From certain rank signs of bad management in the Federal camp one could easily guess that our circuit was designed to bring us around to its rear. That a colonel's tent--the one where the singers were--was not where the colonel's tent belonged was a trifle, but the slovenliness1 with which the forest borders of the camp were guarded was a graver matter. Evidently those troops were at least momentarily in unworthy hands, and I was so remarking to Kendall when a murmured command came back from Ferry, to tell Dick Smith to stop that whispering. I was sorry, for I wanted to add that I knew we were not going to attack the camp itself. That was on Wednesday night. Charlotte and Gholson had made their ride of fifty miles on Monday. The friends with whom she stopped at nightfall contrived2 to cram3 him into their crowded soldiers' room, and he had given the whole company of his room-mates, as they sat up in their beds, a full account of the fight at Sessions's, Charlotte's care of the sick and dying, and the singing, by her and the blue-coats, of their battle-song. Next morning Charlotte, without Gholson--who turned off to camp--rode on to Goldschmidt's store, just beyond which there was then still a Confederate picket4. Here she hired Mrs. Goldschmidt's pony5, rode to the picket, and presented the Coralie Rothvelt pass.
"Miss Coralie Rothvelt; yes, all right," said the officer, "the men that rode with you this morning told me all about you." He went with her as far as his videttes, and thence she rode alone to a picket of the Federal army and by her request was conducted under guard to the headquarters of a corps6 commander. To him and his chief-of-staff she told the fate of Jewett's scouts7 and delivered the messages of their dying leader; and then she tendered the hero's sword.
The staff-officer cut away its cornhusk wrapping and read aloud the owner's name on the hilt. The General laid the mighty8 weapon across his palm and sternly shut his lips. "How did you get through the enemy's pickets9 with this?"
"I had a Confederate general's pass."
"Ah! Is the Confederate general as nameless as yourself?"
"I am not nameless; I only ask leave to withhold10 my name until I have told one or two other things."
"But you don't mind confessing you're an out-and-out rebel sympathizer?"
Under the broad-brimmed hat her smile grew to a sparkle. "No, I enjoy it."
The chief-of-staff smiled, but the General darkened and pressed his questions. At length he summed up. "So, then, you wish me to believe that you did all you did, and now have come into our lines at a most extraordinary and exhausting speed and running the ugliest kinds of risks, in mere11 human sympathy for a dying stranger, he being a union officer and you a secessionist of"--a courtly bow--"the very elect; that's your meaning, is it not?"
"No, General; in the first place, I am not one of any elect."
A flattering glimmer12 of amusement came into the two men's faces, but some change in Charlotte's manner arrested it and brought an enhanced deference13.
"In the second place, I am not here merely on this errand."
"Oh!"
"No, General. And in the last place, my motive14 in this errand is no mere sympathy for any one person; I am here from a sense of public duty--" The speaker seemed suddenly overtaken by emotions, dropped her words with pained evenness, and fingered the lace handkerchief in her lap.
"Pardon," interrupted the General, "the sunlight annoys you. Major, will you drop that curtain?" "Thank you. One thing I am here for, General, is to tell you something, and I have to begin by asking that neither of you will ever say how you learned it."
The two men bowed.
"Thank you. Please understand, also, I have never uttered this but to one friend, a lady. There was no need; I have not wanted aid or counsel, even from friends. But I feel duty bound to tell it to you, now, because, for one thing, the brave soldier who wore that sword--" Her eyes rose to the weapon and fell again; she bit her lip.
"Yes--well--what of him?"
"He was lured15 to disaster and death by a man whose supreme16 purpose was, and is to-day, revenge upon me. That man drew him to his ruin purely17 in search of my life." Charlotte sat with her strange in-looking, out-looking gaze holding the gaze of her questioner until for relief he spoke18.
"Why, young lady, it's hard to doubt anything you say, but really that sounds rather fanciful. Why should you think it?"
"I do not think it, I know it. He sends me his own assurance of it by his own father, so that his revenge may be fuller by my knowing daily and hourly that he is on my trail."
