ll of grief and pity. This was his
world about him that was falling to pieces. He knew why the night had
been so full of omens; why the distant cannon had escorted him like
funeral guns.

His first thought was now of his mother, and his second was of Lucia
Catherwood, knowing well that in such a moment the passions of all the
wild and lawless would rise. He hurried to his home, and on his way he
met the Secretary, calm, composed, a quiet, cynical smile on his face.

"Well, Mr. Sefton," said Prescott, "it has come."

"Yes," replied the Secretary, "and not sooner than I have expected."

"You are leaving?" said Prescott.

"Yes," replied Mr. Sefton, "I go with the Government. I am part of it,
you know, but I travel light. I have little baggage. I tell you, too,
since you wish to know it, that I asked Miss Catherwood to go with us as
my wife--we could be married in an hour--or, if not that, as a refugee
under the escort of Miss Grayson."

"Well?" said Prescott. His heart beat violently.

"She declined both propositions," replied the Secretary quietly. "She
will stay here and await the coming of the conquerors. After all, why
shouldn't she? She is a Northern sympathizer herself, and a great change
in her position and ours has occurred suddenly."

Their eyes met and Prescott saw his fall a little and for the first
time. The sudden change in positions was, indeed, great and in many
respects.

The Secretary held out his hand.

"Good-by, Captain Prescott," he said. "We have been rivals, but not
altogether enemies. I have always wished you well where your success was
not at the cost of mine. Let us part in friendship, as we may not meet
again."

Prescott took the extended hand.

"I am sorry that chance or fate ever made us rivals," the Secretary went
on. "Maybe we shall not be so any longer, and since I retire from the
scene I tell you I have known all the while that Miss Catherwood was not
a spy. She was there in the President's office that day, and she might
have been one had she yielded to her impulse, but she put the temptation
aside. She has told you this and she told you the full truth. The one
who really took the papers was discovered and punished by me long ago."

"Then why----" began Prescott.

The Secretary made a gesture.

"You ask why I kept this secret?" he said. "It was because it gave me
power over both you and her; over her through you. I knew your part in
it, too. Then I helped Miss Grayson and