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 1 
 I 
 
 ii 
 
K.tttttttffitffittttt* 
 
 E 
 
 THE 
 
 iy[ASTER OF 
 WARLOCK 
 
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 :::.V:, 
 
 
In the firelight" 
 
 See page ^77 
 

 
 
 THE 
 
 ASTER OF 
 WARLOCK 
 
 3 
 
 A VIRGINIA WAR STORY 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE GARY 
 
 EGGLESTON 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "DOROTHY SOUTH," 
 "A CAROLINA CAVALIER," 
 ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 C. D. WILLIAMS 
 
 LOTHROP PUBLISHING 
 COMPANY BOSTON 
 
 3 
 
sttmtttttttfy 
 
 COPYR I GHT, 
 
 1903, 
 BY 
 
 L O T H R O P 
 PUBLISHING 
 COM P A N Y. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 ENTERED AT 
 
 STATIONERS' 
 
 HALL 
 
 Published, January, 1903 
 
Kftttmtfttttftffittttmt* 
 
 *>* 
 
 -^O "DOROTHY SOUTH," THE 
 .(j) DEAR LITTLE WOMAN WHO 
 
 HAS BEEN WIFE TO ME FOR 
 THIRTY-FOUR YEARS, WHO HAS 
 UNCONSCIOUSLY INSPIRED ALL MY 
 WORK, AND WHOSE PERSONALITY, 
 IN ITS SEVERAL PHASES, IT HAS 
 BEEN MY LOVING ENDEAVOUR TO 
 PORTRAY IN ALL THE STORIES I 
 HAVE WRITTEN, I DEDICATE 
 THIS BOOK WITH REVERENCE 
 AND SOUL -FELT THANKS. 
 
 GEORGE GARY EGGLESTON. 
 Culross, October 18, iqoz. 
 
 918736 
 
Table of Contents 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. A BREAK IN THE BRIDGE . . 
 
 II. THE BRINGING UP OF AGATHA 
 
 III. JESSAMINE AND HONEYSUCKLE . 
 
 IV. IN REVOLT 
 
 V. AT THE OAKS 
 
 VI. NEXT MORNING 
 
 VII. A FAREWELL AT THE GATE . 
 
 VIII. A RED FEATHER 
 
 IX. THE BIRTH OF WOMANHOOD . 
 
 X. IN ACTION 
 
 XI. AT WARLOCK 
 
 XII. UNDER ESCORT 
 
 XIII. A SOUVENIR SERVICE . . 
 
 XIV. QUICK WORK 
 
 XV. AGATHA'S VENTURE 
 
 XVI. CANISTER ..... 
 
 XVII. AT HEADQUARTERS . . 
 
 XVIII. A BRUSH AT THE FRONT .. 
 
 XIX. AGATHA'S RESOLUTION .. 
 
 XX. TWO HOME-COMINGS 
 
 XXI. AT PARTING 
 
 XXII. SAM AS A STRATEGIST .. 
 
 XXIII. A NEGOTIATION 
 
 XXIV. FLIGHT . . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 .11 
 
 . 32 
 
 -47 
 71 
 
 78 
 94 
 
 . in 
 
 118 
 
 .135 
 
 144 
 
 163 
 
 172 
 
 .187 
 
 199 
 
 214 
 
 . 223 
 
 . 238 
 
 . 248 
 
 . 256 
 
 265 
 
 279 
 
 . 290 
 
 301 
 
 317 
 
Table of Contents 
 
 CHAPTER PAGB 
 
 XXV. A NARROW ESCAPE .... 327 
 
 XXVI. MADEMOISELLE ROLAND . . . 336 
 
 XXVII. AGATHA'S WONDER -STORY . . . 345 
 
 XXVIII. WHEN A MAN TALKS Too MUCH . 364 
 
 XXIX. A STRUGGLE OF GIANTS .... 374 
 
 XXX. THE LAST STRAW 380 
 
 XXXI. AT WARLOCK AND AT THE OAKS . 396 
 
 XXXII. IN RIGHTEOUS WRATH .... 407 
 
 XXXIII. UNDER RED LEAVES .... 4 J 6 
 
 XXXIV. THE END AND AFTER . . . .425 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 " In the firelight" . . . Frontispiece 
 
 Page 
 
 Agatha Ronald 44 
 
 " ' If any man flunks /'// brain him ' ' . 126 
 " l Riding under gallant escort ' " . . .186 
 " ' I love you, AgatJia Ronald' ' . . .235 
 " 'At Christ-church-in-the-woods ' ; . . 423 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 A BREAK IN THE BRIDGE 
 
 THE road was a winding, twisting track 
 as it threaded its way through a stretch of 
 old field pines. The land was nearly level 
 at that point, and quite unobstructed, so that there 
 was not the slightest reason that ordinary intelli- 
 gence could discover for the roadway's devious 
 wanderings. It might just as well have run 
 straight through the pine lands. 
 
 But in Virginia people were never in a hurry. 
 They had all of leisure that well-settled and per- 
 fectly self-satisfied ways of life could bring to a 
 people whose chief concern it was to live uprightly 
 and happily in that state of existence into which 
 it had pleased God to call them. What difference 
 could it make to a people so minded, whether the 
 
 II 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 journey to the Court-house the centre and seat 
 of county activities of all kinds were a mile 
 or two longer or shorter by reason of meaningless 
 curves in the road, or by reason of a lack of them ? 
 Why should they bother to straighten out road 
 windings that had the authority of long use for 
 their being? And why should the well-fed negro 
 drivers of family carriages shake themselves out 
 of their customary and comfortable naps in order 
 to drive more directly across the pine land, when 
 the horses, if left to themselves, would placidly 
 follow the traditional track? 
 
 The crookedness of the road was a fact, and 
 Virginians of that time always accepted and re- 
 spected facts to which they had been long accus- 
 tomed. For that sufficient reason Baillie Pegram, 
 the young master of Warlock, was not thinking 
 of the road at all, but accepting it as he did the 
 greenery of the trees and the bursting of the 
 buds, as he jogged along at a dog-trot on that 
 fine April morning in the year of our Lord 1861. 
 
 He was well mounted upon a mettlesome sorrel 
 
 mare, a mare with pronounced ideas of her 
 
 own. The young man had taught her to bend 
 
 these somewhat to his will, but her individuality 
 
 12 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 was not yet so far subdued or suppressed as to 
 lose itself in that of her master. So she suddenly 
 halted and vigorously snorted as she came within 
 sight of the little bridge over Dogwood Branch, 
 where a horse and a young gentlewoman were 
 obviously in trouble. 
 
 I name the horse and the girl in that ungallant 
 reverse order, because that was the order in which 
 they revealed themselves to the mare and her 
 master. For the girl was on the farther side of 
 the horse, and stooping, so that she could not 
 be seen at a first glance. As she heard approach- 
 ing hoof-beats she straightened herself into that 
 dignity of demeanour which every young Vir- 
 ginia gentlewoman felt it to be her supreme duty 
 in life to maintain under any and all circum- 
 stances. 
 
 She was gowned in the riding-habit of that 
 time, with glove-fitting body and a skirt so long 
 that, even when its wearer sat upon a high horse, 
 it extended to within eighteen inches of the 
 ground. When Baillie Pegram reached the little 
 bridge and hastily dismounted, she was standing 
 as erect as a young hickory-tree, making the most 
 of her five feet four of height, and holding the 
 
 13 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 skirt up sufficiently to free her feet. She wore a 
 look half of welcome, half of defiance on her face. 
 The defiance was prompted by a high-bred maid- 
 enly sense of propriety and by something else. 
 The welcome was due to an instinctive rejoicing 
 in the coming of masculine help. For the girl was 
 indeed in sore need of assistance. Her horse had 
 slipped his foot through a break in the bridge 
 flooring, and after a painful struggle, had given 
 up the attempt to extricate it. He was panting 
 with pain, and his young mistress was sympa- 
 thetically sharing every pain that he suffered. 
 
 Baillie Pegram gave the girl a rather formal 
 greeting as he dismounted. Stooping he exam- 
 ined the imprisoned leg of the animal. Then 
 seizing a stone from the margin of the stream, 
 he quickly beat the planking loose from its 
 fastenings, releasing the poor brute from its 
 pillory. But the freed foot did not plant itself 
 upon the ground again. The horse held it up, 
 limp and dangling. Seeing what had happened, 
 the young man promptly ungirthed the saddles, 
 and transferred that of the young woman to the 
 back of his own animal. 
 
 " You must take my mare, Miss Ronald/' he 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 said. " Your horse is in no condition to carry 
 you, and, poor fellow, he never will be again." 
 
 " Just what has happened, Mr. Pegram ? " the 
 girl asked, with a good deal of hauteur in her 
 tone. 
 
 " Your horse's leg is broken beyond all possi- 
 bility of repair," he answered. " I will take care 
 of him for you, and you must ride my mare. 
 She is a trifle unruly at times, and not very 
 bridle-wise, so that she is scarcely fit for a lady's 
 use. But I take it you know how to ride." 
 
 The girl did not answer at once. After a 
 space she said: 
 
 " You forget that I am Agatha Ronald." 
 
 "No, I do not forget," he answered. "I 
 remember that fact with regret whenever I think 
 of you. However, under the circumstances, you 
 must so far overcome your prejudice as to accept 
 the use of my mare." 
 
 There was a mingling of hauteur and amuse- 
 ment in the girl's voice and countenance as she 
 answered : 
 
 " Permit me, Mr. Pegram, to thank you for 
 your courteous proffer of help, and to decline it." 
 
 " I need no thanks," he said, " for a trifling 
 
 15 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 courtesy which is so obviously imperative. As 
 for declining it, why of course you cannot do 
 that." , 
 
 " Why not? " she asked, resentfully. " Am I 
 not my own mistress? Surely you would not 
 take advantage of my mishap to force unwelcome 
 attentions upon me?" 
 
 The utterance was an affront, and Baillie 
 Pegram saw clearly that it was intended to be 
 such. He bit his lip, but controlled himself. 
 
 " I will not think," he answered, " that you 
 quite meant to say that. You are too just to do 
 even me a wrong, and surely I have not deserved 
 such an affront at your hands. Nor can the 
 circumstances that prompt you to decline any 
 unnecessary courtesy at my hands justify you in 
 well, in saying what you have just said. I have 
 not sought to force attentions upon you, and you 
 know it. I have only asked you to let me behave 
 like a gentleman under circumstances which are 
 not of my making or my seeking. Your horse 
 is hopelessly lamed so hopelessly that as soon 
 as you are gone, I am going to kill him by the 
 roadside as an act of ordinary humanity. You 
 are fully five miles from The Oaks, where you 
 
 16 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 are staying with your aunts. Except in this bit 
 of pine barren, the roads are exceedingly muddy. 
 You are habited for riding, and you could not 
 walk far in that costume, even upon the best of 
 roads. You simply must make use of my mare. 
 I cannot permit you to refuse. If I did so, I 
 should incur the lasting and just disapproval of 
 your aunts, The Oaks ladies. You certainly do 
 not wish me to do that. I have placed your saddle 
 upon my mare, and I am waiting to help you 
 mount." 
 
 The girl hesitated, bewildered, unwilling, and 
 distinctly in that feminine state of mind which 
 women call " vexed." At last she asked : 
 "What will you do if I refuse?" 
 " O, in that case I shall turn the mare loose, 
 and walk at a respectful distance behind you 
 as you trudge over the miry road, until you 
 become hopelessly involved in the red clay at 
 Vinegar Post. Then I shall rush to your rescue 
 like a gallant knight, and carry you pick-a-back 
 all the way to The Oaks. It will be a singularly 
 undignified approach to a mansion in which the 
 proprieties of life are sternly insisted upon. Don't 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 you think you'd better take the mare, Miss Ron- 
 ald?" 
 
 The girl stood silent for nearly a minute in a 
 half-angry mood of resistance, which was in 
 battle with the laughing demon that just now 
 possessed her. She did not want to laugh. She 
 was determined not to laugh. Therefore she 
 laughed uncontrollably, as one is apt to do when 
 something ludicrous occurs at a funeral. Pres- 
 ently she said : 
 
 " I wonder what it was all about anyhow 
 the quarrel, I mean, between your grandfather 
 and my poor father? " 
 
 There was a touch of melancholy in her tone 
 as she spoke of her " poor father " - for that 
 phrase, in Virginian usage, always meant that the 
 dear one mentioned was dead. " I wonder what 
 it was that makes it so imperative for me to be 
 formally courteous beyond the common to you, 
 and at the same time highly improper for me to 
 accept such ordinary courtesies at your hands as 
 I freely accept from others, thinking nothing 
 about the matter." 
 
 " Would you really like to know ? " the young 
 man asked. 
 
 18 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " Yes no. I'm not quite certain. Some- 
 times I want to know just now, for example 
 so that I may know just what my duty is. But 
 at other times I think it should be enough for me, 
 as a well-ordered young person, to know that 
 I must be loyal to my poor father's memory, and 
 never forgive a Pegram while I live. My good 
 aunts have taught me that much, but they have 
 never told me anything about the origin of the 
 feud. All I know is that, in order to be true to 
 the memory of my poor father, who died before I 
 was born, I must always remember that the 
 Ronalds and the Pegrams are hereditary enemies. 
 That is why I refuse to use the mare which you 
 have so courteously offered me, Mr. Pegram." 
 
 " Still," answered the young man, as if arguing 
 the matter out with himself, " it might not com- 
 promise your dignity so much to ride a mare 
 that belongs to me, as to let me ' tote ' you home 
 for that is precisely what I must do if you 
 persist in your refusal." 
 
 The girt again laughed, merrily this time, but 
 still she hesitated : 
 
 "Listen!" said Baillie; "that's my boy Sam 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 coming. It would be unseemly for us to con- 
 tinue our quarrel in the presence of a servant.'* 
 As he spoke the voice of Sam rose from beyond 
 the pines, in a ditty which he was singing with 
 all the power of a robust set of vocal organs : 
 
 " My own Eliza gal she's de colour ob de night, 
 
 When de moon it doesn't shine a little bit; 
 But her teeth shows white in de shaddah ob de night, 
 And her eyes is like a lantern when it's lit. 
 
 "Oh, Eliza! 
 
 How I prize yeh! 
 You'se de nicest gal dere is; 
 It's fer you dat I'se a-pinin', 
 For you're like a star dat's shinin* 
 When de moon it's done forgitten how to riz." 
 
 With that Sam came beaming upon the scene. 
 His round, black, shining visage, and eyes that 
 glittered with a humour which might have won 
 an anchorite to merriment, resembled nothing so 
 much as the sun at its rising, if one may think 
 of the sun as black and glistening from a diligent 
 rubbing with a bacon rind, which was Sam's 
 favourite cosmetic, as it is of all the very black 
 negroes. 
 
 Sam was sitting sidewise upon a saddleless 
 mule, but when he saw the situation he quickly 
 20 
 
The Mast eT of Warlock 
 
 slipped to the ground, pulled his woolly forelock 
 in lieu of doffing the hat which he had not, and 
 asked : 
 
 " What's de mattah, Mas' Baillie? " 
 
 The girl saw the impropriety of continuing the 
 discussion it had ceased to be a quarrel now 
 in Sam's presence. So she held out her hand, 
 and said: 
 
 " Thank you very much, Mr. Pegram. I will 
 ride your beautiful mare, and to-morrow, if you 
 are so minded, you may call at The Oaks to 
 inquire how the animal has behaved toward me. 
 Good morning, sir ! " 
 
 She sprang into the saddle without waiting 
 for young Pegram to assist her, for she was even 
 yet determined to accept no more of attention 
 at his hands than she must. He, in his turn, was 
 too greatly relieved by this ending of the embar- 
 rassing scene to care for the implied snub to his 
 gallantry. As soon as the girl rode away, which 
 she did without pausing for a moment, Baillie 
 Pegram turned to Sam, and without inquiring 
 upon what errand that worthy had been going, 
 gave the order: 
 
 " Mount your mule and ride at a respectful 
 
 21 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 distance behind Miss Agatha Ronald. She may 
 have trouble with that half-broken mare of mine. 
 And mind you, boy, don't entertain the young 
 lady with any of your songs as you go. When 
 you get back to Warlock, bring me a horse to 
 the Court-house, do you hear?" 
 
 Then leading the wounded animal upon three 
 legs into the woods near by, Pegram fired a 
 charge of shot from the fowling-piece which he 
 carried, into its brain, killing the poor beast 
 instantly and painlessly. 
 
 Having discharged this duty of mercy, the 
 young man, with high boots drawn over his 
 trousers' legs, set out with a brisk stride for the 
 county-seat village, known only as " the Court- 
 house." Entering the clerk's office, he said to 
 the county clerk: 
 
 " As a magistrate of this county I direct you 
 to enter a fine of five dollars against Baillie 
 Pegram, Esq., supervisor of the Vinegar Post 
 road, for his neglect to keep the bridge over 
 Dogwood Branch in repair. Here's the money. 
 Give me a receipt, please, and make the proper 
 entries upon the court records." 
 
 " Pardon me, Mr. Pegram," answered the 
 22 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 clerk, " but you remember that at the last term 
 of the county court, with a full bench of magis- 
 trates sitting, it was decided to adjourn the court 
 indefinitely in view of the disturbed condition of 
 the time?" 
 
 " I remember that," answered the young man, 
 " but that action was taken only upon the ground 
 that under present circumstances it would work 
 hardship to many for the courts to meet for the 
 enforcement of debts. This is a very different 
 case. As road supervisor I am charged with a 
 public duty which I have neglected. As a magis- 
 trate it is my duty to fine every road supervisor 
 who is derelict. No session of the court is neces- 
 sary for that. I shall certainly not tolerate such 
 neglect of duty on the part of any county officer, 
 particularly when I happen to be myself the dere- 
 lict official. So enter the fine and give me a 
 receipt for the money." 
 
 Does all this impress the reader as quixotic? 
 Was it a foolish sentimentalism that prompted 
 these men to serve their neighbours and the public 
 without pay, and, upon occasion, to hold them- 
 selves rigidly responsible to a high standard 
 of duty? Was it quixotism which prompted 
 
 23 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 George Washington to serve his country without 
 one dollar of pay, through seven years of war, as 
 the general of its armies, and through nearly twice 
 that time as President, first of the Constitutional 
 Convention, and afterwards, for eight years, 
 as President of the nation? Was it an absurd 
 sentimentalism that prompted him, after he had de- 
 clined pay, to decline also the gifts voluntarily and 
 urgently pressed upon him by his own and other 
 States, and by the nation? The humourists ridi- 
 cule all such sentiment. But the humourists are 
 not a court of final appeal. At any rate, this 
 sentimentality had its good side. 
 
 But at this time of extreme excitement, there 
 were, no doubt, ludicrous exaggerations of senti- 
 ment and conduct now and then, and on this six- 
 teenth day of April, 1861, the master of Warlock 
 encountered some things that greatly amused him. 
 Having finished his business in the clerk's office, 
 he found himself in the midst of excited throngs. 
 Startling news had come from Richmond that 
 morning. In view of the bombardment of Fort 
 Sumter, President Lincoln had called for seventy- 
 five thousand men as an army with which to 
 reduce the seceding States to subjection. 
 
 24 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Virginia was not one of the seceding States. 
 Up to that time, she had utterly repudiated the 
 thought that secession was justified by Mr. Lin- 
 coln's election, or by any threat to the South which 
 his accession to office implied. 
 
 The statesmen of Virginia had busied them- 
 selves for months with efforts to find a way out 
 of the difficulties that beset the country. They 
 were intent upon saving that Union which had 
 been born of Virginia's suggestion, if such saving 
 could be accomplished by any means that did not 
 involve dishonour. The people of Virginia, when 
 called upon to decide the question of their own 
 course in such a crisis by the election of a con- 
 stitutional convention, had overwhelmingly de- 
 cided it against secession, and in favour of ad- 
 herence to the Union. Under Virginia's influ- 
 ence, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Ken- 
 tucky, Arkansas, and Missouri had refused to 
 secede. 
 
 But while the Virginians were thus opposed to 
 secession, and while they were fully convinced that 
 secession was neither necessary nor advisable un- 
 der the circumstances then existing, they were of 
 one mind in believing that the constitutional right 
 
 25 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 of any State to withdraw from the Union at will 
 was absolute and indefeasible. So when Mr. 
 Lincoln called upon Virginia for her quota of 
 troops with which to coerce back into the Union 
 those States which had exercised what the Vir- 
 ginians held to be their rightful privilege of with- 
 drawal, it seemed to the Virginians that there was 
 forced upon them a choice between secession and 
 unspeakable dishonour. They wanted to remain in 
 the Union, of which their State had been from the 
 beginning so influential a part. They were in- 
 tensely loyal to the history and traditions of that 
 Union over which their Washington, Jefferson, 
 Madison, Monroe, and Tyler had presided, and at 
 the head of whose supreme court their John Mar- 
 shall had so wisely interpreted the constitution. 
 But when Mr. Lincoln notified them that they 
 must furnish their quota of troops with which to 
 make war upon sister States for exercising a right 
 which the Virginians deemed unquestionable, they 
 felt that they had no choice but to join the seced- 
 ing States and take the consequences. 
 
 What a pity it seems, as we look back upon 
 that crisis of forty odd years ago, that Mr. Lin- 
 coln could not have found some other way out 
 
 26 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 of his difficulties ! What a pity that he could not 
 have seen his way clear to omit Virginia and 
 the other border States from his call for troops, 
 with which to make war upon secession ! Doubt- 
 less it was impracticable for him to make such a 
 distinction. But the pity of it is none the less on 
 that account. For if this might have been done, 
 there would have been no civil war worthy the 
 attention of the historian or the novelist. In that 
 case the battles of Bull Run, the Seven Days, 
 Fredericksburg, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Get- 
 tysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold 
 Harbour, and the rest of the bloody encounters 
 would never have been fought. In that case the 
 country would not have exhausted itself with four 
 years of strenuous war, enlisting 2,700,000 men 
 on one side, and 600,000 on the other. In that case 
 many thousands of brave young lives would have 
 been spared, and the desolation of homes by tens 
 of thousands would not have come upon the land. 
 It is idle, however, to speculate in " if's," even 
 when their significance is so sadly obvious as 
 it is in this case. Facts are facts, and the all- 
 dominating fact on that i6th of April, 1861, 
 was that President Lincoln had called upon Vir- 
 
 27 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 ginia for her quota of troops with which to make 
 war upon the seceding States, and that Virginia 
 had no mind to respond to the call. 
 
 It was certain now, that Virginia however 
 reluctantly and however firmly convinced she 
 might be that secession was uncalled for on the 
 part of the Southern States, would adopt an or- 
 dinance of secession, and thus make inevitable 
 the coming of the greatest war in all history, 
 where otherwise no war at all, or at most an 
 insignificant one, would have occurred. 
 
 There was no question in the minds of any 
 body at the Court-house on this sixteenth day of 
 April, 1 86 1, that Virginia would secede as soon 
 as a vote could be taken in the convention. 
 
 The county was a small one, insignificant in 
 the number of its white inhabitants, there being 
 six negroes to one white in its population, but 
 it was firmly convinced that upon its attitude 
 depended the fate of Virginia, and perhaps of 
 the nation. This conviction was strong, at any 
 rate, in the minds of the three local orators who 
 had ordered a muster for this day in order that 
 they might have an audience to harangue. These 
 were Colonel Gregor, of the militia and the bar, 
 
 28 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Lieu tenant- Colonel Simpson, also of the bar and 
 the militia, and Captain Sam Guthrie, who com- 
 manded a troop of uniformed horsemen, long ago 
 organised for purposes of periodical picnicking. 
 This troop afterward rendered conspicuously 
 good service in Stuart's First Regiment of Vir- 
 ginia cavalry, but not under Captain Guthrie's 
 command. That officer, early in the campaign, 
 developed a severe case of nervous prostration, 
 and retired. The militiamen also volunteered, 
 and rendered their full four years of service. 
 But Lieutenant-Colonel Simpson retired during 
 his first and only skirmish, while Colonel Gregor 
 discovered in himself a divine call to the ministry 
 of the gospel, and stayed at home to answer it. 
 But all this came later. In April, 1861, these three 
 were the eager advocates of war, instant and ter- 
 rible. Under inspiration of the news from Rich- 
 mond, they spouted like geysers throughout that 
 day. They could not have been more impassioned 
 in their pleas if theirs had been a reluctant com- 
 munity, in danger of disgracing itself by refusing 
 to furnish its fair share of volunteers for Vir- 
 ginia's defence, though in fact every able-bodied 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 man in the county had already signified his in- 
 tention of volunteering at the first opportunity. 
 
 But the orators were not minded to miss so 
 good an opportunity to display their eloquence, 
 and impress themselves upon the community. 
 Colonel Gregor, in a fine burst of eloquence, 
 warned his fellow citizens, whom he always ad- 
 dressed as " me countrymen," to examine them- 
 selves carefully touching their personal courage, 
 " for," he thundered, " where Gregor leads, brave 
 men must follow." 
 
 Later in the day, Lieutenant-Colonel Simpson 
 hit upon the happy idea, which his superior officer 
 at once adopted, of ordering the entire militia 
 of the county into camp at the Court-house, where 
 the three men eloquent might harangue them at 
 will between drills. The two field-officers told 
 the men that they must now regard themselves 
 as minute men, and hold themselves in readiness 
 to respond at a moment's notice to the country's 
 call, for the repelling of invasion, whensoever it 
 might come. 
 
 All this impressed Baillie Pegram as ridiculous. 
 That young gentleman had a saving sense of 
 humour, but he was content to smile at a foolish- 
 
 30 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 ness in which he had no mind to join. The young 
 men of the county responded enthusiastically to 
 the encampment call. It meant for them some 
 days of delightful picnicking, with dancing in 
 the evening. 
 
 Baillie Pegram, having business to transact in 
 Richmond, absented himself from a frolic not 
 to his taste, and took the noonday train for the 
 State capital. 
 
II 
 
 THE BRINGING UP OF AGATHA 
 
 AGATHA ROLAND was a particularly 
 well ordered young gentlewoman, at least 
 during her long, half-yearly visits to her 
 aunts at The Oaks. At home with her maternal 
 grandfather, Colonel Archer, she was neither well 
 nor ill ordered she was not ordered at all. 
 She gave orders instead, in a gentle way ; and her 
 word was law, by virtue of her grandfather's 
 insistence that it should be so regarded, and still 
 more by reason of something in herself that gently 
 gave authority to her will. 
 
 Agatha had been born at The Oaks, and that 
 plantation was to be her property at the death 
 of her two elderly maiden aunts, her dead father's 
 sisters. But she had been taken as a little child 
 to the distant home of her grandfather, Colonel 
 Archer, and after her mother's death she had 
 
 32 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 lived there alone with that sturdy old Virginia 
 gentleman. 
 
 She was less than seven years old when he 
 installed her behind the tea-tray in her dead 
 mother's stead, and made her absolute mistress 
 of the mansion, issuing the order that " whatever 
 Miss Agatha wants done must be done, or I will 
 find out why." Her good aunts sought to inter- 
 fere at first, but they soon learned better. They 
 wanted the girl to come to them at The Oaks " for 
 her bringing up," they said. Upon that plan 
 Colonel Archer instantly put a veto that was not 
 the less peremptory for the reason that he could 
 not " put his foot down " just then, because of 
 an attack of the gout. Then the good ladies 
 urged him to take " some gentlewoman of mature 
 years and high character " into his house, " to 
 look after the child's bringing up, so that her 
 manners may be such as befit a person of her 
 lineage." 
 
 To this appeal the old gentleman replied : 
 
 " I'll look after all that myself. I don't want 
 
 the child taught a lot of nonsense, and I won't 
 
 have her placed under anybody's authority. She 
 
 doesn't need control, any more than the birds do; 
 
 33 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 she shall grow up here at Willoughby in perfect 
 freedom and naturalness. I'll be responsible for 
 the result. She shall wear bonnets whenever 
 she wants to, and go without them whenever 
 that pleases her best ; when she wants to go bare- 
 foot and wade in the branches, as all healthy 
 children like to do, she shall not be told that her 
 conduct is ' highly improper/ and all that non- 
 sense. O, I know," he said, in anticipation of 
 a protest that he saw coming, " I know she'll 
 get ' dreadfully tanned,' and become a tomboy 
 and all the rest of it. But I'll answer for it 
 that when she grows up her perfectly healthy 
 skin will bear comparison with the complexion 
 of the worst house-burnt young woman in all 
 the land, and as for her figure, nature will take 
 care of that under the life of liberty that she's 
 going to live, in the air and sunshine." 
 " But you'll surely send her to school ? " 
 " Not if I retain my senses. I remember my 
 humanities well enough to teach her all the 
 Latin, Greek, and mathematics she needs. We'll 
 read history and literature together, and as for 
 French, I speak that language a good deal better 
 than most of the dapper little dancing-masters 
 
 34 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 do who keep ' young ladies' seminaries/ We'll 
 ride horseback together every day, and I'll teach 
 her French while I'm teaching her how to take 
 an eight-rail fence at a gallop." 
 
 The remonstrances were continued for a time, 
 until one day the old gentleman made an end of 
 them by saying: 
 
 " I have heard all I want to hear on that sub- 
 ject. It is not to be mentioned to me again." 
 
 Everybody who knew Colonel Archer knew 
 that when he spoke in that tone of mingled de- 
 termination and self-restraint, it was a dictate 
 of prudence to respect his wish. So after that 
 Agatha and he lived alone at Willoughby, a plan- 
 tation in Northern Virginia three or four days 
 distant by carriage from The Oaks. 
 
 Morning, noon, and night, these two were 
 inseparable companions. " Chummie " was the 
 pet name she gave him in her childish days, and 
 he would never permit her to address him by 
 any other as she grew up. 
 
 Old soldier that he was, for he had com- 
 manded a company under Jackson at New Or- 
 leans, and had been a colonel during the war 
 with Mexico, it was his habit to exact im- 
 
 35 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 plicit obedience within his own domain. He 
 was the kindliest of masters, but his will was 
 law on the plantation, and as everybody there 
 recognised the fact, he never had occasion to 
 give an order twice, or to mete out censure for 
 disobedience. But for Agatha there was no law. 
 Colonel Archer would permit none, while she in 
 her turn made it her one study in life to be and 
 do whatever her " Chummie " liked best. 
 
 Colonel Archer had a couple of gardeners, 
 of course, but their work was mainly to do the 
 rougher things of horticulture. He and Agatha 
 liked to do the rest for themselves. They pre- 
 pared the garden-beds, seeded them, and care- 
 fully nursed their growths into fruitage, he teach- 
 ing her, as they did so, that love of all growing 
 things which is botany's best lesson. 
 
 " And the plants love us back again, Chummie," 
 she one day said to him, while she was still a 
 little child. " They smile when we go near them, 
 and sometimes the pansies whisper to me. I'm 
 sure of that." 
 
 She was at that time a slender child, with 
 big, velvety brown eyes and a tangled mass of 
 brown hair which her maid Martha struggled in 
 
 36 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 vain to reduce to subjection. She usually put on 
 a sunbonnet when she went to the garden in 
 the early morning; but when it obstructed her 
 vision, or otherwise annoyed her, she would push 
 it off, letting it fall to her back and hang by its 
 strings about her neck. Even then it usually be- 
 came an annoyance, particularly when she wanted 
 to climb a fruit-tree, and Martha would find it 
 later, resting upon a cluster of rose-bushes, or 
 hung upon a fence-paling. 
 
 The pair of chums the sturdy old gentleman 
 and the little girl had no regular hours for 
 any of their employments, but at some hour 
 of every day, they got out their books and read 
 or studied together. 
 
 They were much on horseback, too, and when 
 autumn came they would tramp together through 
 stubble fields and broom-straw growths, shooting 
 quails on the wing partridges, they correctly 
 called them, as it is the habit of everybody in 
 Virginia to do, for the reason that the bird which 
 the New York marketman calls " quail," is prop- 
 erly named " Partridge Virginiensis," while the 
 bird that the marketman sells as a partridge is not 
 a partridge at all, but a grouse. The girl became a 
 
 37 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 good shot during her first season, and a year later 
 she challenged her grandfather to a match, to see 
 who could bag the greater number of birds. At 
 the end of the morning's sport, her bag out- 
 numbered her companion's by two birds ; but when 
 the count was made, she looked with solemn eyes 
 into her grandfather's face and, shaking her head 
 in displeasure, said: 
 
 " Chummie, you've been cheating ! I don't like 
 to think it of you, but it's true. You've missed 
 several birds on purpose to let me get ahead of 
 you. I'll never count birds with you again." 
 
 The old gentleman tried to laugh the matter 
 off, but the girl would not consent to that. After 
 awhile she said : " I'll forgive you this time, 
 Chummie; but I'll never count birds with you 
 again." 
 
 " But why not, Ladybird? " 
 
 " Why, because you don't like to beat me, and 
 I don't like to beat you. So if we go on count- 
 ing birds and each trying to lose the match, we'll 
 get to be very bad shots. Besides that, Chummie, 
 cheating will impair your character." 
 
 But the girl was not left without the compan- 
 ionship of girls of her own age. Colonel Archer 
 
 38 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 was too wise a student of human nature for that. 
 So from the beginning he planned to give her 
 the companionship she needed. 
 
 ' You are the mistress of Willoughby, you 
 know, Agatha," he said to her one day, " and 
 you must keep up the reputation of the place for 
 hospitality. You must have your dining-days 
 like the rest, and invite your friends." 
 
 And she did so. She would send out her little 
 notes, written in a hand that closely resembled 
 that of her grandfather, begging half a dozen 
 girls, daughters of the planters round about, to 
 dine with her, and they would come in their 
 carriages, attended by their negro maids. It 
 was Colonel Archer's delight to watch Agatha 
 on these occasions, and observe the very serious 
 way in which she sought to discharge her duties 
 as a hospitable hostess in becoming fashion. 
 
 A little later he encouraged her to invite two 
 or three of her young friends, now and then, to 
 stay for a few days or a week with her, after the 
 Virginian custom. But not until she was twelve 
 years old did he consent to spare her for longer 
 than a single night. Then he agreed with The 
 Oaks ladies that she should spend a few weeks 
 
 39 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 in the spring and a few in the late summer or 
 autumn of every year with them. They wel- 
 comed the arrangement as one which would at 
 least give them an opportunity to " form the 
 girl." During her semi-annual visits to The 
 Oaks they very diligently set themselves to work 
 drilling her in the matter of respect for the for- 
 malities of life. 
 
 The process rather interested Agatha, and 
 sometimes it even amused her. She was sol- 
 emnly enjoined not to do things that she had 
 never thought of doing, and as earnestly in- 
 structed to do things which she had never in her 
 life neglected to do. 
 
 At first she was too young to formulate the 
 causes of her interest and amusement in this 
 process. But her mind matured rapidly in asso- 
 ciation with her grandfather, and she began at 
 last to analyse the matter. 
 
 " When I go to The Oaks," she wrote to her 
 " Chummie " one day, " I feel like a sinner going 
 to do penance; but the penance is ratfier amusing 
 than annoying. I am made to feel how shockingly 
 improper I have been at Willoughby with you, 
 Chummie, during the preceding six months, and 
 
 40 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 how necessary it is for me to submit myself for 
 a season to a control that shall undo the effects 
 of the liberty in which I live at Willoughby. I 
 am made to understand that liberty is the very 
 worst thing a girl or a woman can indulge herself 
 in. Am I very bad, Chummie?" 
 
 For* answer the old gentleman laughed aloud. 
 Then he wrote : 
 
 " You see how shrewdly I have managed this 
 thing, Ladybird. I wouldn't let you go to The 
 Oaks till you had become too fully confirmed in 
 your habit of being free, ever to be reformed." 
 
 Later, and more seriously, he said to the girl : 
 
 " Every human being is the better for being 
 free women as well as men. Liberty to a 
 human being is like sunshine and fresh air. Re- 
 straint is like medicine excellent for those who 
 are ill, but very bad indeed for healthy people. Did 
 it ever occur to you, Agatha, that you never took 
 a pill or a powder in your life? You haven't 
 needed medicine because you've had air and sun- 
 shine; no more do you need restraint, and for 
 the same reason. You are perfectly healthy in 
 your mind as well as in your body." 
 
 " But, Chummie, you don't know how very ill 
 
 41 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 regulated I am. Aunt Sarah and Aunt Jane dis- 
 approve very seriously of many things that I 
 do." 
 
 "What things?" 
 
 " Well, they say, for example, that it is very 
 unladylike for me to call you ' Chummie,' 
 that it indicates a want of that respect for age 
 and superiority which every young person 
 you know I am only a * young person ' to them 
 - should scrupulously cultivate." 
 
 " Well, now, let me give you warning, Miss 
 Agatha Ronald ; if you ever call me anything 
 but ' Chummie,' I'll alter my will, and leave this 
 plantation to the Abolitionist Society as an experi- 
 ment station." 
 
 Nevertheless, Agatha Ronald was, as has been 
 said at the beginning of this chapter, a particu- 
 larly well ordered young gentlewoman so long as 
 she remained as a guest with her aunts at The 
 Oaks. She loved the gentle old ladies dearly, 
 and strove with all her might, while with them, 
 to comport herself in accordance with their stan- 
 dards of conduct on the part of a young gentle- 
 woman. 
 
 Sometimes, however, her innocence misled 
 
 42 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 her, as it had done on that morning when 
 Baillie Pegram had met her at the bridge over 
 Dogwood Branch. The spirit of the morning had 
 taken possession of her on that occasion, and she 
 had so far reverted from her condition of dame- 
 nurtured grace into her habitual state of nature 
 as to mount her horse and ride away without the 
 escort even of a negro groom. It was not at 
 all unusual at that time for young gentlewomen 
 in Virginia to ride thus alone, but The Oaks ladies 
 strongly disapproved the custom, as they disap- 
 proved all other customs that had come into being 
 since their own youth had passed away, especially 
 all customs that in any way tended to enlarge the 
 innocent liberty of young women. On this point 
 the good ladies were as rigidly insistent as if they 
 had been the ladies superior of a convent of young 
 nuns. They could not have held liberty for young 
 gentlewomen in greater 'dread and detestation, 
 had they believed, as they certainly did not, in 
 the total depravity of womankind. 
 
 " It is not that we fear you would do anything 
 wrong, dear," they would gently explain. " It 
 is only that well, you see a young gentlewoman 
 cannot be too careful." 
 
 43 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Agatha did not see, but she yielded to the 
 prejudices of her aunts with a loyalty all the more 
 creditable to her for the reason that she did not 
 and could not share their views. On this occasion 
 she had not thought of offending. It had not 
 occurred to her that there could be the slightest 
 impropriety in her desire to greet the morning 
 on horseback, and certainly it had not entered 
 her mind that she might meet Baillie Pegram and 
 be* compelled to accept a courtesy at his hands. 
 She knew, as she rode silently homeward after 
 that meeting at the bridge, that in this respect 
 she had sinned beyond overlooking. 
 
 For Agatha Ronald knew that she must be 
 on none but the most distant and formal terms 
 with the master of Warlock. She had learned 
 that lesson at Christmas-time, three months be- 
 fore. She had spent the Christmas season in 
 Richmond, with some friends. There Baillie 
 Pegram. had met her for the first time since she 
 had attained her womanhood for he had been 
 away at college, at law school, or . on his 
 travels at the time of all her more recent 
 sojourns at The Oaks. He bad known her very 
 slightly as a shy and wild little girl, but the 
 
 44 
 
Agatha Ronald 
 
; - l >. * ' w , ; 
 % - 
 
 ^ 4 
 
 ,-.- 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 woman Agatha was a revelation to him, and her 
 beauty not less than her charm of manner and 
 her unusual intelligence, had fascinated him. He 
 frequented the house of her Richmond friends, 
 and had opportunities to learn more every day of 
 herself. He did not pause to analyse his feeling 
 for her; he only knew that it was quite different 
 from any that he had ever experienced before. 
 And Agatha, in her turn and in her candor, had 
 admitted to herself that she " liked " young Pe- 
 gram better than any other young man she had 
 ever met. 
 
 No word of love had passed between these 
 two, and both were unconscious of their state 
 of mind, when their intercourse was suddenly 
 interrupted. A note came to Baillie one day from 
 Agatha, in which the frank and fearlessly honest 
 young woman wrote : 
 
 " I am not to see you any more, Mr. Pegram. 
 I am informed by my relatives that there are cir- 
 cumstances for which neither of us is responsible, 
 which render it quite improper that you and I 
 should be friends. I am very sorry, but I think it 
 my duty to tell you this myself. I thank you for 
 
 45 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 all your kindnesses to me before we knew about 
 this thing." 
 
 That was absolutely all there was of the note, 
 but it was quite enough. It had set Baillie to 
 inquiring concerning a feud of which he vaguely 
 knew the existence, but to which he had never 
 before given the least attention. 
 
 That is how it came about that Agatha rode 
 sadly homeward after the meeting at the bridge, 
 wondering how she could have done otherwise 
 than accept the use of Baillie Pegram's mare, 
 and wondering still more what her aunts would 
 say to her concerning the matter. 
 
 " Anyhow," she thought at last, " I've done 
 no intentional wrong. Chummie would not blame 
 me if he were here, and I am not sure that I 
 shall accept much blame at anybody's else hands. 
 I'll be good and submissive if I can, but well, 
 I don't know. Maybe I'll hurry back home to 
 Chummie." 
 
Ill 
 
 JESSAMINE AND HONEYSUCKLE 
 
 IT was a peculiarity of inherited quarrels be- 
 tween old Virginia families that they must 
 never be recognised outwardly by any act 
 of discourtesy, and still less by any neglect of 
 formal attention where courtesy was called for. 
 Such quarrels were never mentioned between the 
 families that were involved in them, and equally 
 they were never forgotten. Each member of either 
 family owed it to himself to treat all members 
 of the other family with the utmost deference, 
 while never for a moment permitting that defer- 
 ence to lapse into anything that could be con- 
 strued to mean forgiveness or for get fulness. 
 
 Agatha, as we have seen, had twice violated 
 the code under which such affairs were conducted ; 
 once in the note she had sent to Baillie Pegram in 
 Richmond, and for the second time in giving 
 him permission to call at The Oaks to inquire 
 
 47 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 concerning her journey homeward on his mare. 
 But on both occasions she had been out of the 
 presence arid admonitory influence of her aunts, 
 and when absent from them, Agatha Ronald was 
 not at all well regulated, as we know. She was 
 given to acting upon her own natural and healthy- 
 minded impulses, and such impulses were apt to 
 be at war with propriety as propriety was under- 
 stood and insisted upon at The Oaks. 
 
 But Baillie Pegram was not minded to make 
 any mistake in a matter of so much delicacy and 
 importance. He had received Agatha's permis- 
 sion to make that formal call of inquiry, which 
 was customary on all such occasions, and she in 
 her heedlessness had probably meant what she 
 said, as it was her habit to do. But Baillie knew 
 very well that her good aunts would neither ex- 
 pect nor wish him to call upon their niece. At 
 the same time he must not leave his omission to 
 do so unexplained. He must send a note of 
 apology, not to Agatha, as he would have done 
 to any other young woman under like circum- 
 stances, but to her aunts instead. In a note 
 to them he reported his sudden summons to Rich- 
 mond, adding that as he was uncertain as to the 
 
 4 8 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 length of his stay there, he begged the good ladies 
 to accept his absence from home as his sufficient 
 excuse for not calling to inquire concerning the 
 behaviour of his mare during their niece's journey 
 upon that rather uncertain-minded animal's back. 
 This note he gave to Sam for delivery, when Sam 
 brought him the horse he had ordered but no 
 longer wanted. 
 
 Baillie Pegram had all the pride of his lineage 
 and his class. He had sought to forget all about 
 Agatha Ronald after her astonishing little note 
 had come to him some months before in Rich- 
 mond, and until this morning he had believed 
 that he had accomplished that forgetfulness. But 
 now the thought of her haunted him ceaselessly. 
 All the way to Richmond her beauty and her 
 charm, as she had stood there by the roadside, 
 filled his mind with visions that tortured him. 
 He tried with all his might to dismiss the visions 
 and to think of something else. He bought the 
 daily papers and tried to interest himself in their 
 excited utterances, but failed. Red-hot leaders, 
 that were meant to stir all Virginian souls to 
 wrathful resolution, made no impression on his 
 mind. He read them, and knew not what 
 
 49 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 he had read. He was thinking of the girl by the 
 roadside, and his soul was fascinated with the 
 memory of her looks, her words, her finely mod- 
 ulated voice, her ways, as she had tried to refuse 
 his offer of assistance. Had he been of vain and 
 conceited temper, he might have flattered himself 
 with the thought that her very hauteur in con- 
 verse with him implied something more and better 
 than indifference on her part toward him. But 
 that thought did not enter his mind. He thought 
 instead : 
 
 "What a sublimated idiot I am! That girl 
 is nothing to me worse than nothing. Cir- 
 cumstances place her wholly outside my acquaint- 
 ance, except in the most formal fashion. She is 
 a young gentlewoman of my own class dis- 
 tinctly superior to all the other young gentle- 
 women of that class whom I have ever met, and 
 ordinarily it would be the most natural thing 
 in the world for me to pay my addresses to her. 
 But in this case that is completely out of the 
 question. To me at least she is the unattainable. 
 I must school myself to think of her no more, 
 and that ought to be easy enough, as I am not 
 in love with her and am not permitted even to 
 
 50 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 think of being so. It's simply a craze that has 
 taken possession of me for a time, the instinct 
 of the huntsman, to whom quarry is desirable in 
 the precise ratio of its elusiveness. There, I've 
 thought the whole thing out to an end, and now 
 I must give my mind to something more impor- 
 tant." 
 
 Yet even in the midst of the excitement that 
 prevailed in Richmond that day, Baillie Pegram 
 did not quite succeed in driving out of his mind 
 the memory of the little tableau by the bridge, 
 or forgetting how supremely fascinating Agatha 
 Ronald had seemed, as she had haughtily de- 
 clined his offer of service, and still more as she 
 had reluctantly accepted it, and ridden away after 
 so cleverly evading his offer to help her mount. 
 
 It had been his purpose to remain in Richmond 
 for a week or more, but on the third morning he 
 found himself homeward bound, and filled with 
 vain imaginings. Just why he had started home- 
 ward before the intended time, it would have 
 puzzled him to say; but several times he caught 
 himself wondering if there would be awaiting 
 hirn at Warlock an answer to his formal note of 
 apology for not having made a call which nobody 
 
 51 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 had expected him to make. He perfectly knew 
 that no such answer was to be expected, and es- 
 pecially that if there should be any answer at 
 all, it must be one of formal and repellent cour- 
 tesy, containing no message from Agatha of the 
 kind that his troubled imagination persisted in 
 conceiving in spite of the scorn with which he 
 rejected the absurd conjecture. 
 
 Nevertheless as he neared home he found him- 
 self half -expecting to find there an answer to 
 his note, and he found it. It gave him no pleasure 
 in the reading, and in his present state of mind 
 he could not find even a source of amusement in 
 the stilted formality of its rhetoric. It had been 
 written by one of Agatha's aunts, and signed by 
 both of them. Thus it ran : 
 
 " The Misses Ronald of The Oaks feel them- 
 selves deeply indebted to Mr. Baillie Pegram for 
 his courtesy to their niece and guest, Miss Agatha 
 Ronald, on the occasion of her recent misad- 
 venture. They have also to thank Mr. Pegram 
 most sincerely for having taken upon himself the 
 disagreeable duty of giving painless death to the 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 unfortunate animal that their niece was riding 
 upon that occasion. They have to inform Mr. 
 Pegram that as Miss Agatha Ronald is making 
 her preparations for an almost immediate return 
 to her maternal grandfather's plantation of Wil- 
 loughby, in Fauquier, and as she will probably 
 begin her journey before Mr. Pegram's return 
 from Richmond, there will scarcely be oppor- 
 tunity for his intended call to inquire concerning 
 her welfare after her homeward ride upon the 
 mare which he so graciously placed at her disposal 
 at a time of sore need. They beg to report that 
 the beautiful animal behaved with the utmost gen- 
 tleness during the journey. 
 
 " The Oaks ladies beg to assure Mr. Pegram of 
 their high esteem, and to express their hope that 
 he will permit none of the events of this troubled 
 time to prevent him from dining with them at 
 The Oaks on the third Friday of each month, 
 as it has been his courteous custom to do in the 
 past. The Misses Ronald remain, 
 " Most respectfully, 
 
 ,- " SARAH RONALD, 
 "JANE RONALD." 
 
 53 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 This missive was more than a little bewilder- 
 ing. Its courtesy was extreme. Even in prac- 
 tically telling Baillie Pegram not to call upon 
 their niece, the good ladies had adroitly managed 
 to make their message seem rather one of regret 
 than of prohibition. Certainly there was not a 
 word in the missive at which offence could be 
 taken, and not an expression lacking, the lack 
 of which could imply negligence. The young 
 man read it over several times before he could 
 make out its exact significance, and even then he 
 was not quite sure that he fully understood. 
 
