after regiment blackened the hill-tops,
cheering. At dusk gigantic bonfires flamed.

That evening Hallam came unexpectedly.

Now Ailsa had neither worn her ring and locket since her
sister-in-law had arrived at the Farm Hospital, nor had she told
her one word about Hallam.

Since her unhappy encounter with Berkley, outraged pride had aided
to b