"And you appeal to me for protection?"
She smiled. "No. I am not seeking to divert his fury from myself, but to confine it to myself. Fancy yourself a human-hearted woman, General, and murder being done day by day because you are alive." "Oh, this is incredible! What is its occasion, its origin? How are you in any way responsible?"
"Why, largely I am not. Yet in degree I am, General, because of shortcomings of mine--faults--errors--that--oh--that have their bearing in the case, don't you see?"
"No, I don't; pray don't ask me to draw inferences; I might infer too much."
"Yes, you might, easily," said Charlotte; "for I only mean shortcomings of the kind we readily excuse in others though we never can or should pardon them in ourselves."
The General turned an arch smile of perplexity upon his chief-of-staff. "I don't think we're quite up to that line of perpetual snow, Walter, are we?"
The chief-of-staff "guessed they were not."
Charlotte resumed. "I have come to you in the common interest, to warn you against that man. I believe he is on his way here to offer his services as a guide. He is fearless, untiring, and knows all this region by heart."
"union man, I take it, is he not?"
"No, he's Federal, Confederate or guerilla as it may suit his bloody19 ends."
"And you want me not to make use of him."
"Oh, more than that; I want him stopped!--stopped from killing20 and burning on his and my private account. But I want much more than that, too. I know how you commonly stop such men."
"We hang them to the first tree."
"Yes, our side does the same. If I wanted such a fate to overtake him I should only have to let him alone. At risks too hideous21 to name I have saved him from it twice. I am here to-day chiefly to circumvent22 his purposes; but if I may do so in the way I wish to propose to you, I shall also save him once more. I am willing to save him--in that way--although by so doing I shall lose--fearfully." She dropped her glance and turned aside.
"How do you propose to circumvent and yet save him?"
"By getting you to send him so far to your own army's rear that he cannot get back; to compel him to leave the country; to go into your country, where law and order reign23 as they cannot here between the lines."
"And you consider that a reasonable request?"
"Oh, sir, I must make it! I can ask no less!"
"But you say if this scheme works you lose by it. What will you lose?"
"I may lose track of him! If I lose track of him I may have to go through a long life not knowing whether he is dead or alive."
"And suppose--why,--young lady, I thought you were unmarried. I--oh, what do you mean; is he--?"
Charlotte's head drooped24 and her hands trembled. "Yes, by law and church decree he is my husband."
"Good Heaven!" murmured the General, drew a breath, and folded his arms. "But, madam! if a man abandons his wife--"
"I abandoned him."
"Good for you!" "It was vital for me. But I did it on evidence which our laws ignore, the testimony25 of slaves. Oh, General, don't try to untangle me; only stop him!"
"Ah! madam, I'll do the little I can. How am I to know him?"
"By a pistol-wound in his right hand, got last week. He would have got it in his brain but for my pleading. His name is Oliver."
"Oliver; hmm! any relation to Charlotte Oliver, your so called newspaper correspondent? I'd like to stop her.--How?--I don't quite hear you."
"I am Charlotte Oliver."
The two officers glanced sharply at each other. When the General turned again he flushed resentfully. "Have you never resumed your maiden26 name?"
"Never."
"Then, madam, tell me this! With a whole world of other people's names to choose from, why have you borrowed Charlotte Oliver's? Have you come here determined27 to be sent to prison, Miss Coralie Rothvelt?"
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
slovenliness
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
contrived
|
|
| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
cram
|
|
| v.填塞，塞满，临时抱佛脚，为考试而学习 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
picket
|
|
| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
pony
|
|
| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
corps
|
|
| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
scouts
|
|
| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
pickets
|
|
| 罢工纠察员( picket的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
withhold
|
|
| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
glimmer
|
|
| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
deference
|
|
| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
motive
|
|
| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
lured
|
|
| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
bloody
|
|
| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
circumvent
|
|
| vt.环绕，包围；对…用计取胜，智胜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
reign
|
|
| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
drooped
|
|
| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
testimony
|
|
| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
maiden
|
|
| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |