ill get his deserts. When he falls, mortally wounded
with a ball from my husband's pistol, he will discover that Nathan
Maroney is not to be trifled with. In the South we have a few friends
left, and Mr. McGibony, a detective, is one of them. I think I can trust
him. He was to have come North to escort my husband to Montgomery, if
the Governor had granted the requisition; but he would not, and Maroney
will hear of my failure to-day, as I wrote to him last evening. De
Forest is a useful friend, and I think him also a very handsome man. I
left Montgomery, feeling very unhappy, and was obliged to go to Athens
and Danielsville. I was so exhausted that I had to stop a day at Augusta
to rest. I had some valuables concealed on my person, and they were so
heavy as to greatly tire me. At Augusta I was forced to alter my
arrangements for carrying them, and arrived in Philadelphia completely
worn out. I can assure you it was with feelings of the greatest pleasure
that I met De Forest. He very kindly took charge of my baggage, and
brought Flora and me out in his buggy. I am so glad to be here once
more."

As both ladies were tired, they walked over to some benches placed in a
summer house, and took seats. Miss Johnson and Flora had been with them,
but strolled off.

Mrs. Maroney kept up the conversation, on unimportant topics, for some
time, and then suddenly turned to Madam Imbert and said: "You must have
had to conceal property at times! Where did you hide it?"

Madam Imbert felt that now the trying moment for her had arrived. She
knew that Mrs. Maroney had the stolen money in her possession, and that
if she could only prevail on her to again conceal the money on her
person, she could seize and search her; but Mrs. Maroney had said she
could not carry it around, and so was obliged to change its hiding
place. If she endeavored to prevail on her to secrete it on her person,
she might suspect her motives, and hide it where it would be hard to
find, so she answered in an indifferent tone; "Oh, yes, I have often
hidden valuables! Sometimes I have placed them in the cellar, and at
other times, waiting until all was quiet, I have stolen out into the
garden, at a late hour of the night, and secreted them."

Mrs. Maroney looked her square in the eyes, but she did not alter a
muscle under the scrutiny. "Your advice is good," she said, in a musing
tone.

Madam Imbert would gladly have offered to assist her, but did not, at
the time, f