lines, he thought he had thoroughly frightened her. Nevertheless, now,
for the first time, he was inclined to accept his chief's opinion of
her. She was not only too clumsy and inexperienced, but she totally
lacked the self-restraint of a spy. Her nervous agitation in the lane
was due to something more disturbing than his mere possible intrusion
upon her confidences with the mulatto. The significance of her question,
"Then it IS war?" was at best a threat, and that implied hesitation. He
recalled her strange allusion to his wife; was it merely the outcome
of his own foolish confession on their first interview, or was it a
concealed ironical taunt? Being satisfied, however, that she was not
likely to imperil his public duty in any way, he was angry with himself
for speculating further. But, although he still felt towards her the
same antagonism she had at first provoked, he was conscious that she was
beginning to exercise a strange fascination over him.
Dismissing her at last with an effort, he finished his work and then
rose, and unlocking a closet, took out a small dispatch-box, to which
he intended to intrust a few more important orders and memoranda. As
he opened it with a key on his watch-chain, he was struck with a faint
perfume that seemed to come from it,--a perfume that he remembered. Was
it the smell of the flower that Miss Faulkner carried, or the scent of
the handkerchief with which she had wiped his cheek, or a mingling of
both? Or was he under some spell to think of that wretched girl, and her
witch-like flower? He leaned over the box and suddenly started. Upon
the outer covering of a dispatch was a singular blood-red streak!
He examined it closely,--it was the powdery stain of the lily
pollen,--exactly as he had seen it on her handkerchief.
There could be no mistake. He passed his finger over the stain; he could
still feel the slippery, infinitesimal powder of the pollen. It was not
there when he had closed the box that morning; it was impossible that
it should be there unless the box had been opened in his absence. He
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