 " It reads like a ' joint note ' from the Powers 
 to the Grand Turk/' he said to the young 
 man his bosom friend whom he had found 
 awaiting him at Warlock on his return. This 
 young man, Marshall Pollard, had been Baillie 
 Pegram's intimate at the university, and now that 
 university days were done, it was his habit to 
 come and go at will at Warlock, the plantation 
 of which Baillie was owner and sole white occu- 
 pant with the exception of a maiden aunt who 
 presided over his household. 
 
 The intimacy between these two young men 
 was always a matter of wonder to their friends. 
 
 54 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 They had few tastes in common, except that both 
 had a passionate love for books. Baillie Pegram 
 was fond of fishing and shooting and riding to 
 hounds. He loved a horse from foretop to fet- 
 lock. His friend cared nothing for sport of any 
 kind, and very often he walked over long dis- 
 tances rather than " jolt on horseback," as he 
 explained. He was thoroughly manly, but of 
 dreamy, introspective moods and quiet tastes. 
 But these two agreed in their love of books, and 
 especially of such rare old books as abounded 
 in the Warlock library, the accumulation of gen- 
 erations of cultivated and intellectual men and 
 women. They agreed, too, in their fondness for 
 each other. 
 
 Marshall Pollard was never regarded as a guest 
 at Warlock, or treated as such. He came and 
 went at will, giving no account of either his 
 comings or his goings. He did precisely as he 
 pleased, and so did his host, neither ever thinking 
 it necessary to offer an apology for leaving the 
 other alone for a day or for a week, as the case 
 might be. Pollard had his own quarters in the 
 rambling old house, with perfect liberty for their 
 best furnishing. Often the two friends became 
 
 55 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 interested together in a single subject of literary 
 or historical study, and would pore over piles of 
 books in the great hallway if it rained, and out 
 under the spreading trees on the lawn if the 
 weather were fair. Often, on the other hand, 
 their moods would take different courses, and for 
 days together they would scarcely see each other 
 except at meal-times. Theirs was a friendship 
 that trusted itself implicitly. 
 
 " It's an ideal friendship, this of yours and 
 mine," said Marshall, in his dreamy way, one day. 
 " It never interferes with the perfect liberty of 
 either. What a pity it is that it must come to an 
 end!" 
 
 " But why should it come to an end ? " asked 
 his less introspective friend. 
 
 " O, because one or the other of us will 
 presently take to himself a wife," was the answer. 
 
 " But why should that make a difference ? It 
 will not if I am the one to marry first. That will 
 only make your life at Warlock the pleasanter 
 for you. It will give you two devoted friends 
 instead of one." 
 
 " It will do nothing of the kind," answered 
 Pollard, with that confidence of tone which sug- 
 
 56 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 gests that a matter has been completely thought 
 out. " Our friendship is based upon the fact that 
 we both care more for each other than for any- 
 body else. When you get married, you'll nat- 
 urally and properly care more for your wife than 
 for me. You'd be a brute if you didn't, and I'd 
 quarrel with you. After your marriage we shall 
 continue to be friends, of course, but not in the old 
 way. I'll come to Warlock whenever I please, and 
 go away whenever it suits me to go, just as I do 
 now. But I shall make my bow to my lady 
 when I come, and my adieus to her when I take 
 my departure. I'll enjoy doing that, because I 
 know that your wife will be a charming person, 
 worthy of your devotion to her. But it will not 
 be the same as now. And it will be best so. 
 ' Male and female created he them/ and it would 
 be an abominable shame if you were to remain 
 single for many years to come. It is your duty, 
 and it will presently be your highest pleasure 
 to make some loving and lovable woman as happy 
 as God intended her to be. Better than that the 
 love of a good woman will make your life richer 
 and worthier than it is now. It will ennoble 
 you, and fit you for the life that your good qual- 
 
 57 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 ities destine you to lead. You see I've been study- 
 ing your case, Baillie, and I've made up my mind 
 that there never was a man who needed to marry 
 more than you do. You're a thoroughly good 
 fellow now but that's about all. You'll be 
 something mightily better than that, when you 
 have the inspiration of a good woman's love to 
 spur you out of your present egotistic self-con- 
 tent, and give you higher purposes in life than 
 those of the well-bred, respectable citizen that 
 you are. You pay your debts; you take excel- 
 lent care of your negroes ; you serve your neigh- 
 bours as an unpaid magistrate and all that, and it 
 is all very well. But you are capable of much 
 higher things, and when you get yourself a wife 
 worthy of you, you'll rise to a new level of char- 
 acter and conduct." 
 
 " And how about you ? " the friend asked. 
 
 " O, as for me, I don't count. You see, I'm 
 that anomalous thing, a Virginian who doesn't 
 ride horses or care for sport. I'm abnormal. 
 Women like me in a way, and the more elderly 
 ones among them do me the honour to approve 
 me. But that is all. Young women are apt to 
 fall in love with robuster young fellows." 
 
 58 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " But you are robust," quickly answered Baillie, 
 " and altogether manly." 
 
 " No, I'm not. I'm physically strong enough, 
 of course, but strength isn't all of robustness. 
 I can lift as much as you can, but I don't like 
 to lift, and you do. I can jump as high, but I 
 don't like to jump, while you do. When we were 
 canoeing in Canada a year ago, I could shoot 
 a rapid as well as you, but I'd very much rather 
 have walked down the bank, leaving the guide 
 to navigate the canoe, while you often sent the 
 guide about his business and rebuked his im- 
 pertinence in offering help where you wanted to 
 do your own helping of yourself without any 
 interference on his part. I remember that just 
 as we were starting on the long and difficult jour- 
 ney to the Lake of the Woods, you dismissed the 
 whole crew of half-breed hangers-on, and we set 
 out alone. I would never have done that, greatly 
 as I detested the unclean company. I went with 
 you, of course, but I went relying upon you for 
 guidance, just as I should have gone relying upon 
 the half-breeds if you had not been with me. We 
 two are differently built, I tell you. Now, even 
 here at Warlock, I send for Sam when I want 
 
 59 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 my studs changed from one shirt to another, 
 while only this morning you cleaned your own 
 boots rather than wait for Sam after you had 
 whistled for him thrice. I don't think I'm lazier 
 than you are, and I know I'm not more afraid 
 of anything. But you rejoice in toilsome jour- 
 neys, while I prefer to take them easily, hiring 
 other people to do the hard work. You relish 
 danger just as you do red pepper, while I prefer 
 safety and a less pungent seasoning. Now, young 
 women of our kind and class prefer your kind of 
 man to my kind, and so you are likely to marry, 
 while I am not. Another thing. I saw you throw 
 aside a copy of Shakespeare the other day with- 
 out even marking your place in the volume, be- 
 cause a company of gentlewomen had driven up 
 to visit your aunt, and you completely forgot your 
 Shakespeare in thinking of the gentlewomen. 
 Now I, in a like case, should have edged a little 
 farther around the tree, read on to the end of 
 the scene, marked my place, and only then have 
 discovered that the gentlewomen had driven up. 
 Women like your ways better than mine, and 
 they are entirely right." 
 
 In all this, Marshall Pollard exaggerated some- 
 
 60 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 what, in playful fashion, and to his own dis- 
 crediting. But in the main his analysis of the 
 difference between himself and his friend was 
 quite correct. 
 
 It was to this friend that Baillie Pegram spoke 
 of the note he had received from The Oaks 
 ladies, saying that it read " like a joint note 
 from the Powers to the Grand Turk." 
 
 " Tell me about it," answered Marshall. 
 
 " O, read it for yourself," Baillie replied, 
 handing him the sheet. " The stilted cere- 
 moniousness of it," he presently added, " is easy 
 enough to understand, but I can't, for the life of 
 me, see why the good ladies of The Oaks felt 
 it incumbent upon themselves to write to me at all. 
 They are always scrupulously attentive to forms 
 and conventionalities when discharging any obli- 
 gation of courtesy, and in this case they have had 
 the rather embarrassing duty imposed upon them 
 of telling me not to call upon their niece, who is 
 also their guest. That sufficiently accounts for 
 the stiff formality of their rhetoric, and their 
 scrupulous attention to the niceties of courtesy in 
 the embarrassing case, but " 
 
 " Remember, also," broke in Marshall Pollard, 
 
 61 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 "that they are 'maiden ladies/ while you, my dear, 
 unsuspicious boy, are a particularly marriageable 
 young man." 
 
 " Don't talk nonsense, Marshall ; this is a 
 serious matter," answered Baillie. 
 
 " It isn't nonsense at all that I'm talking," said 
 his friend. " I'm speaking only words of ' truth 
 and soberness.' The Misses Sarah and Jane 
 Ronald, as I understand the matter, are highly 
 bred and blue-bloodedly descended Virginia gen- 
 tlewomen, who happen to be as yet unmarried. 
 Very naturally and properly they adopt a guarded 
 manner in addressing a missive to a peculiarly 
 marriageable young gentleman like you, lest their 
 intentions be misinterpreted." 
 
 " Why, they are old enough," Baillie replied, 
 " to be my grandmothers ! " 
 
 " True," answered the other, " but you wouldn't 
 venture to suggest that fact to the mind of either 
 of them, would you, Baillie?" 
 
 " Certainly not, but " 
 
 " Certainly not. And certainly they in their 
 
 turn do not give special weight to that fact. 
 
 When will you learn to understand women a 
 
 little bit, Baillie ? Don't you know that no woman 
 
 62 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 ever thinks of herself as too old or too ugly or 
 too unattractive to fascinate a young man ? Espe- 
 cially no well-bred spinster, accustomed to be 
 courted in her youth, and treated with deference 
 in her middle age, ever realises that she is so old 
 as to be privileged to lay aside those reserves 
 with which she was trained in youth to guard 
 her maidenly modesty against the ugly imputa- 
 tion of a desire to ' throw herself at the head ' 
 of a young gentleman possessed of good man- 
 ners, good looks, an old family name, and a plan- 
 tation of five or six thousand acres ? Now, don't 
 let your vanity run away with you, my boy. I 
 do not mean for one moment to suggest that 
 either of The Oaks ladies would think of accept- 
 ing an offer of marriage from you or anybody 
 else. I am too gallant to imagine that they have 
 not had abundant opportunities of marriage in 
 their day. At the same time, propriety is pro- 
 priety, you know, and the conduct of an ' unat- 
 tached female ' cannot be too carefully guarded 
 against the possibility of misinterpretation." 
 
 Baillie laughed, and presently fell into silence 
 for a space. Finally his companion lazily said : 
 
 " It is time for you to be off, if you are going." 
 
 63 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " Going where? " 
 
 " Why, to dine at The Oaks, of course. You 
 are invited for the third Friday of each month, 
 if I understand the matter correctly, and this is 
 the third Friday of April, I believe." 
 
 " Why, so it is. I hadn't thought of the date. 
 By Jove, I'll go ! There's just a chance that she 
 hasn't started yet." 
 
 " It's awkward, of course," said Pollard, in 
 his meditative, philosophical way, "especially with 
 this war coming on. But these things never will 
 adjust themselves to circumstances in a spirit of 
 rationality and accommodation." 
 
 " What on earth do you mean, Marshall ? I 
 don't understand." 
 
 " Of course not. The bird caught in the net 
 of the fowler does not usually see just what is 
 the matter with him." 
 
 "But Marshall " 
 
 " O, I'll explain as well as I can. I mean 
 only that you are in love with Agatha Ronald. 
 Of course you're totally unconscious of your state 
 of mind, but you'll find it out after awhile. It 
 is an utterly irrational state of mind for you to 
 be in, but the malady often takes that form, I 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 believe, and I've done you a service in telling 
 you about it, for as a rule a man never finds out 
 what's the matter with him in such a case until 
 some friend tells him. He just goes on making 
 a fool of himself until somebody else jogs his 
 elbow with information which he alone has need 
 of. Now suppose you tell me all about this case. 
 What is it that stands between you and the young 
 lady?" 
 
 Again Baillie laughed. But this time the laugh 
 was accompanied by a tell-tale flushing of the 
 face. 
 
 " The whole thing is ridiculous/* he presently 
 said. " It couldn't have happened anywhere but 
 in this dear old Virginia of ours. I'll tell you all 
 I know about it. My grandfather whom I never 
 saw in my life, and Miss Agatha Ronald's father, 
 who died before she was born, were friends, like, 
 you and me. They owned adjoining plantations, 
 Warlock and The Oaks, both held by original 
 grants to their great-grandfathers, made in the 
 early colonial times. But the county clerk's office 
 burned up, a generation or two ago, and with it 
 all the records that could show where the boun- 
 daries between these two plantations lay. In 
 
 65 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 trying to determine those boundaries one un- 
 lucky day, when both had probably taken too 
 much or -too little Madeira for dinner, the two 
 irascible old gentlemen fell into a dispute as to 
 where the boundary line should run through a 
 wretched little scrap of ground down there on 
 Nib's Creek, which never had been cultivated, 
 never has been, and never will be. The thing 
 was not worth a moment's thought in itself, but 
 the gout got into it, or in some other way the 
 two absurd old gentlemen's dignity got itself 
 involved, and so they quarrelled. If there had 
 been time, they would have laughed the thing 
 off presently over a mint-julep. But unhappily 
 one of them died, and that made a permanent 
 family quarrel of the dispute. All the women - 
 kind took it up as an inherited feud, which made 
 ,it impossible that any Pegram should have aught 
 to do with any Ronald, or any Ronald with any 
 Pegram. So much, it was Held, was due to the 
 tender memory of the dead. But, after our Vir- 
 ginian tradition, the individual members of both 
 families have been held bound to treat each other 
 with the extreme of formal but quite unfriendly 
 courtesy. That is why I have been required, 
 
 66 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 from my fifteenth birthday onward, to dine at 
 The Oaks on the third Friday of every month 
 when I happened to be in the county on that day. 
 I had only the vaguest notion of the situation 
 until last Christmas, when circumstances brought 
 it to my attention. Then I made my good Aunt 
 Catherine tell me all about it. When I learned 
 what the matter in dispute was, I sent for the 
 family lawyer, and ordered him to make out a 
 deed to The Oaks ladies, conveying all my right, 
 title, and interest in the disputed piece of land 
 to them ' for and in consideration of the sum 
 of one dollar in hand paid, receipt whereof is 
 hereby acknowledged/ I sent the deed to The 
 Oaks ladies, with a perhaps too effusive note, 
 asking them to accept it as an evidence of my 
 desire to make an end of a quarrel which had 
 long alienated those who should have remained 
 friends." 
 
 " What an idiot you made of yourself by doing 
 that! " broke in young Pollard. 
 
 " Of course, and I soon found it out. The 
 Oaks ladies wrote that they had never, by any 
 act or word, recognised the existence of a quarrel ; 
 that if such quarrel existed, it lay between the 
 
 6 7 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 dead, who had not authorised them or me to adjust 
 it; and that they, holding only a life interest in 
 The Oaks, by virtue of their 'poor brother's' 
 kindly will, were not authorised either to alienate 
 any part of the fee, or to add to it, by deed of 
 gift or otherwise ; that their ' poor brother ' had 
 never been accustomed to accept gifts of land or 
 of anything else from others, and finally that 
 they were sure his spirit would not sanction the 
 purchase, for the miserable consideration of one 
 dollar, of a piece of land which, till the time of 
 his death, he had believed to be absolutely his own. 
 There was no use arguing such a case or explain- 
 ing it. So I have let it rest, and have gone once 
 a month to dine with The Oaks ladies, as a matter 
 of duty. It's all absurd, but " 
 
 " But it interferes with your interest in Miss 
 Agatha," broke in the friend. " Take my advice, 
 and don't let it. Off with you to The Oaks, and 
 ten to one you'll find the young lady still there. 
 The date of her departure was not fixed when this 
 diplomatic note was despatched, and as you were 
 not expected to receive the communication for a 
 week to come, she is probably still there. If so, 
 by the way, please don't mention my presence at 
 
 68 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Warlock. You see well, I have met the young 
 lady at her grandfather's, and properly I ought 
 to pay my respects to her, now that she's a guest 
 on a plantation adjoining that on which I am 
 staying. But I don't want to. Your saddle- 
 horses jolt so confoundedly, and besides, I've dis- 
 covered up-stairs a copy of old T. Gordon's sev- 
 enteenth century translation of Tacitus, with his 
 essays on that author, and his bitter-tongued 
 comments on all preceding translations of his 
 favourite classic. I want an' afternoon with the 
 old boy." 
 
 " You certainly are a queer fellow, Marshall," 
 said Baillie. 
 
 " How so ? Because I like old books ? Or is 
 it because I don't like the jolting of your horses ? " 
 " Why haven't you told me that you knew 
 Miss Agatha Ronald? " 
 
 " I have told you within the last minute." 
 " But why didn't you tell me before? " 
 "O, well, perhaps I didn't think of it. 
 Never mind that. It is time for you to be off, 
 unless you want the soup and your welcome to 
 grow cold while waiting for you." 
 
 6 9 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 When Baillie had ridden away, Marshall Pol- 
 lard sat idly for a time in the porch. Then tossing 
 aside the book he had been holding in his hand 
 but not reading, he rose and went to his room. 
 There he searched among his belongings for a 
 little Elzevir volume, and took from between its 
 leaves a sprig of dried yellow jessamine. 
 
 " It is a poisonous flower," he said, as he tossed 
 it out of the window. " She warned me of that 
 when I took it from her hand. She was alto- 
 gether-right." 
 
 Apparently pursuing a new-born purpose, the 
 young man returned to the porch, broke off a 
 sprig of honeysuckle leaves for the vine was 
 not yet in flower and carefully placed it be- 
 tween the pages of the Elzevir. 
 
 " The honeysuckle," he said to himself, " is un- 
 like the yellow jessamine. It is sweet and whole- 
 some. So is the friendship of the man from 
 whose vine I have plucked it." 
 
IV 
 
 IN REVOLT 
 
 WHEN Agatha reached The Oaks, 
 mounted upon Baillie Pegram's mare, 
 her reception at the hands of her aunts 
 was one of almost stunned astonishment. The two 
 good ladies had learned an hour before her coming 
 that she had ridden away alone that morning 
 while yet they had slept, and they had carefully 
 prepared a lecture upon that exceeding impro- 
 priety, for delivery on the young woman's return. 
 But when they saw her dismount from Baillie 
 Pegram's mare, they were well-nigh speechless 
 with horror at her depravity. The deliverance 
 that had been so carefully prepared for her 
 chastening no longer met the requirements of the 
 case. A new and far severer rebuke must be 
 extemporised, and the necessity of that was an 
 additional offence on the part of the young 
 woman who had forced it upon them. They were 
 
 71 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 not accustomed to speak extemporaneously on any 
 subject of importance. To do so involved the 
 danger of saying too much, or saying it less effect- 
 ively than they wished, or worse still leav- 
 ing unsaid things that they very much wished to 
 say. In response to their horrified questionings, 
 Agatha made the simplest and most direct state- 
 ment possible. 
 
 " The morning was fine, and I wanted to ride. 
 I rode as far as Dogwood Branch. There my 
 poor horse the one that my grandfather sent 
 down for me to ride while here met with a 
 mishap. His foot went through a hole in the 
 bridge, and in his struggle to extricate it, he 
 broke his leg. Mr. Pegram came along and 
 released the poor beastie's foot, but it was too 
 late. So he insisted upon my taking his mare, 
 and showed me that I couldn't refuse. He sent 
 his servant to ride on a mule behind me in case 
 I should have trouble with his only partially 
 broken mare. He promised to put my poor horse 
 out of his misery. There. That's all there is 
 to tell." 
 
 The little speech was made in a tone and with 
 a manner that suggested difficult self-restraint. 
 
 72 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 When it was ended the two good aunts sat for 
 a full minute looking at the girl with eyes that 
 were eloquent of reproach a reproach that for 
 the moment could find no fit words for its expres- 
 sion. At last the torrent came not with a 
 rushing violence of speech, but with a steady, 
 overwhelming flow. The girl stood still, seem- 
 ingly impassive. 
 
 " Will you not be seated ? " presently asked 
 Aunt Sarah. 
 
 " If you don't mind, I prefer to stand," she 
 answered, in the gentlest, most submissive tone 
 imaginable, for Agatha angry and outraged 
 was determined to maintain her self-control 
 to the end. Her gentle submissiveness of seeming 
 deceived her censors to their undoing. Satisfied 
 that they might rebuke her to their hearts' con- 
 tent, they proceeded, adding one word of bitter 
 reproach and condemnation to another, and wax- 
 ing steadily stronger in their righteous wrath. 
 Still the girl stood like a soldier under a fire 
 which he is forbidden to return. Still she con- 
 trolled her countenance and restrained herself 
 from speech. Only a slight flushing of the face, 
 
 73 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 and now and then a tremor of the lip, gave 
 indication of emotion of any kind. 
 
 Not until the storm had completely expended 
 its wrath upon her head did Agatha Ronald open 
 her lips. Then she spoke as Agatha Ronald : 
 
 " Will you please order my carriage to be ready 
 for me on Saturday morning, Aunt Sarah? My 
 maid is too ill to travel to-morrow or the next 
 day. But by Saturday morning she will be well 
 enough, and I shall begin my journey to Wil- 
 loughby at nine o'clock, if you will kindly order 
 a cup of coffee served half an hour before the 
 usual breakfast-time on Saturday." 
 
 She departed instantly from the room, giving 
 no time or opportunity for reply or remonstrance. 
 
 " Perhaps we have spoken too severely, Jane," 
 said Aunt Sarah. 
 
 Perhaps they had. At any rate, it had been 
 Agatha's purpose to remain a full month longer 
 at The Oaks before beginning the long homeward 
 carriage journey which alone Colonel Archer per- 
 mitted to his grandchild. Railroads were new 
 in those days, and Colonel Archer had not recon- 
 ciled himself to them. 
 
 " They are convenient for carrying freight," 
 
 74 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 he said, " but a young lady isn't freight. She 
 should travel in her own carriage." 
 
 Later in the day Agatha reappeared, as gentle 
 and smiling as usual, and as attentive as ever to 
 the comfort of her aunts. Her manner was 
 perfect in its docility, for she had decided that 
 so long as she should remain under their roof, it 
 was her duty to herself, and incidentally to her 
 aunts, to minister in every way she could to their 
 pleasure, and to obey their slightest indicated 
 wishes implicitly. They were misled somewhat 
 by her manner, which they construed to be an 
 indication of submission. 
 
 " You will surely not think of leaving us on 
 Saturday, dear, now that you have thought the 
 matter over calmly," said Aunt Sarah; "and 
 perhaps we spoke too severely this morning. 
 But you will overlook that, I am sure, in view 
 of the concern we naturally feel for your bringing 
 up." 
 
 A bitter and convincing speech was on the girl's 
 lips ready for delivery, a speech in which she 
 should declare her independence, and assert her 
 right as a woman fully grown to determine her 
 conduct for herself within the limits of perfect 
 
 75 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 innocence, but she drove it back into her heart, 
 and restrained her utterance to the single sen- 
 tence : 
 
 " I shall begin my journey on Saturday morn- 
 ing." 
 
 Agatha Ronald was in revolt against an 
 authority which she deemed oppressive, and such 
 revolt was natural enough on the part of a daugh- 
 ter of Virginia whose ancestry included three 
 signers of the Declaration of Independence, and 
 at least half a dozen fighting soldiers of the 
 Revolution. It was in her blood to resent and 
 resist injustice and to defy the authority that 
 decreed injustice. But after the fashion of those 
 revolutionary ancestors of hers, she would do 
 everything with due attention to " a decent 
 respect for the opinions of mankind." She had 
 decided to quit The Oaks because she could not 
 and would not longer submit to a discipline which 
 she felt to be arbitrary, unreasonable, and unjust. 
 But she was determined to be as gentle and as 
 gentlewomanly as possible in the manner of her 
 leaving. It was her fixed purpose never again 
 to visit that plantation her birthplace until 
 she should be summoned thither to take posses- 
 
 7 6 
 
"The Master of Warlock 
 
 sion as its sole inheritor, but she let slip no hint 
 of this determination to distress her aunts, who, 
 after all, meant only kindness to her by their 
 severity. 
 
 " I'll say nothing about it," she resolved. " I'll 
 just go back to Chummie. He understands me, 
 and I'll never leave him again." 
 
 77 
 
AT THE OAKS 
 
 WHEN Baillie Pegram rode into The Oaks 
 grounds on that third Friday of April, 
 1 86 1, the first person he encountered 
 was none other than Agatha. She was gowned all 
 in white, except that she had tied a cherry-col- 
 oured ribbon about her neck. She was wholly un- 
 bonneted, and was armed with a little gardening 
 implement hoe on one side and miniature rake 
 on the other. She was busy over a flower-bed, 
 and the young man, rounding a curve in the 
 shrubbery, came upon her, to the complete sur- 
 prise of both. 
 
 The situation might have been embarrassing 
 but for the ease and perfect self-possession with 
 which the girl accepted it. She greeted her vis- 
 itor, to his astonishment, without any of the 
 hauteur that had marked her demeanour on the 
 occasion of their last previous meeting. Here at 
 
 78 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 The Oaks she felt herself under the entirely ade- 
 quate protection of her aunts. She had therefore 
 no occasion to stand upon the defensive. Out 
 there at the bridge she had been herself solely 
 responsible for her conduct, and dependent upon 
 herself for the maintenance of her dignity. Here 
 Mr. Baillie Pegram was the guest of her people, 
 while out there he had been a person casually and 
 unwillingly encountered, and not on any account 
 to be permitted any liberty of intercourse. Be- 
 sides all these conclusive differences of circum- 
 stance, there was the additional fact that Agatha 
 was in revolt against authority, and very strongly 
 disposed to maintain her perfect freedom of inno- 
 cent action. So she gave her visitor a garden- 
 gloved hand as he dismounted, and slowly walked 
 with him toward the house. 
 
 " I attended an opera once," she chattered, 
 " when I was a very little girl. I remember that 
 I thought the basso a porpoise, and the tenor a 
 conceited popinjay, and the prima donna a fat 
 woman, but I fell completely in love with the 
 haymakers in the chorus. So whenever I go 
 gardening I find myself instinctively trying to 
 make myself look as like them as I can. That, I 
 
 79 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 suppose, is why I tied a red ribbon about my neck 
 this morning." 
 
 Here Baillie Pegram missed an opportunity to 
 make a particularly gallant and flattering speech. 
 To any other woman, under like circumstances, 
 he would have said something of her success in 
 making a charmingly attractive picture of herself. 
 But there was much of reverence in his admira- 
 tion for Agatha, and he felt that a merely com- 
 plimentary speech addressed to her would be a 
 frivolous impertinence. So instead he asked: 
 
 " Do you often go out gardening? " 
 
 " O, yes, always when the weather permits, 
 and sometimes when it forbids. At Willoughby 
 I've often gone out in a waterproof to train my 
 flowers and vines. I'm just going away from 
 The Oaks, and I've been digging up a hideously 
 formal bed which the gardener's soul delights in, 
 and sowing mixed portulaca instead of the prig- 
 gish plants. Portulaca smiles at you, you know, 
 when you get up soon enough in the morning to 
 see it in its glory. But I'll never see the smiles 
 in this case." 
 
 "But why not?" 
 
 " Why, I'm leaving The Oaks on Saturday, 
 
 so 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 you know, or rather you do not know, and 
 I'm not coming back for a long, long time." 
 
 "May I again presume to ask why not?" 
 
 " O, well, I must go to my grandfather. If 
 I don't he'll enlist or join a company, or get a 
 commission, or whatever else it is that a man 
 does when he makes a soldier out of himself. 
 You see I'm the only person who can manage my 
 grandfather." 
 
 " But surely, at his age " 
 
 " O, yes, I know. He's over eighty now, but 
 you don't know him very well, or you'd under- 
 stand. He was a soldier under Jackson at New 
 Orleans, and a colonel in the Mexican War, and 
 he'll go into this war, too, if I don't go home 
 and tell him he mustn't. I'm going to-morrow 
 morning." 
 
 Manifestly the girl wanted to chatter. Women 
 often do that when they are anxious to avoid 
 serious conversation. If men never do it, it is 
 only because they lack the intellectual alertness 
 necessary. They hem and haw, and make stupid 
 remarks about the weather instead, and succeed 
 only in emphasising the embarrassment which a 
 
 81 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 woman would completely bury under charming 
 chatter. 
 
 " You 'haven't seen my aunts yet, I suppose? " 
 Miss Agatha presently asked. 
 
 " No. I'm just arriving at The Oaks. I dine 
 here, you know, on the third Friday of every 
 month." 
 
 " Yes so I've heard. I don't think the 
 aunties expected you to-day. They'll be glad to 
 see you, of course, but I think they thought you 
 were still in Richmond." 
 
 Baillie wondered if this was a covert rebuke to 
 him for having ventured upon the premises while 
 Agatha was still there. The girl was not alto- 
 gether an easy person to understand. In any 
 case her remark revealed the fact that the question 
 of his coming had been discussed in the house 
 and decided in the negative. It was with some 
 embarrassment, therefore, that he presented him- 
 self to those formidable personages, The Oaks 
 ladies, and tried to treat his own coming quite 
 as a matter of course. But if his presence was 
 in any wise unwelcome to them, there was nothing 
 in their demeanour to suggest the fact. They 
 expressed no surprise whatever, and only a placid, 
 
 82 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 well-bred self-congratulation that absence had not 
 deprived them of the pleasure of his company at 
 dinner, as they had feared that it might. Then 
 one of them added : 
 
 " It is unfortunate that Agatha is to dine at 
 The Forest to-day, with our cousins, the Misses 
 Blair. By the way," tinkling a bell, " it is time 
 to order the carriage, and for you to change your 
 gown, Agatha, dear." 
 
 Baillie Pegram happened to catch sight of the 
 young girl's face as these words were spoken, 
 and he read there enough of surprise to convince 
 him that if it had been previously arranged for 
 her to drive to The Forest for dinner, she at 
 least had heard nothing of the matter until now. 
 But whether the surprise reflected in her face 
 was one of pleasure or the reverse, she gave him 
 no chance to guess. She merely glanced at the 
 tall and slowly ticking clock, and said : 
 
 " I'll go at once, auntie. I did not know it was 
 so late. Excuse the abruptness of my leave- 
 taking, Mr. Pegram, and let me say good-bye, 
 for I leave for Willoughby to-morrow morning." 
 
 It was all an admirable bit of acting the 
 more admirable, Baillie thought, for the reason 
 
 83 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 that the scene had been suddenly extemporised 
 and not rehearsed for he was satisfied that 
 Agatha at least had been completely surprised 
 by the announcement that she was to dine at The 
 Forest that day. 
 
 Unfortunately the acting was destined to be 
 wasted, for almost immediately after Agatha's 
 departure for her chamber, a carriage drove up, 
 and Baillie gallantly assisted Miss Blair herself 
 to alight from it. She greeted her cousins of 
 The Oaks effusively in the ceaseless speech with 
 which it was her practice to meet and greet her 
 friends. 
 
 " Isn't it good of me, Cousin Sarah and Cousin 
 Jane? I had a positive headache to-day, but I 
 was determined to drive over and dine with you, 
 so as to bid Agatha good-bye. Where is the dear 
 child? You see we heard only this morning that 
 she had changed her plans and was going to leave 
 us to-morrow. So I just had to come and 
 dine " and so forth, through a speech that 
 fortunately gave The Oaks ladies time a-plenty 
 in which to collect their wits and avoid all appear- 
 ance of discomfiture. 
 
 " You are always so good and thoughtful," 
 
 8 4 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 said Miss Sarah, as soon as Miss Blair left a 
 little hole in her conversation. " We knew you'd 
 want to see Agatha before she left, and we were 
 just planning to send her to you for dinner. In 
 fact she's gone up to dress. But this is so much 
 better, particularly as we have Mr. Baillie Pegram 
 with us, too. This is his regular day, you know, 
 and he is always so mindful of his engagements. 
 We had feared we should miss seeing him to-day, 
 as he was away in Richmond; but he got home 
 in time, and he never fails us when within reach. 
 He has an admirable habit of punctuality which 
 the other young men of our rather lax time might 
 emulate with advantage." 
 
 Here was Baillie Pegram's opportunity, but he 
 missed it. If he had possessed one-half or one- 
 tenth the tact that Agatha had shown fifteen min- 
 utes before, he would have protested that, much 
 to his regret, he could not remain to dinner that 
 day, as he had a guest of his own at Warlock, 
 and had ridden over only to make his apologies 
 and express his regret. But Baillie Pegram, not 
 being a woman, did not think of the right thing 
 to say until it was one full minute too late, where- 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 fore, of course, it would not do for him to say 
 it at all. 
 
 What a, pity it is that men can't be women 
 sometimes! Just for lack of that tact which 
 is instinctive in a woman, the master of Warlock 
 was doomed to dine that day under a sense of 
 intrusion on his part, which certainly did not 
 contribute to his enjoyment of the dinner or the 
 company. But he had only himself to blame, and, 
 like the resolute fellow that he was, he deter- 
 mined to bear the consequences of his blundering 
 stupidity with the best grace he could. He pro- 
 fessed the keenest delight in the unexpected pleas- 
 ure of having Miss Blair for his fellow guest, 
 adding, with an obeisance to The Oaks ladies, 
 " Though of course one needs no other company 
 than that of our hostesses themselves, to make 
 the day of a dinner at The Oaks altogether 
 delightful." 
 
 Obviously the young man was improving in 
 tactfulness under the stimulus of circumstances. 
 
 When dinner was served half an hour later, he 
 gave his arm to Miss Sarah, and entered the 
 stately but gloomy old dining-room, with its high- 
 backed, carved mahogany chairs, its stained-glass 
 
 86 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 cathedral windows, and its general atmosphere of 
 solemnity and depression, with such grace as a 
 resolute spirit could command. He managed to 
 taste the dishes as they were served, and to carve 
 without a mishap of any kind, but in the matter 
 of conversation he was certainly not brilliant, 
 though he had the approaching war for his theme. 
 
 After the old English custom which survived in 
 Virginia, the wine a rich old Madeira was 
 not served until the dessert was removed. Then 
 it came on with the cigars. The ladies sipped a 
 single glass each, and rose, whereupon the young 
 man gallantly held open the great door, bowing 
 as the womankind took their departure. 
 
 When they had gone, there being no gentleman 
 present except himself, young Pegram was left 
 alone with the wine, the cigars, a single wax 
 candle for cigar-lighting purposes, and Henry. 
 Henry was the perfectly trained butler of the 
 establishment, a butler taught from childhood, 
 by his late master, to comport himself always with 
 the dignity of a diplomat who has dined. He 
 stood bolt upright behind the young man's chair, 
 eager to anticipate every want, and anticipating 
 them all without a false movement or any sugges- 
 
 87 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 tion of hurry. Henry had presided as butler 
 in his late master's establishment when that 
 master kept " open house " as a distinguished 
 senator in Washington, and it was the serving- 
 man's boast that he " knew what a gentleman 
 wants and when he wants it." 
 
 But Henry's very propriety became irksome 
 to Baillie Pegram presently. It reminded him 
 of his own lack of any ease except a forcibly 
 assumed one. " Henry feels himself in his proper 
 place," the young man reflected. " I do not." 
 
 It was not the young man's habit to take more 
 than a glass or two of wine after dinner, and 
 on this occasion he had no relish even for that 
 small allowance. Yet he sat with it for a suffi- 
 cient time to show proper respect for the hospi- 
 tality of the house. He held his glass up between 
 him and the stained-glass windows, and went 
 through all the motions of watching the play 
 of colours through the amber liquid, quite as if 
 his relish for it had been that of a confirmed 
 bon vivant. Finally he lighted a fresh cigar, and 
 said to Henry : " It is quite warm. I think I'll 
 finish my cigar out among the shrubbery. Please 
 
 88 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 say to the ladies that I'll join them within half 
 an hour." 
 
 He was not destined, however, to fulfil this 
 promise. For, as he passed out into the shrub- 
 bery, he encountered Miss Agatha by an accident 
 which that young lady had in all probability 
 arranged with the utmost care, as women do 
 sometimes. She very much wanted speech with 
 Baillie. 
 
 " I want to thank you, Mr. Pegram," she said, 
 eagerly, " for not making a scene. It was very 
 hard on you the situation, I mean and you 
 have spared me at every point. Perhaps you had 
 better take your leave now as quickly as you can." 
 
 But the young man's courage had completely 
 come back to him, with something of the dare- 
 devil spirit added to it : as the soldier beset, some- 
 times comes to relish danger for its own sake, 
 and deliberately invites more of it, so Baillie 
 Pegram, knowing perfectly that he had com- 
 pletely outraged the proprieties, as The Oaks 
 ladies interpreted them, was minded to outrage 
 them still further. Having braved the situation 
 to this point, he was determined to brave it out 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 to the end whatever the end might be. So 
 to the girl's suggestion, he answered: 
 
 " But the day is not over yet, and the piazzas 
 of The Oaks fortunately include one with a 
 western aspect. Let us sit there and enjoy the 
 sunset. We'll join the ladies later." 
 
 The girl consented, willingly enough. She 
 was already in revolt, for one thing, and she 
 knew that her aunts would not venture again to 
 censure her severely, after what had happened. 
 
 " But you must not misunderstand me, Mr. 
 Pegram," she said, as the two seated themselves 
 in the great oaken chairs fabricated on the planta- 
 tion during colonial times. " I have declared my 
 independence so far as to insist upon my right 
 to treat you with courtesy upon occasion. But 
 you must not suppose that I have forgotten the 
 gulf that lies between us, and especially you must 
 not interpret my attitude to mean that I am 
 disloyal to the memory of my poor father." 
 
 " I quite understand," he answered, medita- 
 tively and sadly. " You and I are privileged, by 
 your good pleasure, to treat each other with 
 formal courtesy, but I must not in any way pre- 
 sume upon that privilege beyond its intention." 
 
 90 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 The girl sat silent, looking wistfully out into 
 the glow that had followed the sunset. Finally 
 she said : 
 
 " I suppose that is it. It is a hard situation 
 to deal with for me." 
 
 " And for me," the youth replied. 
 
 " Yes, for you, too, I suppose. But neither of 
 us is responsible. We must recognise conditions 
 and do the best we can." 
 
 " I quite understand. You give me leave here- 
 after to behave like a gentleman toward you, 
 whenever circumstances shall happen to force any 
 sort of intercourse upon us; but beyond that 
 you remind me that there is war between your 
 house and mine, and between me and thee. It is 
 not a treaty of peace that you offer, or even a pro- 
 tocol looking to peace; it is only an amenity of 
 war, like a cartel for the exchange of prisoners, 
 or a temporary truce, for the burial of the dead 
 who have fallen between the lines." 
 
 This statement of the case did not at all satisfy 
 the bewildered girl's mind, but there was no 
 opportunity to correct it, for at that moment a 
 maid came with a formally polite message to the 
 effect that if Mr. Pegram and Miss Ronald had 
 
 9 1 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 quite finished their conversation in the porch, the 
 Misses Ronald and Miss Blair were waiting to 
 receive them in the library. 
 
 "After all," Agatha thought, afterward, "I 
 do not know that I could have bettered his defini- 
 tion of the situation. But it isn't one that I 
 like." 
 
 All skies seemed serene as the two miscreants 
 entered the library, Baillie making all that was 
 necessary of apology by saying: 
 
 " Pardon us, good ladies, I pray you. We have 
 lingered too long in the porch, but you will gra- 
 ciously attribute our fault to the unusual beauty 
 of the sunset. Sunsets mean so much, you know. 
 They suggest the end of pleasant things and the 
 coming of a darkness to which we do not know 
 the dawn. I cannot help thinking that the sunset 
 that Miss Ronald and I have been witnessing is 
 typical. Our beautiful Virginia life is at its 
 sunset. A night-time of war and suffering is 
 approaching, and we cannot know of the day that 
 must follow." 
 
 At this point Miss Blair relieved the situation 
 by giving the conversation a thoroughly practical 
 and commonplace turn. 
 
 92 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " Why, Mr. Pegram," she exclaimed, " you 
 surely do not doubt the outcome of the war? 
 You confidently expect the triumph of our right- 
 eous cause? " 
 
 " Well, I hope for it. But the size and the 
 number of the guns will have something to do 
 with the result, and our enemies can put four 
 or five men and four or five guns to our one in 
 the field. It is a dark night that must follow our 
 sunset. We can only do our best, and leave the 
 result to God. Ladies, I bid you good night, and 
 good-bye; for I fear I shall see none of you 
 again soon. I shall be off soldiering almost at 
 
 once." 
 
 93 
 
VI 
 
 NEXT MORNING 
 
 IF Baillie Pegram imagined that by his parting 
 words he had silenced the batteries of The 
 Oaks ladies, he totally misjudged his enemy. 
 For in spite of his intimation of intent not to 
 dine at The Oaks again, there came to him at 
 breakfast the next morning a little note in which 
 the good ladies calmly reasserted their privilege 
 of deciding such matters for themselves quite 
 irrespective of the wishes or purposes of young 
 persons of whatever sex or degree. 
 
 " The Misses Ronald present their respectful 
 compliments to Mr. Baillie Pegram," the note ran, 
 " and beg to say that in view of the terribly dis- 
 turbed condition of the times, it is their purpose 
 presently to close The Oaks for a season, so far at 
 least as the entertainment of guests is concerned. 
 They may perhaps go upon a journey. As to that, 
 
 94 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 their plans are as yet unformed, but at any rate it 
 is their purpose not to entertain again for the pres- 
 ent, except by special invitation to their nearest 
 intimates. They feel it incumbent upon them 
 to give timely notice of this alteration in the 
 customs of their house to those valued friends 
 who, like Mr. Pegram, have been accustomed to 
 dine at The Oaks at stated intervals. 
 
 " With sincere good wishes for Mr. Pegram's 
 safety and good fortune in that soldierly career 
 to which he feels himself summoned by the cir- 
 cumstances of the time, and in full confidence that 
 he is destined to win for himself the laurels that 
 befit one of his distinguished ancestry, The Oaks 
 ladies remain, 
 
 " Most respectfully, 
 
 " SARAH RONALD, 
 " JANE RONALD." 
 
 Having read the joint note, Baillie passed it 
 to his friend at the other end of the breakfast- 
 table, saying : " Read that, old fellow, and see 
 what has come of following your madcap advice." 
 
 Pollard carefully read the letter through, and 
 then asked: 
 
 95 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 "Well, what of it?" 
 
 " Why, don't you see, by going to The Oaks 
 yesterday - as you advised, I've managed to get 
 myself forbidden the house." 
 
 " Well, what of that? I don't understand that 
 you have any passionate desire to dine with the 
 estimable old ladies every month, and I think 
 you told me last night, when I was trying to get 
 a nap, that Miss Agatha is leaving this morning." 
 
 " Yes, of course. But can't you understand 
 that it's a disagreeable and humiliating thing thus 
 to be forbidden the house, just as if I were guilty 
 of some misconduct " 
 
 " O, yes, I understand perfectly. It is exceed- 
 ingly inconvenient to find yourself at odds with the 
 elderly female relatives of a young gentlewoman 
 to whom you would very much like to pay your 
 addresses. But in this case, I do not see that it 
 complicates matters very much, as you told me 
 yourself yesterday that the case is hopeless 
 that there is already an impassable barrier between 
 yourself and Miss Agatha Ronald, so what differ- 
 ence does it make ? When you've a ten-rail staked 
 and ridered fence in front of you, a rail more 
 or less doesn't signify much. I'll tell you, Baillie, 
 
 9 6 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 you must do as I've done. In view of the chances 
 of war, which are apt to worry one who thinks 
 much about them, I have decided to accept and 
 believe the fatalistic philosophy, which teaches 
 that what is to be will be, even if it never hap- 
 pens." 
 
 Pegram sat silent for a while before answering. 
 Then he said : 
 
 " Be serious for a little if you can, Pollard, 
 I want to talk with you. You were right after 
 all in what you said to me yesterday, though at 
 the time I regarded it as unutterable nonsense. It 
 seems absurd, under the circumstances, but the 
 fact is that well, that Agatha Ronald has some- 
 how come to mean more to me than any other 
 woman ever did or ever will. Perhaps I shouldn't 
 have found out the fact for a long time to come, 
 if it hadn't been for what you said to me yester- 
 day. But I've found it out now, and I know all 
 that it means to me. It means that I've made a 
 fool of myself, and I must set to work to repair 
 the mistake. Fortunately, the way is open, and 
 that is what I want to say to you. I'm going 
 to leave you to-day. I'm going to Richmond to 
 volunteer in one of the batteries there that are 
 
 97 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 already organised, armed, and equipped, and 
 nearly ready for the field. They'll be the first 
 sent to the front, and I intend to put myself at 
 the front just as speedily as I can." 
 
 " But why not do better than that for your- 
 self?" asked Pollard. 
 
 " What better is there that I can do? " 
 
 " Why not raise a battery of your own, and 
 command it? You know Governor Letcher, and 
 you have influence in plenty. You can have a 
 captain's commission for the asking." 
 
 " I suppose I might. But I am strongly im- 
 pressed with the fact that there are altogether 
 too many men in like predicament too many 
 men whose position and influence entitle them to 
 expect commissions while, like me, they know 
 nothing whatever of the military art. We need 
 some privates in this war, and fortunately a good 
 many of us are willing to serve as such. I am, 
 for one. The number of gentlemen in Virginia 
 whose position is as good as my own is quite 
 great enough to officer any army in Europe, and 
 our ignorance of military affairs is great enough 
 to wreck the best army that was ever organised. 
 I'll not add mine to the list. I'll go in as a pri- 
 
 9 8 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 vate soldier. If I am ever fit to command, it will 
 be time enough then for me to ask for a commis- 
 sion. I'm going to volunteer in the ranks." 
 
 " So am I," answered Pollard. 
 
 "What? You? When?" 
 
 " Yes. Me. Yesterday." 
 
 " Well, go on. Don't be provoking. Tell me 
 all about it. When did you do it, and how, and 
 why? For a generally agreeable young man, I 
 must say, Marshall, you can make of yourself 
 about as disagreeable a person as I ever encoun- 
 tered. Come! Tell me!" 
 
 Pollard smiled and meditated, as if planning 
 the order of his utterance. At last he said : 
 
 " There isn't much to tell, and I don't know 
 just where to begin. But after well, after you 
 rode away to The Oaks yesterday, I got to think- 
 ing and wondering what I should do with myself 
 now that your companionship was lost to me. 
 There is nobody about for me to fall in love 
 with, and after all, there is a limit to the enter- 
 tainment to be got out of old T. Gordon and 
 his Tacitus. You see, girls never behave properly 
 toward me. There isn't one of them in ten 
 counties who would ever think of breaking her 
 
 99 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 horse's leg in a bridge just in time to let me 
 come to her rescue. Besides, I should probably 
 be on foqt, with no mare to lend the distressed 
 damsel, and, altogether, you see " 
 
 " Will you stop your nonsense, or will you 
 not?" asked Baillie, with impatience. "Tell me 
 what you did." 
 
 " Well, I got Sam to bring me the least ob- 
 jectionable of your abominably jolting saddle- 
 horses the bay with three white feet and a 
 blaze on the face and I managed to keep a 
 little breath in my body while riding over to the 
 Court-house. It was my purpose to go to Rich- 
 mond, and I asked the old ticket agent to send 
 me, but he obstinately refused. He said there 
 were only two trains a day, one at noon and one 
 at midnight. I remonstrated with him, but it 
 was of no use. I explained to him that the raison 
 d'etre of a railroad I translated the French to 
 him was to carry people to whatever place they 
 wished to go to, and at such hours as might suit 
 their convenience. I told him it was an abom- 
 inable outrage that with a railroad lying there 
 unused, he would not send a gentleman to Rich- 
 mond without making him wait for eight or ten 
 100 
 
The Master of; A^a T 1 o c k, 
 
 hours for the convenience -of ,-peOplei >Whpft? |h$ 
 knew nothing about. He looked at me rather 
 curiously when I urged that consideration upon 
 him. I think it rather staggered him, but he 
 persisted in his obstinate refusal to send me to 
 Richmond without further delay. He even sug- 
 gested that I might go somewhere else, but I 
 interpreted that as meaningless profanity, and 
 gently explained to him that I did not wish to 
 go to the place he had mentioned. Then he told 
 me he had no train, and I asked him why he 
 suffered himself to have no train, when a gentle- 
 man wanted one and was willing to pay for it." 
 
 " Will you stop your nonsense, and tell me what 
 happened ? " interrupted Baillie. 
 
 Pollard smiled, and continued : 
 
 " Now, that question of yours reassures me 
 as to the sanity of the station agent. It is closely 
 similar to the question he asked, only, by reason 
 of his lack of cultivation, he interrupted the even 
 and orderly flow of his English with many ob- 
 jurgative and even violent terms,, such as we do 
 not employ in ordinary converse, but such as 
 stablemen and innkeepers seem to like to use. 
 
 " Despairing of my efforts to secure reasonable 
 
 101 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 public: service at the hands of the railroad, I 
 looked about me, and presently encountered Cap- 
 tain Skinner. You know him, of course lives 
 at the Kennels, or some such place keeps a lot 
 of dogs, and drinks a good deal more whiskey 
 than would be good for most men. But he is 
 a West Pointer, you know, and served for a 
 considerable time in the Indian wars. He was 
 at Chapultepec, too, I think. At any rate, he 
 mentioned the fact in connection with his missing 
 arm. He told me he was going to raise a bat- 
 tery in the purlieus of Richmond. He said he 
 didn't want a company of young bloods, but one 
 of soldiers. He proposes to enlist wharf-rats 
 down at Rockett's, and ruffians, and especially 
 jailbirds. ' There are more than a hundred as 
 good men as ever smelt gunpowder or stopped 
 a bullet in its career,' he said, ' now languishing 
 in the Richmond jails and the Virginia State 
 Penitentiary. Governor Letcher promises me that 
 he will pardon all of them who choose to enlist 
 with me, and I'm going to look them over. Those 
 that are fit to make soldiers of, I'll enlist, and 
 after a week or two of drilling I'll have a battery 
 ready for the field/ 
 IO2 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " His idea pleased me, so I told him to put me 
 down as the first man on his list. He objected at 
 first. You see, I've had no experience as a ruffian, 
 and I never served a term in jail in my life, but 
 I convinced him that I would make a good cannon- 
 ier, and he enrolled me. I am to report to him at 
 Rockett's by the day after to-morrow." 
 
 To Baillie's remonstrances and pleadings that 
 his friend should choose a company of gentlemen 
 in which to serve, Marshall turned a deaf ear. 
 
 " When I become a soldier," he said, " and put 
 myself under another man's command, I want 
 that other man to be one who knows something 
 about the business. Captain Skinner knows what 
 to do with a gun and a gunner, and I've a pretty 
 well-defined notion that most of our coming cap- 
 tains have all that yet to learn, and besides well, 
 I've given you reasons enough." 
 
 " Besides what, Marshall ? What were you 
 going to say? " 
 
 " O, nothing that you would understand or 
 sympathise with. It's only that somehow I don't 
 want to be in a company of gentlemen turned 
 soldiers, where I should be sure to meet our kind 
 of people on terms of social equality now and 
 
 103 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 then. As a common soldier, I should find it 
 rather embarrassing at a military ball to have 
 a lady put -me on her dancing-list while scornfully 
 refusing a like favour perhaps to the officer who 
 must assign me to guard-duty next morning." 
 
 In thus answering, Marshall Pollard equivo- 
 cated somewhat. He made no mention of the 
 little jessamine and honeysuckle incident, but 
 perhaps there was something behind that which 
 helped to determine his course in choosing Cap- 
 tain Skinner's company for his own, thus placing 
 himself among men wholly without the pale of 
 that society in which sprigs of jessamine are 
 given and cherished, and now and then thrown 
 out of the window. At any rate, the young man 
 seemed disposed to change the course of the con- 
 versation. 
 
 " Now, Baillie," he said, " you've catechised 
 me quite enough for one morning. Tell me about 
 yourself. Why are you going off to Richmond 
 to enlist in one of the batteries there, instead of 
 joining your neighbours and friends here in or- 
 ganising one or other of the companies they are 
 forming? " 
 
 " For the simple reason that I want to be in 
 104 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 the middle of this mix as soon as possible. Those 
 Richmond batteries are already fit to take the 
 field, and they'll be hurling shells at the enemy 
 and dodging shells on their own account before 
 these companies here learn which way a ser- 
 geant's chevrons should point. I want to get 
 to the front among the first, that's all." 
 
 Sending for Sam, he bade that worthy pack a 
 small saddle valise for him with a few belongings, 
 and when, an hour later, the two friends were 
 ready for their departure, Sam presented himself, 
 clad in his best, and carrying a multitudinous col- 
 lection of skillets, kettles, and frying-pans, with 
 other and less soldierly belongings. When asked 
 by his master, " What does this mean ? " Sam 
 answered, in seeming astonishment at the ques- 
 tion: 
 
 " Why, Mas' Baillie, you'se a-gwine to de wah, 
 an' of co'se Sam's a-gwine along to take k'yar o' 
 you." 
 
 " Of course Sam is going to do no such thing," 
 answered the young man. " Go and put away 
 your pots and pans." 
 
 " But, Mas' Baillie/' remonstrated the negro 
 boy, in a nearly tearful voice, " who's a-gwine 
 
 105 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 to take k'yar o' you ef Sam ain't thar? Whose 
 a-gwine to clean yer boots, an' bresh yer clo'se, 
 an' cook yer victuals, an' all that? " 
 
 The master was touched by the boy's devotion, 
 though he justly suspected that a yearning for 
 adventure had quite as much to do with Sam's 
 wish to " go to de wah," as his desire to be of 
 service to a kindly master. 
 
 " But, Sam," he said, " a common soldier 
 doesn't carry his personal servant with him. If 
 we did that, there wouldn't be enough ' 
 
 " A common soldier ! " Sam broke in, exer- 
 cising that privilege of interrupting his master's 
 speech which the personal servants of Virginians 
 always claimed for their own. " A common sol- 
 dier! Who says Mas' Baillie'll be a common 
 soldier? De mastah of Warlock ain't a common 
 nuffin'. He's a Pegram, he is, an' de Pegrams 
 ain't never been common yit, an' dey ain't 
 a-gwine to be." 
 
 " But, Sam," argued his master, " you see 
 we're all going to war. We can't carry our 
 servants with us any more than we can carry 
 our feather beds or our foot-tubs. We must do 
 things for ourselves, now." 
 1 06 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 'But who's a-gwine to cook your victuals, 
 Mas' Baillie?" 
 
 " I reckon I'll have to do that for myself," 
 answered the master. 
 
 " What? You? Mas' Baillie Pegram a-gittin' 
 down on his knees in de mud an' a-smuttin' up of 
 his han's an' his face, an' a-wrastlin' with pots 
 an' kittles? Well, I'd jes' like to see you a-doin' 
 of that!" 
 
 Baillie was disposed to amuse himself with the 
 boy; so he said: 
 
 " But your mammy says you don't know how 
 to cook, Sam, and that you don't seem to know 
 how to learn." 
 
 This staggered Sam for an instant, but he 
 promptly rose to the emergency. 
 
 " I kin 'splain all dat, Mas' Baillie. You see, 
 I'se done been a-foolin' o' mammy. Mammy, 
 she's de head cook at Warlock; she's a-gittin' 
 old, an' de rheumatiz an' de laziness is a-gittin' 
 into her bones. So she's done tried to make Sam 
 take things offen her shoulders. But I'se done 
 see de situation. I'se watched mammy so long 
 dat I kin cook anything from a Brunswick stew 
 to an omelette sufferin', jes' as good as mammy 
 
 107 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 kin. But it 'ud never 'a' done to let her know 
 that, else she'd 'a' shouldered the whole thing 
 onter Sani. So when she done set me to watch 
 somethin' she's a-cookin' while she's busy with 
 somethin' else, I jes' had to let it spile some way, 
 in self-defence. Of co'se, I had to run out'n de 
 kitchen after that, a-dodgin' o' de pots an' kittles 
 mammy throwed at my head an' sometimes I 
 didn't dodge quick enough, either but de result 
 was de same. Mammy was sure I couldn't cook, 
 an' dat's what she done tole you, Mas' Baillie. 
 But I kin cook, sho'. An' please, Mas' Baillie, 
 you'll let me go 'long wid you ? " 
 
 The time was growing short now, and Baillie 
 sent the boy away, saying : 
 
 " If I ever get to be an officer, Sam, and am 
 allowed a servant, I'll send for you. But you'd 
 better learn all you can about cooking while we're 
 waiting for that." 
 
 Sam was disconsolate. He went to the de- 
 tached kitchen building for no Virginian ever 
 suffered cooking to be carried on within fifty feet 
 of his dwelling and sat down and buried his 
 face in his hands and rocked himself backward 
 and forward, moaning dismally. 
 1 08 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 "I'd jes' like to know," he muttered to the 
 pickaninnies, standing by in their simple costume 
 of long shirts and nothing else, " I'd jes' like 
 to know what's a-gwine to become o' dis here 
 Warlock plantation an' dese here niggas, now 
 dat Mas' Baillie's done gone off to git hisself 
 killed in de wah. De chinch-bug is a-gwine to 
 eat de wheat dis summer sho'. De watermillions 
 is a-gwine to run all to vines. De 'bacca worms 
 an' de grasshoppas is a-gwine to chew up all 
 de terbacca befo' men gits a chawnce at it. 
 De crows is a-gwine to pull up all de cawn an' 
 dey might as well, too, fer ef dey didn't, it 'ud 
 wither in de rows. Don't yer understan', you 
 stupid little niggas, you'se a-gwine to stawve 
 to death, you is, an' you better believe it. Mas' 
 Baillie's done gone to git hisself killed, I tells 
 you, an' you'se got a mighty short time till yer 
 stomicks gits empty an' shet up an' crampy like. 
 You'se a-gwine to stawve to death, sho', an' it'll 
 hurt wus'n as ef you'd a-swallered a quart o' 
 black cherries 'thout swallerin' none o' de seeds 
 fer safety." 
 
 By this time all the young negroes were wail- 
 ing bitterly, and they would not be comforted 
 
 109 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 until Sam's mammy set out a kettle of pot-liquor, 
 and gave them pones of ash-cake to crumble into 
 it. After that, Sam's prophecies of evil departed 
 from their inconstant minds. But Sam did not 
 recover so quickly. For days afterward he 
 moped in melancholy, occasionally stretching his 
 big eyes to their utmost while he solemnly de- 
 livered some dismal prophecy of evil to come. 
 
 110 
 
VII 
 
 A FAREWELL AT THE GATE 
 
 WHEN the two friends reached the outer 
 gates of Warlock plantation on their 
 way to the Court-house, Marshall, to 
 whose queer ways his friend was thoroughly well 
 used, called a halt. 
 
 " Let us dismount," he said, " and consider 
 what we are doing." 
 
 When they had seated themselves upon the 
 carpet of pine-needles, the meditative youth re- 
 sumed : 
 
 " Does it occur to you, Baillie," he asked, " that 
 when you and I pass through yonder gate, we 
 shall leave behind us for ever the most enjoyable 
 life that it ever fell to the lot of human beings 
 to lead ? Do you realise that we may never 
 either of us come back through that gate again, 
 and that if we do, it will only be to find all things 
 changed ? We are at the end of a chapter. The 
 next chapter will be by no means like unto it." 
 
 Ill 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " I confess I don't quite understand," answered 
 the less meditative one. 
 
 " Well, ' this easy-going, delightful Virginian 
 life of ours has no counterpart anywhere on this 
 continent or elsewhere in the world, and we have 
 decided to put an end to it. For this war is going 
 to be a very serious thing to us Virginians. Vir- 
 ginia is destined to be the battle-field. Greater 
 armies than have ever before been dreamed of 
 on this continent are going to trample over her 
 fields, and meet in dreadful conflict on the mar- 
 gins of her watercourses. Her homes are going 
 to be desolated, her fields laid waste, her sub- 
 stance utterly exhausted, and her people reduced 
 to poverty in a cause that is not her own, and in 
 behalf of which she unselfishly risks all for the 
 sake of an abstraction, and in defence of a right 
 on the part of other States which Virginia her- 
 self had seen no occasion to assert in her own 
 defence. Whatever else happens in this war, all 
 that is characteristic in Virginian life, all that 
 is peculiar to it, all that lends loveliness to it, 
 must be sacrificed on the altar of duty. 
 
 " I don't at all know how the change is to come 
 about, or what new things are destined to replace 
 112 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 the old; but I see clearly that the old must give 
 way to something new. Perhaps, after all, that 
 is best. Ours has been a beautiful life, and a 
 peculiarly picturesque one, but it is not in tune 
 with this modern industrial world. It has its 
 roots in the past, and the past cannot endure. 
 We have thus far been able to go on living in 
 an ideal world, but the real world has been more 
 and more asserting itself, and even if no war 
 were coming on to upset things, things must 
 be upset. Railroads and telegraphs have come 
 to us rather in spite of our will than by 
 reason of it. We have realised their con- 
 venience in a fashion, but they are still foreign 
 and antagonistic to our ideas. The older gentle- 
 men among us still prefer to make long journeys 
 on horseback rather than go by rail, while very 
 many of them insist resolutely upon sending their 
 womankind always in private carriages, even 
 when they go long distances to the mountains for 
 the summer. 
 
 " We are living in the past and fighting off 
 the present, but the present will successfully assert 
 itself in the end. You have yourself rejected all 
 the overtures of the speculators who have wanted 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 to open coal mines on Warlock plantation, but 
 the time will come when you'll be glad to be made 
 richer than any Pegram ever dreamed of being 
 by the sinking of mine shafts among your lawn 
 trees. 
 
 " If you are lucky enough to survive this war, 
 you'll see a new labour system established, and 
 learn to regard the men who work for you, not 
 as your dependents, for whom you are responsible, 
 and for whose welfare you feel a sympathetic 
 concern, but as so many ' employees,' to be dealt 
 with through a trades union, and kept down to 
 the lowest scale of wages consistent with their 
 living and working. 
 
 " I am not advocating the new, or condemning 
 the old. I am only pointing out the fact that 
 the new is surely destined to triumph over the 
 old, and replace it. 
 
 " The negroes in Virginia are beyond question 
 the best paid, the best fed, the best housed, and 
 altogether the best cared for labouring popula- 
 tion on earth. They are secure in childhood and 
 in old age and in illness, as no other labouring 
 people on earth are. They are happy, and in 
 important ways they are even freer than any 
 
 114 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 other labouring class ever was. But they are 
 slaves, and modern thought insists that they would 
 be better off as free men, even though freedom 
 should bring to them a loss of happiness and a 
 loss of that well-nigh limitless liberty which they 
 enjoy as bondsmen, under care of kindly masters. 
 
 " Mind you, Baillie, I am not arguing for or 
 against the claims of modern thought. I am only 
 pointing out the fact that it is resistless, and will 
 have its way. All history teaches that. Even 
 chivalry, armed as it was from head to heel, 
 and limitlessly courageous as it was, could not 
 hold its own against commercialism, when com- 
 mercialism became dominant as the thought that 
 represented the aspirations of men. Not even 
 prejudice or sentiment can prevail against prog- 
 ress. 
 
 " John Ruskin is even now protesting in the 
 name of aesthetics against the scarring of England 
 with railroad embankments, and the pollution of 
 England's air with the vomitings of unsightly fac- 
 tory chimneys; but neither the extension of the 
 British railway system nor the multiplication of 
 British factories halts because of his protests. 
 
 " Henry Clay was never so eloquent as when 
 
 "5 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 pleading against protective tariffs as something 
 that threatened this country with a system like 
 that of Manchester, in which men were divided 
 into mill owners and mill operatives, with an- 
 tagonistic interests; yet Henry Clay was forced 
 by the conditions of his time to become the apostle 
 of industrial protection by tariff legislation. 
 
 " My thesis is that no man and no people can 
 for long stand in the way of what the Ger- 
 mans call the Zeitgeist the spirit of the age. 
 Neither, I think, can any people stand apart from 
 that spirit and let it pass them by. That is what 
 we Virginians have been trying to do. The time 
 has come when we are going out to fight the 
 Zeitgeist, and the Zeitgeist is going to conquer us." 
 
 " You expect the South to fail in the war, 
 then ? " asked Baillie. 
 
 " I don't know. We may fail or we may win. 
 But in either case the old regime in the Old 
 Dominion will be at an end when the war is over. 
 Virginia will become a modern State, whatever 
 else happens, and the old life in which you and 
 I were brought up will become a thing of the 
 past, a matter of history, the memory of which 
 
 116 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 the novelists may love to recall, but the conditions 
 of which can never again be established. 
 
 " Fortunately, none of these things needs trou- 
 ble us. They make no difference whatever in our 
 personal duty. Virginia has proclaimed her with- 
 drawal from the Union, under the declared pur- 
 pose of the Union to make war upon her for 
 doing so. It is for us to fight in Virginia's 
 cause as manfully as we can, leaving God, or the 
 Fates, or whatever else it is that presides over 
 human affairs, to take care of the result. 
 
 " Come! The time is passing; we must hurry 
 in order to catch that train which represents the 
 modern progress that is destined to ride over us 
 and crush us. Good-bye, old Virginia life! God 
 bless you for a good old life! May we live as 
 worthily in the new, if we survive to see the 
 new!" 
 
 117 
 
VIII 
 
 A RED FEATHER 
 
 THE sun shone with the fervent heat of 
 noonday in mid-July, as the long line of 
 cannon and caissons came lumbering down 
 the incline of the roadway that leads from the 
 mountainside into the little railway village. The 
 breath of the guns was still offensively sulphurous, 
 for there had been no time in which to cleanse them 
 since their work of yesterday. The officers and 
 non-commissioned officers on their horses, and the 
 cannoniers who rode upon the ammunition-chests, 
 were powder-grimed and dusty for there had 
 been no opportunity on this hurried march for 
 those ablutions that all soldiers so eagerly delight 
 in. 
 
 There were no shouted commands given, for 
 this battery had been three times under fire, and 
 one of the first things an officer learns in real 
 war is not to shout his orders except when the 
 
 118 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 din of battle renders shouting necessary. Three 
 months ago on parade the captain of this battery 
 would have bellowed, " Forward into battery ! " 
 by way of impressing his importance upon the 
 lookers-on. Now that he had learned to be in 
 earnest, he merely turned to his bugler, and said, 
 as if in a parlour, " Forward into battery, then 
 halt." 
 
 A little musical snatch on the bugle did the 
 rest, and with the precision of a piece of mechan- 
 ism, the guns were moved into place, each with its 
 caissons at a fixed distance in the rear, and the 
 command, " At ease," was followed by a stable- 
 call, in obedience to which the drivers set to work 
 to feed and groom their horses. For while men 
 may be allowed to go grimed and dirty on cam- 
 paign, the horses at least must be curried and 
 rubbed and sponged into perfect health and com- 
 fort whenever there is opportunity. 
 
 Here at the little railway station were assem- 
 bled all the womankind from a dozen miles round 
 about. These had come to look upon the Army 
 of the Shenandoah, with which Johnston, after 
 several days of skirmishing in the valley with the 
 Federals under Patterson, was hurrying onward 
 
 119 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 to Manassas to join Beauregard there, in the 
 battle which was so obviously at hand. 
 
 The women of every degree had come, not 
 merely to see the spectacle of war, but to cheer the 
 soldiers with smiles and words of encouragement, 
 and still more to minister in what ways they 
 could to their needs. The maids and matrons 
 thus assembled were gaily clad, for war had not 
 yet robbed them of the wherewithal to deck 
 themselves as gaily as the lilies do. They were 
 full of high confidence and ardent hope, for war 
 had not yet brought to them, and for many 
 moons to come was not destined to bring to 
 them, the realisation that defeat and disaster are 
 sometimes a part of the bravest soldiers' fortune. 
 These women believed absolutely and unques- 
 tioningly in the righteousness of the Southern 
 cause, and they had not yet read the history of 
 Poland, and La Vendee, and the Huguenots with 
 discretion enough to doubt that victory always 
 in the end crowns the struggles of those who 
 stand for the right. 
 
 How much of disappointment and suffering 
 this curiously perverse reading of history has 
 wrought, to be sure! And how confidently, in 
 120 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 every case, the men and women on either side 
 of a war commend their cause to Heaven, in full 
 confidence that God, in his justice, cannot fail 
 to give victory to the right, and cannot fail to 
 understand that they are right and their enemies 
 hopelessly wrong. Probably every educated 
 woman among those who were assembled at the 
 little village on that twentieth day of July, 1861, 
 had read Motley's histories; every one of them 
 knew the story of Poland and of Ireland and of 
 La Vendee and the Camisards; but they still 
 believed that God and not the guns decides the 
 outcome of battles. 
 
 In one article of their faith at least they were 
 absolutely right. They believed in the courage, 
 the devotion, the unflinching prowess of the men 
 who had enlisted to fight for their cause. They 
 had come now, at the approach of a first great 
 battle, to bid these men Godspeed. Four years 
 later, when war had well-nigh worn out the 
 gallant Army of Northern Virginia, and when 
 the very hope of ultimate victory, over enormously 
 superior numbers and against incalculably superior 
 resources, was scarcely more than <m impulse of 
 faith-inspired insanity, these women of the South 
 
 121 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 were still present and helpful wherever their pres- 
 ence could cheer, and wherever their help was 
 needed. 
 
 To-day, they looked to the morrow for a 
 victory that should make an end of the war. 
 The victory came with a startling completeness 
 wholly unmatched in all the history of battles. 
 But the end did not come, and the war wore itself 
 out, through four long years of brilliant achieve- 
 ment, alternated with terrible disaster. At Peters- 
 burg these women did not look to the morrow 
 at all, but their courage was the same, their 
 cheer the same, their devotion the same. It was 
 still their chosen task to encourage the little rem- 
 nant of an army which still held the defensive 
 works with a line stretched out to attenuation. 
 To the very end and even after the end 
 these brave women faltered not nor failed. 
 
 When the war began, the women of the South 
 made a gala-day of every day when soldiers were 
 in sight. As the war neared its calamitous end, 
 all days were to them days of mourning and of 
 always willing self-sacrifice. 
 
 On that twentieth clay of July, 1861, the women 
 gathered together were full of high hope and 
 122 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 confidence. Some were perched upon goods 
 boxes, arranged to serve as seats. Some were 
 tripping about on foot, gliding hither and thither 
 in gladness, as girls do in a dance, simply be- 
 cause their nerves were tuned to a high pitch, 
 and their sympathetic feet refused to be still. 
 But for the most part they sat in their carriages, 
 with the tops thrown back in defiance of the 
 fervour of the sun. Defiance was in the air, 
 indeed, and the troops on their way to the battle- 
 field were not more resolute in their determina- 
 tion to do and to dare, than were the dames and 
 damsels there gathered together in their purpose 
 to disregard sunshine and circumstance, while 
 bestowing their smiles upon these men, their 
 heroes. 
 
 After the fashion of the time among volunteers 
 who were presently to become war-worn into 
 veterans, but who were never to be reduced to 
 the condition of hireling regulars, the men were 
 free, as soon as a halt was called, to move about 
 among the feminine throng, greeting their ac- 
 quaintances when they had any, and being cheerily 
 greeted by strangers, in utter disregard of those 
 conventions with which womanhood elsewhere 
 
 123 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 than in Virginia surrounds itself. There woman- 
 hood had always felt itself free, because it had 
 always felt itself under the protection of all there 
 was of manhood in the land. No woman in that 
 time and country was ever in danger of affront, 
 for the reason that no man dared affront her, lest 
 he encounter vengeance, swift, sure, and relent- 
 less, at the hands of the first other man who 
 might hear of the circumstance. No Virginian 
 girl of that time had her mind directed to evil 
 things by the suggestion of chaperonage; and no 
 Virginia gentleman was subjected to insulting im- 
 putation by the refusal of a woman's guardians to 
 entrust her protection against himself, as against 
 all others, to his chivalry. So far was the point 
 of honour pressed in such matters, that no man 
 was free even to make the most deferential pro- 
 posal of marriage to any woman while she was 
 actually or technically under his charge and pro- 
 tection. To do that, it was held, was to place 
 the woman in an embarrassing position, to subject 
 her to the necessity of accepting the offer on the 
 one hand, or of declining it while yet under obli- 
 gation to accept escort and protection at the hands 
 of the man making it. 
 
 124 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Under this rigid code of social intercourse, 
 which granted perfect freedom to all women, and 
 exacted scrupulous respect for such freedom at 
 the hands of all men, the intercourse between 
 gentlemen volunteers and the young women who 
 had come to visit them in camp was even less 
 restrained than that of a drawing-room, in which 
 all are guests of a common host, and all are 
 guaranteed, as it were, by that host's sponsor- 
 ship of invitation. 
 
 In all their dealings with the volunteers, the 
 women of Virginia brought common sense to 
 bear in a positively astonishing degree, reinforc- 
 ing it with abounding good-will and perfect con- 
 fidence in the manhood of men as their sufficient 
 shield against misinterpretation. And they were 
 entirely right in this. For " battle, murder, and 
 sudden death," would very certainly have been 
 the part of any man in those ranks who should 
 have failed in due respect to this generosity of 
 mind on the part of womanhood. The dignity 
 of womanhood was never so safe as when women 
 thus confidently left its guardianship to the in- 
 stinctive chivalry of men. 
 
 For a time after the halt, Baillie Pegram was 
 
 125 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 too busy to inquire whether or not any friends 
 of his own were among the throng. For some- 
 thing had happened to Baillie Pegram over there 
 in the Valley of the Shenandoah two or three 
 days before. The gun to whose detachment he 
 belonged as a cannonier had been detached and 
 sent to an exposed position on the Martinsburg 
 road. The sergeant in command of it had been 
 killed by a bullet, and the two corporals the 
 gunner and the chief of caisson had been car- 
 ried to the rear on litters, with bullets in their 
 bodies. There was absolutely nobody in com- 
 mand of the gun, but Baillie Pegram was serving 
 as number one at the piece that is to say, as 
 the cannonier handling the sponge and rammer. 
 Seeing the badly weakened gun-crew disposed to 
 falter for lack of anybody to command them, and 
 seeing, too, the necessity of continuing the fire, 
 Baillie assumed an authority which did not be- 
 long to him in any way. 
 
 " Stand to the gun, men! " he cried. " If any 
 man flunks till this job is done, I'll brain him 
 with my rammer-head, orders or no orders." 
 
 A moment later the faltering of number three 
 called upon him for the execution of his threat, 
 126 
 
< If any man funks P II brain him ' " 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 and he instantly did what he had said he would 
 do, felling the man to the grass, stunned for the 
 time by a quick blow with the iron-bound rammer- 
 head. Then he called upon number five to take 
 the recreant's place, and that gun continued its 
 work until the hot little action was over. 
 
 A slouchy-looking personage had been standing 
 by all the while. At the end of it all he demanded 
 Baillie Pegram's name and rank, and the name 
 of his battery. That evening Baillie Pegram's 
 captain sent for him, and said : 
 
 " I am going to make you my sergeant-major. 
 I have General Jackson's request to recognise 
 your good conduct under his eye to-day. Even 
 without his suggestion I should wish to have you 
 with me as my staff sergeant. I have kept that 
 post open until now, in order that I might choose 
 the best man for it." 
 
 It should be explained that the rank of ser- 
 geant-major is the very highest non-commissioned 
 rank known to military life. Ordinarily, the ser- 
 geant-major is a regimental non-commissioned 
 officer. But following the French system, the 
 Confederate regulations allowed every battery of 
 field-artillery a sergeant-major, if its captain so 
 
 127 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 desired. He outranked all other non-commis- 
 sioned officers, and usually exercised a lieutenant's 
 command in battle always if any commissioned 
 officer were absent or disabled., 
 
 Thus it came about that Sergeant-Major Baillie 
 Pegram was too busy on that morning to look 
 up acquaintances among the spectators gathered 
 there. He had orders to execute, and details of 
 many kinds to look after, including the making 
 out of that morning report which every company 
 in the service must daily render, and upon which 
 the commanding general must rely for informa- 
 tion as to the exact number of fighting men he 
 has available for duty. 
 
 Baillie had just completed this task, when some 
 one brought him news that a lady in a carriage 
 near by wished to speak with him. Having noth- 
 ing now to do, he responded to the call, and found 
 Agatha Ronald awaiting him. She sat in her 
 carriage alone. In her lap was a work-basket, 
 fully equipped for that mending which these 
 women always came prepared to do when soldiers 
 were passing by. Baillie had no mending to be 
 done, but Agatha bade him remove his jacket 
 and deliver it into her charge. 
 
 128 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " We've heard what happened in the Valley 
 the other day," she said, " and it is not seemly 
 for a sergeant-major to be on duty without the 
 insignia of his rank. Red is the artillery colour, 
 I believe, and your marks are three chevrons, 
 with three arches connecting them, are they not? 
 Fortunately, I brought a roll of red braid. So 
 let me have your coat, please, and I'll readjust 
 your costume to your rank." 
 
 Agatha spoke glibly, but it was under manifest 
 constraint. She forced and feigned a lightness 
 of mood which she did not feel, and her manner 
 deceived Baillie Pegram completely, as it was 
 meant to do. 
 
 " What a fool I am," he thought, " to expect 
 anything else. She was embarrassed when I 
 last saw her, and worried, but that was all on 
 account of her aunts. She is her own mistress 
 to-day, and well, it is better so. There'll be 
 a fight to-morrow, and that's fortunate." 
 
 At that point the girl interrupted his medita- 
 tions by saying, in her assumed tone of lightness, 
 which he so greatly misinterpreted : 
 
 " I know there is war between your house and 
 mine, but I'm going to give aid and comfort to 
 
 129 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 the enemy, if it comforts you to have your 
 chevrons properly sewed on." 
 
 " There can surely be no war between me and 
 thee," he answered, with earnestness in his tone. 
 " At any rate, I do not make war upon a woman, 
 and least of all " 
 
 " You must not misunderstand, Mr. Pegram," 
 the girl broke in, looking at him earnestly out 
 of her great brown eyes. " I esteem you highly, 
 and I am sorry there is trouble between your 
 house and mine. But I am not disloyal to the 
 memory of my father. You must never think 
 that. It is only that you are a gentleman who 
 has been kind to me, and a soldier whom I honour. 
 But the war endures between your house and 
 mine." 
 
 Had she slapped him in the face with her open 
 palm, she could not have hurt his pride more 
 deeply. He snatched his jacket from her hand. 
 Only one sleeve was finished, and the needle 
 still hung from it by a thread. 
 
 " I'll wear it so," he said. " I, at any rate, 
 have no house. I am the last of my race, and 
 let me say to you now for I shall never see 
 
 130 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 you again of my own free will that the war 
 between our houses will completely end when I 
 receive my discharge from life." 
 
 Then a new thought struck him. 
 
 " It is not for Baillie Pegram, the master of 
 Warlock, that you have done this," touching the 
 braided sleeve, " but for Baillie Pegram, the sol- 
 dier on his way to battle. Let it be so." 
 
 Stung by his own words, and controlled by 
 an impulse akin to that which had seized him 
 at the gun two days before, he reached out and 
 plucked from her headgear the red feather that 
 she wore there, saying : 
 
 " Here ! fasten that in my hat. I've a mind to 
 wear it in battle to-morrow. Then I'll send it 
 back to you." 
 
 What demon of the perverse had prompted him 
 to this action, he did not know, but the girl in 
 her turn seemed subject to its will. Instead of 
 resenting what he had done, she took the feather 
 and with some quickly plied stitches fastened it 
 securely to his already soiled and worn slouch 
 hat. Then handing it back to him, she said : 
 
 " Good-bye. God grant that when the feather 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 comes back to me, it be not stained to a deeper 
 red than now." 
 
 At that moment the bugle blew. Baillie touched 
 his hat, bowed low, and said : 
 
 " At least you are a courteous enemy." 
 
 " And a generous one ? " she asked. 
 
 But he did not answer the implied question. 
 
 When he had gone, Agatha bent low over her 
 work-basket, as if in search of something that 
 she could not find. If two little tear-drops slipped 
 from between her eyelids, nobody caught sight 
 of them. 
 
 Presently another bugle blew, and as Baillie 
 Pegram's battery took up the march, the guns 
 and men of Captain Skinner took its place. But 
 this time there was no mingling of the men with 
 the spectators. Captain Skinner was too rigid 
 a disciplinarian to permit that, and he knew his 
 ruffians too well. The moment the battery halted, 
 the sergeant of the guard posted his sentries, and 
 the men remained within the battery lines. 
 
 Seeing this, Agatha tripped from her carriage, 
 and, work-basket in hand, started to enter the bat- 
 tery. She was instantly halted by a sentry, whose 
 132 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 appearance did not tempt her to dispute his au- 
 thority. She therefore simply said to him, " Call 
 your sergeant of the guard, please." To the 
 sergeant, when he came, she said, " Will you 
 please report to Captain Skinner that Miss Agatha 
 Ronald, of vVilloughby, asks leave to enter the 
 battery lines, in order to do such mending for the 
 men as may J*e needed ? " 
 
 But it was not necessary for the sergeant to 
 deliver his message, for Captain Skinner, way- 
 worn and dusty, at that moment presented him- 
 self, and greeted the visitor. 
 
 " It is very gracious of you," he said, " but, 
 my dear young lady, my men do not belong to 
 that class with which alone you are acquainted. 
 You had better not visit my camp." 
 
 " Your men are soldiers, sir," she said, " and 
 their needs may be quite as -great as those of any 
 others. We are not living in drawing-rooms just 
 now. I crave your permission to enter the 
 battery." 
 
 The captain touched his hat again, signed to 
 the sentry to let the young woman pass, and then, 
 turning to the sergeant of the guard, said : 
 
 133 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " Post ten extra sentinels among the guns, 
 with orders to arrest instantly any man who 
 utters an oath or in any other way offends this 
 young lady's ears. See to it yourself that this 
 order is obeyed to the letter." 
 
 134 
 
IX 
 
 THE BIRTH OF WOMANHOOD 
 
 THE captain's stern commands were not 
 needed, and the extra sentinels had no 
 work to do in restraining the men from of- 
 fensive speech and conduct. They courteously 
 saluted as Agatha passed them by, and when they 
 learned what her kindly mission was, they hur- 
 riedly brought armfuls of saddle-blankets and ar- 
 ranged them as a cushion for her on the top of a 
 limber-chest. Perched up there, she called for 
 their torn garments, and nimbly plied her needle 
 and her scissors for the space of half an hour be- 
 fore observing the sentry who had been posted 
 nearest to her. His slouch hat, indeed, was drawn 
 down over his eyes in such fashion that but little of 
 his face could be seen. But looking up at last 
 in search of further work to do, she recognised the 
 form of Marshall Pollard. Instantly a deep flush 
 overspread her face, and, dismounting from the 
 
 135 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 limber-chest, she approached and addressed him. 
 He presented arms and said to her in French, so 
 that those about them might not understand : 
 
 " Pardon me, mademoiselle, but it is forbidden 
 to speak to a sentinel on duty." With that he 
 recovered arms and resumed the monotonous 
 pacing of his beat. 
 
 As the girl hurried out of the battery, flushed 
 and agitated, she again encountered Captain 
 Skinner. 
 
 " Has anybody been rude to you, Miss Ron- 
 ald? " he asked, quickly. 
 
 " No, Captain Skinner, I have only praise for 
 your men. They have been courteous in the 
 extreme. I predict that they will acquit them- 
 selves right gallantly in to-morrow's battle." 
 
 " O, they're fighters, and will give a good 
 account of themselves if this muddled railroad 
 management lets us get to Manassas before the 
 fighting is over." 
 
 With thanks to Agatha for her kindness, Cap- 
 tain Skinner bowed low in farewell. 
 
 Springing into her carriage she gave the com- 
 mand, " Home," and drove away without waiting 
 to see the remainder of the Army of the Shenan- 
 
 136 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 doah as it moved, partly by train, and partly on 
 march, toward the scene of the coming battle. 
 
 During the homeward ride the girl laughed 
 and chatted with her companions with more 
 than her usual vivacity, quite as if this had been 
 the gladdest of all her gala-days. But the gaiety 
 was forced, and the laughter had a nervous note 
 in it which would have betrayed its impulse to 
 her companions had they been of closely observant 
 habit of mind. 
 
 But when she reached home Agatha excused 
 herself to her friends, and shut herself in her 
 room. Throwing off her hat, but making no 
 other change in her costume, she stretched herself 
 upon the polished floor, after a habit she had 
 indulged since childhood whenever her spirit 
 was perturbed. For an hour she lay there upon 
 the hard ash boards, with her hands clasped under 
 her head, thinking, thinking, thinking. 
 
 " God knows," she thought, " I have tried to 
 do my duty, and it is bitterly hard for a woman. 
 In loyalty to my dead father's memory, I have 
 insulted and wounded the only man I could ever 
 have loved, and sent him away from me in anger 
 and wretchedness. And even in doing that 
 
 137 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 even in being cruel to him and to myself, I have 
 fallen short of my duty as Agatha Ronald. I 
 have weakly yielded something at least of that 
 proud attitude which it is my duty to my family 
 traditions to maintain. I have recognised the 
 state of war, but I have parleyed with the enemy. 
 And Baillie Pegram is at this hour wearing a 
 plume plucked from my hat and fastened into 
 his by my own hands. God forgive me if I 
 have been disloyal! But is it disloyalty? " 
 
 With that question echoing in her mind she 
 sat up, staring at the wall, as if trying there to 
 read her answer. 
 
 " Is it my duty to cherish a feud that is mean- 
 ingless to me to hate a man who has done 
 no wrong to me or mine, simply because there 
 was a quarrel between our ancestors before either 
 of us was born ? I do not know ! I do not know ! 
 But I must be true to my family, true to my race, 
 true to the traditions in which I have been bred. 
 I have fallen short of that in this case. I must 
 not err again. I must never again forget, even 
 for a moment, that Baillie Pegram is my heredi- 
 tary enemy/' 
 
 Then she caught herself thinking and almost 
 
 138 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 wishing that a Federal bullet might end her 
 perplexity that Baillie Pegram might never live 
 to see her again. " I wonder," she thought, " if 
 that is what Christ meant when he said that one 
 who hates his neighbour is a murderer in his 
 heart. It is all a blind riddle to me. Here have 
 I been brought up a Christian, taught from my 
 infancy that hatred is murder, and taught at the 
 same time that it is my highest duty, as a Ronald, 
 to go on hating all the Pegrams on earth because 
 my father and Baillie Pegram's grandfather quar- 
 relled over something that I know absolutely 
 nothing about ! " 
 
 Presently the girl's mind reverted to the second 
 meeting of that eventful day, her encounter 
 with Marshall Pollard. She wondered why he 
 had enlisted in company with such men as those 
 who constituted Captain Skinner's battery, for 
 even thus early those men had become known as 
 the worst gang of desperadoes imaginable, a 
 band that must be kept day and night under a dis- 
 cipline as rigid and as watchful as that of any 
 State prison, lest they lapse into crimes of vio- 
 lence. She wondered if this meant that the pecul- 
 iarly gentle-souled Marshall Pollard was trying 
 
 139 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 to " throw himself away," as she had heard that 
 men disappointed in love sometimes do, that he 
 wished to degrade himself by low associations. 
 
 " And I am the cause of it all," she mourned, 
 For she knew that Marshall Pollard had loved her 
 with the love of an honest man, and that his life 
 had been darkened, to say the least, by her 
 inability to respond to his devotion. In this case 
 she should have had the consolation of knowing 
 that she had been guilty of no wilful, no conscious 
 wrong, but, in her present mood, she was disposed 
 to flagellate her soul for an imagined offence. 
 
 " He came to me," she reflected, " loving me 
 from the first. Little idiot that I was, I did not 
 understand. I liked him as a girl may like a boy, 
 for I was only a girl then, and I did not 
 dream that the affection he manifested toward me 
 meant more than that sort of thing on his part. 
 Those things which ought to have revealed to me 
 his state of mind meant nothing more to me then 
 than do the little gallantries and deferences which 
 all men pay to all women. How bitterly he 
 reproached me at the last for having deceived him 
 and led him on with encouragements which I at 
 least had not intended as such. Are all women 
 140 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 born coquettes? Is it our cruel instinct to trifle 
 with the souls of men, as little children love to 
 torture their pets ? Have we women no principles, 
 no earnestness, no consciences except after- 
 ward, when remorse awakens us ? Are we blind, 
 that we do not see, and deaf that we do not hear ? 
 Or is it our nature to be cruel, especially to those 
 who love us and offer us the best that there is 
 in their strong natures ? 
 
 " I remember how we stood out there in the 
 grounds, under the jessamine arbour, as the sun 
 went down; and how at last, when I had made 
 him understand, he plucked a sprig of the beauti- 
 ful, golden flowers from the bunch that I held in 
 my hand, and how I bade him beware, for that 
 the jessamine is poisonous, and how he replied, 
 ' Not more poisonous than it is to love a coquette.' 
 
 " I remember that he gave me no chance to 
 answer, no opportunity to protest again my inno- 
 cence of such intent as he had imputed to me 
 in his passionate speech, but turned his back and 
 stalked away, with that stride which I saw again 
 to-day, as he paced his beat. That was two years 
 ago and to-day I have seen him again in such 
 company as he would never have sought but for 
 
 141 
 
The Master .of Warlock 
 
 me, the willing companion of ruffians, the asso- 
 ciate of desperadoes, the messmate of thieves ! " 
 
 Agatha was on her feet now, and nervously 
 laying aside one after another of the little frip- 
 peries with which she had decorated her person 
 that day. She found herself presently half- 
 unconsciously searching for the gown that she 
 must wear at dinner, though her never-failing 
 maid had laid it out long before her home-coming, 
 that it might be in readiness for her need. 
 
 A sudden thought came into the suffering 
 girl's mind. 
 
 " These two men, whose lives are hurt by their 
 love for me, will suffer far less than I shall. They 
 are soldiers as strong to endure as they are 
 strong to dare. They have occupation for all their 
 waking hours. They will be upon the march, in 
 battle, or otherwise actively employed all the 
 time. In remembering more strenuous things 
 they will forget their sorrows and throw aside 
 their griefs as they cast away everything when 
 they go into battle that may in any wise hinder 
 their activity or embarrass their freedom. I must 
 sit still here at Willoughby, and think, and think, 
 and think." 
 142 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Then like a lightning flash another thought 
 came into her mind, and she spoke it aloud : 
 
 " Why should I be idler than they are? Why 
 should I sit here brooding while they are toiling 
 and fighting for Virginia? I am no more afraid 
 of death or of danger than they are, and while 
 women may not fight, there are other ways in 
 which a woman of courage may render quite as 
 good a service. I'll do it. I'll take the risks. I'll 
 endure the hardships. I'll render my country a 
 service that shall count" 
 
 With that she rang for her maid and bade her 
 prepare a cold plunge bath. When she descended 
 to dinner, an hour later, Agatha no longer chat- 
 tered frivolously, as she had done in the carriage, 
 by way of concealing her emotions, but bore her- 
 self seriously, as became her in view of the pros- 
 pect of battle on the morrow. 
 
 In that hour of agonising thought, Agatha 
 Ronald had ceased to be a girl, and had become 
 an earnest, resolute woman, strong to do, strong 
 to endure, and, if need be, strong to dare. Life 
 had taken on a new meaning in her eyes. 
 
 143 
 
IN ACTION 
 
 IT was midnight when the battery to which 
 Baillie was attached reached Manassas Junc- 
 tion. The men were weary and half-starved 
 after three days of fighting and marching, and 
 the horses, worn out with dragging the guns 
 and caissons over well-nigh impassable roads, 
 were famishing for water. But an effort to 
 secure water and forage for them failed, and 
 so did an effort to secure water and rations for 
 the men. 
 
 For on the eve of the first great battle of 
 the war the Southern army was in a state 
 of semi-starvation which grew worse with every 
 hour that brought fresh relays of troops but no 
 new supplies of food. Already had begun that 
 course of extraordinary mismanagement in the 
 supply departments at Richmond which through- 
 out the war kept the Army of Northern Virginia 
 144 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 constantly half-starving or wholly starving, even 
 when, as at Manassas, it lay in the midst of a land 
 of abounding plenty. 
 
 All the efforts of the generals commanding in 
 the field to remedy this state of things by drawing 
 upon the granaries and smoke-houses round about 
 them for supplies that were in danger of pres- 
 ently falling into the enemy's hands, were 
 thwarted by the stupid obstinacy of a crack- 
 brained commissary-general. It was his inexpli- 
 cable policy, while the army lay at Manassas with 
 an unused railroad reaching into the rich fields 
 to the west, to forbid the purchase of food and 
 forage there except by his own direct agents, 
 who were required to send it all to Richmond, 
 whence it was transported back again, in such 
 meagre quantities as an already overtaxed single 
 track railroad could manage to carry. 
 
 Red-tape was choking the army to death from 
 the very beginning, and it continued to do so to 
 the end, in spite of all remonstrances. 
 
 Even in the matter of water the men at Ma- 
 nassas were restricted to a few pints a day to each 
 man for all uses, simply because the commanding 
 
 145 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 general was not allowed the simple means of pro- 
 curing a more adequate supply. 
 
 This, however, is not the place in which to set 
 forth in detail those facts of perverse stupidity 
 which have been fully stated in official reports, in 
 General Beauregard's memoirs, and in other 
 authoritative works. Such matters are mentioned 
 herein only so far as they affected the events that 
 go to make up the present story. 
 
 When the Army of the Shenandoah began to 
 add its numbers to that already gathered at 
 Manassas, a way out was found, so far at least 
 as water was concerned, by sending the regiments 
 and batteries, as fast as they came, to positions 
 near Bull Run, some miles in front, where water 
 at least was to be had. Baillie's command, worn 
 out as it was, and suffering from hunger, was hur- 
 ried through the camp and forced to march some 
 weary miles farther before taking even that small 
 measure of rest and sleep that the rapidly waning 
 night allowed. It was nearly morning when the 
 men and horses were permitted to drink together 
 out of the muddy stream which was presently to 
 mark the fighting-line between two armies in 
 fierce battle for the mastery. 
 146 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 It was nearly sunrise when a cannon-shot broke 
 the stillness of a peculiarly brilliant Sunday morn- 
 ing and summoned all the weary men to their 
 posts. A little later the battery with which we 
 are concerned received its orders and was moved 
 into position on the line. Its complement of com- 
 missioned officers being short, Sergeant-Major 
 Baillie Pegram had command of the two guns 
 which constituted the left section, and had a lieu- 
 tenant's work to do. 
 
 Troops were being hurried hither and thither 
 in what seemed to Baillie' s inexperienced eyes a 
 hopeless confusion. But as he watched, he saw 
 order grow out of the chaos, a manifestation of 
 the fact that there was one mind in control, and 
 that every movement, however meaningless it 
 might seem, was part and parcel of a concerted 
 plan, and was intended to have its bearing upon 
 the result. 
 
 In the meanwhile the occasional report of a 
 rifle had grown into a continuous rattle of mus- 
 ketry on the farther side of the stream, where the 
 skirmishers were hotly at work, their firing being 
 punctuated now and then by the deeper exclama- 
 tion of a cannon. But the work of the day had 
 
 147 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 not yet begun in earnest. The main line was 
 not yet engaged, and would not be until the skir- 
 mishers should slowly fall back upon it from their 
 position beyond the stream. 
 
 To men in line of battle this is the most trying 
 of all war's experiences. Then it is that every 
 man questions himself closely as to his ability to 
 endure the strain. Nerves are stretched to a 
 tension that threatens collapse. Speech is diffi- 
 cult even to the bravest men, and the longing to 
 plunge into the fray and be actively engaged is 
 well-nigh irresistible. 
 
 All this and worse is the experience even of 
 war-seasoned veterans when they must stand or 
 lie still during these endless minutes of waiting, 
 while the skirmishers are engaged in front. What 
 must have been the strain upon the nerves and 
 brains of men, not one of whom had as yet seen 
 a battle, and not one in ten of whom had even 
 received his " baptism of fire " in a skirmish, as 
 the men in Baillie's battery had done during the 
 week before ! It is at such a time, and not in the 
 heat of battle, that men's courage is apt to falter, 
 and that discipline alone holds them to their duty. 
 
 The strain was rather relieved of its intensity 
 
 148 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 by the shrieking of a Hotchkiss shell, which pres- 
 ently burst in the midst of Baillie Pegram's sec- 
 tion and not far from his person. Then came the 
 less noisy but more nerve-racking patter of 
 musket-balls, few and scattering still, as the 
 skirmish-lines were still well in front, but deadly 
 in their force, as was seen when two or three 
 of the men suddenly sank to the ground in the 
 midst of a stillness which was broken only by 
 the whiz of the occasional bullets. 
 
 One man cried out with pain. The rest of 
 those struck were still. The one who cried out 
 was slightly wounded. The others were dead. 
 And the battle was not yet begun. 
 
 At this moment came a courier with orders. 
 Upon receiving them the captain hurriedly turned 
 to Baillie, and said: 
 
 " Take your section across the Run, at the 
 ford there just to the left. Take position with 
 the skirmish-line and get your orders from its 
 commander. Leave your caissons behind,, and 
 move at a gallop." 
 
 Baillie Pegram was too new to the business 
 of war to understand precisely what all this 
 meant. Had he seen a little more of war he 
 
 149 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 would have guessed at once that the enemy was 
 moving upon the Confederate left along the road 
 that lay beyond the stream, and that his guns 
 were needed to aid the skirmishers in the work 
 to be done in front in preparation for the battle 
 that had not yet burst in all its fury. He would 
 have understood, too, from the order to leave 
 his caissons behind, that the stand beyond the 
 stream was not meant to be of long duration. 
 The fifty shots he carried in each of his limber- 
 chests would be quite enough to last him till 
 orders should come to fall back across the stream 
 again. 
 
 But he did not understand all this clearly. 
 What he did understand was that he was under 
 orders to take his guns acYoss the stream and 
 use them there as vigorously as he could till 
 further orders should come. 
 
 As he emerged from the woods a few hundred 
 yards beyond Bull Run, he found a skirmish-line 
 of men lying down and contesting the ground 
 inch by inch with another line like their own, 
 beyond which he could see the heavy columns of 
 the enemy marching steadily to turn the Con- 
 federate left flank and force it from its position. 
 
 150 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Notwithstanding his lack of experience in such 
 matters, he saw instantly what was happening, 
 and realised that this left wing of Beauregard's 
 army was destined to receive the brunt of the 
 enemy's attack. He wondered, in his ignorance, 
 if Beauregard knew all this, and if somebody 
 ought not to go and tell him of it. 
 
 He had no time to think beyond this, for at 
 that moment the skirmish-line, under some order 
 which he had not heard, gave way to the right 
 and left, leaving a little space open for his guns. 
 Planting them there he opened fire with shrapnel, 
 which he now and then changed to canister when 
 the enemy, in his eagerness, pressed forward to 
 within scant distance of the slowly retiring skir- 
 mish-line of the Confederates. 
 
 Under orders Baillie fell back with the skir- 
 mishers, moving the guns by hand, and continu- 
 ing to fire as he went. 
 
 As the Confederate skirmishers drew near the 
 stream which they were to cross, the officer in 
 command of them said to Pegram : 
 
 " Advance your guns a trifle, Sergeant-Major, 
 and give them your heaviest fire for twenty-five 
 seconds or so. When they recoil, limber up and 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 take your guns across the creek as quickly as 
 possible. I'll cover your movement." 
 
 Baillie ,did not perfectly understand the pur- 
 pose of this, but he understood his orders, and 
 very promptly obeyed them. Advancing his guns 
 quickly to a little knoll thirty or forty yards in 
 front, he opened fire with double charges of 
 canister, each gun firing at the rate of three or 
 four times a minute, and each vomiting a gallon 
 of iron balls at each discharge into the faces 
 of a line of men not a hundred yards away. At 
 the same moment the riflemen of the skirmish- 
 line rose to their feet, rushed forward with a 
 yell that impressed Baillie as truly demoniacal, 
 and delivered a murderous volley of Minie balls 
 in aid of his canister. The combined fire was 
 irresistible, as it was meant to be, and the Fed- 
 eral skirmishers fell back in some confusion in 
 face of it. 
 
 Then the cool-headed leader of the skirmishers 
 turned to Baillie and commanded: 
 
 " Now be quick. Take your guns across the 
 creek at once. They'll be on us again in a 
 minute with reinforcements, but I'll hold them 
 back till you get the guns across " 
 
 152 
 
The Master, of Warlock 
 
 He had not finished his order when he fell, 
 with a bullet in his brain, and his men, picking 
 him up, laid him limply across his horse, which 
 two of them hurried to the rear, passing within 
 ten feet of Baillie Pegram as he struggled to get 
 his guns across the run without wetting his 
 ammunition. 
 
 " Poor, gallant fellow ! " thought Baillie, as the 
 corpse was borne past him. " He was only a 
 captain, but he would have made himself a major- 
 general presently, with his coolness and his deter- 
 mination. He died too soon ! " 
 
 Meanwhile Baillie was busy executing the 
 order that the dead man had given with his last 
 breath, while some other was in command out 
 there in front and struggling to protect the guns 
 till they could pass the stream. 
 
 It is always so in life. No man is indispensable. 
 When one man falls at the post of duty, there 
 is always some other to take his place. " Men 
 may come and men may go," but the work that 
 men were born to do " goes on for ever." 
 
 As Baillie was directing the struggles of his 
 drivers in the difficult task of recrossing the 
 stream, three shells burst over him in so quick a 
 
 153 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 succession that he did not know from which of 
 them came the fragment that cut a great gash in 
 his head and rendered him for the moment sense- 
 less. He recovered himself quickly, and this was 
 fortunate, for his untrained and inexperienced 
 men were far less steady in retreat under fire 
 than they had been out there in front, and 
 Baillie's direction was needed now to prevent 
 them from abandoning in panic the guns with 
 which they had fought so gallantly a few minutes 
 before. 
 
 Under his sharply given commands they recov- 
 ered their morale, and a few minutes later 
 Baillie brought his powder-grimed guns again 
 into position on the left of the battery. Then, 
 half-blinded by the blood that was flowing freely 
 over his face and clothing, he sought his captain, 
 raised his hand in salute, and said, feebly : 
 
 " Captain, I beg to report that I have executed 
 my orders. My men have behaved well, every " 
 
 A heavy musketry fire from the enemy at that 
 moment began, and Baillie Pegram's horse 
 the beautiful sorrel mare on which Agatha had 
 once ridden sank under him, in that strange, 
 
 154 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 limp way in which a horse falls when killed 
 instantly by a bullet received in any vital part. 
 
 By good fortune the sergeant-major was not 
 caught under the animal, but as he tried to walk 
 toward the new mount which he had asked for, 
 he staggered and fell, much as the mare had done, 
 but from a different cause. Complete uncon- 
 sciousness had overtaken him, as a consequence 
 of the shock of his wound and the resultant loss 
 of blood. 
 
 When he came to consciousness again, he was 
 lying on the grass under a tree, with a young 
 surgeon kneeling beside him, busy with bandages. 
 For a time his consciousness did not extend 
 beyond his immediate surroundings and the 
 terrific aching of his head. Presently the heavy 
 firing which seemed to be all about him, and the 
 zip, zip, zip of bullets as they struck the earth 
 under the hospital tree brought him to a realisa- 
 tion of the fact that battle was raging there, and 
 that he, somehow, he could not make out how, 
 was absent from his post with the guns. He 
 made a sudden effort to rise, but instantly fell 
 back again, unconscious. 
 
 When he next came to himself there was a 
 
 155 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 sound as of thousands of yelling demons in his 
 ears, which he presently made out to be the " rebel 
 yell " issuing from multitudinous throats. There 
 were hoof-beats all about him, too, the hoof-beats 
 of a thousand horses moving at full speed. Ex- 
 cited by these sounds, wondering and anxiously 
 apprehensive, he made another effort to rise, but 
 was promptly restrained by the strong but gentle 
 hands of an attendant, who said to him, with 
 more of good sense than grammar: 
 
 "Lay still. It's all right, and it's all over. 
 We've licked 'em, and they's a-runnin' like mad. 
 The horsemen what passed us was Stuart's cav- 
 alry, a-goin' after 'em to see that they don't stop 
 too soon." 
 
 Stuart was drunk with delight. He shouted to 
 his men, as he rode across Stone Bridge: "-Come 
 on, boys ! We'll gallop over the long bridge into 
 Washington to-night if some blockhead doesn't 
 stop us with orders, and I reckon we can gallop 
 away from orders ! " 
 
 Baillie lay still only because the attendant kept 
 a hand upon his chest and so restrained him. As 
 he listened, the firing receded and grew less in 
 volume, except that now and then it burst out in 
 
 156 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 a volley. That was when one of Stuart's squad- 
 rons came suddenly upon a mass of their confused 
 and fleeing foes and poured a hail-storm of leaden 
 cones in among them as a suggestion that it was 
 time for them to scatter and resume their run for 
 Washington. 
 
 As the turmoil grew less and faded into the 
 distance, Baillie's wits slowly came back to him, 
 and thoughts of himself returned. 
 
 " Where am I?" was his first question. 
 
 " Under a hospital tree on the battle-field of 
 Manassas," answered the nurse. " You're about 
 two hundred yards in the rear of the position 
 where your battery has been covering itself with 
 glory all day. It's gone now to help in the pur- 
 suit. But it's had it hot and heavy all day, judg- 
 ing from the stoppings over." 
 
 " The ' stoppings over ? ' What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Why, the bullets and shells and things that 
 didn't get theirselves stopped, like, on the lines, 
 but come botherin' over here by this hospital tree. 
 Two of 'em hit wounded men, an' finally, just at 
 the last, you know, the doctor got his come- 
 uppance." 
 
 "Was he wounded?" 
 
 157 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 "Wuss 'n that. He war killed, jes' like a 
 ordinary soldier. That's why you're still a-layin' 
 here, an' here you'll lay, I reckon, all night, for 
 they ain't nobody left to give no orders, 'ceptin' 
 me, an' I ain't nothin' but a detail. But I'm 
 a-goin' to git you somethin' to eat ef I kin. 
 They's another hospital jest over the hill, an' 
 mebbe they've got somethin' to eat, an' mebbe 
 they's a spare surgeon there, too. Anyhow I'm 
 a-goin' to do the best I kin fer you an' the rest." 
 
 " How many of us are there? " asked Baillie. 
 
 " Only four now not enough for them to 
 bother about, I s'pose they'll say, specially sence 
 two on 'em is clean bound to die, anyhow. All 
 the slightly wounded has been carried away to 
 a reg'lar hospital. That's their game, I reckon 
 to take good keer o' the fellers that's a-goin' 
 to git well, so as to make complaints ef they 
 don't, an' leave the rest what can't live to make 
 no complaints to die where they is." 
 
 Baillie was too weak, and still too muddled in 
 his intelligence, to disabuse the mountaineer's 
 mind of this misconception. It is only ordinary 
 justice to say that his interpretation was utterly 
 wrong. There was never a more heroic set of 
 
 158 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 men than the surgeons who ministered on the 
 battle-fields of the Civil War to the wounded on 
 one side or on the other. At the beginning, their 
 department was utterly unorganised, and scarcely 
 at all equipped, either with material appliances 
 or with capable human help in the way of nurses, 
 litter-bearers, or ambulance-men. They did the 
 best they could. When battle was on, they hung 
 yellow flags from trees as near the firing-line as 
 possible, and these flags were respected by both 
 sides, so far as intentional firing upon them was 
 concerned. But located as they were, just in the 
 rear of the fighters, these field-hospitals were con- 
 stantly under a heavy fire, aimed not at them, but 
 at the fighting-line in front, and it was under such 
 a fire that the young surgeons did their difficult 
 and very delicate work. The tying of an artery 
 was often interfered with by the bursting of a 
 shell which half-buried both patient and surgeon 
 in loose earth. It was the duty of these field- 
 surgeons to do only so much as might be imme- 
 diately necessary to put their patients as quickly 
 as possible into a condition in which it was reason- 
 ably safe to send them, in ambulances or upon 
 litters, to some better-equipped hospital in the 
 
 159 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 rear. Very naturally and very properly, the sur- 
 geons discriminated, in selecting wounded men to 
 send to the hospitals, between those who were in 
 condition to be removed, and those to whom 
 removal would mean death, certainly or probably. 
 The mountaineer, who had been detailed as a 
 hospital attendant that day, did not understand, 
 and so he misinterpreted. 
 
 "Where is my hat?" Baillie Pegram asked, 
 after a period of silence. 
 
 " Is it the one with a red feather in it ? " re- 
 sponded the attendant. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, it's a good deal the wuss for wear," 
 answered the man, producing the blood-soaked 
 and soil-stained headgear. " I don't think you'll 
 want to wear it again." 
 
 But when the headpiece was brought, the young 
 man, with feeble and uncertain fingers, detached 
 the feather and thrust it inside his flannel shirt, 
 leaving the lacerated hat where it had fallen upon 
 the ground. 
 
 " Am I badly wounded ? " Pegram asked, after 
 a little. 
 
 " Well," answered the man, " youVe got a 
 1 60 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 good deal more'n I should like to be a-carryin' 
 around with me. But I reckon you'll pull through, 
 perticular ef you kin git to a hospital after a 
 bit." 
 
 Just then, as night was falling, a pitiless 
 rain began, and all night long Baillie Pegram 
 lay in a furrow of the field, soaked and suffering. 
 But he removed the feather from its hiding-place, 
 and held it upon his chest, in order that the rain 
 might wash away the blood-stains with which it 
 had been saturated. 
 
 When the morning came, and the ambulance 
 with it, the blood-stains were gone and the feather 
 was clean, though its texture was limp, its ap- 
 pearance bedraggled, and much of its original 
 
 colour had been washed out. 
 
 
 
 Two or three days later, Agatha Ronald at 
 her home received by mail a package containing 
 a feather, once red but now badly faded. No note 
 or message of any kind accompanied it, but 
 Agatha understood. She had already learned 
 through the newspapers that " Sergeant-Major 
 Baillie Pegram, after a desperate encounter with 
 the enemy on the outer lines, had been severely 
 
 161 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 perhaps mortally wounded in the head ; " and 
 that " Sergeant-Major Baillie Pegram has been 
 mentioned -in General Orders for his gallant con- 
 duct on the field, with a recommendation for 
 promotion, if he recovers from his wounds, as 
 the surgeons give little hope that he will." 
 
 She wrapped the faded feather in tissue-paper, 
 deposited it in a jewelled glove-box which had 
 come to her as an heirloom from her mother, and 
 put it away in one of her most sacred depositories. 
 
 A week or two later, she learned that Sergeant- 
 Major Baillie Pegram had been removed from 
 the general hospital at Richmond to his home at 
 Warlock, and that he was now expected to recover 
 from his wounds. 
 
 162 
 
XI 
 
 AT WARLOCK 
 
 " T T'S jes' what I done tole you niggas 
 fust off." 
 
 That was Sam's comment upon the situa- 
 tion when his master was brought home to War- 
 lock, stretched upon a litter. 
 
 " I done tole yer what'd happen when Mas' 
 Baillie go off to de wah in dat way, 'thout Sam 
 to take k'yar of him. An' bar in min' what 
 else I done tole yer, too. Ain't de chinch-bug 
 done et up de wheat, jes' as I tole yer? Now, 
 Mas' Baillie, he's a-gwine to die wid that hole 
 in he haid. Den what's a-gwine to become o' 
 you niggas? " 
 
 Sam promptly installed himself as his master's 
 nurse, sitting by him during the day, and sleeping 
 on the floor by his bedside every night. For 
 a time it seemed likely that the negro's dismal 
 prophecy of Baillie's death would be fulfilled, but 
 
 163 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 with rest and the bracing air of his own home, 
 he slowly grew better, until he was able at last 
 to sun himself in the porch or under the trees 
 of the lawn. 
 
 He chafed a good deal at first over the fact 
 that he had not seen the major part of the fight- 
 ing along Bull Run, and it annoyed him still 
 more that he was likely to lose his share in a 
 campaign which was expected to bring the war 
 to a speedy and glorious end. It was Marshall 
 Pollard who laughed him out of this latter regret. 
 During the long waiting-time that followed the 
 battle of Manassas, Marshall, who had gained 
 a lieutenancy in his battery, secured several brief 
 leaves of absence in order to visit the convales- 
 cent man at Warlock. 
 
 " You're missing nothing whatever, Baillie," 
 he said to him one day, in answer to his querulous 
 complainings. " We're doing nothing out there 
 in front of Washington, and, so far as I can see, 
 we're not likely to do anything for many months 
 to come. When the battle of Manassas ended 
 in such a rout of the enemy as never will happen 
 again, we all expected to push on into Washing- 
 ton, where only a very feeble resistance or none 
 164 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 at all would have been met. When that didn't 
 happen, we confidently expected that the army 
 at Centreville would be reinforced at once with 
 every man who could be hurried to the front, 
 and that General Johnston would push across 
 the Potomac and take Washington in the rear, 
 or capture Baltimore and Philadelphia, and cut 
 Washington off. 
 
 " I don't pretend to understand grand strat- 
 egy, but this was plain common sense, and I 
 suppose that common sense has its part to play 
 in grand strategy, as in everything else. Any- 
 how, it is certain that that was the time to strike, 
 and if the army at Manassas had been reinforced 
 and pushed across the Potomac while the enemy 
 was so hopelessly demoralised and disintegrated, 
 there is not the smallest doubt in my mind that 
 the war would have come to an end within a 
 month or two. Instead of that, we have done 
 nothing, while the enemy has been straining every 
 nerve to bring new troops into the field by scores 
 of thousands, and to drill and discipline them 
 for the serious work of war. They have done 
 all this so effectually that they now have two 
 or three men to our one, half a dozen guns to 
 
 165 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 our one, and supply departments so perfectly or- 
 ganised that no man in all that host need go 
 without his three good meals a day, while we are 
 kept very nearly in a state of starvation, and are 
 now fortifying at Centreville, like a beaten army, 
 whose chief concern is to defend itself against 
 the danger of capture." 
 
 " Have you ever heard an explanation of this 
 strange state of things ? " asked Baillie. " You 
 see, I've been out of the way of hearing anything 
 ever since the battle." 
 
 " O, yes, I've heard all sorts of explanations. 
 But the real explanation, I think, is the lack of an 
 experienced general, capable of grasping the sit- 
 uation and turning it to account. Neither in the 
 field nor in authority at Richmond, have we a 
 man who ever commanded an army, or even 
 looked on while a great campaign was in prog- 
 ress. General Johnston and General Beaure- 
 gard are doubtless very capable officers in their 
 way. But until this war came, they were mere 
 captains in the engineer corps, engaged in con- 
 structing Mississippi levees, and that sort of 
 thing. Neither of them ever in his life com- 
 manded a brigade. Neither ever saw a great 
 
 1 66 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 battle, or had anything to do with an army com- 
 posed of men by scores of thousands. 
 
 " Their victory at Manassas simply appalled 
 them. They didn't know at all what to do next. 
 They will probably become good and capable 
 commanders of armies before the war is over, 
 but at present they are only ex-captains of engi- 
 neers, suddenly thrust into positions for which 
 they have absolutely none of that fitness which 
 comes of experience." 
 
 " But have they not learned enough yet? Will 
 they not now see their opportunity, and undertake 
 a fall campaign? " 
 
 " No. The opportunity is entirely gone. The 
 Federal army is to-day much stronger in every 
 way than our own. We have pottered away the 
 months that should have been spent in vigorous 
 and decisive action. The only man in our army 
 capable of seeing and seizing such an opportunity 
 and turning it to account I mean Robert E. 
 Lee has been kept in the mountains of Western 
 Virginia, engaged in settling wretched little dis- 
 putes among a lot of incapable, cantankerous 
 political brigadiers. It means a long war and a 
 terrible one, Baillie, and you'll have opportunity 
 
 167 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 to do all the fighting you want before it is over. 
 But nothing of any consequence will be done this 
 fall." 
 
 The young lieutenant was quite right in his 
 prophecy. Except for a little contest at Draines- 
 ville amounting to scarcely more than a skir- 
 mish there was absolutely nothing done until 
 the 2 ist of October. Then occurred the small, 
 badly ordered and strategically meaningless bat- 
 tle of Leesburg, or Ball's Bluff, when the Federals 
 were again completely defeated. After that came 
 a long autumn of superb campaigning weather, 
 and a tedious winter of complete inaction. Fed- 
 eral expeditions besieged some of the forts and 
 islands along the Carolina coasts, thus preparing 
 the way for a coast campaign which was never 
 made in earnest. 
 
 There was fighting of some consequence in 
 Kentucky and Missouri, and as the winter waned, 
 General Grant made his important campaign 
 against the forts on the Tennessee and Cumber- 
 land Rivers, breaking the Confederate line of 
 defence in that quarter, and pushing it south- 
 ward. But in Virginia, the natural battle-field, 
 
 1 68 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 absolutely nothing was done during all those 
 months of weary waiting. 
 
 For this strange and strangely prolonged pause 
 in a war which had begun with a rush and a 
 hurrah, history has been puzzled to find an ex- 
 planation. It is true that the Confederate forces 
 were untrained volunteers, whose endurance and 
 discipline could not have been relied upon in an 
 aggressive campaign to anything like the extent 
 to which Lee afterward depended upon the un- 
 flinching endurance and unfaltering courage of 
 these same men. But the Federal army was 
 at that time in much worse condition. To 
 unfamiliarity with war and to complete lack of 
 discipline in that army, there was added the de- 
 moralisation of disastrous defeat and panic. Gen- 
 eral McClellan said in his official capacity, and 
 with carefully chosen words, that when he was 
 placed in control in August, he found " no army 
 to command, a mere collection of regiments 
 cowering on the banks of the Potomac, some per- 
 fectly raw, others dispirited by recent defeat, 
 some going home." He completed his descrip- 
 tion of the situation by saying : " There were no 
 defensive works on the southern approaches to 
 
 169 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 the capital. Washington was crowded with strag- 
 gling officers and men absent from their stations 
 without authority." 
 
 Why the Confederates, with their great vic- 
 tory to urge them on, made no effort to take 
 advantage of such conditions, but lay still in- 
 stead, giving McClellan many months in which 
 to recruit and organise and drill his forces into 
 one of the most formidable armies of modern 
 times, is one of the puzzles of history. Perhaps 
 Marshall Pollard's suggestion was the correct 
 explanation, namely, that there was no gen- 
 eral at Manassas who knew what to do with 
 a great opportunity, or how to do it. 
 
 Seeing that Baillie was becoming excited by 
 this serious talk, his friend adroitly turned the 
 conversation to less strenuous matters. Half 
 an hour later The Oaks ladies drove up in their 
 antique, high-hung carriage, to make that formal 
 inquiry concerning Mr. Baillie Pegram's convales- 
 cence which from the first they had made with 
 great scrupulousness three times every week. 
 
 When they had gone, Pollard asked : 
 
 " Have you seen Miss Agatha since that day 
 
 170 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 last spring, when you were requested not to visit 
 The Oaks?" 
 
 For a moment Baillie remained silent. Then 
 he said : " If you don't mind, I'd rather not 
 talk of that, Marshall." 
 
 That was all that passed between these two 
 on that subject during the week of Marshall's 
 stay at Warlock. How unlike men are to women 
 in these things ! Had these two young men been 
 two young women instead, how minutely each 
 would have confided to the other the last detail 
 of experience and thought and feeling! And 
 this not because women are more emotional than 
 men for they are not but because they are 
 not ashamed, as men are, of the tenderer side 
 of their natures. 
 
 171 
 
XII 
 
 UNDER ESCORT 
 
 NO sooner had Agatha Ronald determined 
 to enter upon a career of very dangerous 
 service to her cause and country, than she 
 set herself diligently to the work of perfecting 
 plans which were at first vague and undefined. It 
 was no part of her purpose to fail if by any fore- 
 thought and thoroughness of preparation she 
 might avert the danger of failure. She deter- 
 mined to do nothing until every point and possi- 
 bility, so far as conditions could be foreseen, 
 should be considered and provided for. 
 
 First of all, she entered into perfect confidence 
 with her maid, Martha, telling the trusty negro 
 woman as she meant to tell no other person near 
 her, except her grandfather, precisely what she 
 intended to do, and how. Martha had a shrewd 
 intelligence likely to be useful in emergencies, 
 and her devotion to her mistress was as absolute 
 
 172 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 as that of any devotee to an object of worship. 
 This mistress had been hers to care for by night 
 and by day ever since Agatha had been four years 
 of age. All of loyalty, all of affection, all of 
 self-sacrificing devotion of which the negro char- 
 acter in its best estate is capable, she gave to 
 Agatha, never doubting her due or questioning 
 her right to such service of the heart and soul. 
 She knew no other love than this, no other life 
 than that of unceasing, all-embracing care for her 
 mistress. 
 
 It was with no shadow of doubt or hesitation, 
 therefore, that Agatha revealed her purposes to 
 Martha, and asked for her aid in carrying them 
 out. And Martha received the somewhat start- 
 ling confidence as calmly as if her mistress had 
 been telling her of an intended afternoon drive. 
 
 When matters had settled down into apathetic 
 idleness after the battle of Manassas, Agatha 
 made occasion to visit the army. Officers at 
 Fairfax Court-house had their wives and daugh- 
 ters with them at their headquarters then, and 
 many of these were Agatha's intimates, whom 
 she might visit without formal invitation. 
 
 At their quarters, she received visits from such 
 
 173 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 of her friends as belonged to the cavalry forces 
 stationed thereabouts. In her intercourse with 
 these, she 'steadily maintained the innocent little 
 fiction that she was there solely for social pur- 
 poses, and to see the splendid army that had so 
 recently won an astonishing victory. 
 
 One day, she learned that the picturesque cav- 
 alier, General J. E. B. Stuart, had boldly pushed 
 his outposts to Mason's and Munson's Hills, and 
 established his headquarters under a tree, within 
 easy sight of Washington. She instantly de- 
 veloped an intense desire to visit him there. It 
 happened that she knew Stuart and his family 
 personally, and had often dined in the great cav- 
 alry leader's company at her own and other 
 homes. So she said one day, to a young cavalry 
 officer, who was calling upon her : 
 
 " I want you to do me a very great service. 
 I want you to ask General Stuart to let me visit 
 him at the outposts. He'll offer to come here 
 to call upon me instead, for he is always gallant, 
 but you are to tell him I will not permit that. 
 The service needs him at the front, and I want 
 to visit him there. Besides, I particularly want 
 
 174 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 to take a peep at Washington City in its new 
 guise as a foreign capital which we are besieging." 
 
 The young man remonstrated. He protested 
 that there was very great danger in the attempt 
 that raids from the picket-lines were of daily 
 occurrence, that the firing was often severe 
 and all the rest of it, wherefore General Stuart 
 would almost certainly forbid the young lady's 
 proposed enterprise. 
 
 The girl calmly looked the young man in the 
 eyes he was an old friend whom she had 
 known from her childhood and said, very sol- 
 emnly : 
 
 " Charlie, I am no more afraid of bullets than 
 you are. My heart is set upon this visit, and 
 you must arrange it for me. As for General 
 Stuart, I'll manage him, if you'll carry a note 
 to him for me." 
 
 That young man had once begun to make 
 love to Agatha, and she had checked him gently 
 and affectionately in time to spare his pride, and 
 to make of him her willing knight for all time 
 to come. So he answered promptly : 
 
 " I'll carry your note, of course, and if Stuart 
 gives permission, I'll beg to be myself your escort. 
 
 175 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Then, if anybody bothers you with bullets or any- 
 thing else, it'll be a good deal the worse for 
 him." 
 
 The girl thanked him in a way that would have 
 made a hero of him in her defence had occasion 
 served, and presently she scribbled a little note 
 and placed it in the young cavalryman's hands for 
 delivery. It was simple enough, but it was so 
 worded as to make sure that Stuart would 
 promptly grant its request. It ran as follows : 
 
 " MY DEAR GENERAL STUART : I very much 
 want to see you for half an hour out where you 
 are, at Mason's or Munson's Hill, and not here 
 at Fairfax Court-house. My visit will be abso- 
 lutely and entirely in the public interest, though 
 to all others than yourself I am pretending that 
 it is prompted solely by the whim of a romantic 
 young girl. Please send a permit at once, and 
 please permit Lieutenant Fauntleroy, who bears 
 this, to be my escort." 
 
 The note was unsealed, of course, except by 
 the honour of the gentleman who bore it. Stuart's 
 response was prompt, as every act of his enthu- 
 176 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 siastic life was sure to be. He read the note, 
 held a corner of the sheet in the blaze of his 
 camp-fire, and retained his hold upon the farther 
 corner of it until it was quite consumed. Then 
 he dropped the charred sheets into the coals, and 
 turning to Lieutenant Fauntleroy, commanded : 
 
 " Return at once to Fairfax Court-house, detail 
 an escort of half a dozen good men under your 
 own personal command, and escort Miss Ronald 
 to my headquarters. Be very careful not to place 
 the young lady under fire if you can avoid it. Ride 
 in the woods, or under other cover, wherever you 
 can. Remember, you will have a lady in charge, 
 and must take no risks." 
 
 " At what time shall I report with Miss Ron- 
 ald?" 
 
 " At her time at whatever time she shall fix 
 upon as most pleasing to her." 
 
 Thus it came about that before noon of the 
 next day, in the midst of a pouring rain-storm, 
 General Stuart lifted Agatha Ronald from her 
 saddle, taking her by the waist for that purpose. 
 He welcomed her with a kiss upon her brow, 
 as the daughter of a house whose hospitality he 
 had often enjoyed. He quickly escorted her to 
 
 177 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 a little brush shelter which he had made his 
 men hastily construct as a defence for her against 
 the rain, and ordered the sentries posted full fifty 
 yards away, in order that the conversation might 
 by no chance be overheard. 
 
 " It is a splendid service," he said, when the 
 girl had finished telling him of her plans. " But 
 it will be attended by extraordinary danger to a 
 young woman like you." 
 
 " I have considered all that, General," she re- 
 plied, very seriously. " I do not shrink from the 
 danger." 
 
 " Of course not. You are a woman, a Vir- 
 ginian, and a Ronald, three sufficient guaran- 
 tees of courage. But I'm afraid for you. It is 
 a terrible risk you are going to take immeas- 
 urably greater in the case of a woman than in 
 that of a man." 
 
 " I have my wits, General, and this," show- 
 ing him a tiny revolver. " With that a woman can 
 always defend her honour." 
 
 " You mean by suicide ? " 
 
 "Yes if necessity compels." Stuart looked 
 at the gentle girl, gazing into her fawn-like brown 
 
 178 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 eyes as if trying to read her soul in their depths. 
 Presently he said: 
 
 " God bless you and keep you, dear ! I'm going 
 to ride back to Fairfax Court-house with you. 
 Make yourself as comfortable as you can here for 
 half an hour, while I ride out to the pickets. I'll be 
 with you soon, and then we'll have dinner, for 
 you are my guest to-day." 
 
 When the dinner was served, it consisted of 
 some ears of corn, plucked from a neighbouring 
 field, and roasted with husks unremoved, among 
 the live coals of the cavalier's camp-fire. Stuart 
 made no apology for the lack of variety in the 
 meal, for he sincerely accepted the doctrine which 
 he often preached to his men, that " anything 
 edible makes a good enough dinner if you are 
 hungry, and the simpler it is, the better. There's 
 nothing more troublesome in a campaign than 
 cooking utensils and unnecessary things generally. 
 If armies would move without them, there'd be 
 more and better fighting done. The chief thing 
 in war is to start at once and get there without 
 delay." 
 
 The meal over, Stuart held out his hand as 
 a step, from which Agatha lightly sprang into 
 
 179 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 her saddle. Then he mounted the superb gray, 
 which he always rode when battle was on, or when 
 he had a gentlewoman under his charge. For there 
 was a touch of the boyish dandy in Stuart, and 
 a good deal more than a touch of that gallantry 
 which prompts every true man of warm blood 
 to honour womanhood with every possible at- 
 tention. 
 
 The horse was fit for his rider, and that is 
 saying quite all that can be said in praise of a 
 horse. Mounted upon him, Stuart was the bodily 
 presentment of all that painters and sculptors 
 have imagined the typical cavalier to be or to seem. 
 Stalwart of figure, erect in carriage, his muscles 
 showing themselves in graceful strength with 
 every movement of his body, his head carried 
 like that of a boy or a young bull, his beard closely 
 clipped, his moustache standing out straight at 
 the ends, and resembling that of Virginia's ear- 
 liest knight errant, Captain John Smith, of James- 
 town, Stuart was a picture to look upon, which 
 the onlooker did not soon forget. His many- 
 gabled slouch hat was decorated with streaming 
 plumes, that helped to make of him a target for the 
 enemy's sharpest sharpshooters whenever battle 
 1 80 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 was on. Full of vigour, full of health, and full to 
 the very lips of a boyish enthusiasm of life, he 
 seemed never to know what weariness might 
 signify, and never for one moment to abate the 
 intensity of his purpose. He did all things as if 
 all had been part of a great game in which he was 
 playing for a championship. 
 
 On this occasion, however, his manner was 
 subdued, and his conversation serious in a degree 
 unusual to one of his effervescent spirits. He 
 was riding with Agatha Ronald for the very 
 serious purpose of talking with her about details 
 that must be carefully arranged with a view to 
 her safety in the dangerous undertaking upon 
 which she was about to enter. A word or two 
 to Lieutenant Fauntleroy sent that officer with 
 his escort squad to the front, while Stuart and 
 his charge rode in rear. 
 
 " Now, one thing more is necessary, Miss 
 Agatha/* he said. " You ought to reenter our 
 country far to the west, if you can, where there 
 are no armies, and only small detachments. Still, 
 I don't know so well about that. Here we keep 
 the Yankees too busy at the front to attend to 
 matters in the rear, while over in the valley they'll 
 
 181 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 have nothing better to do than look out for wan- 
 dering women like you. Anyhow, you may find it 
 necessary or advisable to enter my lines. In that 
 case, you must be arrested immediately and 
 brought to my headquarters. That is necessary 
 on all accounts to prevent the nature of your 
 mission from being discovered, and well, to pre- 
 vent you from having to report to anybody but 
 me. I shall want to see you, and hear all about 
 your results. So I'm going to give orders every 
 day that will put every picket-officer on watch for 
 you, and impress every one of them with the idea 
 that you are a peculiarly dangerous person, in 
 league with traitors on our side, and trying to 
 put yourself into communication with such. I 
 cannot give you any sort of paper, you see, for 
 papers are always dangerous. But I'll give you 
 six words that will answer the purpose. When- 
 ever you speak the right one of these words with 
 emphasis, the picket-officer will understand that 
 you are the very dangerous spy whose entrance 
 into our lines I anticipate, and whose arrest I 
 particularly desire to secure. I'll give out one of 
 the six words each day, particularly charging 
 officers of the pickets that any woman entering 
 182 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 our lines by any means, and using that word with 
 emphasis, is the spy I want, that her use of 
 it will be intended for the purpose of finding 
 traitorous friends, and that any such woman, no 
 matter upon what pretext she enters the lines, 
 is to be arrested as soon as she uses the word. 
 Only one of these words will be given out each 
 day, but you will know them all, and use them 
 in succession until you use the right one and are 
 arrested. The words will be such as you can 
 embody in an ordinary sentence without exciting 
 the suspicion of any of the men who may be 
 standing by, for, of course, only officers will 
 be commissioned to arrest you. You can use the 
 words in different sentences, until you use the 
 right one. Then you will be arrested and brought 
 to my headquarters, where I hope to have a better 
 dinner than that of to-day to offer you." 
 
 Just at that moment, the road along which 
 they were riding passed between two abandoned 
 fields, each of which was skirted by woodlands 
 on its farther side. Stuart raised his head like 
 a startled deer, and said : 
 
 " We must quit the road here, and put ourselves 
 
 183 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 behind that skirt of timber over on the left. Your 
 horse will take the fence easily." 
 
 With tbat the pair pushed their animals over 
 the rail fence on the left, and at a gallop rode 
 across the field toward a little strip of young 
 chestnut woodland that lay beyond. But just as 
 they reached the centre of the field there came 
 the zip, zip, zip of bullets striking the earth, the 
 whiz of bullets passing their ears, and the weird 
 whistle of bullets passing over them, one of 
 which, now and then, turned somersaults in its 
 course, and produced the peculiar sound that only 
 bullets so misbehaving are capable of producing. 
 At the same moment, the escort under Lieutenant 
 Fauntleroy, who had been in front, fell back to 
 protect its charge, as it was its duty to do. Stuart 
 hurriedly said to the girl : 
 
 " Ride for your life to the chestnut-trees, and 
 hide yourself there, while I take care of those 
 fellows. I'll come to you when it's over." 
 
 With that he turned about, placed himself at 
 the head of the little escort squad, and, swinging 
 his sabre, as he always did in action, led them 
 at a furious pace, over a fence and into the thicket 
 from which the fire was coming. The few men 
 184 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 who were lurking there were quickly scattered, 
 and abandoning their arms, they ran with all 
 their might to the strong picket-post from which 
 they had been thrown out to intercept him. 
 
 This done, all danger of further trouble was at 
 an end, or would have been, had Stuart willed 
 it so. But the scent of battle was always in his 
 nostrils. His men were accustomed to say that 
 he was always " looking for trouble," whenever 
 there was the smallest chance of finding it. So 
 instead of contenting himself with having dis- 
 persed the assailing party, he wheeled about to 
 the right, and led his squad with the fury of 
 Mameluke against the strong picket-post itself. 
 Amid a hailstorm of bullets he charged through 
 the half-company there posted, and then, turning 
 about, charged back again, completing the work 
 of destruction and dispersal. 
 
 It was not until this was over, and he had given 
 the command, " Trot," that he saw Agatha by his 
 side, her pistol in hand and empty of its charges, 
 her hair loosened and falling in tangled masses 
 over her shoulders, her face aglow, and her lithe 
 form as erect as that of any trooper among them 
 all. 
 
 185 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " But my dear Miss Ronald," Stuart ejaculated, 
 " what are you doing here ? " 
 
 " Riding under gallant escort, General, that is 
 all." 
 
 " But I ordered you to take refuge in the 
 timber." 
 
 " Yes, I know," she answered, with a laughing 
 challenge in her eyes, " but as I have never been 
 mustered in, I'm not subject to your orders. You 
 can't court-martial me, can you, General ? " 
 
 Stuart looked at her before answering his 
 eyes full of an admiration that was dimmed by 
 glad tears. At last he leaned over, kissed her again 
 upon the forehead, and said, impressively : 
 
 " What a wife you'll make for a soldier some 
 day!" 
 
 1 86 
 
" Riding under gallant escort ' 
 
XIII 
 
 A SOUVENIR SERVICE 
 
 DURING the rest of the journey Agatha 
 was excited and full of enthusiasm. She 
 had participated in a fight under the lead 
 of the gallantest of cavaliers, and she had borne 
 herself under fire in a way that had won his 
 admiration. That admiration found expression 
 in a hundred ways, and chiefly in pressing offers 
 of service. Before their parting he said to her : 
 
 " Now, my dear Miss Agatha, you really must 
 let me do you some favour. I want to cherish the 
 memory of this day's glorious ride, and I want 
 to render you some service, the memory of which 
 may serve as a souvenir. What shall it be ? " 
 
 At that moment there came to Agatha's mind 
 one of those inspirations that come to all of us 
 at times, quite without consciousness of whence 
 they come or why. She answered : 
 
 :t You are already doing everything for me, 
 
 187 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 General. You have sanctioned an enterprise on 
 which I have set my heart, and you have done 
 all you could to make it successful. You gave 
 me for dinner to-day the very best ear of green 
 corn that I ever tasted. You have personally and 
 very gallantly escorted me back here to Fairfax 
 Court-house, and on the way you have got up 
 for me the most dramatic bit of action that I 
 ever saw. I am convinced that you did it only 
 for my entertainment, and I am truly grateful." 
 Then with a sudden access of intense seriousness, 
 she added, " And you have opened a way to me 
 to render that service to my country which I had 
 planned. Never, so long as you live, and I 
 hope that may be long for Virginia's sake, 
 will you know or imagine how great a service you 
 have rendered me in this. But you insist upon 
 doing more. You insist that I shall crave a boon 
 at your hands. Very well; I will do so.'' 
 
 With that readiness of response which charac- 
 terised everything that Stuart did, he seized the 
 opportunity offered, and broke into Agatha's sen- 
 tence with the answer : 
 
 " Of course I insist. What is it that I may 
 do?" 
 
 1 88 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " I want you to secure a captain's commission, 
 then, for Sergeant-Major Baillie Pegram. You 
 know all about his family. He volunteered as a 
 private. He was promoted to be sergeant-major 
 by Stonewall Jackson's own request, in recogni- 
 tion of his good conduct. He was terribly 
 wounded at Manassas, mentioned in general 
 orders, and strongly recommended for promo- 
 tion for gallantry on the field. My aunts write 
 to me " here Agatha fibbed a little, as a woman 
 is permitted to do under circumstances that might 
 otherwise compromise her dignity, for it was not 
 her aunts, but a highly intelligent negro maid in 
 their service who kept the young lady informed 
 as to Baillie Pegram's condition " my aunts 
 tell me he is getting well again, and will soon be 
 ready for duty.'* 
 
 " What is his arm ? " asked Stuart, eagerly. 
 
 " Light artillery," Agatha answered. 
 
 "Has he influence?" 
 
 " How do you mean ? " 
 
 " Could he get men to enlist? " 
 
 " Why, of course. He's the master of War- 
 lock, you know." 
 
 Then with a little touch of embarrassment, she 
 
 189 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 added, " I mean he is the head of one of the 
 great families, and they always have influence." 
 
 " O, yes, of course," Stuart answered. " I 
 see the situation clearly. Will you say to Mr. 
 Pegram Sergeant-Major Pegram, I mean 
 that I have authority from the War Department 
 to raise three companies of flying artillery, with 
 the men all mounted, to serve with the cavalry, 
 and that if he can form such a company, 
 of fifty or seventy-five men, or better still a 
 hundred men I will secure him a captain's 
 commission with authority to do so ? " 
 
 " But, General," said the girl, quickly, and in 
 manifest fright, " I do not correspond with Mr. 
 Pegram. In fact we are very nearly strangers." 
 
 " O, I see," answered the cavalier, with a 
 twinkle in his eyes. " How long has it been since 
 you and this gallant young gentleman arranged 
 to be ' very nearly strangers ? ' 
 
 " O, you entirely mistake, General," the girl 
 quickly answered. " Really and truly I never 
 knew Mr. Pegram very well; but he wore a red 
 feather of mine at the battle of Manassas, and 
 afterward he sent it back to me and well, any- 
 how he proved his gallantry and he really ought 
 IQO 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 to be something more than a sergeant-major, don't 
 you think?" 
 
 For answer Stuart made a sweeping bow, re- 
 moving his hat and saying : " Concerning Ser- 
 geant-Major Baillie Pegram, I think whatever 
 you think. Anyhow, as he had the good taste to 
 wear your red feather, and as he has fought well 
 enough to secure a wound and a mention in 
 general orders and your personal approval, he 
 shall be a captain if he wants to be. Give me 
 his address, and you need not have any corre- 
 spondence with him." 
 
 " I'll write it," she answered, " if you'll excuse 
 me for a moment," and with that she retired 
 within doors for they had been standing in 
 the porch in a rage of vexation with herself. 
 She hastily sponged off her inflamed face with 
 cold water, dried it, and loosely twisted up her 
 errant hair, which had run riot over her neck 
 and shoulders ever since the little encounter with 
 the enemy. Then she scribbled Baillie Pegram's 
 Warlock address on a scrap of paper and returned 
 to Stuart's presence, with the mien and bearing 
 of a queen. 
 
 The cavalier's face was rippling all over with 
 
 191 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 smiles as he bade her adieu, wished her Godspeed 
 in her enterprise, and turned away. At the steps 
 he faced about, and advancing said to her : 
 " When do you wish to return to Fauquier ? " 
 " I shall go home to-morrow morning," she 
 answered. 
 
 " You travel in your own carriage, of course ? " 
 " Yes, and my maid is with me." 
 " Very well," he answered. " At sunrise a 
 platoon under command of a trusty officer will 
 report here and serve as your escort." 
 
 " But, General, surely that is not necessary." 
 
 " Not necessary, perhaps," was the answer, 
 
 " but it pleases me to have it so, and you'll indulge 
 
 my fancy, I am sure. I hope to have you as my 
 
 prisoner before many moons have passed." 
 
 She understood, and with a rippling smile she 
 replied : 
 
 " Thank you, and good-bye. I shall certainly 
 enjoy my next ear of green corn if I am permitted 
 to take it in your company, under some tree that 
 you have honoured by making it your head- 
 quarters." 
 
 " O, my ravenous cavalrymen will have eaten 
 up all the green corn long before that time; but 
 192 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 I'll give you a dinner if I have to raid a Federal 
 picket-post to get it." 
 
 With that he sprang into his saddle, waved a 
 farewell, and rode away singing: 
 
 "If you want to have a good time, 
 Jine the cavalry, 
 Jine the cavalry, 
 Jine the cavalry, 
 
 If you want to have a good time, 
 Jine the cavalry, 
 Jine the cav-al-ry." 
 
 It was Stuart's boast at that time that he knew 
 the face and name of every man in his old first 
 regiment, and he afterward extended this boast 
 to include all the men in the first brigade of 
 Virginia Cavalry. He used to say : " I ought 
 to remember those fellows; they made me a 
 major-general." 
 
 But however well Stuart knew his men, with 
 whom he fraternised in a way very unusual to 
 most officers bred in the regular army, as he had 
 been, nobody ever pretended to know him well 
 enough to guess with any accuracy what he would 
 do next under any given circumstances. On this 
 occasion he had not brought his staff with him, 
 but that made small difference with an officer of 
 
 193 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 his temper, whose habit of mind it was to dis- 
 regard forms and ceremonies, and to go straight 
 to his purpose, whatever it might happen to be. 
 When he left Agatha, he rode at once to the 
 camp of a detached company and asked for its 
 captain. To him he said : 
 
 " Send couriers to all the cavalry camps, and 
 say that General Stuart orders the entire force 
 to report in front at once." 
 
 He designated three roads and four bridle- 
 paths by which the commands were to move ; and 
 three or four points of rendezvous. Then he 
 added : 
 
 "Let the men move light no baggage or 
 blankets or anything else but arms and ammuni- 
 tion." 
 
 A moment later he met Colonel Fitzhugh Lee, 
 who had succeeded him in command of the old 
 first regiment, " my Mamelukes," as Stuart 
 loved to call them. The two grasped hands, and 
 Stuart said : " I've ordered everybody to the 
 front. You are to take command on the left. 
 We must drive the Federal pickets back from all 
 their advanced posts. They are growing impu- 
 dent. They fired at a lady under my personal 
 194 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 escort to-day. We must teach them not to repeat 
 that." 
 
 Of course the men who had done the firing 
 in question had no means of knowing that there 
 was a woman among the assailed, and Stuart 
 knew the fact very well. But he chose to regard 
 whatever happened as something intended. 
 
 Turning from Lee, he galloped to the camp of 
 some batteries, and said to the officer in command : 
 
 " I wish you'd lend me a couple of guns or so 
 for the afternoon. I've some work to do. Send 
 them out along the Falls Church road. I'll not 
 have to go borrowing guns after a little while. 
 I'll have some mounted batteries of my own." 
 
 The officer addressed issued the necessary 
 orders as quietly as a gentleman in his own house 
 might bid a servant bring a glass of water for a 
 thirsty guest. No questions were asked on either 
 side, and no explanations offered. It is not the 
 military fashion to ask unnecessary questions or 
 to give needless explanations. 
 
 By this time the cavalry regiments were 
 streaming by on their hurried way to the front, 
 saluting Stuart as they passed, and now and then 
 cheering, as they were apt to do when they saw 
 
 195 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 their gallant leader. He in his turn nodded and 
 bowed in acknowledgment, and now and then 
 called out t a cheery word of greeting. He would 
 be at the head of all these fellows presently, and 
 they knew that " the performance would not 
 begin," as they were in the habit of saying, till 
 he should be there to lead. But meanwhile he 
 had something else to attend to, for Stuart never 
 forgot anything that he wanted to remember, 
 however engrossingly he might be engaged with 
 other affairs. Riding up to a tent before which 
 Colonel Field was standing awaiting his horse, 
 he asked: 
 
 " Is your adjutant with you, Field?" 
 
 " No he has gone on with orders, but his 
 orderly is here, General." 
 
 " That will do as well." Then turning to the 
 orderly, who had appeared, he said: 
 
 " Take down a paper from dictation, please. 
 When it is written out, bring it to me at the front 
 for signature." 
 
 The dictation was as follows : 
 
 " General J. E. B. Stuart, commanding the 
 cavalry, respectfully reports that in pursuance of 
 the authorisation of the War Department, he has 
 196 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 selected Sergeant-Major Baillie Pegram, of 's 
 
 battery, as one of the persons to be commissioned 
 captain of artillery and authorised to raise a 
 mounted battery to serve with the cavalry. Gen- 
 eral Stuart begs to report that Sergeant-Major 
 Pegram's character and qualifications are abun- 
 dantly certified, and that he has already been men- 
 tioned in general orders and recommended for 
 promotion for conspicuous gallantry in the battle 
 of Manassas. He is at present at his home, 
 recovering from a severe wound received in that 
 action. All of which is respectfully submitted." 
 
 " There ! " said Stuart, when the dictation was 
 done. " Write that out, fold and indorse it 
 properly, and bring it to me at the front for 
 signature. Then forward it through the regular 
 channels." 
 
 Then Stuart put spurs to his horse, and gal- 
 loped to the front. There he made hurried dis- 
 position of the various commands, and half an 
 hour later hurled his whole force precipitately 
 upon all the Federal outposts on the ten-mile line. 
 The onset was sudden and resistless, and within 
 a brief while every picket-post of the enemy was 
 
 197 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 abandoned, and a new line of observation estab- 
 lished many miles nearer to Washington City. 
 
 With that tireless energy and that sleepless 
 vigilance in attention to details which always char- 
 acterised the conduct of this typical chevalier, Stu- 
 art spent the entire night following this day's work 
 in visiting his new outposts, from one end of 
 the line to the other. Yet when morning came 
 he breakfasted upon an ear of raw corn and a 
 laugh, and rode on to Munson's Hill to learn 
 what signals had been received from his agents 
 in Washington during the night. 
 
 198 
 
XIV 
 
 QUICK WORK 
 
 IT was a warm, soft day in autumn, joyous 
 in its sunshine, sad in its suggestions of the 
 year's decay. Baillie Pegram, now nearly well 
 again, but still lacking strength, was lolling on 
 the closely clipped sward under one of the great 
 trees at Warlock, chatting disjointedly with Mar- 
 shall Pollardj who had got away again on a few 
 days' leave of absence, for the purpose of visiting 
 his friend. Baillie had already written to his cap- 
 tain, reporting himself as nearly well again, 
 expressing regret at his long absence from duty, 
 and announcing his purpose of rejoining the bat- 
 tery within a week or ten days at furthest "at 
 the earliest time," he said, " when I can persuade 
 the surgeons to release me from their clutches." 
 This was likely, therefore, to be the last meeting 
 between the two friends for many moons to come. 
 "Tell me about yourself, old fellow," said 
 
 I 9 9 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Baillie, after a pause in the conversation. " How 
 do you like your service in that battery of ruf- 
 fians?" 
 
 " Thoroughly well. They're not half-bad 
 fellows when kept under military discipline, and 
 I've enjoyed studying them psychologically. I'm 
 convinced that the only reason society has failed 
 so consummately in its attempts to deal with the 
 criminal class is that it hasn't taken pains to 
 understand them or find out their point of view. 
 We really haven't taken pains enough even to 
 classify them, or to find out the differences there 
 are among them. We class them all together 
 all who violate the law and call them crimi- 
 nals, and proceed to deal with them as if they 
 were a totally different species from ourselves, 
 whereas, in point of fact, they are ' men like unto 
 ourselves/ with like passions and desires and 
 impulses. The only real difference is that circum- 
 stances and education and association have taught 
 us to curb our passions and hold our impulses in 
 check, while they have run wild, obeying those 
 instincts which are born in all of us. 
 
 " They are usually very generous fellows 
 impulsive, affectionate, and loyal to such friend- 
 20O 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 ships as they know. If you discovered any wrong 
 being done to me, or heard any unjust accusa- 
 tion made against me, you'd resist and resent 
 instantly. But you'd know precisely how far and 
 in what direction to carry your resentment, while 
 these fellows do not know anything except the 
 instincts of a righteous wrath. There isn't a 
 man in Skinner's Battery who wouldn't be quick 
 to stand for me and by me. But in doing so 
 he would calmly kill the man who injured me, 
 and never be able to understand why he must be 
 hanged for doing so. 
 
 " Most of them have been made hardened 
 criminals solely by society's blundering way of 
 dealing with them. It has sent them to jail, 
 for small first offences, committed in ignorance 
 perhaps. It has thus declared war upon them, 
 and with the instincts of manhood they have 
 taken up the gage of battle. In other words, it is 
 my sincere belief that quite nine in ten of the 
 criminal class are criminal only because of 
 society's neglect at first and blundering after- 
 ward. They need education and discipline; we 
 give them resentful punishment instead, and there 
 is a world of difference between the two things. 
 
 201 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " However, I did not mean to deliver a lecture 
 on penology. And after all I am no longer one 
 of the ruffians, you know. All the officers of 
 the battery are gentlemen, while none of the men 
 happens to be anything of the kind. There is, 
 therefore, as sharp a line of demarcation drawn 
 in our battery, between officers and enlisted men, 
 as there is in any regular army. This makes 
 things pleasant for the officers, and I fancy they 
 are not unpleasant for the men. It is a case of 
 aristocracy where the upper class enjoys itself 
 and the lower class is content. It is quite differ- 
 ent from service in an ordinary Confederate com- 
 pany of volunteers. There the enlisted men are 
 socially quite as good as their officers and some- 
 times distinctly better. Under such circumstances 
 it is difficult to maintain more of distinction and 
 discipline than the enlisted men may voluntarily 
 consent to. Socially, with us Southern people, it 
 is quite as honourable to be an enlisted man in 
 such a battery as yours as to be a commissioned 
 officer. That's a good enough thing in its way, 
 but it isn't military, and it is distinctly bad for 
 the service." 
 
 " I don't know so well about that," said Baillie. 
 2O2 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " We have at least the advantage of knowing that, 
 discipline or no discipline, every man in the ranks, 
 equally with every officer, has a personal reputa- 
 tion at home to sustain by good conduct. Even 
 your desperadoes couldn't fight better than the 
 young fellows I had with me on the skirmish-line 
 at Manassas, though they had never had anything 
 resembling discipline to sustain them. Every 
 man of them knew that if he ' flunked ' he could 
 never go home again unless all flunked at once 
 and so kept each other company. That very 
 nearly happened while we were falling back 
 across Bull Run." 
 
 " Precisely. And it happened to the whole 
 Federal army a few hours later. Discipline, with 
 a ready pistol-shot behind it, would have pre- 
 vented that in both cases. ' Man's a queer ani- 
 mal,' you know, if you remember your reading, 
 and one of the queerest things about him is that 
 when he has once accustomed himself to accept 
 orders unquestioningly, and to obey them blindly, 
 as every soldier does in drilling, he becomes far 
 more afraid of mere orders than he is of the 
 heaviest fire. Personal courage and high spirit 
 among the men are admirable in their way, but 
 
 203 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 for the purposes of battle, discipline and the habit 
 of blind obedience are very much more trust- 
 worthy. If you want to make soldiers of men, 
 you must teach them, morning, noon, and night, 
 that blind, unquestioning obedience is the only 
 virtue they can cultivate. That isn't good for the 
 personal characters of the men, of course, but it is 
 necessary in the case of soldiers, and our volun- 
 teers will all of them have to learn the lesson be- 
 fore this war is over. More's the pity, for I can't 
 imagine how a whole nation of men so trained 
 to submission can ever again become a nation 
 of oh, confound it ! I'm running off again into 
 a psychological speculation. Fortunately, here 
 comes a letter for you." 
 
 A servant approached, bearing upon a tray a 
 missive from The Oaks ladies, which had been 
 delivered at the house a few minutes earlier. The 
 grand dames assured Mr. Baillie Pegram of 
 their highest respect and esteem, but suggested 
 that, to the very great satisfaction of the anxiety 
 they had so long felt on his account, they were 
 convinced by his assurances to that effect, that he 
 was now so far advanced on the road to complete 
 recovery as perhaps to excuse them from the 
 204 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 necessity of making their thrice a week journey to 
 Warlock to inquire concerning his welfare. If 
 they were mistaken in this assumption, would not 
 Mr. Baillie Pegram kindly notify them? And if 
 the daily inquiries which they intended to make 
 hereafter through a trusty servant, should at any 
 moment bring to them news of a relapse, they 
 would instantly resume their personal and most 
 solicitous inquiries. 
 
 To this Baillie laughingly wrote a reply equally 
 formal, in which he assured the good ladies that 
 their tender concern for him during his illness 
 had been a chief factor in a recovery which was 
 now practically complete. 
 
 Meantime Sam had come with the mail-pouch 
 from the post-office, and it held two letters for 
 Baillie. 
 
 One of these was a formal and official com- 
 munication from the War Department, inform- 
 ing him that upon General J. E. B. Stuart's rec- 
 ommendation, he had been appointed captain of 
 artillery with authority to raise a mounted battery 
 of from fifty to one hundred men, for service with 
 the cavalry. His commission, dating from the 
 day of his wound at Manassas, accompanied the 
 
 205 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 document, and with it an order for him to pro- 
 ceed, as soon as he should be fit for service, to 
 enlist and organise the company thus authorised, 
 and to make the proper requisitions for arms and 
 equipments. 
 
 Baillie's second letter was a personal one from 
 Stuart. It was scribbled in pencil on the envel- 
 opes of some old letters and such other fragments 
 of paper as the cavalier could command at some 
 picket-post. It read : 
 
 " I have asked the War Department to com- 
 mission you as a captain, to raise a company of 
 mounted artillery to serve with me in front. I 
 understand that you have a healthy liking for the 
 front. The War Department lets me choose my 
 own men for this service, and I have chosen you 
 first, for several reasons. One is that you know 
 what to do with a gun. Another is that you 
 fought so well at Manassas. Another is that you 
 are very strongly recommended to me by a person 
 whose judgment is absolutely conclusive to my 
 mind. 
 
 " Now get to work as quickly as you can. 
 Enrol fifty or seventy-five, or better still a hun- 
 dred men if you can find them. Put them in 
 2O6 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 camp and instruct them, and report to me the 
 moment you are ready. Make requisition for 
 guns six of them if you can secure a hundred 
 men and drill your men at the piece. For 
 a hundred men in mounted artillery you will need 
 about 170 horses 100 for the cannoniers to ride 
 and 70 for the guns, etc. There is likely to be 
 your difficulty. Can't you help yourself out a 
 bit? I am told that you have influence. Can't 
 you persuade your neighbours to contribute some 
 at least of the horses you need ? The quicker your 
 battery is horsed the quicker you'll get a chance 
 to practise your men in gunnery with the 
 enemy for a target. Please send me a personal 
 line, telling me how soon you will be ready to 
 join me. It will take a month or two, of course, 
 but I hope it won't take more." 
 
 Twelve hours later Baillie Pegram sent an 
 answer to General Stuart's letter. In it he said : 
 
 " Thank you. I'll have the men and the horses 
 within twenty-four hours. If the guns are 
 promptly forthcoming on my requisition, I'll be 
 ready within two days to receive orders to join 
 you. As for drill, I can attend to that in front 
 
 207 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 of Washington as well as in camp of instruction 
 at Richmond.'' 
 
 But before sending that note, which delighted 
 Stuart's soul when it came, Baillie Pegram had 
 done a world of earnest work. 
 
 First of all there was the problem of getting 
 the men. The able-bodied citizens of the county 
 had already volunteered for the most part, but 
 some were still waiting for one reason or an- 
 other, and Baillie, who knew everybody, sent 
 hurried notes to all of these, by special negro 
 messengers, asking each to send an immediate 
 reply to him at the Court-house. On this service 
 he employed all his young negroes, mounting 
 them on all his mules. The men appealed to 
 responded almost to a man, for the master of 
 Warlock was a man under whose command his 
 neighbours eagerly wanted to serve, and Baillie 
 found more than half of them awaiting him 
 at the county seat, when he got there in mid- 
 afternoon. 
 
 Still better, he found a messenger there from 
 
 one of the men whom he had summoned. This 
 
 messenger came from a camp at a little distance, 
 
 where were assembled about sixty or seventy men 
 
 208 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 and boys peculiarly situated. These men and 
 boys had belonged to a company composed mainly 
 of college students, which had gone out with the 
 earliest volunteers. The company had been cap- 
 tured at Rich Mountain, and the men composing 
 it had been sent home on parole. Within the 
 two days preceding Baillie Pegram's call for 
 volunteers, official notification had come of the 
 discharge of all these men from parole by virtue 
 of an exchange of prisoners. Thereupon the men, 
 thus left free to volunteer again, had met in 
 camp to consider what should be done. Their 
 company had been officially disbanded, and there 
 were now not enough of them left to secure its 
 reorganisation. When Baillie Pegram's call for 
 volunteers came, therefore, the men were called 
 together, and in pursuance of a resolution, unani- 
 mously adopted, a messenger was sent to the 
 Court-house to say that sixty-two men of the 
 disbanded company offered themselves for enrol- 
 ment under Captain Pegram, and that they would 
 report for duty on the following morning at the 
 Court-house. 
 
 Thus before four o'clock Baillie was assured of 
 his hundred men or more. The next problem 
 
 209 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 was to secure horses. He called together such of 
 his men as were present, and said : 
 
 " Each of you is mounted. We shall need your 
 horses. The government will have them valued, 
 and will pay the assessed price for any that may 
 die in the service. It will pay monthly for their 
 services. How many of you will enlist your 
 horses as well as yourselves, as all our cavalry- 
 men have done?" 
 
 The response was general, and many of the 
 planters offered additional horses on the same 
 terms, so that before night fell Baillie Pegram 
 had more than a hundred men and about a hun- 
 dred and thirty horses secured. Forty or fifty 
 more horses must be had, but Baillie knew how 
 to secure them, and so he sent off his note to 
 Stuart. Then he turned to Marshall Pollard, and 
 said: 
 
 "I want you to go to Richmond by the midnight 
 train, old fellow, and return by the noonday train 
 to-morrow. I've a mind to complete this business 
 at a stroke. I've a few thousand dollars in bank 
 and a few thousand more in the hands of my 
 commission merchant. The money is worth its 
 face now. Heaven only knows what it will be 
 2IO 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 worth a year hence. I'm going to spend it now 
 for the rest of the horses I need, and I want you 
 to go to Richmond and bring it to me. In the 
 meanwhile I'll bargain with a drover who is not 
 very far away, for the horses." 
 
 Then, weak as he was, Baillie planned to ride 
 the dozen miles that lay between the Court-house 
 and the point where the drover was camping with 
 his horses, but one of his friends, who had just 
 enlisted with him, bade him to go to the tavern 
 and to bed, saying: 
 
 " I'll have the drover and his horses here before 
 noon to-morrow, and I shall know something 
 about the horses by that time, too, for I'll come 
 back in company with them, and I'll keep my eyes 
 open." 
 
 No sooner was Baillie comfortably stretched 
 upon a lounge in his hotel room, than Sam pre- 
 sented himself. 
 
 " Mas' Baillie," the negro boy broke in, without 
 waiting for his master to ask how he came to be 
 there, " Mas' Baillie, you's a-gwine to be one o' 
 de officers now, jes' as you ought to ha' been 
 fust off. Now you'll need Sam wid you, won't 
 you?" 
 
 211 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 "I'll need somebody, I suppose," the young man 
 answered, with a laugh at Sam's enthusiasm, 
 " but if I , take you along where I am going, 
 you'll stand a mighty good chance of getting a 
 bullet-hole through you, or having your black 
 head knocked off your shoulders by a shell. 
 Have you thought of that ? " 
 
 " Co'se I'se thought o' dat, an' I ain't de leas' 
 bit afeard nuther. I'se a Pegram nigga from 
 Warlock, I is, an' a Pegram nigga from Warlock 
 ain't got no more business to be afeared o' bullets 
 when his duty brings 'em in his way, dan a white 
 folks Pegram hisself is. Ef ye'll jes' take Sam 
 along of you, you sha'n't never have no 'casion 
 to be shamed o' yer servant." 
 
 :( Very well, Sam," answered the master ; " now 
 go back to Warlock, and tell your mammy you're 
 going to the war. By the way, you may have 
 that old velveteen and corduroy hunting suit of 
 mine to wear. Get it from the closet in the 
 chamber, and tell your mammy to shorten the 
 trousers legs by seven or eight inches." 
 
 Sam was fairly dancing for joy, and as he 
 mounted his mule for the homeward journey, he 
 began to sing a dismal ditty which he had com- 
 212 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 posed as an expression of his feelings at the time 
 of his master's first departure from Warlock to 
 serve as a soldier. Unhappily only a fragment 
 of the song remains to us. It began : 
 
 " Dey ain't no sun in de mawning, 
 
 Dey ain't no moon shine in de night, 
 'Case the war's done come an' de mahstah's done gone, 
 Fer to git hisse'f killed in de fight. 
 
 "Oh, Moses! 
 Holy Moses! 
 
 Can't you come back 'cross de ribber? 
 Can't you let Gabrel blow his horn ? " 
 
 What lines were to follow, and what words 
 rhymed with " ribber " and " horn," we are not 
 permitted to know. For at this point, Sam, whose 
 self-education included a considerable proficiency 
 in profanity, broke off his singing, reined in his 
 mule, and said: 
 
 " Dat's too dam dismal fer 'de 'casion ! " Then 
 addressing the mule, he reproachfully asked: 
 
 " What for you done let me sing dat ? Don* 
 you know Sam's a-gwine to de wah wid Mas' 
 Baillie?" 
 
 As the mule made no reply, the conversation 
 ceased at this point, and the remainder of the 
 homeward journey was made in complete silence. 
 
 213 
 
XV 
 
 AGATHAS VENTURE 
 
 AFTER a month or two of cautious corre- 
 spondence with friends and others who 
 were to aid her in carrying out her pur- 
 pose, Agatha Ronald set out one day, and drove 
 with Martha, her maid, to Winchester, where she 
 had friends. After a week's stay there, she made 
 her way to a little town on the Potomac, again 
 taking up quarters with friends. 
 
 From this point, she communicated through 
 her friends with intimates of theirs who lived 
 in Maryland. Finally she had arrangements 
 made by which a succession of houses was open 
 to her, all of them the homes of people strongly 
 in sympathy with the South. But she must first 
 manage to get through the Federal lines unob- 
 served, and in this a Federal commander unwit- 
 tingly aided her. He threw a small force one 
 day into the little town in which she was staying, 
 
 214 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 meaning to hold possession of it as a part of the 
 loosely drawn lines on the upper river. This left 
 Agatha within Federal domain a young gen- 
 tlewoman visiting friends, and in no way attract- 
 ing attention to herself. Presently she moved 
 on into Maryland, and by short stages made her 
 way to the house of a very ardent Southern fam- 
 ily, near the Pennsylvania border. From there 
 it was easy for her to go to Harrisburg, and 
 thence by rail to Baltimore. 
 
 The chief purpose of her journey was now 
 practically accomplished. She had established 
 what she called her " underground railroad," with 
 a multitude of stations, and a very roundabout 
 route. But it would serve its purpose all the better 
 for that, she thought, as the chief condition of its 
 successful operation was that its existence should 
 at no time be suspected. 
 
 In Baltimore, proceeding with the utmost cau- 
 tion, she put herself into indirect communica- 
 tion with a large number of " Dixie girls " as 
 young women in that city whose hearts were 
 with the South were called. It would not do for 
 her to meet these young women personally. That 
 might excite suspicion, especially as most of them 
 
 215 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 had brothers in the Southern army. But through 
 others she succeeded in organising them secretly 
 into a band prepared to do her work. 
 
 That work was the purchase of medicines 
 chiefly morphine and quinine and the smug- 
 gling of them through the lines into the Confed- 
 eracy for the use of the armies there. For it is one 
 of the barbarisms of war which civilisation has not 
 yet outgrown, that medicines, even those which are 
 imperatively necessary for the saving of life and 
 the prevention of suffering, are held to be as 
 strictly contraband as gunpowder itself is. 
 
 Agatha's plan was to have her associates in 
 Baltimore purchase medicines and surgical appli- 
 ances in that city and elsewhere buying only 
 in small quantities in each case, in order to avoid 
 suspicion, but buying large quantities in the ag- 
 gregate and forward them to her in Virginia 
 by way of her underground railroad; that is to 
 say, passing them from hand to hand over the 
 route by which she had herself reached Baltimore. 
 
 Having perfected these arrangements, her next 
 
 task was herself to get back to her home, whither 
 
 she did not mean to go empty-handed. She had 
 
 gowns made for herself and Martha, using two 
 
 2l6 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 thicknesses of oiled silk as interlining'. Between 
 these she bestowed as much morphia as could be 
 placed there without attracting attention. 
 
 This done, she was ready for her return jour- 
 ney, which presented extraordinary difficulty. She 
 could not return by the way she had come, lest the 
 purpose of her journey should be discovered, and 
 her plans for the future be thwarted. She must 
 find some other way. 
 
 At first she thought of making her way south- 
 ward to the lower reaches of the Potomac, and 
 depending upon chance for means of getting 
 across the river there, but this was rendered im- 
 practicable by the news that the Confederates had 
 retired from their advanced outposts to Ma- 
 nassas and Centreville, with the Fairfax Court- 
 house line as their extreme advance position. This 
 meant, of course, that they no longer held in 
 any considerable force the posts along the lower 
 river. Moreover, Agatha learned that both the 
 Potomac below Washington, and the navigable 
 part of the Rappahannock were closely patrolled 
 now, by night and by day, by a numerous fleet of 
 big and little Federal war-ships. There seemed no 
 course open to her but to try in some way to get 
 
 217 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 through to Stuart's pickets, if in any way or at 
 any risk she could manage that. That she deter- 
 mined to attempt. 
 
 Her first step was to visit friends on the Poto- 
 mac above Washington. There she learned 
 minutely what the situation was. With some diffi- 
 culty she secured permission to go as a guest to a 
 house near Falls Church, in Virginia. She had 
 hoped there to find Confederate picket-posts, and 
 to work her way to some one of them by stealth or 
 strategy, or by boldly taking risks. She found 
 instead that the nearest Confederate outpost was 
 at Fairfax Court-house, nine miles away, while 
 the inner Federal lines lay on the route from 
 Falls Church to Vienna, and stretched both ways 
 from those points. Stuart was no longer at 
 Mason's and Munson's Hills. With the approach 
 of winter the Confederates had retired to their 
 fortified line, and Stuart, with the cavalry, had 
 established himself at Camp Cooper and other 
 camps, three or four miles in rear of the Fairfax 
 Court-house line, which now constituted his ex- 
 treme advance. 
 
 Moreover, the Federal army, under McClellan's 
 skilled and vigilant command, had been com- 
 
 218 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 pletely reorganised, drilled, disciplined, and con- 
 verted from the chaotic mass described in his 
 report quoted in a former chapter into an 
 alert and trustworthy army, destined, during 
 later campaigns, to cover itself with glory. At 
 present, McClellan, who had no thought of ad- 
 vancing upon Centreville and Manassas, where 
 the Confederates were strongly fortified, was at 
 any rate manifesting spirit by continually pressing 
 the Confederate outposts, and now and then mak- 
 ing considerable demonstrations against them. 
 
 His inner picket-lines, as already explained, 
 were drawn very near the house in which Agatha 
 was sojourning. His advanced posts where the 
 skirmishing was frequent were along the Fair- 
 fax Court-house line. Between these two lines 
 lay eight or ten miles of thick and difficult coun- 
 try, held by the Federals, and scouted over every 
 day, but not regularly picketed. 
 
 Thus, instead of a mile or two of difficulty, 
 Agatha had before her ten miles of trouble, with 
 a prospect of worse at the end of it. 
 
 Time and extraordinary care were necessary 
 to meet these new difficulties. Agatha's first 
 problem was to find out all she could of facts, 
 
 219 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 to gather exact and trustworthy information. In 
 this endeavour she had a shrewdly intelligent co- 
 adjutor in Martha. 
 
 By way of avoiding suspicion for the family 
 with whom she was staying were known to be 
 strongly Southern in their sympathies, and the 
 Federal officers had begun to understand the de- 
 voted loyalty of the negroes to the families that 
 owned them Agatha established Martha in a 
 cabin of her own a mile or more from the house. 
 There Martha posed as a free negro woman, who 
 was disposed to make a living for herself by 
 selling fried chickens, biscuits, and pies to the 
 Federal soldiers on the interior picket-lines, and 
 a little later to those posted farther in advance. 
 
 Martha was a sagacious as well as a discreet 
 person. At first she showed a timid reluctance 
 to go farther toward the front than the inner 
 lines from Falls Church to Vienna. While ped- 
 dling her wares there, she took pains to learn all 
 the foot-paths, and the location of all the picket- 
 posts in that region. Then little by little she 
 allowed herself to be persuaded to go farther 
 toward the outer lines, for the soldiers found her 
 
 2 2O 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 fried chicken and her biscuits and her pies par- 
 ticularly alluring. 
 
 It was only after she had mastered both the 
 topography of the country between, and the exact 
 methods of its military occupation, that she so far 
 overcame her assumed timidity as to push on with 
 her basket to the picket-posts immediately in front 
 of Fairfax Court-house itself. She raised her 
 prices as she went, lest by selling out her stock in 
 trade she should leave herself no excuse for going 
 to the extreme front at all. For the same reason 
 she came at last to pass by many posts where she 
 had formerly had good customers, retaining her 
 wares professedly for the sake of the higher prices 
 that the men at the front gladly paid for some- 
 thing better to eat than the contents of their hav- 
 ersacks. 
 
 Within a week or two Martha had learned and 
 reported to her mistress quite all that any officer 
 on either side knew of the country, its roads, its 
 foot-paths, its difficulties, and the opportunities 
 it afforded. In the middle of every night, Martha 
 made her way to her mistress, or her mistress 
 made her way to Martha, until at last, Agatha, 
 who had directed her inquiries, was equipped with 
 
 221 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 all necessary information, and ready for her 
 supreme endeavour. It involved much of dan- 
 ger and incredible difficulty. But the courageous 
 young woman was prepared to meet both danger 
 and difficulty with an equable mind. She knew 
 now whither she was going and how, but the 
 journey through a difficult country must be made 
 wholly on foot and wholly by night. 
 
 Agatha was ready for the ordeal. As for 
 Martha, the earth to the very ends of it held no 
 terrors that could cause even hesitation on her 
 part in the service of her mistress. 
 
 222 
 
XVI 
 
 CANISTER 
 
 IT was a little after midnight when Agatha and 
 her maid, stripped of all belongings that could 
 impede them on their way, set out on foot 
 upon their perilous journey. Agatha was delib- 
 erately exposing herself to far worse dangers than 
 any that the soldier is called upon to brave in the 
 work of war. She could carry little in the way 
 of food, and of course could not replenish her 
 supplies until she should succeed in entering the 
 Confederate lines, if indeed that purpose were 
 not hopeless of accomplishment at all. But the 
 danger of starvation which these conditions in- 
 volved, was the very least of the perils she must 
 encounter. At any moment of her stealthy prog- 
 ress she might be shot by a sentinel. Far worse 
 than that, she might be seized with her telltale 
 medicines upon her person, while hiding within 
 the forbidden lines of the enemy. In that case, 
 
 223 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 there would be no question whatever as to her 
 status in military law, or as to her fate. If 
 she should fall into the enemy's hands under 
 such circumstances, by forcible capture or even 
 by voluntary surrender, she must certainly be 
 hanged as a spy. She was armed against that 
 danger only by the possession of the means of 
 instant self-destruction, her little six-shooter. 
 
 It was comparatively easy for her to find her 
 way during the first night, through the slender 
 interior picket-line, and into the forbidden region 
 that lay between that and the outposts in front. 
 Every roadway leading toward the Confederate 
 positions was, of course, securely guarded, and 
 all of them were thus completely closed to 
 Agatha's use. She must steal through the 
 thickets of underbrush that lay between the roads, 
 making such progress as she could without at any 
 time placing herself within sight or hearing of 
 a sentinel. Sometimes this involved prolonged 
 waiting in constrained positions, and several times 
 she narrowly missed discovery. 
 
 When morning came, the pair of women hid 
 themselves between two logs that lay in a dense 
 thicket, and there they remained throughout the 
 224 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 daylight hours. There, too, before noon, they 
 consumed the last fragments of their food. 
 
 During the next night they made small prog- 
 ress. They succeeded, indeed, in crossing a deep 
 and muddy creek that lay in front of them, but 
 it was only to find themselves confronted by a 
 roadway, which ran athwart their line of march, 
 and which, on this night, at least, was heavily 
 picketed and constantly patrolled by scouting 
 squads of cavalry. 
 
 Agatha crept on her hands and knees, and quite 
 noiselessly, to a point from which she could make 
 out the situation, and there the pair remained in 
 hiding among the weeds and bushes that skirted 
 an old and partially destroyed fence, until day- 
 light came again. 
 
 With the daylight came a considerable thin- 
 ning of the line of videttes in front, and toward 
 nightfall, after a day of toilsome crawling back 
 and forth in search of a way of escape, the two 
 women succeeded in crossing the road unob- 
 served. After crawling for a hundred yards 
 or so beyond the road, they hid themselves as 
 securely as they could, and waited for night to 
 come again. 
 
 225 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 They were suffering the pangs of excessive 
 hunger and thirst now, and gnawing roots and 
 twigs by way of appeasing the terrible craving. 
 It was obvious to Agatha that this night must 
 make an end of her attempt in one way or another. 
 She must reach the Confederate lines before the 
 coming of another day, or both she and her 
 companion must perish of hunger, or surrender 
 themselves and be hanged. She suggested this 
 thought to Martha, whose only answer was : 
 
 " Anyhow, you'se got your pistol, Miss Aga- 
 tha." 
 
 There were still two miles or more to go before 
 reaching the little patch of briars and young 
 chestnut-trees just in front of the Fairfax Court- 
 house village, which was Agatha's objective. 
 During her peddling trips, Martha had learned 
 that Federal sharpshooters were thrown into this 
 thicket every night, usually between midnight 
 and morning, for the purpose of annoying the 
 Confederate pickets, stationed not fifty yards 
 away. She had learned, too, that nearly every 
 morning, about daylight, the Confederates were 
 accustomed to rid themselves of the annoyance 
 by sending out a cavalry force to charge the 
 226 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 thicket and clear it of its occupants. It was 
 Agatha's plan to hide herself and her maid there, 
 and be captured by Stuart's men when they should 
 come. 
 
 But she could not enter the bushes until the 
 sharpshooters should be in position. Otherwise 
 they would be sure to discover her while placing 
 themselves. As soon as the riflemen had crept 
 to their posts, Agatha, favoured by the unusual 
 darkness of a thickly clouded night, crept to a 
 hiding-place just in rear of the men. There she 
 and Martha lay upon the ground during long 
 hours, well-nigh famished, and suffering severely 
 from cold, for the autumn was now well advanced. 
 
 Unfortunately for Agatha's plan, the Confed- 
 erates had adopted new methods for this night. 
 Instead of ordering cavalry to clear the thicket, 
 they had decided to clear it with canister. Accord- 
 ingly, a battery of artillery had been ordered to 
 the front, and bivouacked half a mile in rear of 
 Fairfax Court-house. Thence just before day- 
 light two guns had been dragged forward by 
 prolonge ropes, and stationed under the trees 
 of a little grove about fifty yards in front of the 
 
 227 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 cover from which the Federal sharpshooters were 
 occasionally firing. 
 
 Just at dawn, these two guns suddenly and 
 furiously opened upon the bushes with canister 
 in double charges. 
 
 The effect was terrific. The bushes were mown 
 down as with a scythe, and it seemed impossible 
 to the two women that any human being should 
 survive the iron hailstorm for a single minute. 
 The sharpshooters scurried away precipitately, 
 one of them actually stumbling over Agatha's 
 prostrate form, which he probably took to be that 
 of some comrade slain. But Agatha and her maid 
 remained, and the fearful fire continued. They 
 remained because there was nothing else for them 
 to do. They could not retreat. They could not 
 surrender. They were starving. They must go 
 forward or die. 
 
 Then the courage and daring of her race came 
 to Agatha's soul, and she resolved to make a last 
 desperate attempt to save herself, not by running 
 away from the fire, which would be worse than 
 useless, but by running into it. The danger in 
 doing this was scarcely greater, in fact, though 
 it seemed so, than that involved in lying still, 
 228 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 but it requires an extraordinary courage for one 
 unarmed and not inspired by the desperate all- 
 daring spirit of battle, to rush upon guns that 
 are belching canister in half-gallon charges, at 
 the rate of three or four times a minute. 
 
 The sharpshooters were completely gone now, 
 and nothing lay between the young woman 
 and her friends except a canister-swept open space 
 fifty yards in width. This the heroic girl 
 baffled of all other resource determined to dare. 
 Directing Martha to follow her closely, she rose 
 and in the gray of the dawn ran like a deer toward 
 the bellowing guns. Fortunately, some one at the 
 guns caught sight of the fleet-footed pair when 
 they had covered about half the distance, and, in 
 the increasing light, saw them to be women. In- 
 stantly the order, " Cease firing ! " was given, 
 and the clamorous cannon were hushed, but a 
 heavy musketry fire from the enemy broke forth 
 just as Agatha and her maid fell exhausted be- 
 tween the guns. A voice of command rang out : 
 
 " Pick up those women, quick, and carry them 
 out of the fire! " Half a dozen of the men re- 
 sponded, and strong arms carried the nearly life- 
 less women to a small depression just in rear, 
 
 229 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 where they were screened from the now slowly 
 slackening shower of bullets. 
 
 When the fire had completely ceased, Captain 
 Baillie Pegram ordered his guns, " By hand to the 
 rear," and rode back to inquire concerning his 
 captives. It was then that he discovered for the 
 first time who the fugitives were, and the horror 
 with which he realised what he supposed to be 
 the situation, set him reeling in his saddle. 
 
 He had heard nothing of Agatha's mission to 
 the north, of course. He now knew only that she 
 had been hiding within the enemy's lines, and only 
 one interpretation of that fact seemed possible. 
 Agatha Ronald the woman he loved, the woman 
 upon whose integrity and Virginianism he would 
 have staked his life without a second thought 
 had turned traitor ! He did not pause to ask him- 
 self how, in such a case, she had come to be in 
 the thicket among the sharpshooters. He was too 
 greatly stunned to think of that, or otherwise to 
 reason clearly. 
 
 Nor did he question her, except to ask if she 
 or her maid had been wounded, and when she 
 assured him of their safety, he said : 
 
 " I don't know whether to thank God for that 
 230 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 or not. It might have been better, perhaps, if both 
 had fallen." 
 
 Agatha heard the remark, and understood in 
 part at least the thought that lay behind it. But 
 she did not reply. She only said, feebly : 
 
 " We are starving." 
 
 " Bring two horses, quickly," Baillie com- 
 manded. " Lieutenant Mills, take the guns back 
 to the bivouac. Our work here is done." 
 
 Then turning to Agatha, he explained : 
 
 " We have no rations here ; can you manage 
 to ride as far as our bivouac? It is only half a 
 mile away, and we'll find something to eat there." 
 
 Agatha's exhaustion was so great that she could 
 scarcely sit up, but she summoned all her reso- 
 lution and managed to hold herself in place on 
 the McClellan saddle which alone was available 
 for her use. Martha was carried by the men on 
 an improvised litter. 
 
 At the bivouac, no food was found except a 
 pone or two of coarse corn bread and a few slices 
 of uncooked bacon. But the delicate girl and 
 her maid devoured these almost greedily, eating 
 the bacon raw in soldier fashion, for, of course, 
 no fires were allowed upon the picket-line. 
 
 231 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Food and rest quickly revived Agatha, and Bail- 
 lie remembered certain very peremptory orders he 
 had received as to his course of procedure should 
 " any woman whatever " come into his lines. 
 
 " I must escort you presently to a safer place 
 than this/' he said. 
 
 " Am I to go under compulsion, Captain Pe- 
 gram," the girl asked, " or of my own accord? " 
 
 " With that," he answered, " I am afraid I 
 have nothing to do. My sole concern is to take 
 you out of danger. It is not my business to ask 
 you questions as to how you have come into 
 danger in a way so peculiar." 
 
 " And yet," she replied, " that is a matter that 
 I suppose requires inquiry, and I am ready for 
 the ordeal." 
 
 The moment she spoke that word, which was 
 the fourth in the series that Stuart had given her, 
 and the one he had selected as a test for this 
 day, Baillie Pegram flinched as if he had been 
 struck, while his face turned white. Hoping that 
 her use of the word had been accidental, or that 
 the emphasis she had placed upon it had been 
 unintended, he asked : 
 
 "What did you say?" 
 232 
 
The .Master of Warlock 
 
 " I said," she responded, very deliberately, 
 " that I am ready for the ordeal." 
 
 The look of consternation on Baillie's face 
 deepened. . Without replying, he walked away in 
 an agitation of mind which he felt must be hidden 
 from others at all costs. Pacing back and forth 
 under screen of some bushes, he tried to think 
 the matter out. Under his orders, he must arrest 
 Agatha and take her to Stuart, who had been 
 more than usually anxious, as Baillie knew, to 
 capture this particular prisoner. But to do that, 
 he felt, must mean Agatha's disgrace and shame- 
 ful death, and the staining of an ancient and 
 honoured name. Yet what else could he do? 
 
 " Would to God ! " he exclaimed, under his 
 breath, " that my canister had done its work 
 better!" 
 
 Then he fell into silence again, questioning 
 himself in the vain hope of finding a way through 
 the blind wall of circumstances. 
 
 "Agatha," he thought, "has been with the 
 enemy, and has been trying to get back again in 
 order to render them some further traitorous ser- 
 vice. Stuart has obviously learned all about the 
 conspiracy in which she had been engaged. That 
 
 233 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 is why he has been so eager for her arrest. That 
 is how he knew what signal-words she would 
 use in ,her endeavour to find some fellow con- 
 spirator among us. But why did she use the 
 word to me. Surely the conspiracy cannot have 
 become so wide-spread among us that she deemed 
 me a person likely to be engaged in it. Perhaps 
 she spoke for other ears than mine, hoping to find 
 a traitor among those who stood by. 
 
 " And the worst of it is that I still love her. 
 Knowing her treachery and her shame, I still can- 
 not change my attitude of mind. What shall I 
 do? I could turn traitor for her sake. I could 
 manage to secure her escape, and then give myself 
 up, confess my crime, and accept the shameful 
 death that it would merit." 
 
 For the space of a minute he lingered over 
 this idea of supreme self-sacrifice with which the 
 devil seemed to be luring him to destruction. 
 Then he cast it aside, and reproached himself 
 for having let it enter his mind. 
 
 " No love is worth a man's honour," he 
 thought. " A better way would be to kill her 
 myself, and then commit suicide. No, not that. 
 
 234 
 
* ' c 7 love you, Agatha Ronald 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Suicide is the coward's way out; and killing her 
 would only reveal and emphasise her crime." 
 
 Just then one of his men approached him, and 
 announced that orders had come for the battery's 
 return to its camp. Baillie walked back to the 
 bivouac, and said to his lieutenant : 
 
 :< Take command and march to the camp at 
 once. I have some personal orders to execute." 
 
 With that promptitude which all men serving 
 under Stuart learned to regard as one of the car- 
 dinal virtues, the lieutenant had the battery 
 mounted and in motion within a few minutes. 
 Not until it had made the turn in the road did 
 Baillie approach Agatha. Then he faced her, and 
 staring with strained and bloodshot eyes into 
 her face, he abruptly said : 
 
 " I love you, Agatha Ronald. In spite of what 
 you have done, that fact remains. I love you ! " 
 ' This is neither the time nor place in which 
 to tell me so," she interrupted. Then, after a 
 brief moment of hesitation, she broke down and 
 burst into tears. It was only a very few moments 
 before she controlled herself, and forced herself 
 to speak clearly, though she did so with manifest 
 difficulty. 
 
 235 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " Please forget what you have just said," she 
 began. " I realise your position. I understand. 
 I think I know what you have been thinking. 
 You have contemplated a crime for my sake, the 
 highest crime of all. For my sake you have been 
 tempted to sacrifice not only your life which to 
 a brave man means little but your honour, 
 which is more precious to a brave man than all 
 else in the world. Tell me, please, and tell me 
 quickly, that you have put that temptation aside 
 
 that you have utterly repudiated the horrible 
 thought." 
 
 " I have done so certainly," he replied, in a 
 hard voice. " But why do you care so much for 
 that?" 
 
 " Why ? Because your honour all honour 
 
 is precious to me, and I could not respect you 
 if you had consented to the thought of dishonour 
 even in your mind. I should loathe and detest 
 your soul if for my sake or any sake you 
 could have done that. No, don't interrupt me, 
 please," seeing that he was trying to speak, " let 
 me finish. I, too, am under orders, one of which 
 is to keep my lips sealed. But under such cir- 
 cumstances as these I may disobey my orders 
 
 236 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 without dishonour. I am not a soldier. Let me 
 tell you a little, then, so that you may not suffer 
 on my account. No harm will come to me when 
 you take me, as you must, to General Stuart. I 
 am here by his own orders, and I was over there," 
 motioning toward .the enemy's lines, " with his 
 full knowledge and consent. There. That is all 
 I may tell you." 
 
 The strong man turned deathly pale under 
 the shock of the relief that the young woman's 
 words brought to his mind. For a moment 
 Agatha thought that he would fall, but re- 
 covering himself, he ejaculated, " Thank God ! " 
 and those were the only words he spoke for a 
 space. 
 
 He presently ordered the horses brought, and 
 helped Agatha to mount. 
 
 " Can you manage to ride a McClellan saddle? " 
 he asked. " There is no other to be had." 
 
 " I suppose not," Agatha answered, with re- 
 turning spirits. " I suppose the quartermaster's 
 department does not issue side-saddles to the 
 mounted artillery for the use of errant damsels 
 whom they capture. But I can do very well on 
 a cavalry saddle." 
 
 237 
 
XVII 
 
 AT HEADQUARTERS 
 
 AGATHA was well-nigh exhausted by the 
 terrible strain she had endured. She could 
 scarcely sustain herself in the saddle, as 
 she and Baillie set out, her maid riding a-pillion 
 behind her. She would have liked if she had 
 dared risk it to keep the silence of extreme 
 weariness during the journey to Stuart's head- 
 quarters, two or three miles away, but in fact she 
 talked incessantly, in a hard, constrained voice, 
 limiting the conversation strictly to external mat- 
 ters. She asked her companion about his battery, 
 the number and character of his guns, how many 
 men he might have under his command, the nature 
 of his duties, and many other things, chatter about 
 which served as a substitute for the more per- 
 sonal conversation that she was determined to 
 avoid. She was fencing for position, and her 
 purpose was plain enough to Baillie Pegram, but 
 
 238 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 at the end of the ride the girl herself was more 
 inscrutably a riddle to him than she had been 
 before. For just as they arrived, and when it 
 was too late for him to say any word in reply, 
 she suddenly turned to him, and said: 
 
 " Before we part, Captain Pegram, I want to 
 thank you for all you have done for me, and still 
 more for what you have felt I mean your wish 
 to save me. I am very grateful, but " 
 
 There she broke off, leaving him to torture him- 
 self with almost maddening conjectures as to what 
 should have followed that bewildering " but." 
 
 At that moment Stuart, who had heard of the 
 capture and was waiting, came hurriedly from 
 the piazza of his headquarters to greet and wel- 
 come the arriving pair. With strong arms he 
 lifted the girl from her saddle and placed her on 
 her feet, as he might have done with an infant 
 child. For he was a giant in strength, and his 
 muscles were as obedient to his will as were the 
 troopers who so eagerly followed him in every 
 fray. 
 
 Seeing the gin's bedraggled condition, and un- 
 derstanding how sorely shaken her nerves must 
 
 239 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 be, he made no reference to the circumstances of 
 her coming, but cheerily said : 
 
 " I am 'doubly fortunate, Miss Agatha, in hav- 
 ing you again for a visitor, and in having the 
 ladies of my household with me just now; for 
 God bless these Virginia women," addressing this 
 part of his remark to Captain Pegram, " they are 
 always with us when we need them." 
 
 With that he hurried Agatha into the house, 
 and placed her in feminine charge, with orders 
 that she should have food and rest and sleep, 
 and especially that she should not be annoyed by 
 any questionings until such time as she should 
 herself desire to speak with him. 
 
 " You will remain with us to dinner, Captain 
 Pegram, if you please. There are matters about 
 which I wish to talk with you." 
 
 When the two were left alone, he said : 
 
 " Tell me, now, all you know about how Miss 
 Agatha became your prisoner the details, I 
 
 mean." 
 
 When Baillie had finished the narrative, ex- 
 pressing wonder that the girl had passed un- 
 harmed through that hailstorm of canister, Stuart 
 said, simply: 
 240 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " I'm glad your gun practice was no better." 
 
 " So am I," the young man answered. 
 
 It was not until late in the afternoon that Stuart 
 was summoned to meet his guest, who was also 
 his prisoner. She had in the meantime divested 
 herself and her maid of their burden, and the 
 precious drug had been carefully packed for ship- 
 ment under guard to Richmond. She had also 
 slept long and well after her breakfast, and was 
 now as fresh and as full of spirit as if she had 
 known no hardship, and passed through no dan- 
 ger. 
 
 Before the dinner hour, Stuart had taken pains 
 to send away all the members of his staff, each 
 upon some errand manufactured for the occasion. 
 At dinner there was no one present but his own 
 family, Agatha, and Captain Baillie Pegram. 
 
 Stuart was all eagerness to learn not only the 
 results, but the details of the perilous journey, 
 and to that end he required Agatha to begin at the 
 beginning and relate each day's experience. She 
 did so, explaining the arrangements she had 
 made for her underground railway, and telling 
 him of a plan she had formed to give to that 
 line a number of termini at various points in 
 
 241 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Virginia, each under charge of some trusty 
 " Dixie girl," in order that th'ere might be no 
 interruption of the traffic, whatever the future 
 movements of the two armies might be. 
 
 " It's the very crookedest railroad you ever 
 heard of, General," she added, when her account 
 of it was finished, " but I expect it to do a con- 
 siderable traffic. I am to be its general freight 
 agent, and I have impressed all my agents with 
 the fact that the preservation of our secret is 
 of far greater importance than the safe delivery 
 of any one consignment of goods. They will 
 take plenty of time at every step, and not risk 
 discovery for the sake of speed." 
 
 " That is excellent. But I wish I had sug- 
 gested to you to make some arrangement by 
 which you might " 
 
 "O, I did that," she interrupted. "I took 
 a leaf out of your book. Of course, it will often 
 be possible to get little letters through, but letters 
 are very dangerous at least, when they say 
 anything. So I have taken your signal-words 
 as my model, and laboriously constructed a sys- 
 tem by which I can say the most dangerous things 
 
 242 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 in a letter without seeming to say anything at 
 all." 
 
 " By signal-words ? " 
 
 " Yes, partly, but more in other ways." 
 
 "For example?" 
 
 " Well, if I send a foolish, chattering girl's 
 note about nothing, and I happen to write it in 
 a ' back hand/ that fact will tell my corre- 
 spondent what I want to tell her. So if I write in 
 an ordinary hand, that will mean something quite 
 different. In the same way, if I write, ' My dear 
 Mary/ it will signify one thing, while ' Dear 
 Mary' will mean another; I've arranged four- 
 teen different forms of address, each having its 
 own particular meaning. The punctuation will 
 mean something, too, and the way I sign myself, 
 and the colour of my ink, and the occasional slight 
 misspelling of a word all these and a dozen 
 other things are carefully arranged for, so that 
 I can tell a friend pretty nearly anything I please, 
 while seeming only to tell her the colour of my 
 new gown if I ever have a new gown again 
 or anything else of the kind that girls are fond 
 of writing letters about." 
 
 " But you and all your correspondents must 
 
 243 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 have copies of your code for all this. Isn't there 
 great danger that one or another of them may 
 be discovered ? " 
 
 The girl laughed before answering. 
 
 " Even you, General Stuart, must have found 
 out that it is difficult to discover what is in a 
 young woman's mind. This code exists nowhere 
 else in the world. We've all learned it by heart, 
 and can recite it backward or forward or even 
 sideways. No word of it has ever been written 
 down on paper, or ever will be. You gentlemen 
 are fond of saying that we women cannot keep 
 a secret. You shall see how well we keep this." 
 
 " O, as to that," answered Stuart, " I never 
 shared any such belief. Why, women keep secrets 
 so well that we never know even what they think 
 of us. Is not that so, Captain Pegram ? " 
 
 " Yes, and perhaps it is fortunate for us, too, 
 sometimes." 
 
 " But I did betray a secret to Captain Pe- 
 gram this morning," Agatha continued, speaking 
 gravely now. " He seemed so troubled at having 
 to arrest me under the circumstances in which I 
 seemed to have placed myself, that I relieved 
 
 244 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 his mind by telling him I was acting under your 
 orders, or, at least, with your consent." 
 
 " Perhaps you'd like to prefer charges against 
 the captain? I dare say he was very stern and 
 inconsiderate." 
 
 Instantly the girl flushed, and speaking with 
 unusual seriousness, she answered : 
 
 " I beg to assure you, General Stuart, that Cap- 
 tain Pegram was altogether generous and kind 
 to me far more so than I had a right to expect. 
 I can never sufficiently thank him." 
 
 To Baillie, this speech was inscrutable and be- 
 wildering. It might mean one thing, or another 
 much or little according to the interpreta- 
 tion put upon the words. It might refer only 
 to Baillie' s care for her physical comfort and 
 safety, or, as Baillie scarcely dared believe, it might 
 obliquely include in its intent, an acknowledg- 
 ment of the passionate declaration of love 
 that he had been betrayed into making. It might 
 be interpreted to mean that the words surprised 
 from his lips were not unwelcome to her who 
 had heard them. She had bidden him forget 
 what he had said, but might it not be that she 
 
 245 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 herself remembered and was not displeased with 
 the recollection ? 
 
 He resolved to ask her for the answer to that 
 riddle at the earliest possible moment, but for the 
 present he flushed crimson and kept silent. 
 
 Stuart, however, had accomplished his purpose. 
 He had found out, or believed that he had found 
 out, what he wished to know concerning the 
 attitude of these two toward each other, and he 
 was mightily pleased with the discovery. He 
 abruptly changed the course of the conversation. 
 
 " When would you like to go to your home, 
 Miss Agatha?" 
 
 " I should like to set out early to-morrow, Gen- 
 eral, if I may if I am released from arrest." 
 
 " O, I shall not release you yet. You are 
 much too dangerous a conspirator for that. I 
 shall send you home under guard, and I have 
 selected Captain Pegram to be your safe-keeper. 
 I shall send him with you, under orders to remain 
 at Willoughby for a week, keeping you under 
 close surveillance. If at the end of that time he 
 finds you sufficiently subdued, he will have orders 
 to put you on parole, and return to his command. 
 As he and you are ' almost strangers/ he will be 
 246 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 a safer judge of the propriety of releasing you 
 than any other officer I could send for that pur- 
 pose." 
 
 The two were sorely embarrassed by this an- 
 nouncement, coming as it did without warning 
 to either. Neither knew what to say, or whether 
 the arrangement was welcome or unwelcome to 
 the other. The sudden announcement of it, at 
 any rate, was very embarrassing to both, and 
 Pegram received it with a feeling of consterna- 
 tion for the moment. In the next instant, he 
 realised the opportunity it would give him to 
 renew the morning's conversation, and to learn 
 definitely what Agatha's attitude toward him was 
 to be after such a declaration as he had made. 
 For whatever else happens, an avowal of that 
 kind, made with such earnestness, never fails to 
 work some change in a true woman's mind and 
 soul. Baillie managed, with some difficulty, to 
 say: 
 
 " I will be glad to carry out your orders, 
 General." 
 
