Washington! I turned and looked at the lad who, kneeling in the hot sand at the door of the tent, was clutching me with imploring hands.
"Who are you?" I asked; "and how came you here? Do you belong to the army?"
"I helped care for his horse," he whispered. "He found me smuggled on board the train - for I was bound to go to the war - and he was sorry for me and used to give me bits of his own rations, but - but now no one will give me anything. Take me back; she won't care.
She's dead, they say. Besides, I wouldn't stay here now if she was alive and breathing. I have had enough of war since he - Oh, he was good to me -I never cared for any one so much."
I looked at the boy with an odd sensation for which I have no name.
"Whom are you talking about?" I asked. "Your mother your sister?"
"Oh, no;" the tone was simplicity itself. "Never had no mother.
I mean the lady at the big house; the one that was married. She gave me money to go out of Washington, and, wanting to be a soldier, I followed Curly Jim. I didn't think he'd die - he looked so strong - What's the matter, sir? Have I said anything I shouldn't?"
I had him by the arm. I fear that I was shaking him.
"The lady!" I repeated. "She who was married - who gave you money.
Wasn't it Mrs. Jeffrey?"
"Yes, I believe that was the name of the man she married. I didn't know him; but I saw he r-"
"Where? And why did she give you money? I will take you home with me if you tell me the truth about it."
He glanced back at the tent from which I had slightly drawn him and a hungry look crept into his eyes.
"Well, it's no secret now," he muttered. "He used to say I must keep my mouth shut; but he wouldn't say so now if he knew I could get home by telling. He used to be sorry for me, he used. What do you want to know?"
"Why Mrs. Jeffrey gave you money to leave Washington."
The boy trembled, drew a step away, and then came back, and under those hot Florida skies, in the turmoil of departing troops, I heard these words:
"Because I heard what she said to Jim."
I felt my heart go down, then up, up, beyond anything I had ever experienced in my whole life. The way before me was not closed then. A witness yet remained, though Jim was dead. The boy was oblivious of my emotion; he was staring with great mournfulness t the tent.
"And what was that?" said I.
His attention, which had been wandering, came back, and it was with some surprise he said:
"It was not much. She told him to take the gentleman into the library. But it was the library where men died, and he just went and died there, too, you remember, and Jim said he wasn't ever going to speak of it, and so I promised not to, neither, but - but - when do you think you will be starting, sir?"
I did not answer him. I was feeling very queer, as men feel, I suppose, who in some crisis or event recognize an unexpected interposition of Providence.
"Are you the boy who ran away from the florist's in Washington?"
I inquired when ready to speak. "The boy who delivered Miss Moore's bridal bouquet?"
"Yes, sir."
I let go of his hand and sat down. Surely there was a power greater than chance governing this matter. Through what devious ways and from what unexpected sources had I come upon this knowledge?
"Mrs. Jeffrey, or Miss Moore, as she was then, told Jim to seat the gentleman in the library," I now said. "Why?"
"I do not know. He told her the gentleman's name and then she whispered him that. I heard her, and that was why I got money, too.
But it's all gone now. Oh, sir, when are you going back?"
I started to my feet. Was it in answer to this appeal or because I realized that I had come at last upon a clue calling for immediate action?
"I am going now," said I, "and you are going with me. Run! for the train we take leaves inside of ten minutes. My business here is over."
