And yet he didn't believe it. She had a way of
looking frankly and inquiringly into his eyes with a deep, serious
expression. Such a look could not mean idle curiosity.
And yet the problem he could not solve was how far he dared as yet to
presume on that interest. A single false step might imperil his
enterprise. His plan was of double importance since the break between
her impulsive father and the President of the Confederacy. Barton was
now the spokesman for the Opposition. His tongue was one that knew no
restraint. An engagement with his daughter might mean the possession of
invaluable secrets of the Richmond Government. Barton's championship of
the quarrelsome commanders, who, in the first flood tide of their
popularity as the heroes of Manassas, gave them the position of military
dictators, would also place in his hands information of the army which
would be priceless. The Confederate Congress sat behind closed doors. On
the right footing in the Barton household he could put himself in
possession of every scheme of the Southern law-makers from the moment of
its conception.
The trait of the girl's character which astounded him was the sudden
merging of every thought in the cause of the South. Even the time she
spent laughing and flirting with those soldier boys was a sort of holy
service she was rendering to her country.
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