 Agatha said nothing. What she thought and 
 felt, it would be idle to inquire. 
 
 247 
 
XVIII 
 
 A BRUSH AT THE FRONT 
 
 A SITUATION which might have become 
 embarrassing 1 , had it been prolonged, was 
 relieved at that moment by the arrival of 
 a! courier who had come in hot haste with mes- 
 sages from the front. 
 
 The enemy was moving upon Fairfax Court- 
 house in three columns and in strong force. The 
 light of battle came into Stuart's eyes as he re- 
 ceived the news, and he issued hurried orders to 
 his staff-officers as one after another they came 
 up at a gallop. To Agatha he said : 
 
 " Remain here, you and the other ladies, unless 
 orders come for you to leave. I must borrow 
 Captain Pegram from your service for a time, 
 if I may." 
 
 " Gladly ! " answered the girl, and her tone 
 sorely puzzled Baillie Pegram. But there was 
 
 248 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 no time for speculation upon its meaning, for 
 Stuart turned to him and ordered : 
 
 " Take your battery down the Vienna road, 
 and act with Fitz Lee or whomever else you find 
 there. Move rapidly, but spare your horses all 
 you can." 
 
 Then hurriedly turning to the couriers and 
 staff-officers who stood by tHeir horses, he issued 
 orders with the rapidity of one who recites the 
 alphabet or the multiplication table. Within the 
 space of two minutes he had assigned every bri- 
 gade and regiment under his command to its 
 post and duty, and had sent to General Johnston 
 at Centreville a request that infantry supports 
 might be moved forward and held within call 
 in case of need. A minute later he was a-gallop 
 for the front. 
 
 Baillie had preceded him, and even before the 
 general had reached Fairfax Court-house, Pe- 
 gram's battery was hurrying down the Vienna 
 road, with the First and Fourth Regiments of 
 Virginia cavalry just in front. It was the work 
 of a very few moments to form these forces and 
 others that were coming up, into a line of battle, 
 facing the enemy, but by the time they were in 
 
 249 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 position, Stuart himself came up and took com- 
 mand. 
 
 "Tell Captain Pegram," he said to a staff- 
 officer, " to advance his battery to the brow of 
 the hill yonder, and open a vigorous fire upon 
 whatever he finds in front. Order Colonel Jones 
 of the First Regiment to take position imme- 
 diately in rear of the battery, and support it at 
 all hazards." 
 
 Within less time than it takes to write the 
 words, Baillie Pegram's guns were hurling 
 shrapnel into the face of the enemy, whose re- 
 sponse was menacingly slow and deliberate. 
 
 " That looks," said Stuart, presently, to one 
 who rode by his side, " as if they meant business 
 this time. Send orders to the infantry in rear 
 to form a second line, and be ready in case we 
 are beaten back." 
 
 It should be explained that during the autumn 
 of 1 86 1 McClellan sent out many expeditions, 
 each wearing the aspect of an advance in force 
 against the Confederate position at Centreville. 
 These movements were in reality intended as 
 threats, and nothing more. The chief purpose 
 of them was to keep the Confederates uneasy, 
 
 250 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 and at the same time to accustom the Federal 
 volunteers to stand fire and to contemplate battle 
 in earnest as the serious business of the soldier. 
 
 These advances were made always with a brave 
 show of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and with 
 all the seeming of the vanguard of an army in- 
 tending battle. But after a heavy skirmish the 
 columns were always withdrawn, leaving only 
 picket-lines at the front. McClellan was not yet 
 ready to offer battle. It was during that period 
 that President Lincoln, weary of McClellan's de- 
 lay and inactivity, sarcastically said that if the 
 general had no use for the army, he (Lincoln) 
 would like to borrow it for awhile. 
 
 But this day's movement differed in some re- 
 spects from those that had gone before. It in- 
 volved a much heavier force, for one thing, and 
 the proportion of artillery to the other arms was 
 greater. Still more significant was the fact that 
 the commander of the expedition, instead of mak- 
 ing the customary dash, threw forward a heavy 
 skirmish-line, holding his main body in reserve, 
 and otherwise conducting himself after the fash- 
 ion of a general sent to hold the front with as 
 
 251 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 little fighting as might be, until a much heavier 
 force could be brought up. 
 
 It was Stuart's duty, as the commander of the 
 cavalry, to find out as quickly as possible what lay 
 behind the lines that confronted him, in order 
 that he might know and report precisely what and 
 how much the movement meant. To that end 
 he sent for Colonel Jones, of the First Regiment, 
 and when that most unmilitary-looking of hard 
 fighters presented himself in his faded yellow 
 coat, the pot hat which he always wore at that 
 time, and with his peculiar nasal drawl, Stuart 
 gave the order: 
 
 1 Take your right company and ride to the 
 right around the flank of the enemy's line. Find 
 out what it amounts to. See if there are baggage 
 and ammunition trains in rear, and if they mean 
 business. The whole thing is probably as hollow 
 as a gourd, but it may be otherwise. Go and 
 find out." 
 
 In the meantime, Stuart had dismounted a part 
 of his forces, and ordered them with their car- 
 bines to form a skirmish-line on foot in front. 
 The rest of his men three thousand stalwart 
 young cavaliers, mounted upon horses that had 
 252 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 pedigrees behind them were drawn up in double 
 ranks wherever there was space for a regiment, 
 a company, or a squad of them to stand. 
 
 Then came half an hour of waiting. The enemy 
 had thrown additional infantry forward, and the 
 skirmishing grew steadily heavier, as if the Fed- 
 eral skirmish-line were being reinforced from 
 moment to moment. 
 
 In fact, that heavy advance-line embraced all 
 there was of the Federal movement, as Colonel 
 Jones discovered, when with a single company of 
 horsemen he gained the enemy's rear. There 
 were no baggage or provision or ammunition 
 trains to indicate a serious purpose of giving 
 battle. 
 
 The captain of the company which Colonel 
 Jones had taken with him on this mission of dis- 
 covery, was a reticent person, but a man of quick 
 wits, ready resource, and a daring that always 
 had a relish of humour in it. When Colonel Jones 
 suggested a return march around the enemy's 
 left flank, the captain asked : 
 
 " Why not take a short cut ? " and when asked 
 for his meaning, answered : 
 
 " It's an egg-shell, that line. The quickest 
 
 253 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 way of letting Stuart know the fact, it seems to 
 me, would be to break through right here. He 
 won't be long in getting to windward of the sit- 
 uation when he sees us coming." 
 
 The suggestion was instantly acted upon, with 
 a startling dramatic result. With a yell that made 
 them seem a regiment of howling demons, the 
 fifty or sixty men charged upon the rear of the 
 line and broke through it. Even before the head 
 of their little column showed itself on the farther 
 side, their yells had made sufficient report of 
 the facts to the alert mind of Jeb Stuart. He in- 
 stantly led his entire force forward to the charge. 
 
 There was a clatter of hoofs, a clangour of 
 sabres, a rattle of small arms, and a roar from 
 Baillie Pegram's guns. Everything was shrouded 
 in an impenetrable cloud of dust and powder- 
 smoke. 
 
 The enemy stood fast for a time, resisting 
 obstinately and fairly checking the tremendous 
 onset. It was not until a brigade of infantry and 
 three full batteries had been brought into action 
 that the Federals gave way. Even then, they re- 
 treated in orderly fashion, with no suggestion 
 of panic or loss of cohesion. 
 
 254 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " George B. McClellan has at last got his army 
 into fighting shape," commented Stuart, when all 
 was over. " He's going to give us trouble from 
 this time forth." 
 
 The Federals were in full retreat, but their 
 steadiness did not encourage Stuart to send small 
 forces in pursuits He contented himself with 
 advancing his line half a mile for purposes of 
 observation, after which, as the night was falling, 
 he ordered a general return of his regiments to 
 their encampments. 
 
 When all was over, there were found to 
 be many empty saddles in Stuart's command. 
 Among them was that which Baillie Pegram had 
 ridden during the morning's journey with Agatha 
 Ronald. 
 
 255 
 
XIX 
 
 AGATHAS RESOLUTION 
 
 THE reports which came to Stuart from 
 the several commands that evening in- 
 cluded one from the senior lieutenant of 
 Baillie Pegram's battery. After reading it, Stu- 
 art took Agatha aside, and said : 
 
 " I have news which it will not be pleasant for 
 you to hear. Captain Pegram is badly wounded, 
 and in the hands of the enemy." 
 
 The girl paled to the lips, but controlled herself, 
 
 and replied in a voice constrained but steady: 
 
 " Tell me about it, General all of it, please." 
 
 " I'll tell you all that is known. Captain 
 
 Pegram is an unusually energetic officer, with 
 
 a bad habit of getting himself wounded. His 
 
 battery to-day was in the extreme advance, but 
 
 it seems that a little hill just in front of him 
 
 interfered with the fire of one of his guns, and 
 
 so he advanced with that piece to the crest of 
 
 256 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 the mound. At that moment the enemy made a 
 dash at that point, and it became necessary to 
 retire the gun to prevent its capture. Pegram 
 gave orders to that effect, and they were executed. 
 But almost as the orders left his lips, he fell from 
 his horse with a bullet-hole through his body. 
 His men tried to bring him off, but that involved 
 the risk of losing the gun, so he peremptorily 
 ordered them to save the gun and leave him where 
 he lay. The enemy's line swarmed over the little 
 hill, and when our men recovered it, Pegram was 
 nowhere to be found. The enemy had evidently 
 carried him to the rear to care for him as a 
 wounded prisoner." 
 
 " Can anything be done ? " the girl asked, still 
 with an apparent calm that would have deceived 
 a less sagacious observer than Stuart. 
 
 " I could send a flag of truce to-morrow to ask 
 concerning him, but it would be of no use. You 
 see the enemy refuses as yet to recognise our 
 rights as belligerents, and will not communicate 
 with us in proper form. Their answer would come 
 back addressed to me, but carefully lacking all 
 indication of my character as an officer in the 
 Confederate army. Under my orders I could 
 
 257 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 not receive a communication so addressed. It 
 would be of no use, therefore, to inquire, and in 
 any case' we could not secure his exchange, as we 
 have now no exchange cartel in force. I do not 
 see that we can do anything." 
 
 The young woman stood silent for a full 
 minute, while Stuart looked at her, full of an 
 admiration for the courage she was manifesting. 
 At last she asked : 
 
 " General, will you send to the camp of Cap- 
 tain Pegram's battery, and bid his servant report 
 here to me at once? " 
 
 For reply Stuart called Corporal Hagan 
 the swarthy giant who had charge of his couriers 
 and ordered him to send a courier on Agatha's 
 mission without delay. 
 
 Half an hour later Sam presented himself with 
 eyes red from weeping, and Agatha proceeded 
 at once to business. 
 
 " You care a great deal for your master, don't 
 you, Sam?" 
 
 "Kyar for Mas' Baillie? Ain't I his nigga? 
 An' ain't he de mastah of Warlock? Kyar for 
 him? Why, Mis' Agatha, I'se ready to lay down 
 
 258 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 an' die dis heah very minute 'case he's done got 
 hisse'f shot an' captured." 
 
 " Then you are willing to take some risks for 
 his sake?" 
 
 " Sho' as shootin' I is. Yes, sho'er'n shootin', 
 'case shootin' ain't always sho'. Jes' you tell me 
 how to do anything for Mas' Baillie, an' then 
 bet all the money you done got, an' put your 
 mortal soul into de bet, dat Sam'll face de very 
 debil hisse'f to carry out yer 'structions." 
 
 " I believe you, Sam, and I'm going to trust 
 you. You will go with me to Willoughby to- 
 morrow. We'll start soon in the morning and 
 get there before night. From there I'm going 
 to send you north to find your master. I'll tell 
 you how to do it. When you find him, you are 
 to stay with him and nurse him, no matter where 
 he is. And when he gets well enough, you must 
 find some way of setting him free from the hos- 
 pital so that he can make his way back to Virginia 
 again." 
 
 " But, Mis' Agatha, how's I to " 
 
 " Never mind the details now. I'll tell you 
 about all that when I get my plans ready. I'll 
 tell you everything you must do and how to do 
 
 259 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 it, so far as I can, and you must depend on your 
 wits for the rest. You're pretty quick, I think." 
 
 " Yes'm ; anyhow I kin see through a mill- 
 stone ef there's a hole through it. But, Mis' 
 Agatha, is you sho' 'nuff gwine to tell me how 
 to fin' Mas' Baillie an' take kyar o' him?" 
 
 Agatha reassured him, and sent him off to 
 sleep in order to be ready for their early start 
 in the morning. Then she joined Stuart and 
 asked him: 
 
 " Did you pick up any prisoners near the point 
 where Captain Pegram fell ? " 
 
 " I really don't know. Why? " 
 
 " Why, if you did you'd know to what com- 
 mand they belonged, and that would help me." 
 
 " Help you ? Why, what are you planning ? " 
 
 " To find Captain Pegram." 
 
 "But how?" 
 
 " Through my agents, and Sam, his body- 
 servant." 
 
 " O, I see. Your underground railroad is to 
 have a passenger traffic. I'll find out what you 
 wish to know. And if you'd like I'll have Sam 
 passed through our lines, after which he can 
 pretend to be a runaway." 
 260 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " I thought of that," Agatha answered, " but 
 it will not do. I must send him through my 
 friends. You see in Maryland he'll require a 
 slave's pass from a master, and my friends will 
 be his masters, one after another. Besides, they 
 will help me find out in what hospital Captain 
 Pegram is. I've thought it all out. I must first 
 prepare my friends for Sam's coming. With 
 your permission I'll take him with me to Wil- 
 loughby to-morrow." 
 
 " You are a wonderful woman ! " 
 
 That is all that Stuart said, but it sufficiently 
 suggested the admiration he felt for her courage, 
 her resourcefulness, and her womanly devotion. 
 Bidding her call upon him for any assistance she 
 might need in carrying out her plans, he dis- 
 missed her for the night, ordering her to go to 
 sleep precisely as he might have ordered a soldier 
 to go to his tent. But Agatha did not obey as 
 the soldier would have done. She went to bed, 
 indeed, but she could not sleep. Her nerves were 
 all a-quiver as the result of the trying experiences 
 to which she had been subjected, until now her 
 excited brain simply would not sink into quietude. 
 She lay hour after hour staring into the darkness, 
 
 26l 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 thinking, thinking, thinking. She remembered 
 the words that suffering on her account had wrung 
 from Baillie Pegram that morning at the bivouac, 
 and she bitterly reproached herself for having 
 given him no worthier answer than a command to 
 forget what he had said. She knew now with 
 what measure of devotion this man loved her, 
 and she knew something else, too, as she lay 
 there in the darkness face to face with her own 
 soul. She knew now that she loved Baillie 
 Pegram with all that was best in her proud and 
 passionate nature. That truth confronted her. 
 It was " naked and not ashamed." Her con- 
 science scourged her for what she regarded as 
 her heartlessness and frivolity in putting aside 
 his declaration of love with the false pretence that 
 it found no response in her own soul. 
 
 " I might at least have thanked him," she 
 thought. " I might at least have said to him 
 1 there is no longer war between me and thee.' 
 And now he lies dead perhaps, or on a bed of 
 suffering, a wounded prisoner in the hands of 
 the enemy. All that I can now do is to" search 
 him out and send Sam to nurse and comfort him." 
 Then a new thought came to her. " That is not 
 262 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 all that I can do. Shame upon me for thinking so, 
 even for a moment. I can go to him myself, and 
 I will, if God lets him live long enough. I'll 
 take Sam with me. He can be very helpful in 
 the search, with his sharp wits and the freedom 
 from suspicion which his black face will secure 
 him." 
 
 The dawn was breaking now, and a score of 
 bugles were musically sounding the reveille in 
 the camps round about. Agatha rose quickly, 
 and without summoning her weary maid, plunged 
 her face into a basin of cold water half a dozen 
 times. Then seeing in her little mirror how 
 hollow-eyed and haggard she was, she wetted 
 a towel and flagellated herself with it till the 
 colour came back and her nerves lost their tremu- 
 lousness. 
 
 So great a transformation did this treatment 
 work, that Stuart complimented her upon her 
 freshness of face when she appeared at the break- 
 fast-table. He had meanwhile secured for her 
 definite information as to the Federal command 
 that had made Pegram prisoner. He had also 
 managed in some way to secure a side-saddle 
 for her to ride upon, and a squad of cavalrymen, 
 
 263 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 under command of a sergeant, was waiting out- 
 side to be her escort on her journey. 
 
 " Thank you, General, for giving me so good 
 a mount," she said, glancing with a practised 
 eye at the lean but powerful animal provided 
 for her use." 
 
 " You should have a better one, if a better 
 were to be had. You deserve it. By the way, 
 you need not send the horse back by the escort. 
 He will not be needed here, for a time at least." 
 
 Agatha looked at him, and then at the animal 
 again, this time recognising it as the one that 
 Baillie Pegram had ridden by her side twenty- 
 four hours before. 
 
 " He belongs to Captain Pegram, I believe," 
 she answered. 
 
 " Yes, his second horse, and he is specially 
 careful of him." 
 
 " I'll see that the animal is well cared for," 
 answered the girl, " until " 
 
 She did not finish the sentence, and Stuart 
 turned away, pretending not to see the tears that 
 stood beneath her eyelids. 
 
 264 
 
XX 
 
 TWO HOME - COMINGS 
 
 NEWS of Agatha's safe return to Virginia 
 had been sent to Colonel Archer by a 
 courier, on the morning of her arrival at 
 Stuart's headquarters, and the octogenarian 
 promenaded up and down the porch all the next 
 day, during her homeward journey. 
 
 He had greatly grieved to have his " ladybird " 
 undertake her late perilous enterprise at all. 
 But with him at least Agatha was accustomed to 
 have her way, and moreover the spirit of the old 
 soldier was strong within him still, so that he 
 was intensely in sympathy with Agatha's coura- 
 geous purpose to render such service as a woman 
 might to the cause that both had at heart. 
 
 But Agatha had a harder task before her now. 
 Remembering the heart-broken tone in which he 
 had bidden her good-bye on the former occasion, 
 and easily imagining the suffering he must have 
 
 265 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 endured during her absence, both from loneliness 
 and from apprehension for her safety, she 
 thought with something like terror of her new 
 necessity of leaving him again, almost in the very 
 hour of his joy at her return. For it was her 
 resolute -purpose to set out again within a very 
 few days, as soon, indeed, as she could feel 
 confidence that her preliminary letters would 
 reach their destination before her own arrival 
 there. 
 
 There were other matters that troubled her, 
 too. She must tell her Chummie the reason for 
 her second journey, and that would be a distress- 
 ing thing for her to do. She must tell him 
 frankly for she would never in the least trifle 
 with truth, especially in dealing with him 
 that she had learned to love Baillie Pegram, and 
 that she had in effect put it out of possibility that 
 Baillie Pegram should ever ask for knowledge of 
 that fact. 
 
 To a woman of her sensitively proud nature, 
 such a confession, even to her grandfather, seemed 
 almost shameful. She shrank from the very 
 thought of it, and flushed crimson every time it 
 came to her mind during that long day's ride. 
 
 266 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Yet not for one moment did she falter in her 
 determination to undergo the ordeal. Not for 
 one moment did she entertain a thought of evad- 
 ing the painful confession, or in any way dis- 
 guising the truth. So much was due to her 
 grandfather, and never in her life had she 
 cheated him of his dues as Chummie. It was due 
 to herself also. To shrink from a duty because 
 of its painfulness would be cowardice, and there 
 was no touch or trace of that most detestable 
 weakness in her soul. 
 
 " Anyhow," she resolved, " I'll let him have 
 one whole day of joy before I grieve him with 
 the news that I must go away again. And in 
 telling him of my first journey I'll say as little 
 as I can about the dangers encountered and the 
 hardships endured ; I'll make as much of a frolic 
 of it as I can in the telling. Surely there will 
 be no untruthfulness in that." 
 
 That day's journey was a long one, but the 
 start was early, and Baillie Pegram's horse was 
 a willing one, as tHat energetic young man's 
 horses were apt to be, while as for the troopers 
 of the escort, they and their horses were accus- 
 tomed to follow at any pace their leader might 
 
 267 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 sc . It was barely three o'clock in the afternoon, 
 therefore, when the cavalcade arrived at Wil- 
 loughby, and Agatha threw herself into the old 
 gentleman's arms. 
 
 "Oh, Agatha!" 
 
 "Oh, Chummie!" 
 
 That at first was all that the two could say. 
 When Colonel Archer found voice he greeted the 
 troopers and bade them leave their horses to the 
 care of his servants. For the men were of that 
 class, socially, to which Colonel Archer belonged, 
 and there was no thought at that time in Virginia 
 of treating a gentleman otherwise than as a 
 gentleman, merely because he happened to be a 
 private soldier. 
 
 " You will be my guests for the night," the 
 host said, quite as if that settled the matter. But 
 the sergeant had orders which he must obey, 
 orders which Stuart, with his unfailing foresight, 
 had probably given, to make sure that the pres- 
 ence of his men at Willoughby overnight might 
 not spoil an occasion of tender affection. 
 
 " Thank you very cordially, Colonel Archer," 
 answered the sergeant ; " but we are under orders 
 to move on toward Loudoun County to-night. 
 
 268 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 We are permitted to rest the horses for three 
 hours only. After that we must march about a 
 dozen miles before sleeping, so that we may com- 
 plete a little scouting expedition into Loudoun to- 
 morrow. Our orders on that point are peremp- 
 tory." 
 
 " Well, Ladybird, we'll have the gentlemen to 
 dinner at any rate. As soon as I heard of your 
 coming I went out with my gun, and brought 
 back two big wild turkeys, as fat as butter. I 
 thought you might come under escort, so I've 
 had them put both the birds on the spit. I'll 
 wager you gentlemen haven't seen a wild turkey 
 this fall." 
 
 So he ran on with his hospitable greetings, 
 managing in his joyous nervousness to upset two 
 of the glasses which he had ordered a servant to 
 bring with the decanters, for the troopers' re- 
 freshment. Agatha managed presently to get a 
 word with him aside. 
 
 " It is three o'clock, Chummie an hour be- 
 fore dinner. I'll have time enough to boil myself 
 a little. Think of it, Chummie, I haven't had a 
 hot bath for a whole week ! " Then turning to 
 
 269 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 her escort she excused herself until the dinner- 
 hour. 
 
 This was an unhappy circumstance, as Agatha 
 learned when she came down, fresh-faced, to the 
 dinner. For, left alone with the troopers, the old 
 gentleman naturally asked them concerning the 
 details of her coming into Stuart's lines, and as 
 the story of her dash through the canister fire 
 was echoing throughout the army, the young 
 fellows grew enthusiastic in their minute descrip- 
 tions of her peril and her heroism. When 
 Agatha reappeared, therefore, the old gentleman 
 was all a-tremble. He met her at the foot of the 
 stairway, and a little scene followed, which told 
 the girl not only that he knew all that had been 
 most harrowing in her experiences, but that the 
 knowledge of it would make her coming absence 
 cruelly hard for him to bear. 
 
 At dinner he found himself too tremulous to 
 carve, and, for the first time in his life, he relin- 
 quished that most hospitable of all a host's offices 
 to the younger men. 
 
 " Never mind, Ladybird," he said, cheerily, as 
 he saw how greatly troubled she was, " it will 
 pass presently, and you shall find me quite myself 
 270 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 again in the morning. We're going after the 
 birds, you know, you and I. I haven't allowed 
 a partridge to be killed on the plantation this 
 fall, so that you might be sure of a good day's 
 sport with Chummie." 
 
 Thus it came about that as the old man and the 
 young woman sat in the firelight that evening, 
 after the troopers were gone, Agatha changed her 
 purpose and told him of Baillie Pegram. Deli- 
 cately, but with perfect candour, she told the 
 whole of the truth. 
 
 " I learned to like him very much while I was 
 in Richmond last Christmas, and I was not to 
 blame for that, was I, Chummie? He was so 
 kind to me, so good in a thousand little ways, 
 so gentle in all his strength that he reminded 
 me of you, more than anybody else ever did. I 
 used often to think that he was very much the 
 sort of man you must have been when you were 
 in your twenties. There was no reason, that I 
 knew of, why I should not like him. He was a 
 gentleman, the representative of one of the best 
 families in the State, a man of the highest char- 
 acter, well-educated, travelled, intellectual, and of 
 charming manners. He did more than anybody 
 
 271 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 else or everybody else for that matter to 
 make the time pass pleasantly for me. You see 
 how it was, don't you, Chummie? " 
 
 The old gentleman nodded his head with a 
 smile, and answered : 
 
 " I see how it was, Ladybird. Go on. Tell 
 me all about it." 
 
 " Then one day there came a letter from The 
 Oaks. It wasn't just a scolding letter. It was 
 something much worse than that. For if my 
 aunts had scolded me, I shouldn't have stood it." 
 
 " What would you have done, Ladybird ? " 
 asked the grandfather, with a look of pleased 
 and loving pride upon his countenance. 
 
 " I should have come back to Willoughby and 
 you." 
 
 " And right welcome you would have been. 
 But go on. What did the old cats psha ! I 
 didn't mean that; I thought I heard a cat yowling 
 as I spoke what did the good ladies of The 
 Oaks say to you ? " 
 
 " O, they wrote very kindly and sorrowfully. 
 
 They were shocked to know that I had permitted 
 
 something like intimacy to grow up between 
 
 myself and a young man without consulting them 
 
 272 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 as to the proprieties of the situation. But how 
 could I have done that, Chummie? You see I 
 didn't sit down and say, ' I'm going to be inti- 
 mate with this young man if my aunts approve.' 
 The friendship just grew, quite naturally, like 
 the grass on a lawn. I didn't think about it at all, 
 and I don't see why I should. I met Mr. Pegram 
 in all the best houses; everybody was fond of 
 him, and everybody spoke of him in the highest 
 terms. Why should I think " 
 
 " You shouldn't, Ladybird. I should have 
 been ashamed of you if you had. Only a vain or 
 morbidly self-conscious girl would have thought 
 in such a case. And only there goes that con- 
 founded cat again only elderly gentlewomen of 
 secluded lives and a badly perverted sense of pro- 
 priety would ever have thought of such a thing. 
 But continue, my child. . I suppose they told you 
 about that idiotic old quarrel " 
 
 "Yes, Chummie they told me and they didn't 
 tell me. They never would say what it was all 
 about, or how much there was in it. Indeed, 
 they told me I was guilty of a great irreverence 
 in even asking concerning it. They said it should 
 be quite enough for a well-ordered young woman 
 
 273 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 to know that these people were my father's ene- 
 mies. As Mr. Baillie Pegram never knew my 
 father, I couldn't understand why he and I 
 should be enemies, but when I said something 
 like that, I saw that the aunties were terribly 
 shocked. I suppose I'm not a ' well-ordered ' 
 young lady, Chummie." 
 
 " No ! Thank God you're not. You are just 
 a sweet, wholesome, lovable girl and that is 
 very different from what those old ladies call 
 a ' well-ordered ' young woman." 
 
 " Well, anyhow," the girl resumed, " I obeyed 
 my instructions. I wrote to Mr. Pegram, telling 
 him there could be no friendship between him 
 and me, and do you know, Chummie, they 
 blamed me more for that than for all the rest. 
 They said it was ' unladylike ' and a lot more 
 things, for me to write to him at all. But I 
 never could find out what they thought I ought 
 to have done. I couldn't break off the acquaint- 
 ance without telling him I must do so, could I ? " 
 
 " You couldn't, and I'm glad you couldn't. A 
 ' well-ordered ' young lady would have done it 
 easily. She would have told a lot of lies about 
 not being at home when he called, or having a 
 
 274 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 headache when he wanted to see her. You 
 couldn't do that because you are honest and truth- 
 ful, and that's the best thing about you, except 
 your love for your old Chummie, and even that 
 wouldn't be of much account if I couldn't trust 
 its truth and sincerity. Go on, child. I didn't 
 mean to interrupt." 
 
 " O, but you must interrupt. That's the only 
 way I know what you're thinking. Well, I went 
 to The Oaks sometime later, and while there I 
 went out one morning for a ride by myself. My 
 poor horse broke his leg, as I told you in a 
 letter, and Mr. Baillie Pegram happened along, 
 and was very kind in helping me out of my 
 trouble. He insisted that I should ride his mare 
 home. I tried all I could to refuse, but he showed 
 me that I simply could not help myself, and so 
 I took the mare, the same one that was killed 
 under him at Manassas. That time the aunties 
 did actually scold me, or pretty nearly that. So 
 I rebelled, and made up my mind to come back 
 to you at once. Mr. Pegram dined at The Oaks 
 on the day before I started, and he and I had a 
 long talk, but of course it could not change the 
 situation. That was the last I saw of him until 
 
 275 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 the day before the battle of Manassas, when he 
 took a red feather out of my hat and wore it in 
 the battle. He was terribly wounded in the fight, 
 but he sent the feather back to me as he had prom- 
 ised to do. I had quoted to him or let him quote 
 to me the Indian's defiance, ' There is war be- 
 tween me and thee.' It was after that that he 
 insisted upon taking the feather and wearing it 
 through the battle." 
 
 The girl paused, but her grandfather said noth- 
 ing for a whole minute. Perhaps he felt that she 
 needed the pause before speaking further. At 
 last he said, very low and gently : 
 
 " Tell me about yesterday morning." 
 
 She did so, sparing herself at no point. She 
 told of Baillie's outburst, and of the declaration 
 of his love. She told, too, of her chilling answer, 
 and her perversity in so managing the conversa- 
 tion as to prevent a recurrence to the subject. 
 Finally she broke down, saying with streaming 
 eyes : 
 
 " Oh, Chummie! I Have ruined his life and 
 my own ! " 
 
 " I don't know so well about tHat. He may 
 recover, you know." 
 276 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 "Yes, I know. But what then?" At that 
 she laid her head upon the old man's breast and 
 let herself become a little child again, in an 
 abandonment of grief. And with a childlike 
 confidence and candour she said at last: 
 
 " Oh, Chummie ! Don't you understand ? He 
 can never know. He will always think of me 
 as hard and cold and unresponsive. After what 
 I said to him yesterday morning, he cannot again 
 tell me why, Chummie, it was as bad as if I 
 had slapped him in the face ! " 
 
 The old man caressed her till her agitation sub- 
 sided. Then, speaking in a tone of wisdom which 
 irresistibly carried conviction with it, he said : 
 
 " You are wholly wrong, Agatha. Baillie 
 Pegram is much too brave and true, and much 
 too generous a man to let this matter rest where 
 it is. If he recovers, as I pray God he may, be 
 very sure he will come to you again and tell you 
 calmly what he blurted out without meaning to 
 do so, under stress of a trying situation. You 
 must go to sleep now, little girl. You are very 
 weary and greatly overwrought. And we must 
 be up with the sun to-morrow on account of the 
 
 277 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 birds. Good night, dear. You must never leave 
 me again while I live." 
 
 There was unsteadiness in his step, as he gal- 
 lantly ushered her through the doorway, and as 
 he returned to the room to extinguish the solitary 
 lamp. Then a heaviness came over him, and he 
 sat down again in his easy chair before the fire. 
 The logs had ceased to blaze and crackle now, 
 but the old man sat still. The logs fell into a 
 mass of glowing coals after a time, and slowly the 
 coals ceased to glow. One by one they went out. 
 Still he did not move. 
 
 There were only ashes in the great fireplace 
 when the morning came and Agatha found her 
 Chummie still sitting there where the fire of his 
 life had so gently gone out. 
 
 278 
 
XXI 
 
 AT PARTING 
 
 NEWS of Colonel Archer's death ran rap- 
 idly through a State of which he had been 
 one of the foremost citizens, by reason 
 alike of his public services and his private virtues. 
 It quickly reached Stuart's ears, and he promptly 
 sent a courier with a letter of sympathy and 
 friendship, at the end of which he wrote: 
 
 " Now, my dear Miss Agatha, I crave a favour 
 at your hands. Your grandfather was a soldier 
 greatly distinguished in two wars. He should 
 have a soldier's burial, and with your permission, 
 which I take for granted, I am ordering a com- 
 pany of dragoons and a battery now stationed at 
 Warrenton and under my command, to move at 
 once to Willoughby, and there pay the last 
 honours to the veteran." 
 
 Heart-broken as she was, Agatha met calamity 
 with a fortitude which astonished even herself. 
 
 279 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 She was still scarcely more than a girl, but the 
 blood of a soldier filled her veins, a soldier who 
 had never flinched from danger or murmured 
 under suffering. " I too will neither flinch nor 
 murmur," she said to herself. " Chummie would 
 like it best to see me brave and resolute, if he 
 could know and perhaps he does know. I 
 will bear myself as he would like me to." 
 
 And she kept that vow to the letter. The tears 
 would mount to her eyelids now and then in spite 
 of her and trickle down her cheeks ; but they were 
 silent tears, accompanied by no moanings that 
 were audible ; they were the tears of heart-break, 
 not the tears of weakness and self-pity. They 
 were hidden for the most part from human view, 
 and resolutely restrained in the presence of others. 
 And when any of those who thronged about her 
 for her consolation caught momentary sight of 
 them, the effect was like that produced when a 
 strong man weeps. 
 
 When the soldiers came she directed an atten- 
 tive ministry to their comfort, and after the last 
 salutes to the dead had been fired over the grave, 
 she turned to Captain Marshall Pollard, whose 
 
 280 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 battery it was that had paid that tribute of 
 honour, and asked in a steady voice: 
 
 " Can you arrange to stay at Willoughby over- 
 night? I have need to talk with you of matters 
 of some importance. It will be very kind and 
 good of you, if you can manage it." 
 
 After a moment's reflection, Marshall an- 
 swered : 
 
 " I can stay till midnight, and that will give 
 us time for our talk. I must be at Warrenton at 
 reveille in the morning, but my horse will easily 
 make the distance if I start by one o'clock." 
 
 Then he spoke a few words in a low tone to his 
 lieutenant, who took command and marched the 
 battery away, with all heads bared till they had 
 passed out of the grounds. 
 
 " Let us not talk of my grandfather, please," 
 said the girl, as the two entered the drawing- 
 room. " Not that I shrink from that," she 
 quickly added. " It can never be painful to me 
 to speak of him. But it might distress you. You 
 knew him and loved him long ago, before 
 before you and I quarrelled." 
 
 She did not shrink from this reference to the 
 past, or try in any way to disguise the truth of 
 
 281 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 it. Her mind was full of the dear dead man's last 
 words spoken in praise of her courage and truth- 
 fulness, and she was more resolute than ever to 
 live up to the character he had approved so ear- 
 nestly and with so much of loving admiration. 
 
 " I think we did not quarrel," the young cap- 
 tain responded ; " you did not, at any rate. I 
 misjudged you cruelly, and in my anger I falsely 
 accused you in my heart. Believe me, Agatha," 
 he had called her so in the old days, and the 
 name came easily to his lips now, " believe me 
 when I say that I have outlived all that bitterness. 
 Let us be true, loyal friends hereafter, friends 
 who know and trust each other, friends who do 
 not misunderstand." 
 
 The girl held out her hand, in response, and 
 made no effort to hide the tears with which she 
 welcomed this healing of the old wounds. 
 
 The young man, too, rejoiced in a reconciliation 
 which laid his old love for this woman for ever to 
 rest and planted flowers of friendship upon its 
 grave. He was astonished at his own condition 
 of mind and heart. He learned now the truth 
 that his mad love for Agatha had become com- 
 pletely a thing of the past, and that the bitterness 
 282 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 which had at first succeeded it was utterly gone. 
 He could think of her henceforth with a tender 
 affection that had no trace of passion in it. The 
 dead past had buried its dead, and the grass grew 
 green above it. 
 
 At that moment dinner was announced, for 
 Agatha had decreed that life at Willoughby 
 should at once resume its accustomed order. 
 " Chummie would like it so," she thought. So 
 ,the two friends passed through the hall to the 
 dining-room hand in hand, just as they had so 
 often done in the old days before passion had 
 come to disturb their lives. 
 
 Marshall had now one supreme desire with 
 respect to Agatha, a great yearning to com- 
 fort her and help her as a brother might. He 
 told her so, when they returned to the drawing- 
 room after dinner, to sit before the great fire of 
 hickory logs during all the remaining hours of 
 Marshall's stay. 
 
 " Tell me now," he said, " of your plans, that 
 I may share in them and help you carry them out 
 perhaps. What are you going to do ? " 
 
 " I'm going to find Baillie if I can, and nurse 
 him back to health if it is not too late." 
 
 283 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " But he is in the hands of the enemy, you 
 know." 
 
 " Yes, I know. That makes it more difficult, 
 but we must not shrink from difficulties. I shall 
 start north to-morrow." 
 
 " But how ? Tell me about it, please." 
 
 She explained her plans, telling him of the 
 arrangements she had made for bringing medi- 
 cines through the blockade, transmitting letters, 
 and finding friends at every step in case of need. 
 Then she added : 
 
 " I'm going to take Sam with me this time. 
 He is devoted to his master, and his sagacity is 
 extraordinary. I shall depend upon him to help 
 me find where Baillie is, and to do whatever 
 there is to do for him." 
 
 " Will you let me have writing materials ? " the 
 young man abruptly asked. 
 
 Without asking for an explanation, she brought 
 her lap desk, and with the awkwardness which 
 a man always manifests in attempting to use that 
 peculiarly feminine device, he managed to fill 
 two or three sheets. When he had done, he 
 handed the papers to her, saying : 
 
 " I can really help, I think. You will need 
 284 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 money for your expenses. You must have it in 
 sufficient supply to meet all emergencies, so that 
 you may never be delayed or baffled in any pur- 
 pose for want of it. And it may easily happen 
 that you shall need a considerable sum at once. 
 Money is the pass-key to many difficult doors. It 
 so happens that I have a very considerable sum 
 invested in railroad and other securities, in the 
 hands of a very close friend of mine in New 
 York. I have written to him to sell out the whole 
 of them and place the proceeds at your disposal 
 in any banks that may be most convenient to 
 you." 
 
 " But, Marshall, you are impoverishing your- 
 self " 
 
 " In the which case," he responded, with his 
 gentle, half-mocking smile, " I should be doing 
 no more than all the rest of us Virginians are 
 doing in this struggle. But I am doing nothing 
 of the kind. I have a plantation, you know, and 
 absolutely nobody dependent upon me. If I 
 survive the war I shall have some land, at any 
 rate, out of which to dig a living. These invest- 
 ments of mine at the North were made long 
 before the war, and I should have sold them out 
 
 285 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 at the beginning of the trouble if I hadn't been 
 too lazy to attend to my affairs. I'm glad now 
 that I was lazy. It enables me to help the two 
 best friends I ever had in this rather lonely world, 
 Baillie Pegram and you. A man may do as 
 he likes with his own, you know, and this is pre- 
 cisely what I like to do with my securities. 
 Fortunately my friend who has them in charge 
 is a blue-blooded Virginian, who would be right- 
 ing with us out there on the lines, if he were not 
 a helpless cripple, fit for nothing, as he wrote to 
 me when the trouble came, but to manage his 
 banking-house. But how are you to get these 
 papers through with you, without risk of dis- 
 covery ? " 
 
 " I'll make Sam carry them," she responded. 
 " Nobody will ever think of searching him, par- 
 ticularly as his connection with my affairs will 
 be known to nobody except my friends and co- 
 conspirators." 
 
 " What a strategist you are, Agatha ! What 
 a general you would have made if you'd happened 
 to be a man ! " exclaimed the young man in 
 admiration. 
 
 " No," she answered, hesitating for a moment, 
 286 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 and then resolutely going on to speak truthfully 
 the thought that was in her. " No, Marshall, for 
 then I should not have had the impulse that 
 teaches me now what to do. Tell me now, about 
 the war. Shall I find Willoughby occupied as a 
 Federal general's headquarters when I get back 
 to Virginia? " 
 
 " I don't know. I cannot even guess what 
 the officials at Richmond mean. I only know 
 we have thrown away an opportunity that will 
 never come back to us. The army was full of 
 enthusiasm after Manassas it is discouraged 
 and depressed now. Then it was strong with the 
 hope and confidence that are born of victory ; now 
 it sits there wondering when the enemy will be 
 ready for it to fight again. It was fit for any 
 enterprise then, and the enemy was utterly unfit 
 to resist anything it might have undertaken. But 
 it was not permitted to undertake anything. It 
 was made to lie still, like a pointer in a turkey 
 blind, quivering with eagerness to be up and 
 doing, but restrained by the paralysis of mis- 
 directed authority. While we have been doing 
 nothing, the Federal enemy has been swollen to 
 more than twice our numbers. More important 
 
 287 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 still, it has been fashioned by McClellan's skilled 
 hand into as fine a fighting-machine as any gen- 
 eral need wish for his tool. The officers have been 
 instructed in their profession, and the men have 
 been taught their trade. Their organisation is 
 perfect, their discipline is almost as good as that 
 of regulars, and their confidence in themselves and 
 their commanders is daily and hourly increasing. 
 Our men have abundant confidence in themselves, 
 but none at all in generals who throw away their 
 opportunities or in a government that touches 
 nothing without paralysing it. Moreover, the 
 Federal army has supply departments behind it 
 that could not be bettered, while ours seem 
 wholly imbecile and incapable. It should have 
 been obvious to every intelligent man at the out- 
 set, that with our vastly inferior material re- 
 sources, our best chance of winning in this war 
 was by bringing to bear from the first all we 
 could of dash and ceaseless activity. We should 
 have taken the aggressive at once and all the 
 time, knowing that every day of delay must 
 strengthen the enemy and weaken us. Instead 
 of that, after winning a great battle in such fash- 
 ion as well-nigh to destroy for a time the enemy's 
 
 288 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 capacity of resistance, we have taken up a defen- 
 sive attitude and let the precious opportunity 
 slip from our grasp. It will never return. I 
 do not say that we shall be beaten in the end; I 
 say only that our task is immeasurably more 
 difficult now than it was three months ago, and 
 it is growing more and more difficult every day." 
 
 ' You are discouraged then ? " 
 
 " No. I am only depressed. As for courage, 
 we must all of us keep that up to the end. We 
 must be brave to endure as well as to fight, 
 if we are ever graciously permitted to fight again. 
 But I did not mean to talk of these things. I am 
 only a battery captain. I have no business to 
 think. But unfortunately our army is largely 
 composed of men who can't help thinking. Tell 
 me now, for I must ride presently, is there any- 
 thing that I can do for you any way in which 
 I can help you ? " 
 
 "You will be helping me all the time, just 
 by letting me feel that the old boy and girl 
 friendship is mine again. That is more precious 
 to me than you can imagine. Good-bye, now. 
 Your horse is at the door. Thank you for all, 
 and God bless you." 
 
 289 
 
XXII 
 
 SAM AS A STRATEGIST 
 
 AGATHA'S second progress northward 
 was far more difficult of accomplishment 
 than the first had been. Under McClel- 
 lan's skilled vigilance the armed mob which he 
 found " cowering on the Potomac" in August, had 
 been converted into an army, drilled, disciplined, 
 and familiar with every detail of that military 
 art which it was called upon to practise. The 
 lines west of Washington were far more rigidly 
 drawn and more fully manned than before, and 
 the officers and men who held them exercised a 
 vigilance that had not been thought of a few 
 months earlier. 
 
 And this was not the only difficulty that 
 Agatha encountered in her effort to reach Balti- 
 more. A passport system had been inaugurated 
 at the North, under operation of which those who 
 would travel, and especially those who travelled 
 290 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 toward Baltimore, a city whose loyalty to the 
 Union lay under grave suspicion, must give a 
 satisfactory account of themselves in order to 
 secure the necessary papers. War had begun to 
 bring the country under that despotism which 
 military force always and everywhere regards as 
 the necessary condition of its effectiveness. 
 
 It was a strange spectacle that the country pre- 
 sented during that four years of fratricidal strife. 
 A great, free people, the freest on earth, fell 
 to fighting, one part with another part. Each 
 side was battling, as each side sincerely believed, 
 for the cause of liberty; each was unsparingly 
 spending its blood and treasure in order, in Mr. 
 Lincoln's phrase, that " government of the people, 
 by the people, and for the people might not per- 
 ish from the earth." Yet on both sides a military 
 rule as rigorous as that of Russia laid its iron 
 hand upon the people, and the people submitted 
 themselves to its exactions almost without a mur- 
 mur. Arbitrary, inquisitorial, intolerant, this 
 military despotism wrought its will both at the 
 North and at the South, overriding laws and 
 disregarding constitutions, making a mockery of 
 chartered rights, and restraining personal liberty 
 
 291 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 in ways that would have caused instant and uni- 
 versal revolt, had such things been attempted by 
 civil authority. 
 
 The military arm is a servant which is apt to 
 make itself the unrelenting master of those who 
 invoke its assistance. 
 
 Agatha encountered this difficulty while yet 
 inside the Confederate lines. She was not per- 
 mitted to pass in any northward direction upon 
 any pretence. The authorities at one place under 
 Confederate control forbade her to go to another 
 place under like control. She appealed to 
 Stuart in this emergency, and although his 
 authority did not extend into the . Shenandoah 
 Valley, he made such representations. to the com- 
 mandants in that quarter as were sufficient for her 
 purposes. 
 
 To get within the Federal lines was a still more 
 perplexing problem. One device after another 
 proved ineffectual, and the girl was almost in 
 despair. She appealed at last to the general in 
 command of the cavalry in that region, one of 
 those to whom Stuart had written in her behalf, 
 and he promptly responded: 
 
 292 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " At precisely what point have you friends in 
 cooperation with you?" 
 
 She named a little town within the Federal 
 line where lived some of her nearest friends. 
 
 " I can manage that," he said. " The point 
 is an insignificant one ten miles within their lines. 
 There are pretty certainly no troops there, and 
 the picket-lines in front are not very strong, as 
 nothing could be more improbable than the raid 
 I shall make in that direction. You can ride, of 
 course." 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 " Very well. I'll take a strong force, make a 
 dash through the picket-lines, gallop into the town, 
 and make a foray through the region round about. 
 You will follow my column as closely as you can 
 without placing yourself under fire, and when 
 we reach the town, settle yourself with your 
 friends there, turning your horse loose lest he 
 attract attention. You'd better do that just before 
 we reach the town, and walk the rest of the way. 
 Can you wear a walking-skirt under your riding- 
 habit, and slip off the outer you see I'm a 
 bachelor, Miss Ronald, and don't understand such 
 things." 
 
 293 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 ' You may safely leave all that to my superior 
 feminine sagacity. When shall we start? " 
 
 " Whenever you wish. Only we'd better march 
 in the afternoon and reach the town after night- 
 fall. The nights are very dark now, and you 
 will perhaps be able to escape observation in the 
 town. Let me see," looking at his watch, " it's 
 now half past one. We could do the thing this 
 afternoon, if you were ready." 
 
 " I can be ready in fifteen minutes," she replied. 
 
 " You're very prompt," the officer said, with a 
 suggestion of admiration in his voice. 
 
 " O, I'm half-soldier, you know. General 
 Stuart approves me." 
 
 "Very well, then. We'll march in half an 
 hour." 
 
 The operation was a very simple one, in its 
 military part, at least. The expedition was com- 
 posed of a force much too strong for resistance 
 by the handful of men available for immediate 
 use on the enemy's part. In the guise of a forag- 
 ing party it easily dispersed the picket-lines and 
 pushed forward rapidly, taking the little town 
 in its course, but making no halt there. It scoured 
 the country round about, and as soon as Federal 
 
 294 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 forces began to gather for its destruction, it 
 retreated by quite a different route from that by 
 which it had advanced. 
 
 It was nine o'clock in the evening when Agatha 
 slipped off her horse in the little Maryland town 
 and left it in charge of a trooper. A five-min- 
 utes' walk brought her to the house of her friends, 
 where she was safe. 
 
 With her walked her negro maid, who had 
 ridden behind her. That maid's name was Sam, 
 and he quickly divested himself of the feminine 
 outer garments which he had worn over his own 
 clothes. This device had been of Sam's own 
 invention, for that worthy, under stress of circum- 
 stances, was rapidly developing into something 
 like genius that gift of diplomacy which he had 
 before employed in discouraging his mammy's 
 efforts to make him her assistant in the kitchen. 
 Sam was a consummate liar whenever lying 
 seemed to him to be necessary or even useful. In 
 the service of his master he had no hesitation in 
 saying, or indeed in doing, anything that might 
 be convenient, and during her long stay north of 
 the Potomac Agatha was far more deeply in- 
 debted to Sam's unscrupulousness than she knew. 
 
 2 95 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 For when he found that his mistress had con- 
 scientious objections to his methods, he simply 
 forbore to mention them to her, and carried out 
 his plans on his own responsibility. Long after- 
 ward, in relating the experiences of this time to 
 his black companions at Warlock, he made it an 
 interesting feature of his discourse to keep re- 
 minding his hearers that, " Mis' Agatha's so dam' 
 hones' dat she wouldn't tell a lie even to a 
 Yankee." 
 
 This declaration never failed to open the eyes 
 of the auditors in wonder, and to bring from 
 their lips the half-incredulous response: 
 
 "Well, I 'clar to gracious!" 
 
 It was Sam who devised and suggested the 
 next step in the present journey. Agatha's 
 arrival at the house, under cover of a very dark 
 night, had been unobserved by any one outside 
 the household, but it was obvious that her remain- 
 ing there would involve grave danger of dis- 
 covery. Her presence could not be concealed 
 from the servants of the household, and however 
 loyal these might be to their mistress and her 
 three daughters, who constituted the family, they 
 would very certainly talk, the more especially, if 
 296 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 any efforts were made to keep the visitor in hiding 
 in the house. In a town so small it was only a 
 village, in fact gossip has quick wings, and 
 there were sure to be some persons there who 
 would promptly report to the military that a 
 young woman from beyond the lines was in 
 hiding in the town. 
 
 The whole matter was discussed in family con- 
 clave during the night of Agatha's coming, and 
 fortunately Sam was present, for the reason that 
 it was specially necessary to conceal from the 
 household servants the interesting fact that the 
 " maid " who had accompanied a young lady to 
 the place was in truth a stalwart negro boy. He 
 remained in the room, therefore, from which all 
 the servants were rigidly excluded, and thus 
 became familiar with every detail of the puzzling 
 situation. After ingenuity had been fairly ex- 
 hausted in devising plans only to reject them one 
 after another as impracticable, Sam, whose mod- 
 esty had never amounted to shyness, boldly broke 
 into the conversation. 
 
 " As I riggers it out, Mis' Agatha," he said, 
 " de case is puffec'ly clar. We cawn't stay heah, 
 'thout a-gittin' tuk up. We cawn't go back South 
 
 297 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 'thout a-gittin' tuk up an' maybe gittin' hung 
 in de bargain. So we mus' jes' go on Norf, now, 
 immediately, at once." 
 
 " But we can't, Sam. You don't understand. 
 We can't travel without passports." 
 
 " Couldn't de ladies git a skyar into 'em, an* 
 tell de Yankees dey jes' cawn't an' won't 
 stay any longer in a town whar de rebels is 
 a-comin' gallopin' through de streets, a-yellin' an' 
 a-shootin' an' a-kickin' up de ole Harry? 
 Wouldn't de Yankees give 'em passpo'ts to de 
 Norf den ? Wouldn't dey think it natch'rel dat a 
 houseful o' jes' ladies what's got no men-folks to 
 pertect 'em, would be skyar'd out o' der seven 
 senses after sich a performance as dis heah ? " 
 
 " But, Sam," interposed his mistress, " that 
 wouldn't do me any good or you either. If any- 
 body asked for passports for you and me, the 
 officers would ask who we are and where we came 
 from, and all about it." 
 
 " Don't ax 'em fer no passpo't fer you. Jes' 
 let de other ladies ax fer passpo'ts fer demselves, 
 an' a nigga boy to drive de carriage. I'll be 
 de nigga boy. Den one o' de young ladies mout 
 git over her skyar an' jes' stay at home, quiet 
 298 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 like, an' let you take her place in de carriage. 
 De young lady wouldn't have to go roun' tellin' 
 folks she's done git over her skyar an' stayed at 
 home. Nobody'd know nuffin' about her bein' 
 heah fer a week, an' by dat time de Yankees 
 would 'a' done fergitten how many folks went 
 away in de carriage." 
 
 After some discussion it was agreed that Sam's 
 plan, in its general outline at least, was feasible, 
 and as there was no alternative way out, it was 
 finally decided to adopt the scheme. 
 
 " You mus' do it right away den," suggested 
 Sam, " while de skyar is on to folks. Ef you 
 wait, de Yankees'll fin' out de trigger o' de trap, 
 sho'. An' after awhile, all de ladies 'ceptin' you, 
 Mis' Agatha, can git over de skyar an' come 
 home agin." 
 
 Sam's plan was aided in its execution by the 
 fact that several other families in the town were 
 genuinely scared by the Confederate raid, and, 
 as soon as the Federal posts were reestablished, 
 asked for passports under which they might send 
 their women and children to less exposed points. 
 When Agatha's hostess made a like application 
 for herself and daughters, with their negro, 
 
 299 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " Sam, aged eighteen, five feet seven inches 
 high," and all the rest of the description, no diffi- 
 culty was encountered in securing the desired 
 papers. 
 
 In order that Agatha might go as far north- 
 ward as possible without having to renew her 
 passport, it was decided that their destination 
 should be at a point well beyond the Pennsylvania 
 border. Agatha had no friends there, and she 
 knew no one of Southern sympathies in the town 
 selected. But thanks to Marshall Pollard, she 
 had command of money in plenty, or would have, 
 as soon as she could send the papers he had given 
 her to New York. It was arranged, therefore, 
 that the little party, in the character of refugees, 
 should take quarters at a hotel until such time 
 as Agatha could renew her journey without her 
 companions. In the meantime, Agatha, by means 
 of correspondence with her friends in Baltimore 
 and Washington, could prosecute her inquiries 
 as to Baillie Pegram's condition and whereabouts. 
 
 300 
 
XXIII 
 
 A NEGOTIATION 
 
 AGATHA did not remain long in the little 
 Pennsylvania town. She found its people 
 to be positively peppery in their Union 
 sentiments, and she soon realised that she could 
 make no inquiries from that point without attract- 
 ing dangerous attention to herself. She saw, too, 
 that the little city was not large enough for easy 
 concealment. She could not there lose herself 
 in the crowd and pass unobserved whithersoever 
 she pleased. She promptly decided that her best 
 course would be to go on to New York, but even 
 that could not be undertaken with safety for a 
 time. She must remain where she was for two 
 or three weeks long enough for her presence 
 there to lose its character as a novelty. 
 
 Sam, who enjoyed her confidence to the full, 
 suggested that she should feign ill-health, and 
 
 301 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 leave the place under pretence of seeking a resi- 
 dence better suited to her constitution. That was 
 not the way in which Sam expressed his thought, 
 of course, but he made himself clearly understood 
 by saying: 
 
 " Tell you what 'tis, Mis' Agatha, you'se jes' 
 got to git powerful sick an' say you cawn't live 
 in no sich a pesky town as dis here one. Den you 
 kin pack up yer things, ef you've got any, an' 
 
 move on." 
 
 Agatha laughed, and answered: 
 
 " Why, Sam, I don't know how to be ill. I 
 never had a headache in my life, and I couldn't 
 look like an invalid if I tried. No, Sam, we 
 must just wait here for a time." 
 
 " Why, Mis' Agatha, it's de easiest thing in 
 de world to make out as how you'se sick when 
 you ain't. I'se done it hundreds of times, when 
 mammy wanted me to wuk in de kitchen an' I 
 wanted to go a-fishin'. All you got to do is to 
 look solemncholy-like, an' say you'se got a pain 
 in yo' haid an' a powerful misery in yo' back, 
 an' cole chills a-creepin' all over you. Tell you 
 what, it's as easy as nuffin' at all." 
 
 Agatha laughed again, but put Sam's plan 
 302 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 aside without further discussion, whereat that 
 budding strategist went away sorrowful, mutter- 
 ing to himself: 
 
 " I done heah folks say as how ' white man's 
 mighty onsartain,' but Mis' Agatha's a heap 
 wuss'n even a white man, leastwise 'bout some 
 things." 
 
 A week later, Sam presented another plan, 
 which he had wrought out in his mind at cost 
 of not a little gray brain matter. 
 
 " Mis' Agatha," he asked, " is you got any 
 frien's in New York what you kin trus' to do 
 what you axes 'em to do ? " 
 
 " Yes, Sam. There's one gentleman there who 
 will do anything I ask him to do. He's the one 
 to whom I sent the papers that I made you carry 
 till we got here." 
 
 " Den you kin write to him ? " 
 
 " Yes, certainly." 
 
 " Well, now, I'se got a plan dat'll wuk as easy 
 as easy as playin' of de banjo. You jes' write 
 to dat gentleman, an' git him to sen' you a tele- 
 magraph, sayin' as how somebody's a-dyin' over 
 there, somebody yo'se powerful fond of, an' so 
 you mus' come quick." 
 
 303 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 This time Sam's suggestion commended itself 
 to his mistress's mind, and soon afterward there 
 came a telegram to her, saying : 
 
 " Come quick if you want to see Eliza alive." 
 
 She hurriedly packed the few belongings which 
 she had purchased in the Pennsylvania town, bade 
 her friends good-bye, and before noon of the next 
 day, was safely hidden in the little lodging which 
 Marshall Pollard's friend had secured for her in 
 New York. In the great city she might go and 
 come and do as she pleased without fear of ob- 
 servation, and without the least danger of attract- 
 ing attention to herself. There is no solitude 
 so secure as that of a thronged city, where men 
 are too completely self-centred to concern them- 
 selves with the affairs of their neighbours. 
 
 Agatha's first inquiries concerning Baillie's 
 whereabouts were directed toward the military 
 prisons and prison-camps, but in none of them 
 could she find a trace of the master of Warlock. 
 When she had completely exhausted this field 
 of inquiry, a great fear came upon her, that the 
 man she sought was dead. The presumption was 
 strong that he had died of his wound before he 
 could be sent to any of the prisons provided for 
 
 304 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 captured Confederates. A less resolute person 
 would have accepted that conclusion, but Agatha 
 persisted in her search, extending her inquiries 
 to all the hospitals of the Federal army, and within 
 a month her persistence was rewarded. 
 
 What she learned was that Baillie Pegram's 
 wound had been too severe to admit of his trans- 
 portation far beyond Washington, and that he, 
 in company with a few other prisoners in like 
 condition, had been placed in an improvised hos- 
 pital a few miles north of the capital city, where 
 he still lay under treatment, with only a slender 
 chance of recovery. Her first impulse was to 
 go to Washington at once, and endeavour in some 
 way to secure permission to enter the hospital as 
 a nurse. Her friends in Washington and in Mary- 
 land discouraged this attempt, assuring her not 
 only of its futility, but of its danger. They were 
 convinced, indeed, that she could not even enter 
 Washington, which was then a vast fortified 
 camp, without the discovery of her identity by the 
 agents of a secret service which had become well- 
 nigh omniscient, so far as personal identities, per- 
 sonal histories, and personal intentions were con- 
 cerned. 
 
 305 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " Stay where you are," one of them urgently 
 wrote her, " and keep yourself free to act if 
 at any time a chance shall come to accomplish 
 any good. It would spoil all and destroy the 
 last vestige of hope, for you to attempt what you 
 suggest. You can do no good here. You may do 
 inestimable good if you remain where you are." 
 
 When this decision was communicated to Sam, 
 his round black face became long, and the look 
 of laughter completely went out of his counte- 
 nance. But Sam was not an easily discouraged 
 person, and he had come to believe in his own 
 sagacity. So after a day or two of disconsolate 
 moping, he set his wits at work upon this new 
 problem. Presently an idea was born to him, 
 and he went at once to lay it before Agatha for 
 consideration. 
 
 " Mis' Agatha," he said, " even ef you cawn't 
 git to Mas' Baillie, Sam kin, an' that'll be bet- 
 ter'n nothin', won't it?" 
 
 " Yes, Sam," answered the sad-eyed young 
 woman, " very much better than nothing. You 
 could take care of your master, and be a comfort 
 to him, and if the time ever should come when 
 
 306 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 anything could be done for him, you'd be on the 
 ground to help. But how can you get to him ? " 
 
 " I could manage dat, ef I was a free nigga," 
 answered the boy, meditatively. 
 
 " But you are free, I suppose," said Agatha. 
 " You've been brought to a free State, practically 
 with your master's consent, and that makes you 
 free, I believe. But " 
 
 " O, I don't want to be a sho' 'nuff free 
 nigga," interrupted Sam. " I ain't never a-gwine 
 to be dat. I'se a-gwine to 'long to Mas' Baillie 
 cl'ar to de end o' de cawn rows. But I done 
 heah folks up heah say dat de Yankees is a-sendin' 
 back all de niggas what runs away from der 
 mahstahs, an' ef I ain't got nuffin' to say I'se 
 free, dey'd sen' me back to Ferginny ef I went 
 down dat way whar Mas' Baillie is." 
 
 Sam's information on this point was in a 
 measure correct. For in the singleness of his 
 purpose to save the Union at all costs, and in 
 his anxiety not to alienate the border slave States 
 by interfering with slavery where it legally ex- 
 isted, Mr. Lincoln steadfastly insisted, during the 
 first year of the war, that military commanders 
 should restore all fugitive slaves who should come 
 
 307 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 to them for protection, or where that could not be 
 done, should list them and employ them in work 
 upon fortifications and the like. 
 
 Agatha thought for a time, and then said : 
 
 " I think I can manage that, Sam. I'll try, 
 at any rate. But I must wait till to-morrow. 
 Tell me how you expect to get to your master." 
 
 " I don't rightly know yit, Mis' Agatha. But 
 I'll git dar. Maybe you'll send a letter to yo' 
 frien's down dat way, tellin' J em Sam's all right, 
 so's dey'll trus' me. Ef you do dat, Mis' Agatha, 
 I'll do de res'." 
 
 It was impossible, of course, to execute legal 
 papers setting Sam free, nor were any papers at 
 all necessary for his use, so long as he remained 
 in New York. But in Washington he might have 
 to give an account of himself, and by way of 
 making. sure that he should not be seized as a 
 runaway slave, and set to work upon the forti- 
 fications, Agatha's friend, the banker, gave him 
 a document in which he certified that the negro 
 boy was not a runaway slave, but was known to 
 him as a legally free negro, who had been living 
 in New York, but wished to go to Washington 
 and elsewhere in search of employment. 
 
 3 o8 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Armed with this paper, and with full instruc- 
 tions from Agatha as to how to find certain of 
 her friends, Sam set out on his journey full of 
 determination to succeed in his affectionate pur- 
 pose. 
 
 In Washington, he engaged in various small 
 employments that yielded a revenue in the form 
 of tips. He purchased a banjo, and ingratiated 
 himself everywhere by singing his plantation 
 songs, including both those that he had learned 
 from others, and a few, such as " Oh, Eliza," 
 which he had fabricated for himself. In the 
 course of a week or two he learned all he needed 
 to know about roads, military lines, and the like, 
 and was prepared "to make his way to the hos- 
 pital where his master lay. 
 
 There he besought employment of menial kinds, 
 at the hands of the surgeons and other officers, of 
 whom there were only a very few at the post. 
 Again he strummed his banjo and sang his songs 
 to good purpose, impressing everybody with the 
 conviction that he was a jolly, thoughtless, happy- 
 go-lucky negro, and very amusing withal. The 
 hospital was a very small one in a very lonely 
 part of the country, and service there was ex- 
 
 309 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 tremely tedious to those who were condemned to 
 it. Sam's minstrelsy, therefore, was more than 
 welcome as something that pleasantly broke the 
 monotony, and the officers concerned were anx- 
 ious to keep the amusing fellow employed at the 
 post, lest he go elsewhere. They gave him all 
 sorts of odd jobs to do, from blacking boots 
 and polishing spurs and buckles, to grooming 
 a horse when privileged in that way, to show his 
 skill in " puttin' of a satin dress onto a good 
 animal," as he called the process. 
 
 Agatha had provided the boy with a small sum 
 of money for use in emergencies, and, as his 
 living had cost him nothing, he had considerably 
 added to its amount. He cherished it jealously, 
 feeling that it might prove to be his readiest tool 
 in accomplishing his purposes. 
 
 For a time he was not permitted to enter the 
 hospital, which was nothing more than an old 
 barn in which a floor had been laid and windows 
 cut. Four sentries guarded it, one on each of its 
 sides. The patients within numbered about fif- 
 teen, all of them wounded Confederate officers, 
 for whom this provision had been made until such 
 
 310 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 time as they should be sufficiently recovered to 
 be taken North to a military prison. 
 
 Being in no regular way employed at the post, 
 Sam was free to go and come as he pleased, and 
 he did a good deal of night-prowling at this time. 
 He managed in that way to establish relations 
 with certain of Agatha's friends, whose residence 
 was ten or a dozen miles away. He visited them 
 at intervals in order to hear from Agatha, and 
 report to her through them. He had not dared 
 inquire concerning his master in any direct way, 
 or to reveal his interest in any of the hospital 
 patients. But when two of them had died, he 
 had asked one of the servitors about the place 
 what their names were, and had thus satisfied him- 
 self that neither of them was Captain Pegram. 
 By keeping his ears on the alert, he had learned 
 also that there were not likely to be any further 
 deaths, and that the remaining wounded men were 
 slowly, but quite surely, recovering. Still fur- 
 ther, he had heard one of the doctors, in conver- 
 sation with the other, comment upon the remark- 
 able vitality of Captain Pegram. 
 
 : ' That wound would have killed almost any 
 other man I ever saw, but upon my word the man 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 is getting well. Barring accidents, I regard him 
 now as pretty nearly out of danger." 
 
 All this Sam duly reported to Agatha through 
 her friends. It greatly comforted her, but it 
 seriously alarmed Sam. For Sam had learned 
 the ways of the place, and he knew that there was 
 haste made to send every patient North, as soon 
 as he was in condition to be removed without 
 serious danger to his life; and Sam had begun 
 to cherish hopes and lay plans which would cer- 
 tainly come to nothing if his master should be 
 removed from the hospital to a military prison. 
 
 He determined, therefore, to find some way 
 of getting into the hospital, communicating with 
 his master, and finding .out for himself precisely 
 what the prospects were. 
 
 It was winter now, and besides the snow there 
 was much mud around the hospital, which was 
 freely tracked into it by all who entered. Peter, 
 the rheumatic old negro man who was employed 
 to scrub the place, complained bitterly of this. 
 He said to Sam one day : 
 
 " Dese heah doctahs an* dese heah 'tendants 
 is mighty pahticklah to have de place keeped 
 scrumptiously clean, but dey's mighty onpahtick- 
 312 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 lah to wipe dar boots 'fo' enterin' de hospital. 
 Ole Pete's done got mos' enough o' dis heah job." 
 
 "Why don't yo' quit it, den?" asked Sam, 
 with seeming indifference. 
 
 ' 'Case I can't 'ford to. I ain't got no udder 
 'ployment fer de rest o' de wintah, an' it's a 
 long ways to blackberry time." 
 
 " How much does dey gib yo' fer a-doin' of 
 it?" 
 
 "'Mos' nothin' 'tall a dollah an' a half a 
 month an' my bo'd." 
 
 " Yes, an' de job won't las' long, nuther," said 
 Sam, sympathetically, " 'cordin' to what I heah. 
 De rebel officers is all a-gwine to git well, I 
 done heah de doctahs say, an' when dey does dat, 
 dey'll be shipped off Norf, an' dis heah 'stablish- 
 ment'll be broke up. You'se too ole fer sich 
 wuk, anyways, Uncle Pete. Yo' oughter be 
 a-nussin' o' yer knees by a fire somewhars, 'stead 
 o' warm' of 'em out a-scrubbin' flo's. You'se 
 got a lot o' pray in' to do yit, 'fo' yo' dies, 
 'nuff to use up what knees you'se got left. Give 
 up de job, Uncle Pete, and go off wha' you kin 
 make yer peace wid de Lawd, as de preachahs 
 says you must." 
 
 313 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 "But I cawn't, I tell you! I ain't got no 
 money, an' I ain't got no 'ployment, 'ceptin' dis 
 heah scrubbin'. Ef I had five dollahs, Ole Pete 
 wouldn't be heah fer a day later'n day afteh to- 
 morrow dat's pay-day." 
 
 Sam sat silent for a time as if meditating on 
 what he had it in mind to say, before committing 
 himself to the rash proposal. Finally, he turned 
 to the old man, and said : 
 
 " Look heah, Uncle Pete, I'se sorry fer you, 
 sho' 'nuff I is. I'se done 'cumulated a little 
 money, by close scrimpin', an' I'm half a mind 
 to help yo' out. Lemme see. You'se a-gwine to 
 git a dollah an' a half day after to-morrow. I 
 kin spar yo' six dollahs mo'. Dat'll make seben 
 dollahs an* a half. I'll do it ef you'll take pity 
 on yerse'f an' go to town an' git yerse'f a easier 
 sort o' wuk. Yo' kin owe me de six dollahs 
 tell you git rich enough to pay it back." 
 
 The old man was inclined to be suspicious of 
 a generosity of which he had never known the 
 equal. 
 
 " Who'se a-gwine to take de job ef I gibs 
 it up? " he asked. 
 
 "What de debbil do you k'yar 'bout dat?" 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 asked Sam. " Anyhow, dey ain't a-gwine to 
 raise de wages. Yo' kin jes' bet yo' life on dat. 
 Yo' kin do jes' as yo' please 'bout 'ceptin' de 
 offer I done made you. I oughtn't to V made it, 
 but Fse always a-makin' of a fool o' myse'f, 
 when my feelin's is touched. Six dollahs is a 
 lot o' money, hit is. Maybe yo' think I'm Mr. 
 Astor, to go a-throwin' of money away like dat, 
 or, maybe yo'se Mr. Astor yerse'f, to be hesi- 
 tatin' 'bout a-'ceptin' of it. Reckon I bettah with- 
 draw de off ah " 
 
 "Who'se a-hesitatin'?" broke in old Peter, hur- 
 riedly. " I ain't never thought o' hesitatin', Sam. 
 I'll take de money sho', an' I thank you kindly 
 for yer generosity, Sam. You'se a mighty fine 
 boy, Sam, an' I'se always liked you ever since I 
 fust knowed you. Now dat you'se a-behavin' 
 jes' like as if yo' was my own chile, I reck'lec' 
 dat I always had a fatherly feelin' foh you, Sam. 
 Lemme have de money now, Sam, so's I kin go 
 to sleep to-night a-feelin' I ain't got but one mo' 
 day to do dis heah sort o' wuk." 
 
 " Yo' won't change yo' mind? " asked Sam. 
 
 " Sartain sho' ! Wish I may die ef I do." 
 
 Sam regarded that oath as one likely to be 
 
 315 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 binding upon any negro conscience, but he wished 
 to take no risks; so putting on an air of great 
 solemnity, and pushing his face to within four 
 inches of the old man's, he said : 
 
 " Now you'se done swore it by de ' wish I may 
 die,' an' you mus' keep dat sw'ar. Ef yo' don't, 
 it'll be my solemn duty to carry out yo' wish 
 by killin' you myse'f, an', 'fore de Lawd, I'll do 
 it. Heah's de money." 
 
 316 
 
XXIV 
 
 FLIGHT 
 
 SAM had so far commended himself by alert- 
 ness and thoroughness in whatever he did, 
 that he had no difficulty in securing what he 
 called " de scrubbin' contract." He now had per- 
 fect freedom of hospital ingress and egress, but 
 he felt that he must be cautious, especially in his 
 first revelation of his presence to his master, who, 
 he was confident, knew nothing of his being there. 
 He feared to surprise some exclamation from 
 Pegram, which would, as he phrased it, " give 
 de whole snap away." 
 
 So on the first morning he began his scrubbing 
 at the outer door, and moved slowly on his hands 
 and knees along the line of cots, taking sly 
 glimpses of their occupants as he went. It was 
 not till he reached the farther corner of the large 
 room that he found the cot of his master. Then 
 
 317 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 with his face near the floor and scrubbing vio- 
 lently with his brush, he began intoning in a low 
 voice : 
 
 " Don't say nothin', don't say nothin', don't 
 say nothin' when yo' sees me. It's Sam sho' 
 'nuff, an' Sam's done come, an' don't you give 
 it away." 
 
 To any one ten feet away, all this sounded like 
 the humming of a chant by one who unconsciously 
 sang below the breath as he worked. But to 
 Baillie, who lay within a foot or two of the boy's 
 head, the words were perfectly audible, and pres- 
 ently, without moving, and in a low murmuring 
 voice, he said : 
 
 " I understand, Sam. I knew you were here. 
 I heard you singing outside, many days ago." 
 
 Then the wounded man pretended to' have 
 difficulty in adjusting his blankets, and Sam rose 
 and bent over the cot to help him. While doing 
 so, he said : 
 
 " Mis' Agatha, she done brung me to New 
 York, an' sent me heah to fin' yo'. How's you 
 a-gittin'? Tell me, so's I kin report, an' tell me 
 every day." 
 
 Baillie replied briefly that his wound was heal- 
 
 318 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 ing and his strength coming back, to which Sam 
 answered : 
 
 " Don't you go fer to tell de doctah too much 
 'bout dat. Jes' keep as sick as you kin, while 
 you'se a-gittin' well. I'll tell you why another 
 time. Git 'quainted wid Sam more an' more 
 ebery day, Mas' Baillie, so's we kin talk 'thout 
 'rousin' 'spicion." 
 
 In aid of this, Sam took pains, as the days 
 went on, to establish relations with all the other 
 patients who were well enough to talk, and as 
 his inconsequent humour seemed to amuse them, 
 the doctors made no objection to his loquacious- 
 ness. 
 
 It was one of the articles in Sam's philosophical 
 creed that " yo' cawn't have too many frien's, 
 'case yo' cawn't never know when you may need 
 'em." Accordingly, he cultivated acquaintance 
 with everybody, high and low, about the place, 
 including the peculiarly surly man who brought 
 the coal and the kindling-wood for the estab- 
 lishment. That personage was a white man of 
 melancholy temper and extraordinary taciturnity. 
 He went in and out of the place, wearing a long 
 overcoat that had probably seen better days, but 
 
 319 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 so long ago as to have forgotten all about them. 
 The only other article of his clothing that was 
 visible was a slouch hat, the brim of which 
 had completely lost courage and could no longer 
 pretend to stand out from the head that wore it, 
 but hung down like a limp lambrequin over the 
 man's eyes. The man himself seemed in an 
 equally discouraged condition. He shambled 
 rather than walked, and never answered a ques- 
 tion or responded to a salutation, except in Sam's 
 case. To him, when the two were alone, the man 
 would sometimes speak a few words. 
 
 Sam was daily and hourly studying everybody 
 and everything about him, with a view to possi- 
 bilities. Nobody was too insignificant and noth- 
 ing too trivial for him to note and consider and 
 remember. " Yo' cawn't never know," he phil- 
 osophised, " what rock will come handiest when 
 yo' wants to frow it at a squirrel." 
 
 As the weeks passed, Baillie Pegram so im- 
 proved that he sat up, and even walked about 
 the place a little. One day, Sam learned that 
 Baillie and three others were deemed well enough 
 to be removed from hospital to prison, and that 
 the transfer was to be made two days later. Dur- 
 320 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 ing the night after this discovery was made, Sam 
 trudged through a blinding snow-storm the 
 last, probably, of the waning winter to the 
 house of Agatha's friends, ten or a dozen miles 
 away, and back again through the snow-drifts, 
 arriving at the hospital about daylight, as he had 
 often done before, after a prowling by night. 
 
 He had made all his arrangements but one, 
 and he had armed himself for that, by drawing 
 upon Agatha's friends for ten dollars in small 
 bills. 
 
 During the day, he managed to tell his master 
 all that was necessary concerning the emergency, 
 and his plans for meeting it. 
 
 " To-morrow 'bout sundown, Mas' Baillie," he 
 said, at the last. " 'Member de hour. When 
 Sam speaks to yo' at de front do', yo' is to go 
 ter yo' cot. Yo'll fin' de coat an' de hat a-waitin' 
 fo' yo'. Put 'em on quick, an' pull de hat down 
 clos't, an' turn de collah up high. Den walk 
 out'n de back do' fru de wood-shed, an' pass out 
 de gate, jes' as ef yo' was de ole man, sayin' 
 nuffin' to nobody. Yo' mustn't walk straight like 
 yo' always does, but shufflin'-like, jes' as de ole 
 man does. Den mount de coal kyart an' drive 
 
 321 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 up to de forks o' de road. Den shuffle out'n de 
 coat an' hat, an' git inter de sleigh. Yo' frien's 
 'till take kyar o' de res'." 
 
 Having thus instructed his master, Sam post- 
 poned further proceedings until the morrow. He 
 had not yet opened negotiations with the old 
 coal-man, negotiations upon which the success 
 of his plans depended, but he trusted his wits 
 and his determination to . accomplish what he 
 desired, and he had no notion of risking all by 
 unnecessary haste. 
 
 Even when the coal-man came during the next 
 morning, Sam contented himself with asking if 
 he would certainly come again with his cart 
 about sunset of that day, as he usually did. Hav- 
 ing reassured himself on that point, Sam said 
 nothing more, except that he would himself be 
 at leisure at that time and would help bring in the 
 load of wood. 
 
 Then Sam finished his scrubbing, and spent 
 the afternoon in repairing the apparatus of his 
 handicraft. He readjusted the hoops on his 
 scrubbing-bucket, scoured his brushes, and ground 
 the knife that he was accustomed to use in scrap- 
 ing the floor wherever medicines had been spilled 
 322 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 or other stains had been made, for Sam had a 
 well earned reputation for thoroughness in his 
 work. Curiously enough, he this time ground the 
 knife-blade to a slender point, " handy," he said, 
 " fer gittin' into cracks wid." 
 
 When the coal-man came with a load of wood, 
 a little before sunset, dumping it outside the gate, 
 Sam was ready to help him carry it in and split 
 it into kindlings within the shed. For this work, 
 when the wood had all been brought in, the old 
 man laid off his overcoat and hat. Thereupon 
 Sam opened negotiations. 
 
 " I'se a-gwine to a frolic to-night/' he said, 
 " an' I'se a-gwine to have a mighty good time 
 a-playin' o' de banjo an' a-dancin', but hit's power- 
 ful cold, an' de walk's a mighty long one." 
 
 Then, as if a sudden thought had come to him, 
 he said : 
 
 "Tell yo' what! 'Spose yo' lemme wahr yo' 
 overcoat. Yo' ain't got far to go, an' I'll give 
 yo' a dollah fer de use of it." 
 
 The old man hesitated, and Sam was in a hurry. 
 
 " I'll make it two dollahs, an' heah's de money 
 clean an' new," pulling out the bills. " Say de 
 word an' it's your'n." 
 
 323 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 The offer was too tempting to be resisted, and 
 the bargain was quickly made. 
 
 " Reckon I better go brush it up," said Sam, 
 taking the garment and managing to fold the 
 soft hat into it. He passed through the door into 
 the hospital, cast his bundle upon Baillie Pegram's 
 bed, and walked quickly to the front door, where 
 his master was standing looking out upon the 
 snow, now darkening in the falling dusk. 
 
 " All ready," the negro said, in an undertone, 
 as he passed, and Captain Pegram wearily turned 
 and walked toward his cot. Half a minute later, 
 what looked like the old coal-man passed into the 
 wood-shed, and out of it at the rear, whence, 
 with shuffling steps he walked to and through 
 the gate, mounted the coal-cart, and slowly drove 
 away. 
 
 Sam, hurrying around the building, entered the 
 wood-shed just as his master was leaving it, and 
 confronted the owner of the coat and hat that 
 Pegram wore. He was none too soon, for the 
 old man, seeing Pegram pass, clad in his gar- 
 ments, thought he was being robbed, and was 
 about to raise a hue and cry. Sam interposed 
 with an assumption of authority : 
 
 324 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " Stay right whah yo' is," he commanded, " an' 
 don't make no noise, do yo' heah ? Ef you keeps 
 quiet-like, an' stays heah at wuk fer ha'f a hour, 
 an' den goes away 'bout yo' business a-sayin' 
 nothin' to nobody, you'll git another dollah, an' 
 I'll tell yo' whah to fin' yo' clo'se. Ef yo' don't 
 do jes' as I tells yo', yo'll git dis, an' yo' won't 
 never have no 'casion fer no clo'se no more. 
 Do yo' heah?" 
 
 Sam held the keenly pointed knife in his hand, 
 while the old man worked for the appointed space 
 of half an hour. At the end of that time, Sam 
 said: 
 
 " Now yo' may go, an' heah's yo' dollah. Yo'll 
 fin' yer kyart at de forks o' de road, an' yer coat 
 an' hat'll be in de kyart. But min' you don't 
 never know nothin' 'bout dis heah transaction, 
 fer ef yo' ever peeps, dey'll hang yo' fer helpin' 
 a pris'ner to escape, an' I'll kill yo' besides. Go, 
 now. Do yo' heah ? " 
 
 Sam watched him pass out through the gate 
 and turn up the road. When he had disappeared, 
 the black strategist muttered : 
 
 " Reckon dat suggestion 'bout gittin' hisse'f 
 'rested fer helpin' a pris'ner 'scape, will sort o' 
 
 325 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 bar itse'f in on de ole man's min'. He won't never 
 let hisse'f 'member nuffin' 'bout dis heah. Any- 
 how, Mas' Baillie's gone, an' it's time Sam was 
 a-gittin' out o' this, too." 
 
 With that the boy secured his banjo and bade 
 good night to the surgeon whom he met outside, 
 saying that he was going to have a " powerful 
 good time at de frolic." 
 
 326 
 
XXV 
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE 
 
 BAILLIE PEGRAM found little difficulty in 
 imitating the shambling gait of the old coal 
 man as he walked to the hospital exit. 
 In his weakness he could hardly have walked 
 in any other fashion. He managed with difficulty 
 to climb upon the cart, and to endure the painful 
 drive to the forks of the road, somewhat more 
 than half a mile away. 
 
 There he found a sleigh awaiting him, with 
 four women in it, all muffled to the eyes in buffalo- 
 robes, and a gentleman wrapped in a fur over- 
 coat, on the box. The gentleman gave the reins 
 to one of the ladies, and proceeded to help Pegram 
 from the coal-cart, while the others stepped out 
 upon the hard frozen snow. 
 
 The body of the sleigh was deep, and it had 
 been filled with fresh rye straw. One of the gen- 
 tlewomen parted this to either side, and spread 
 
 327 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 a fur robe upon the floor beneath, into which the 
 gentleman hurriedly helped Baillie, drawing the 
 robe closely together over him, and replacing the 
 straw so that no part of the fur wrapping beneath 
 could be seen. 
 
 All this was done quickly, and without a word, 
 the women resumed their seats, the man cracked 
 his whip, and the spirited horses set off at a 
 merry pace. 
 
 By way of precaution, a roundabout road was 
 followed, and it was late when the sleighing- 
 party reached its destination. There the women 
 alighted and passed into the house. The gentle- 
 man drove the sleigh into the barn, with Baillie 
 Pegram still lying under the straw. When the 
 horses were unhitched, their owner directed the 
 negro, who took charge of them, to walk them 
 back and forth down by the stables to cool them 
 off, before putting them into their stalls. It 
 was not until the hostler was well away from the 
 barn that his master removed the seats and lifted 
 Baillie from his hiding-place under the straw. 
 By that time, a young man, perhaps thirty years 
 old, and strong of frame, had appeared, and the 
 two hurriedly carried the now nearly helpless 
 
 328 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 man into the house, where a bed awaited him. 
 Stripping him, the younger man proceeded to 
 examine the wound with the skilful eye of a 
 surgeon. 
 
 " The wound has suffered no injury," he pres- 
 ently said to his host, " but the man is greatly 
 exhausted. Will you heat some flat-irons, and 
 place them at his feet? He must have nourish- 
 ment, too, but of course it won't do to bring any 
 of the servants in here " 
 
 " I'll manage that," said the host. " We are all 
 supposed to have been out on a lark, and I always 
 have a late supper after that sort of thing. I'll 
 have it served in the room that opens out of 
 this. As soon as it comes, I'll send the servants 
 away, and we can feed your patient from our 
 table." 
 
 In the meanwhile, the ever faithful Sam, half 
 frozen but full of courage and determination, 
 was toiling over the flint-like snow, trying to reach 
 the house before the morning. In order that he 
 might the better keep his hands from freezing, 
 he cast his banjo into a snow-filled ravine, saying : 
 
 " Reckon I sha'n't need you any more, an' ef 
 I does, I kin git another." With that, he thrust 
 
 329 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 his hands into his pockets, where his accumulated 
 earnings , reassured him as to his ability to buy 
 banjos at will. 
 
 It had been a part of the plan of rescue that 
 Baillie should remain but a brief while at his 
 present stopping-place. It was deemed certain 
 that a search for him would be made as soon as 
 his escape should be discovered, and the house 
 in which he had been put to bed that night was 
 likely to be one of the first to be examined, where- 
 fore Sam was anxious to reach that destination 
 as soon as possible, lest he miss his master. 
 
 But when the morning came, Baillie was in a 
 high fever, and the doctor forbade all attempts 
 to remove him, for a time at least. As the day 
 advanced, the fever subsided somewhat, and Bail- 
 lie grew anxious to continue his journey. Finally, 
 the doctor hit upon a plan of procedure. 
 
 ' You simply must not now undertake the 
 long journey we had intended you to make to-day, 
 Captain/' he said, " but the distance to my house 
 in the town is comparatively small. I might 
 manage to take you there this afternoon, if you 
 think you can sit up in my sleigh for a five-mile 
 
 330 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 ride, and then get out at my door and walk into 
 the house without tottering on your legs." 
 
 Baillie eagerly protested his ability to endure 
 the ride, and the doctor proceeded to arrange 
 for it. Some clothing had already been provided 
 in the house for Baillie to don in place of his 
 uniform, and the doctor now said : 
 
 " I'm going to drive home at once. I'll be 
 back before three o'clock. Get the captain into 
 his citizen's clothes and have him ready by that 
 time, but let him lie down till I come, to spare 
 his strength. I've a patient in town, a consump- 
 tive, and I've been taking him out with me every 
 fine day, for the sake of the air. He is not very 
 ill at present, but he is one of us, and will be just 
 as sick as I tell him to be when I get him here. 
 I'm afraid I shall find it necessary to ask you 
 to keep him for a day or two." 
 
 The hint was understood, and the doctor drove 
 away behind a pair of good trotters. Before the 
 appointed time he returned, bringing his patient 
 with him, and at his request the sick man was 
 put to bed in the room where Baillie had passed 
 the night. 
 
 A few minutes later a party of soldiers rode 
 
 331 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 up and reported that they were under orders to 
 search the house for an escaped Confederate offi- 
 cer. The doctor, with a well assumed look of 
 professional concern on his face, said to the officer 
 in command of the squad : 
 
 " That is a trifle unfortunate just now. I have 
 a patient in the adjoining room a young man 
 in pulmonary consumption. Of course you'll have 
 to search the house, but I beg you, Lieutenant, 
 to spare my patient. His condition is such 
 that " 
 
 " I'll be very careful, I assure you. I'll go 
 alone to search that room, and make as little dis- 
 turbance as possible." 
 
 Still wearing a look of anxiety, the doctor said : 
 
 " Couldn't you leave that room unexamined. 
 Lieutenant? I assure you on my honour that 
 there is nobody there except my patient." 
 
 The physician's anxiety suggested a new 
 thought to the officer's mind. 
 
 " I take your word for that, Doctor. I believe 
 you when you tell me there's nobody but your 
 patient in that room. But your patient may hap- 
 pen to be the very man we want, even without 
 your knowing the fact. Our man is very ill, 
 
 332 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 recovering from a severe wound, and he'd be 
 sure to need a doctor after walking, as he must 
 have done, a dozen miles in this snow. Pardon 
 me, Doctor; I do not mean to accuse you of any 
 complicity; but you are a physician, bound to 
 do your best for any patient who sends for you, 
 and to keep his confidence professional ethics 
 requires that. I shall not blame you if I find 
 your patient to be my man. You are doing only 
 your professional duty. But I must see the man. 
 I can tell whether he's the one we want. Our 
 man has been shot through the body, and the 
 wound is not yet completely healed. My orders 
 are to look for that wound on every man I have 
 reason to suspect, and I must do my duty/' 
 
 " O, certainly," replied the physician. " You'll 
 find no wounds on my patient, and I earnestly beg 
 you" to avoid exciting him more than is absolutely 
 necessary. You see, in his condition, any undue 
 excitement " 
 
 " O, I'll be very careful, Doctor, very careful, 
 indeed." 
 
 * Thank you. It is very good of you. You 
 see, as I was saying, in his condition, any 
 undue excitement " 
 
 333 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " O, yes, I know all about that. You may 
 trust me to be careful." 
 
 " Again thank you. Come, Bob," looking at 
 his watch, and addressing Baillie, who was sitting 
 by, " we must be going. I've half a dozen patients 
 waiting for me." 
 
 Baillie rose, nerving himself for the effort, 
 bowed to the lieutenant, and walked out of the 
 house. A minute later, muffled to the ears in 
 furs, the two men were speeding over the snow, 
 with Sam clinging on behind, and playing the 
 part of " doctah's man." 
 
 " Here," said the physician, handing Baillie a 
 flask, " take a stiff swig of that. You must keep 
 up your strength." Then after he had replaced 
 the flask in his overcoat pocket, he chuckled : 
 
 " That was very neatly done to have you 
 walk away in that fashion from under the very 
 nose of the man who was looking for you." 
 
 Sam echoed the chuckle, and Baillie said : 
 
 " I hope your patient will suffer no harm from 
 all this!" 
 
 " O, not a bit. He's in the game, and he'll 
 enjoy it, especially after they are gone, and he 
 suddenly recovers from his extreme illness." 
 
 334 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 " But why was it necessary to take him there 
 at all?" 
 
 " Why, under the circumstances, it would never 
 have done for me to be seen driving away from 
 there with a companion when I had been seen 
 driving out there alone. As it is, your presence 
 in the sleigh is satisfactorily accounted for to 
 everybody who sees us. But how about your 
 discarded uniform? Won't they find that? " 
 
 " No. Sam reduced it to ashes early this morn- 
 ing, and then aired the room to get rid of the 
 smell of burning wool." 
 
 " That was excellent. Who thought of doing 
 it?" 
 
 " Sam." 
 
 335 
 
XXVI 
 
 / 
 
 MADEMOISELLE ROLAND 
 
 DURING all those months of waiting, 
 Agatha Ronald had remained in New 
 York, under the advice of Marshall Pol- 
 lard's friend, who was accustomed to put his coun- 
 sel into the form of something like a command 
 whenever that seemed to him necessary. She was 
 urged to remain in the city, too, by all her friends 
 who were near Baillie Pegram's prison hospital. 
 " Stay where you are," was the burden of all 
 their letters. " You can do no good here, and you 
 may do much harm if you attempt to come, while 
 you will very surely be needed where you are, 
 if we succeed, as we hope, in effecting Captain 
 Pegram's escape. We shall do all that is possible 
 to accomplish that, but when we do he will still 
 be a very ill man, for if he is to escape at all, 
 it must be before he sufficiently recovers to be 
 
 336 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 sent to a prison. You will be needed then to care 
 for him somewhere, for, of course, he must not 
 remain in this quarter of the country. Be patient 
 and trust us and Sam. For that boy is a 
 wonder of devotion and ingenuity. He has just 
 left us to return to the hospital before morning. 
 He makes the journey on foot by night, three 
 times a week, walking twenty odd miles each 
 trip, in all sorts of weather. When we remon- 
 strated with him to-night for a fearful storm 
 is raging and told him he should have waited 
 for better weather, he indignantly replied : ' Den 
 Mis' Agatha would have had to wait a whole 
 day beyond her time fer news. No sirree. Sam's 
 a-gwine to come on de 'pinted nights, ef it rains 
 pitchforks an' de win' blows de ha'r offen he 
 haid.' " 
 
 So Agatha busied herself with such concerns 
 as were hers. She laboured hard to improve the 
 service of her " underground railroad," and sent 
 medicines and surgical appliances through the 
 lines with a frequency that surprised the author- 
 ities at Richmond. She corresponded in a dis- 
 guised way with her friends in and near Wash- 
 ington, offering all she could of helpful sugges- 
 
 337 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 tion to them and through them to Sam. It was 
 by her command that Sam told his master, while 
 in the hospital, just where and how she was to be 
 found if he should escape, and how perfectly 
 equipped she was to come to his assistance in 
 such a case. 
 
 For the rest, she battled bravely with her sor- 
 row and her anxieties, lest they unfit her for 
 prompt and judicious action when the time for 
 action should come. In brief, she behaved like the 
 devoted and heroic woman she was. 
 
 After long months of weary waiting, her pulse 
 was one day set bounding by the tidings that the 
 master of Warlock had escaped from the hospital, 
 and was in safe hands. This news was communi- 
 cated by means of a telegram, which said only, 
 " Dress goods satisfactory. Trimmings excel- 
 lent." 
 
 Fuller news came by letter a day later, and it 
 was far less joyous. It told her that the exposure, 
 exertion, and excitement of the escape had brought 
 Baillie into a condition of dangerous illness ; that 
 he lay helpless in the physician's house; that no 
 one was permitted to see him for fear of dis- 
 
 338 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 covery, except Sam, who had been installed as 
 nurse. 
 
 Other letters followed this daily for a week, 
 each more discouraging than the last. Finally 
 came one from the doctor himself, in answer to 
 Agatha's demand, in which he wrote : 
 
 " I labour under many difficulties. Captain 
 Pegram's presence in my house must be con- 
 cealed as long as that can be accomplished. I 
 am a bachelor, and I often receive patients for. 
 treatment here, but in this case the man's illness 
 is the consequence of a bullet wound, and should 
 that fact become known, it would pretty certainly 
 cause an inquiry; for my Southern sentiments 
 are well known, and in the eyes of the govern- 
 mental secret service, I am very distinctly a ' sus- 
 pect/ The consequence of all this is that I dare 
 not introduce a competent nurse into the house. 
 
 " Sam is willing and absolutely devoted, but 
 of course he knows nothing of nursing. Yet 
 nursing, and especially the tender nursing of a 
 woman, is this patient's chief need. If he were 
 in New York now, where political rancour is held 
 in check by the fact that sentiment there is divided, 
 and where people are too busy to meddle with 
 
 339 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 other people's affairs, we could manage the matter 
 easily. You can scarcely imagine how different 
 the conditions here are. I might easily command 
 the services of any one of half a dozen or a dozen 
 gentlewomen of Maryland whom I could trust 
 absolutely. But the very fact of my bringing one 
 of them here to nurse a stranger, would set a 
 pack of clever detectives on the scent, and within 
 twenty-four hours they would know the exact 
 truth. 
 
 " You will see, my dear young lady, how per- 
 plexing a situation it is. I hoped at first that 
 Capt. P. might presently rally sufficiently to 
 stand the trip to New York. I could have man- 
 aged that. But he simply cannot be moved now, 
 or for many weeks to come. It would be murder 
 to make the attempt." 
 
 When Agatha had read this latter, her mind 
 was instantly made up. 
 
 " I must go to him at all hazards and all costs, 
 and nurse him myself. But first I must think 
 out a way, so that there may be no failure." 
 
 She sat for an hour thinking and planning. 
 Then she got up and hurriedly scribbled two let- 
 ters. It was after nightfall, and Agatha had 
 
 340 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 never yet gone into the streets by night. Her 
 terror of that particular form of * danger was 
 great. But these letters must be posted at once, 
 and by her own hand. There were no lamp-post 
 mailing-boxes in those half-civilised days, and 
 she must travel many blocks to reach the nearest 
 post-office station. She took up the little pistol 
 which she had so long carried for the purpose 
 of defending her honour by self-destruction, if 
 need should arise, examined its chambers, placed 
 it beneath her cloak, and hurried into the street. 
 
 Then, as now, to the shame of what we call 
 our civilisation, no woman could traverse the 
 thoroughfares of a great city after dark and un- 
 attended without risk of insult or worse. Then, 
 as now, a costly police force utterly ignored its 
 duty of so vigilantly protecting the helpless that 
 the streets should be as safe to women as to men, 
 by night as well as by day. 
 
 During that little walk of a dozen city blocks 
 through streets that the public adequately paid 
 to have securely guarded, Agatha felt far more 
 of fear than she had experienced while facing the 
 canister fire of Baillie Pegram's guns. 
 
 She escaped molestation more by good fortune 
 
 341 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 than by any security that police protection af- 
 forded or now affords to the wives and daughters 
 of a community that calls itself civilised, and pays 
 princely sums every year for a police protection 
 that it does not get. 
 
 One of her letters was addressed to a friend 
 in Baltimore. It gave her the address of Marshall 
 Pollard's friend, the banker, and added : 
 
 " On receipt of this you are to telegraph, asking 
 him to find and send you a nurse who speaks 
 French a Frenchwoman preferred. He will 
 send me, in response to the demand, as Mile. 
 Roland, an anagram of my own name. I 
 shall speak nothing but French in your house, 
 and afterward." 
 
