The advance of the Federal army was delayed--delayed until the last gun
and scrap of machinery from Harper's Ferry had been safely housed in
Richmond and Fayetteville and Johnston had withdrawn his army to
Winchester in closer touch with Beauregard.
And still the Union army did not move. Beauregard sent a trusted scout
into Washington to Mrs. Greenhow with a scrap of paper on which was
written in cipher the two words:
"Trust Bearer--"
He arrived at the moment she had received the long sought information of
the date of the army's march. She glanced at the stolid masked face of
the messenger and hesitated a moment.
"You are a Southerner?"
Donellan smiled.
"I've spent most of my life in Washington, Madam," he said frankly. "I
was a clerk in the Department of the Interior. I cast my fortunes with
the South."
It was enough. Her keen intuitions had scented danger in the man's
manner, his walk and personality. He was not a typical Southerner. The
officials of the Secret Service Bureau had already given her evidence of
their suspicions. She could not be too careful.
She seized her pen and hastily wrote in cipher:
"Order issued for McDowell to move on Manassas to-night."
She handed the tiny scrap of paper to Donellan.
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