 To Baillie's doctor she wrote: 
 
 " I think I see a way out of your difficulties. 
 Can you not make a new diagnosis of Captain 
 Pegram's case finding him ill of tuberculosis, 
 or typhoid, or some other wasting malady corre- 
 sponding with his external appearance, thus con- 
 cealing the fact that he suffers in consequence of 
 a wound? He speaks French like a Parisian 
 I suppose he can even dream in that language, 
 as I always do so for safety and by way of 
 
 342 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 forwarding my plan, you may regard him as a 
 French gentleman who has fallen ill during his 
 travels in America, and come to you for treat- 
 ment. You are to be very anxious to secure a 
 French nurse for him, and to that end you may 
 write as soon as you receive this, to the gentle- 
 woman whose address in Baltimore is enclosed, 
 asking her to procure such a nurse if she can. 
 I will be that nurse, and will know no English 
 during my stay. This plan will enable me to go 
 to Captain Pegram's bedside without exciting 
 the least suspicion, and, when he is sufficiently 
 recovered to travel, there will be little if any 
 trouble in arranging for his nurse to take the 
 convalescent to New York, and thence to Europe. 
 Once out of the country and well again, he can 
 go to Nassau, and thence to a Southern port on 
 one of the English blockade-running ships. To 
 secure all this we must scrupulously maintain the 
 fiction that he is a Frenchman, and I a French 
 nurse." 
 
 Agatha's first care on the next morning was 
 to visit the banker and instruct him as to the 
 part he was to play in the conspiracy, when the 
 telegram should come from Baltimore. That 
 
 343 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 done, she plied her needle nimbly, fashioning 
 caps, aprons and the like, such as French nurses 
 only wore at that time, before there were any 
 trained nurses other than Frenchwomen among 
 us. She was already wearing black gowns, of 
 course, and when she added a jet rosary and a 
 stiffly starched broad white collar to her costume, 
 she had no need to inform anybody that she was a 
 hospital-bred nurse from Paris. 
 
 In the little Maryland town where Baillie Pe- 
 gram lay in a stupor, her advent attracted much 
 curious attention, especially because of the jaunty 
 little nurse's cap she wore, and of her inability 
 to speak English. But this curiosity averted, 
 rather than invited suspicion, as Agatha had in- 
 tended and planned that it should do. 
 
 The physician's knowledge of the French lan- 
 guage was scant, and his pronunciation was exe- 
 crably bad, but he managed to greet the nurse in 
 that tongue on her arrival, and to say, very gal- 
 lantly : 
 
 " Now my patient should surely get well. Un- 
 der care of such a nurse even a dead man might 
 be persuaded back to life." 
 
 344 
 
XXVII 
 
 AGATHAS WONDER-STORY 
 
 AGATHA had been for more than a week 
 at Baillie Pegram's bedside before he man- 
 ifested any consciousness of her presence. 
 But from the very first her ministrations had 
 seemed to soothe him. 
 
 Even when his fever brought active delirium 
 with it, a word from his soft-voiced French nurse 
 quieted him, and each day showed less of fever 
 and more of strength. 
 
 At last one day he lay quiet, and Agatha sat 
 stitching at something near the foot of the bed. 
 Her face was bent over her work, so that she did 
 not see when he opened his eyes and gazed stead- 
 ily at her for a time. Not until she looked up, as 
 she was accustomed watchfully to do every little 
 while, did he fully recognise her. Then, in a 
 feeble voice, he spoke her name nothing more. 
 
 She gently readjusted his pillows, and he fell 
 
 345 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 into a more natural sleep than he had known since 
 his relapse had befallen him. 
 
 When he waked again, Sam was sitting by, 
 Agatha having left the room for a brief while. 
 
 " Who has been here, Sam?" the sick man 
 asked. 
 
 " Nobody, Mas' Baillie, on'y de French lady 
 what's a-nussin' of yo'," replied Sam, lying with 
 the utmost equanimity, in accordance with what 
 he believed to be the spirit of his instructions. 
 
 " I dreamed it, then. Tell me where I am, 
 Sam." 
 
 "I ain't Sam an' yo' ain't Mas' Baillie; I'se 
 jes' garshong, an' yo'se a French gentleman, an* 
 yo' cawn't talk nuffin' but French, an' so 'tain't 
 no use fer yo' to try to talk to me. Yo' mus' 
 jes' go to sleep, now, an' when de French nuss 
 comes back, yo' kin ax her in French like what- 
 somever yo' wants to know." 
 
 Baillie's bewildered wits struggled for a mo- 
 ment with the problem of his own identity, 
 but before the French nurse returned he had fallen 
 asleep again. It was not until the next day, 
 therefore, that he had opportunity to ask Agatha 
 
 346 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 anything, but his fever had abated by that time, 
 and his mind was rapidly clearing. 
 
 " Tell me about it all, please," he said to her. 
 
 " Sh speak only in French," she replied, 
 herself speaking in that tongue. "It is very 
 necessary, and address me as Mademoiselle Ro- 
 land." 
 
 Then she told him so much as was necessary 
 to prevent him from exercising his imagination 
 in an exciting way. When she had explained that 
 he was still in the house of the doctor who had 
 aided him in his escape, and that the pretence of 
 his being a French gentleman and she a French 
 nurse was necessary for safety, she added : 
 
 " I came to you when you were very ill and 
 needed me, and I shall stay with you so long as 
 you need me. You mustn't talk now. Wait a 
 few days, and you will be strong enough." 
 
 The prediction was fulfilled, and a few days 
 later Agatha told him the whole story of her 
 own and Sam's search for him, dwelling partic- 
 ularly upon Sam's devotion and the ingenuity 
 he had brought to bear upon the problem of res- 
 cue. For at times when there was no possibility 
 that anybody should overhear, Agatha had made 
 
 347 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Sam tell her all the details of that affair, until 
 she knew as well as he did every word he had 
 spoken and every step he had taken in the exe- 
 cution of his purpose. 
 
 Baillie's progress toward recovery was neces- 
 sarily slow, but it was steady and continuous, and 
 after many weeks, when he was permitted to sit 
 up for awhile each day, he begged to hear about 
 the progress of the war. 
 
 It was now September, 1862, and what she 
 had to tell him was one of the most dramatic 
 stories that the history of our American war has 
 to relate. 
 
 McClellan had proved himself to be a great 
 organiser and a masterful engineer, and he had 
 at last tried to prove himself to be also a great 
 general. 
 
 He had so perfectly fortified the city of Wash- 
 ington that a brigade or a division or two might 
 easily hold it against the most determined hosts. 
 He had organised the " regiments cowering upon 
 the Potomac," and the scores of other regiments 
 that had come pouring into the capital, into one 
 of the finest armies that had ever taken the field in 
 any country in the world. He had multiplied his 
 
 348 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 artillery, and swelled his cavalry force to propor- 
 tions that rendered it numerically superior to 
 Stuart's " Mamalukes." He had so perfected his 
 supply departments quartermaster's, commis- 
 sary's, medical, and ordnance that their work 
 was accomplished with the precision, the cer- 
 tainty, and the smoothness of well-ordered ma- 
 chinery. 
 
 He had brought under his immediate command 
 a perfectly organised army, numbering nearly or 
 quite two hundred thousand men. 1 The Confed- 
 erates had in Virginia about one-fourth that num- 
 ber available for the defence of Richmond. Nor 
 could this army of defence be reinforced from 
 other parts of the South, for during the long 
 waiting-time in Virginia, events of the most vital 
 importance had been occurring at the West. Chief 
 of these in importance, though the government 
 at Washington was slow to recognise the fact, 
 was the discovery there of a really capable com- 
 mander General Grant. He had captured 
 Forts Henry and Donelson, thus gaining con- 
 
 1 Rossiter Johnson, in his "History of the War of 
 Secession," says that 121,000 were sent to Fortress Mon- 
 roe and seventy thousand left at Washington, besides 
 McDowell's corps and Bleuker's division. 
 
 349 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 trol of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, 
 breaking > the Confederate line of defence, and 
 pushing the Southern armies completely out of 
 Kentucky, and almost out of Tennessee. He was 
 preparing, when McClellan moved, to complete 
 that part of his work by fighting the tremendous 
 battle of Shiloh. 
 
 Thus the Confederates could not afford to draw 
 so much as a single regiment or battery from that 
 field for the strengthening of Johnston's force in 
 Virginia. Finally, early in March, Johnston had 
 withdrawn from Centreville and Manassas to the 
 immediate neighbourhood of Richmond. 
 
 It was in such circumstances that McClellan 
 at last undertook to use the great army he had 
 created, for the purpose it was meant to ac- 
 complish. Early in the spring, he transferred 
 120,000 men by water to Fortress Monroe, leav- 
 ing seventy thousand at and near Washington, 
 to hold that capital secure. Somewhat more than 
 half of this force at Washington was to advance 
 upon Richmond by way of Fredericksburg, and 
 add forty thousand men to McClellan's great 
 army when he should sit down before the Con- 
 federate capital. He, meanwhile, was to march 
 
 350 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 up the peninsula formed by the York and James 
 Rivers, supported by the navy on either side. 
 
 Richmond was seemingly doomed, and every- 
 where at the North the expectation was that 
 McClellan, with his overwhelming forces and his 
 well-nigh perfect organisation, would make an 
 end of the war before the first anniversary of the 
 battle of Manassas. 
 
 If McClellan had been half as capable in the 
 field as he had proved himself to be in the work 
 of organisation, this might easily have happened. 
 But he was cautious to a positively paralysing de- 
 gree. It was his habit of mind to overestimate 
 his enemy's strength to his own undoing. Thus 
 when he began his advance up the peninsula, with 
 nearly sixty thousand men, to be almost imme- 
 diately reinforced to one hundred thousand and 
 more, he found a Confederate line stretched across 
 the peninsula at Yorktown. It consisted of thir- 
 teen thousand men under Magruder, and with his 
 enormous superiority of numbers, McClellan 
 might have run over it in a day, while with his 
 transports, protected by gunboats, he might easily 
 have carried his army by it on either side, com- 
 pelling its retreat or surrender. But in his ex- 
 
 351 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 cessive caution he assumed that the entire Con- 
 federate force was concentrated there, and his 
 imagination doubled the strength of that force. 
 He confidently believed that the Yorktown lines 
 were defended by an army of eighty thousand or 
 more, and instead of finding out the facts by an 
 assault, he wasted nearly a month in scientifically 
 besieging the little force of thirteen thousand 
 men, with an army six or eight times as great, 
 and a siege train of enormous strength. 
 
 When at last he had pushed his siege parallels 
 near enough for an assault, he found his enemy 
 gone, and discovered that the great frowning 
 cannon in their works were nothing more than 
 wooden logs, painted black, and mounted like 
 heavy guns. 
 
 The North had not yet found a general capable 
 of commanding the superb army it had created, 
 or of making effective use of those enormously 
 superior resources which from the beginning had 
 been at its disposal. Grant had splendidly demon- 
 strated his capacity at Shiloh, but Halleck had 
 immediately superseded him, and completely 
 thrown away the opportunity there presented. 
 Grant was still denied any but volunteer rank, 
 
 352 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 and for many weeks after Shiloh he was left, as 
 he has himself recorded, with none but nominal 
 command, and was not even consulted by his 
 immeasurably inferior superior. 
 
 McClellan at last reached the neighbourhood of 
 Richmond, and placed his great army on the east- 
 ern and northern fronts of the Confederate capi- 
 tal. But still permitting his imagination to mis- 
 lead him, he confidently believed the Confederate 
 forces to be quite twice as numerous as they were 
 in fact. So instead of pressing them vigorously, 
 as a more enterprising and less excessively cau- 
 tious commander would have done, he proceeded 
 to fortify and for weeks kept his splendid army 
 idle in a pestilential swamp, whose miasms were 
 far deadlier than bullets and shells could have 
 been. 
 
 At the end of May the Confederates assailed his 
 left wing, believing that a flood in the river had 
 isolated it from the rest of the army, and a 
 bloody five days' battle ensued, with no decisive 
 results, except to demonstrate the fighting qual- 
 ity of the troops under McClellan's command. 
 
 Still he hesitated and fortified, and urgently 
 called for reinforcements. These to the number 
 
 353 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 of forty thousand were on their way to join him, 
 marching' directly southward from Washington. 
 
 But the Confederates had been more fortunate 
 than their foes. They had found their great 
 commander, a piece of good fortune which did not 
 happen to the Federal armies until nearly two 
 years later. After the battle of Seven Pines at 
 the end of May and the beginning of June, Robert 
 E. Lee assumed personal command of the forces 
 defending Richmond, and from that hour the 
 great game of war was played by him with a 
 sagacity and a boldness that had not been seen 
 before. 
 
 Lee's problem was to drive McClellan's army 
 away from Richmond, and transfer the scene of 
 active hostilities to some more distant point. To 
 that end he must prevent the coming of McDowell 
 with his army to McClellan's assistance. Accord- 
 ingly he ordered Jackson to sweep down the 
 Shenandoah valley, threatening an advance upon 
 Washington in its rear, thus putting the Federals 
 there upon their defence. He rightly believed 
 that the excessive concern felt at the North for the 
 safety of the capital would make Jackson's opera- 
 tions an occasion of great alarm. 
 
 354 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 The result was precisely what Lee had intended. 
 Jackson swept like a hurricane through the val- 
 ley, moving so rapidly and appearing so suddenly 
 at unexpected and widely separated points as 
 to seem both ubiquitous and irresistible. The 
 Federal army which was marching to reinforce 
 McClellan was promptly turned aside and sent 
 over the mountains to meet and check Jackson. 
 While it was hurrying westward, Jackson sud- 
 denly slipped out of the valley and carried his 
 " foot cavalry " - as his rapidly marching corps 
 had come to be called to the neighbourhood of 
 Richmond, where Lee was ready to fall upon 
 his adversary in full force, striking his right flank 
 like a thunderbolt, pushing into his rear, pressing 
 him back in successive encounters, threatening 
 his base of supplies on the York River, and finally 
 compelling him to retreat to the cover of his gun- 
 boats at Harrison's Landing on the James. 
 
 All this constituted what is known as the 
 " Seven Days' Battles." It was a brilliant opera- 
 tion, attended at every step by heroic fighting 
 on both sides, and by consummate skill on both 
 for if Lee's successful operation for his enemy's 
 dislodgment was good strategy, McClellan's sue- 
 
 355 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 cessful withdrawal of his army from its imperilled 
 position tp one in which it could not be assailed, 
 was scarcely less so. 
 
 But still more dramatic events were to follow. 
 McClellan had been driven away from the im- 
 mediate neighbourhood of the Confederate cap- 
 ital, but his new position at Harrison's Landing 
 was one from which he might at any moment 
 advance again either upon Richmond or upon 
 Petersburg, which was afterward proved to be 
 the military key to the capital. His army was 
 still numerically stronger than Lee's, and it might 
 be reinforced at any time, and to any desired 
 extent, while Lee had already under his command 
 every man that could be spared from other points. 
 More important still, the fighting strength of 
 McClellan's forces had been bettered by the bat- 
 tling they had done. The men were inured to 
 war work now, and had improved in steadiness 
 and discipline under the tutelage of experience. 
 
 Except that its confidence in its general was 
 somewhat impaired, the Army of the Potomac 
 was a stronger and more trustworthy war imple- 
 ment than it had been at the beginning. So long 
 as it should remain where it was, Lee must keep 
 
 356 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 the greater part of his own force in the intrench- 
 ments in front of Richmond, and the seat of 
 war must remain discouragingly near the Con- 
 federate capital. In the meanwhile a new Federal 
 force, called the Army of Virginia, had been sent 
 out from Washington under General John Pope, 
 to assail Richmond from the north and west, while 
 securely covering Washington. Pope's base was 
 at Manassas, and his army had been pushed for- 
 ward to the line of the Rappahannock, where there 
 was no army to meet it and check its advance 
 upon Richmond. 
 
 Lee must act quickly. For should Pope come 
 within striking-distance of Richmond on the 
 northwest, McClellan's army would very certainly 
 advance from the east, and Richmond would be 
 threatened by a stronger force than ever before. 
 
 But Lee could not move in adequate force to 
 meet and check Pope's advance, without leaving 
 Richmond undefended against any advance that 
 McClellan might see fit to make. His perplexing 
 problem was to compel the withdrawal of 
 McClellan, and the transfer of his army to Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 To effect this, Lee again played upon the ner- 
 
 357 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 vous apprehension felt in Washington for the 
 safety of, that city. He detached Jackson, and 
 sent him to the Rappahannock to threaten Pope, 
 while remaining within reach of Richmond in 
 case of need. This movement increased the ap- 
 prehension in Washington, and a considerable 
 part of McClellan's force was withdrawn by 
 water. Thereupon Lee sent another corps to 
 the Rappahannock, a proceeding which led to the 
 withdrawal of pretty nearly all that remained of 
 McClellan's army, to reinforce Pope, and the 
 abandonment of the campaign by way of the 
 peninsula. Lee instantly transferred the remain- 
 der of his army to the Rappahannock, leaving 
 only a small garrison in the works at Richmond. 
 Pope was alert to meet Lee at every point, and 
 he was being strengthened by daily reinforce- 
 ments from what had been McClellan's army. 
 But in Pope, with all his energy and dash and 
 extraordinary self-confidence, the Federal gov- 
 ernment had not found a leader capable of playing 
 the great war game on equal terms with Robert E. 
 Lee. Grant and Sherman were still in subordi- 
 nate commands at the West, while Halleck, who 
 believed in neither of them, had been brought to 
 
 358 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Washington and placed in supreme control of all 
 the Union armies. 
 
 Lee quickly proved himself greatly more than 
 a match for Pope in the art of war. Making a 
 brave show of intending to force his way across 
 the river at a point where Pope could easily hold 
 his own, Lee detached Jackson and sent him 
 around Bull Run Mountains and through Thor- 
 oughfare Gap to fall upon his adversary's base 
 at Manassas. As soon as Jackson was well on 
 his way, Lee sent other forces to join him, while 
 still keeping up his pretence of a purpose to force 
 a crossing. 
 
 It was not until the head of Jackson's column 
 appeared near Manassas that Pope suspected his 
 adversary's purpose. He then hastily fell back 
 from the river, and concentrated all his forces 
 at Manassas, while Lee, with equal haste, moved, 
 with the rest of his army, to join Jackson. 
 
 His strategy had completely succeeded, and he 
 promptly assailed Pope, with his entire force, 
 on the very field where the first great battle of 
 the war had been fought, a little more than a 
 year before. 
 
 Pope struggled desperately, but after two days 
 
 359 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 of battle, he was completely beaten and forced to 
 take refuge behind the defences of Washington. 
 This was at the beginning of September, just 
 three months after Lee had taken personal com- 
 mand of the Army of Northern Virginia. Within 
 that brief time he had done things, the simplest 
 statement of which reads like a wonder-story. 
 At the beginning of June a Federal army of 
 120,000 men lay almost within cannon-shot 
 of the Confederate capital, while another Fed- 
 eral force about one-third as large was marching 
 unopposed to form a junction with it, and 
 still other Federal armies occupied the valley 
 and sent raiders at will throughout Northern 
 Virginia. At the beginning of September there 
 remained no Federal army at all in Virginia to 
 oppose Lee's will, whatever it might chance to be. 
 McClellan with his grand army had been beaten 
 in battle, and driven into a retreat which ended 
 in his complete withdrawal, after a disastrous 
 campaign, which at its beginning had seemed 
 certain of success. Jackson had cleared the valley 
 of armies superior to his own in numbers. Pope 
 had been outwitted in strategy, beaten in battle, 
 and driven to cover at Washington. 
 360 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 That was the story that Agatha related to Bail- 
 lie early in September, when he was fit to hear 
 it. It stirred his blood with enthusiasm, and bred 
 in him an eagerness almost dangerous, to be at 
 the head of his battery again, and a sharer in this 
 splendid work of war. 
 
 " Your story is not ended yet," he said, when 
 Agatha had finished. " It is ' to be continued,' 
 be very sure of that. Lee will not rest content 
 with what he has done, marvellous as it is. He 
 took the offensive as soon as he had disposed of 
 McClellan. He will surely not now assume the 
 defensive again, as our army did a year ago after 
 the battle of Manassas. He is obviously made 
 of quite other stuff than that of his predecessors 
 in command. And here am I losing my share 
 in it all, a convalescent in charge of a nurse, 
 and in hiding in the enemy's country. I tell you, 
 Agatha, I must break out of this. As soon as I 
 have strength enough to ride a horse, I must find 
 a way of getting back to Virginia. And with 
 the stimulus of strong desire, I shall not be long 
 now in regaining that much of strength. In the 
 meanwhile, I must think out a plan by which I 
 
 361 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 can pass the Potomac without falling into the 
 enemy's ,hands." 
 
 " I have already thought of all that," returned 
 his companion, " and I have had others thinking 
 of it, too, all the friends in Maryland with 
 whom I am in correspondence. After studying 
 the conditions minutely we are agreed in the pos- 
 itive conviction that it will be impossible for you 
 to get through the Federal lines, which are more 
 rigidly drawn and more vigilantly guarded now 
 than ever before. You cannot even start on such 
 a journey without being arrested and imprisoned, 
 and that would completely defeat your purpose." 
 
 " I must take the chances, then. For I simply 
 will not sit idly here after I get well enough to 
 sit in a saddle." 
 
 " Listen," commanded Agatha. " You are ex- 
 citing yourself, and that is very bad for you. 
 Besides, it is wholly unnecessary, for I have 
 thought myself not into despair, but into hopeful- 
 ness, rather. I have devised a plan, the success 
 of which is practically assured in advance, by 
 which you and I are going back into the Confed- 
 eracy. No, I will not tell you what it is just now. 
 You have excited and wearied yourself too much 
 362 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 already. You must go back to your bed now, 
 and sleep for several hours. When you wake, you 
 shall have something to eat, and after that, if I 
 find you sufficiently calm, I will tell you all about 
 it. In the meantime, you may rest easy in your 
 mind, for my plan is sure to succeed, and it will 
 not be difficult of execution." 
 
 363 
 
XXVIII 
 
 WHEN A MAN TALKS TOO MUCH 
 
 WHEN Baillie had had his rest, he asked 
 Agatha again to tell him of her plans. 
 She explained that it was understood 
 in the little town that he was a French gentleman 
 who had suffered a severe hemorrhage; that as 
 soon as he should be sufficiently recovered, it was 
 his purpose to return to his own country in charge 
 of his French nurse; that she planned in that way 
 to sail with him from New York for Liverpool, 
 where he would be free, as soon as his health 
 should return, to go to the Bahamas and sail 
 thence for Charleston, Wilmington, or some other 
 Southern port, in one of the English blockade- 
 runners that were now making trips almost with 
 the regularity of packets. 
 
 Baillie approved the plan, though he lamented 
 the length of time its execution must consume. 
 
 " Agatha," he said, for since that morning 
 
 364 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 at Fairfax Court-house he had addressed her 
 only by her first name, "I owe you my life, and 
 I shall owe you my liberty, too, as soon as this 
 admirable plan of yours can be carried out. I 
 owe you, even now, such liberty as I have, for but 
 for you " 
 
 '' You mustn't forget Sam," she interrupted ; 
 " it was he and not I who rescued you from the 
 prison hospital." 
 
 " O, my appreciation of Sam's devotion is 
 limitless, and my gratitude to him will last so 
 long as I live. But it was you who brought him 
 North; it was you who planned my rescue at 
 terrible risk to yourself, and put Sam in the way 
 of accomplishing it. And the doctor tells me 
 without any sort of qualification that but for 
 your coming to me as a nurse when you did, I 
 should have died certainly and quickly. Don't 
 interrupt me, please, I'm not going to embarrass 
 you with an effort to thank you for what you have 
 done. There is a generosity so great that expres- 
 sions of thanks in return for it are a mockery 
 almost an insult, just as an offer to pay for it 
 would be. I shall not speak of these things again 
 not now at least, not until time and place and 
 
 365 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 circumstance shall be fit. I only want you to 
 know that silence on my part does not signify 
 indifference." 
 
 Baillie made no reference to that occasion 
 when an untimely declaration of his love had been 
 wrung from him only to be met by a passionless 
 reminder that the time and place were inappro- 
 priate. He felt instinctively that any reference 
 to that utterance of his would be in effect a new 
 declaration of his love. In this spirit of chivalry, 
 Baillie scrupulously guarded both his manner 
 and his words at this time, lest his feelings should 
 betray him into some expression that might 
 embarrass the woman whose care of him must 
 continue for some time to come. Feeling, on this 
 occasion, that he had approached dangerously 
 near to some utterance which might subject his 
 companion to embarrassment, he resolutely turned 
 the conversation into less hazardous channels. 
 
 :< Your plan is undoubtedly the best that could 
 be made under the circumstances," he said, " and 
 as for the waste of time, we must simply recon- 
 cile ourselves to that. After all, I cannot hope 
 to be strong enough for several months to come, 
 to resume command of my battery in such cam- 
 
 366 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 paigns as this great leader of ours will surely 
 give us. For he is really and truly a great leader, 
 Agatha. Only a great general could have 
 wrought the marvels he has achieved. He would 
 have proved himself great if he had done nothing 
 more than prevent McClellan's reinforcement by 
 sending Jackson to the valley. That was a great 
 thought. And the next was greater. Having 
 compelled the Federals to divert their reinforcing 
 army from its purpose, he brought Jackson to 
 Richmond, and fell upon McClellan with a fury 
 that compelled his vastly superior army to aban- 
 don its campaign and retreat to the cover of its 
 gunboats. There was a second achievement of 
 the kind that only great generals accomplish. 
 And even that did not fulfil the measure of his 
 greatness. With a truly Napoleonic impulse, and 
 by truly Napoleonic methods, he instantly con- 
 verted his successful defence of Richmond into 
 an offence which has been equally successful, so 
 far. By his prompt movement against Pope he 
 has compelled the complete abandonment of 
 McClellan's campaign and the withdrawal of his 
 army from Virginia. By his crushing defeat of 
 Pope, he has cleared Virginia of its enemies, and 
 
 367 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 changed the aspect of the war, from one of timor- 
 ous deferice on the part of the Confederates to 
 one of confident aggression." 
 
 " What a pity it is," answered Agatha, " that 
 some such man was not in command when the 
 first battle of Manassas was won ! " 
 
 " Yes. Such a man, with such an opportunity, 
 would have made a speedy end of the trouble. 
 He would never have given McClellan a chance 
 to organise such an army as that which has been 
 besieging Richmond. However, that is not what 
 I was thinking of. I was going to say that a man 
 capable of doing what Lee has done, will not 
 rest content with that. He will continue in the 
 aggressive way in which he has begun, and we 
 shall hear presently of other battles and other 
 campaigns. Agatha, I simply must bear a part 
 in all this. I am getting stronger every day now, 
 and can sit up two hours at a time. Why can 
 we not now carry out your plan? Why can we 
 not go at once to New York in our assumed per- 
 sonalities, and sail immediately, so as to save 
 all the time we can ? " 
 
 " I have thought of that," the young woman 
 answered, " but the doctor peremptorily forbids 
 
 368 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 it for the present. He hopes you will be well 
 enough two or three weeks hence to make the 
 effort, but to make it short of that time, he says, 
 would be almost certainly to spoil all by bringing 
 on a relapse. You must be patient; we shall in 
 that way make our success a certainty, and the 
 war will last long enough for you to have your 
 part in it, surely." 
 
 " Yes, unhappily for our country, it will last 
 long enough." 
 
 The next morning brought news of a startling 
 character. Lee was already beginning to fulfil 
 Baillie's prediction by an aggressive campaign. 
 Having driven the enemy out of Virginia, he now 
 undertook to transfer the scene of the fighting to 
 the region north of the Potomac. He had sent 
 Jackson again to clear the valley, and was march- 
 ing another corps northward upon a parallel line 
 east of the mountains, while holding the remainder 
 of his small but potent army in readiness to form 
 a junction with either of the detached corps when 
 necessary. The movement clearly foreshadowed 
 a campaign in Maryland which, if it should prove 
 successful, would place the Confederates in rear of 
 Washington, and render that capital untenable, 
 
 369 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 if Lee should win a single decisive battle north 
 of the Potomac. 
 
 The alarm in Washington was such as almost 
 to precipitate a panic. For had not Lee and his 
 Army of Northern Virginia proved themselves 
 far more than a match for every general and 
 every army that had tried conclusions with them ? 
 Moreover, as they were advancing, full of the 
 enthusiasm of recent victory, and free to pursue 
 whatever routes they pleased, there was nobody 
 to meet them except one or the other of two 
 generals already discredited by defeat at Lee's 
 hands, and an army drawn from those that the 
 Army of Northern Virginia had so recently over- 
 thrown in the field. 
 
 Pope was no longer thought of as a leader fit 
 for the task of meeting Lee. His campaign in 
 Virginia had ended so disastrously, that men 
 forgot all his former achievements, at Island 
 Number Ten in the Mississippi, and elsewhere. 
 He had already been removed from command and 
 sent to fight Indians in the Northwest. There 
 remained only McClellan, whom Lee had already 
 outmanoeuvred and outfought, and both the 
 government and the army had lost confidence in 
 
 370 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 him. But the emergency was great, and McClel- 
 lan, who had been removed, was again ordered to 
 take command. 
 
 From the two armies that had been driven out 
 of Virginia, a new one was quickly organised, 
 which greatly outnumbered Lee's force. But 
 instead of moving quickly to the assault, as 
 Grant, or Sherman, or Thomas would have done 
 under like circumstances, McClellan moved at a 
 tortoise-like pace, giving his adversary ample time 
 in which to unite his three columns, pass the 
 Potomac unmolested, and push forward into 
 Maryland. 
 
 All this was to come a little later, however. 
 On the morning when Agatha read the news- 
 papers to Baillie, all that was known was that 
 Lee was rapidly moving northward, with evident 
 intent to invade Maryland and push his columns 
 into the rear of Washington. 
 
 " This is good news for us, Agatha," Baillie 
 said, when the despatches had been read. " Un- 
 less Lee receives a check, the Army of Northern 
 Virginia will be swarming all about us here 
 within three or four days. If that occurs, you and 
 I and Sam will have no difficulty in going to Vir- 
 
 371 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 ginia by a much more direct route than the one 
 we have 'been planning to follow. An ambulance 
 ride with liberty for its objective will do me no 
 harm, while you and Sam shall be provided with 
 good horses. Stuart will take care of that, even 
 if he has to capture the horses from the enemy." 
 
 " We may safely trust him for so much of 
 accommodation," answered the girl. " But if you 
 excite yourself as you are doing now, you'll be ill 
 again, and spoil all. You must go back to bed 
 at once and go to sleep. That is your shortest 
 road to rescue, now, whether Lee comes this way 
 or is beaten back. In either case you will need 
 all of strength that you can manage to accumu- 
 late." 
 
 The sick man obeyed, so far at least as going 
 to bed was concerned. But he found it impossible 
 to comply with his nurse's further injunction by 
 going to sleep. His pulses were throbbing vio- 
 lently with the excitement of hope, and his nerves 
 were tense almost to the verge of collapse. When 
 the doctor returned from his round of visits he 
 found his patient in a fever that, in one so weak, 
 was dangerous. During the following night 
 Baillie grew worse, and by the next morning the 
 
 372 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 physician was convinced that he had lost most 
 if not all of the ground that he had gained during 
 three weeks of convalescence. 
 
 " Mademoiselle Roland," he said, " I must 
 command you to forbid him to talk hereafter, 
 even in French." 
 
 Baillie heard the remark, and came instantly to 
 Agatha's defence. 
 
 " It was not her fault, Doctor," he said. " It 
 was all my own." 
 
 " O, I know that," answered the physician. 
 " She's the discreetest nurse I ever knew, while 
 you are without question the most obstinate, can- 
 tankerous, and unruly patient a nurse was ever 
 called upon to keep in subjection." 
 
 " Am I all that? " Baillie asked Agatha, when 
 the doctor had left the room ; " all that he said ? " 
 
 " No, certainly not. But you mustn't talk. 
 Go to sleep." 
 
 " Thank you ! " was all that he could say in the 
 stupor which the physician had induced with a 
 sleeping potion. 
 
 373 
 
XXIX 
 
 A STRUGGLE OF GIANTS 
 
 WHEN Baillie woke from his drug-com- 
 pelled sleep, his condition was far better 
 than the doctor had anticipated. Lee 
 was coming now, and the sick man was buoyed 
 and strengthened by a confident hope of speedy 
 rescue. The Army of Northern Virginia was in 
 Maryland, and Baillie was sure that it would push 
 rapidly eastward to and beyond the town where 
 he had so long lain ill. 
 
 So it would have done if all had gone well. 
 But there was a Federal force of eleven thousand 
 men at Harper's Ferry. By all the principles of 
 strategy it ought to have retired as soon as Lee 
 crossed the Potomac above or below that point. 
 To remain was to be cut off and to invite capture. 
 McClellan, as a trained and scientific soldier, 
 understood this perfectly, and he wished the force 
 at Harper's Ferry to be withdrawn and added to 
 
 374 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 his army. He was overruled by the civilian 
 authorities at Washington, and the detached 
 force remained in its entrenchments, completely 
 isolated and helpless. 
 
 But in the meanwhile its presence at Harper's 
 Ferry completely blocked Lee's only secure route 
 of retreat in case of disaster. It was absolutely 
 necessary for him to reduce it before continuing 
 his progress northward or eastward. To that end 
 he was obliged to send Jackson back across the 
 Potomac, with orders to assail Harper's Ferry 
 from the south, while other forces, detached for 
 that purpose, should hold positions north and east 
 of the town, thus preventing the garrison's 
 escape. 
 
 Jackson did his part promptly and perfectly, 
 as it was his custom to do. He carried the place, 
 capturing the entire garrison of eleven thousand 
 men, and all the guns, ammunition, and military 
 stores, which had been accumulated there in vast 
 quantities. 
 
 This was a very important capture, but in 
 order to accomplish it, Lee had been compelled to 
 scatter his forces in a dangerous fashion, besides 
 losing the advantage that would have attended 
 
 375 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 a rapid advance against an enemy who could not 
 know whither he purposed to go, but must guard 
 all roads at once. For from Lee's position after 
 he had crossed the river it was open to him to 
 advance upon Washington or Baltimore or Phila- 
 delphia as he might elect, keeping his adversary 
 in the meanwhile in a state of embarrassing un- 
 certainty as to his purposes. 
 
 But when he sent Jackson back and detached 
 other strong forces to hold the avenues of escape 
 from Harper's Ferry, his army was badly scat- 
 tered, its several parts lying at too great a dis- 
 tance from each other for ready cooperation. 
 
 During the consequent days of waiting, Mc- 
 Clellan was advancing in leisurely fashion to 
 meet the Confederate movement, and his army 
 was every day adding to its strength by the hurry- 
 ing forward of fresh regiments and brigades to 
 its reinforcement. 
 
 Finally Lee issued an order setting forth in 
 detail his plan for concentrating his scattered 
 forces. Copies of this order, showing the exact 
 location of each part of the army and the move- 
 ments to be made by each, were sent to all of 
 
 376 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 the corps commanders. One of those copies was 
 lost, and fell into McClellan's hands. 
 
 For once that most leisurely of generals was in 
 a hurry. His opportunity had come to destroy 
 the Army of Northern Virginia by beating it in 
 detail. He threw a strong force forward to assail 
 certain of its positions. The assault proved suc- 
 cessful, but the success did not come so quickly as 
 it should have done. By determined fighting Lee 
 gained time in which to bring his scattered forces 
 together again at Sharpsburg before his adversary 
 could fall upon him in force. There, on Antietam 
 Creek, on the I7th of September, 1862, was 
 fought a battle which is reckoned the bloodiest 
 of all the war, in proportion to the numbers 
 engaged. 
 
 McClellan had seventy thousand men in line, 
 Lee forty thousand. The struggle began early in 
 the morning and continued until after nightfall. 
 The fighting on both sides was as heroic and as 
 determined as any that was ever done in the 
 world. At the end of it all both sides claimed 
 the victory, and neither had in fact won it. 
 Neither had been able to drive the other from his 
 position. Neither had broken the other's lines 
 
 377 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 or gained any decisive advantage. And when 
 morning- came again neither side was willing to 
 renew the contest, and neither would retire from 
 the field. 
 
 For a whole day the two armies lay facing 
 each other in grim defiance, each ready to receive 
 the other should it attack, but neither venturing 
 to make the assault. 
 
 After twenty-four hours of defiant waiting, 
 Lee slowly retired to the Potomac, while Mc- 
 Clellan lay still, not venturing to follow his adver- 
 sary. Lee crossed unmolested into Virginia and 
 took up a position within easy striking distance, 
 but his adversary made no attempt to strike. 
 McClellan presently advanced and stretched his 
 great army along the Potomac. But he assumed 
 an attitude of defence, calling insistently for rein- 
 forcements, though his army outnumbered Lee's 
 about two to one. 
 
 He had succeeded in checking Lee's invasion 
 of the North and turning it back. He was con- 
 tent with that, and in spite of President Lincoln's 
 urgency he refused to do more, till at last Gen- 
 eral Burnside was ordered to assume command 
 in his stead. 
 
 378 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 It was confidently expected both at the North 
 and at the South, after Lee's withdrawal to 
 Virginia, that as soon as his army should be 
 rested, he would again take the offensive, assail 
 McClellan at some point, and attempt a new 
 march northward. This expectation was strength- 
 ened when Stuart, early in October, plunged 
 across the river with his cavalry, galloped over 
 the country, penetrated into Pennsylvania, and 
 saucily rode entirely round McClellan's army, 
 just as he had done a few months before at Rich- 
 mond, in preparation for Lee's seven days' battle. 
 
 379 
 
XXX 
 
 THE LAST STRAW 
 
 WHEN the news came to Baillie and 
 Agatha that Lee and McClellan had 
 met in a great battle, and that the Army 
 of Northern Virginia had retraced its steps across 
 the Potomac, both lost heart a little. 
 
 But Baillie was now regaining strength at a 
 surprising rate, and his eagerness to carry out 
 Agatha's plan of escape, by way of England, 
 Nassau, and a blockaded Southern port, became 
 importunate. 
 
 Yielding to it, early in October, Agatha hur- 
 riedly made her final preparations. Through her 
 friend in New York she engaged passage for her- 
 self, Baillie, and Sam, on a Cunard steamer ap- 
 pointed to sail on the 15th of the month. She 
 made all necessary arrangements for the sick 
 French gentleman, his French nurse, and his 
 negro valet to make the journey to New York on 
 380 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 the 1 4th, in order that they might sail the next 
 morning. 
 
 But a few days before the time set for their 
 departure a great excitement arose in the town 
 where Baillie had so long lain ill. The Con- 
 federates were coming again ; they had destroyed 
 McClellan in a great battle, current rumour re- 
 ported, and were now marching upon Washington 
 unopposed. So the rumours ran. 
 
 Later tidings corrected all this to some extent. 
 It was learned that there had been no battle as 
 yet, and that the invading force was only the 
 vanguard of Lee's advance. 
 
 " I think I understand what it means," said 
 Agatha, who had followed Stuart's operations 
 in the past with close attention, learning to appre- 
 ciate his methods. " This is simply one of Gen- 
 eral Stuart's splendidly audacious raids. He rode 
 around McClellan at Richmond, you remember; 
 he rode around Pope, and captured his baggage, 
 and his uniform, and all his mules at Manassas 
 two months ago. I suspect that he is simply 
 riding around McClellan again in search of forage 
 and stores and glory." 
 
 " That is probably what the movement means," 
 
 381 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 answered Baillie, " though it may be made in 
 preparation for another advance of the whole 
 army, just as each of his former exploits was. In 
 either case, if he comes this way it will answer 
 our purpose. I shall escape with him. If it 
 is only a cavalry raid, of course Stuart will have 
 to force his way back through or over whatever 
 obstacles McClellan may throw in his path, and 
 in that case there will be a continual running 
 fight with no secure rear for you to take shelter 
 with. Of course, if the whole army advances, a 
 secure way will be open, but if only the cavalry 
 come, there will be no line of communication. 
 In that case it will be necessary for you to remain 
 here, or rather go on to New York and sail for 
 Liverpool as we have both intended." 
 
 " You are forgetful, Captain Pegram. I have 
 ridden with General Stuart before, and as to 
 placing myself under fire, I think you know I 
 am not without experience. No. If General 
 Stuart comes this way, I shall ask him for a 
 horse and play outrider to the ambulance in which 
 you are to travel." 
 
 " But, Agatha! " he pleaded, " I am unwilling 
 to have you expose yourself thus needlessly. 
 
 382 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Think of the danger and the hardship, and think 
 too of the discomfort you must suffer as a solitary 
 woman in company with a horde of rough-riding 
 cavalrymen ! " 
 
 " Hush ! I will not hear one word even in 
 suspicion of our Virginia cavaliers. I know those 
 superb fellows, and I trust them. They may be 
 rough as riders, and they are certainly rough fel- 
 lows for the enemy to encounter, but they are 
 gallant gentlemen; they are as gentle as only 
 giants of courage can be, in their attitude toward 
 a defenceless woman. If the opportunity comes, 
 I shall certainly ride with them." 
 
 At that moment there was a scurrying in the 
 streets, a hurried closing of the little shops, and a 
 scampering of juvenile chronic offenders to points 
 of secure observation. 
 
 A minute or two later some gray-clad regi- 
 ments of cavalry trotted into the town, taking 
 temporary possession of it. They created no 
 more of disorder, and made far less noise than a 
 Sunday-school picnic might have done. Not a 
 man of them was permitted to quit his place in 
 the ranks even for a single moment, for Stuart 
 
 383 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 had given strict orders, and his lieutenants en- 
 forced them relentlessly. 
 
 There were very valuable commissary and ord- 
 nance stores belonging to the United States 
 government in the town, and the advance squad- 
 ron of the cavalry quietly took possession of 
 these military supplies, quickly loading them into 
 wagons, but touching no single cent's worth of 
 private property of any kind, and molesting no 
 citizen. So the orders ran. 
 
 Half an hour sufficed for this work, and at 
 the end of that time the column moved out of 
 the town in silence and good order. 
 
 Captain Baillie Pegram accompanied it in an 
 ambulance, with Sam riding at its tail, and 
 Agatha, mounted upon a stout and war-seasoned 
 cavalry horse, preceding the vehicle. 
 
 At nightfall the detachment joined the main 
 column, and there was a brief pause for supper. 
 Agatha, in her capacity of nurse, questioned 
 Baillie closely as to his condition, and found that 
 he had seemingly taken no harm from excite- 
 ment or weariness. When she had satisfied her- 
 self on that point, she ventured to tell him that his 
 own battery lay around the ambulance. He 
 
 384 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 promptly sat up and asked to see his subalterns 
 and certain of his men. 
 
 " You may see a few of them," answered his 
 nurse, " if you will receive them lying down. If 
 you insist upon sitting up, I'll not permit a single 
 one of them even to grasp your hand." 
 
 He yielded to her authority, and during the 
 remainder of the brief halting time, there was a 
 cheering reunion of comrades and a hasty inter- 
 change of personal news between men who loved 
 each other as only those men do who have stood 
 together under an enemy's fire and together 
 endured the hardships of campaigning. 
 
 The enemy's cavalry was by this time approach- 
 ing in considerable force, and Stuart, whose plan 
 did not include any purpose of unnecessary fight- 
 ing, set his column in motion again. But he did 
 not take the line of march which he had been fol- 
 lowing all day. That had been intended as a 
 blind. By threatening several points in directions 
 quite other than the one he meant to take, he had 
 accomplished two important purposes. He had 
 gained time for all his scattered detachments to 
 rejoin the column, and he had compelled the 
 
 385 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 enemy to scatter his forces in many directions 
 for the defence of the threatened points. 
 
 Having thus shaken off the greater part of the 
 force pursuing him, he began his march that night 
 in such a direction as to suggest that he meant 
 to return if possible by the route by which he had 
 come. For this his enemy was of course pre- 
 pared. As soon as the cavalry forces that were 
 observing his movement discovered what they 
 took to be his purpose, they withdrew for a space 
 and planted themselves across his pathway. In- 
 fantry and artillery forces were hurried forward 
 in support, and the enemy confidently believed 
 that at last the wily cavalier was securely 
 entrapped. 
 
 To encourage this mistaken belief, Stuart threw 
 forward a small force of men armed with car- 
 bines, and instructed them to maintain a scat- 
 tering fire upon the enemy's pickets during the 
 night as if feeling of the position in preparation 
 for an attempt to break through it on the morrow. 
 
 No sooner was this disposition made than the 
 main body of the Confederates was turned into 
 the by-roads that led toward the Potomac at a 
 
 386 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 point far east of McClellan's position and farther 
 down the river. 
 
 By a rapid march it reached the river at day- 
 light and crossed it by sunrise. In the meanwhile, 
 just before the dawn, the detachment which had 
 been left behind to maintain a show of intended 
 battle during the night, quietly withdrew, and 
 rode at a gallop to rejoin the escaping column. 
 The enemy did not discover their withdrawal 
 until sunrise, by which time they were many 
 miles away, galloping toward the river, which they 
 crossed without molestation. 
 
 It was not until the column halted in Virginia 
 for a breakfast that might be taken in security, 
 that Stuart met Baillie and Agatha in person. 
 He insisted upon hearing the whole story, even 
 making Sam take part in its telling. At parting 
 he sought a word apart with Agatha, and said 
 to her: 
 
 " I suppose you and Captain Pegram have quite 
 ceased to be ' almost strangers ' by this time." 
 
 The girl flushed crimson, but managed to 
 answer : 
 
 " No, General. I have simply been his nurse, 
 
 387 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 you know, and and well, he has been very 
 ill." 
 
 " Nevertheless," answered the cavalier, " I'll 
 court-martial him when he returns to duty, if I 
 hear no better report than that of his conduct." 
 
 This bit of playfulness on Stuart's part had 
 the effect of making Agatha exceedingly uncom- 
 fortable in her mind. She had so long been 
 caring for Baillie as a man ill nigh unto death, 
 that she had ceased to think of conventionalities 
 in connection with her relations to him. But 
 Stuart's jest reminded her that others might not 
 be equally forgetful, especially now that her 
 patient was rapidly regaining his strength. 
 
 " My work is done," she said to herself, " and 
 I must no longer intrude myself upon Captain 
 Pegram or his affairs. As soon as he can be 
 sent off to Warlock in Sam's care, I must bid 
 him a final adieu and go back to my loneliness at 
 Willoughby. After all, I shall have enough to 
 do there, caring for the poor negroes and manag- 
 ing the plantation so that it shall yield enough for 
 them to live upon. I wonder if everything has 
 fallen into complete neglect there during my 
 absence? Now that Chummie has gone to the 
 
 388 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 angels, I am needed there. And besides I must 
 look after my underground railroad affairs. I 
 wonder if the line is in good working order, and 
 if it is carrying as much freight as it ought." 
 
 She realised, too, now that the parting was 
 drawing near, how much Baillie Pegram's pres- 
 ence had come to mean to her, how necessary a 
 part of her life he had become, and how barren 
 and desolate that life must be when they two 
 should have spoken a final good-bye. For during 
 her period of nursing, he and she had come to be 
 the best of comrades, and at such times as his 
 condition had permitted, they had fallen into 
 habits of intimate converse. Their talks, it is 
 true, had never been personal in character. They 
 had talked of books and travel and life; 
 now and then they had discussed philosophy, 
 ethics, aesthetics, and a hundred other subjects 
 external to themselves. But although their con- 
 verse had not been personal in character, it had 
 taught each to know the impulses, the sentiments, 
 and the convictions of the other in a degree that 
 purely personal intercourse never could have 
 done. 
 
 Agatha understood all this now, as she had not 
 
 389 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 understood it before, and the understanding sad- 
 dened her. For she was resolutely determined 
 now to take herself as completely out of this man's 
 life as if she had never known him at all. She 
 proudly realised her duty, and she would not 
 flinch from its doing. 
 
 " Did I not break off the acquaintance at that 
 Christmas-time nearly two years ago ? " she 
 argued with herself. " Was I not strong and 
 resolute, the moment I learned what my duty 
 was? Why then should I not do the same 
 again ? " 
 
 She let her thoughts wander at will. " It is 
 true there was war between us then, and there is 
 none now. There never has been since Chummie 
 talked with me that last night of his life. And 
 it seems harder now in other ways. Since I have 
 come to know Captain Pegram so well, and 
 especially since I have taken care of him in a 
 time of helplessness, it seems harder to send him 
 away and tell him that we are mere acquaintances, 
 not likely to see much of each other hereafter." 
 
 Then she generalised in this fashion: 
 
 " Life is very hard on women in any case 
 much harder than it is on men, in every way. 
 
 39 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 And the worst of it is that men do not want it 
 to be so, and nothing they can do can prevent. 
 Even in that restriction of our lives which petty 
 conventionality forces upon us, men cannot come 
 to our relief. It is women who hold women to 
 such restrictions. Men would laugh them away, if 
 we would let them, but we never will. We hold 
 each other to the rigidest standards of propriety, 
 even when propriety makes needless and foolish 
 exactions of us. Men never do that. They want 
 us to be innocently as free as they are, but we 
 are afraid to be so. We are afraid of other 
 women. Even Chummie could not succeed in set- 
 ting me free. I was too much afraid of other 
 women's opinions, too much a slave to other 
 women's standards to accept the freedom he 
 tried so hard to force upon me. 
 
 " No, that isn't just it. I am not really afraid 
 of other women's opinions; I am afraid of my 
 own. I have laughed at and defied other women's 
 standards, many a time, and I shall go on doing so 
 to the end, whenever I am convinced that their 
 opinions are unsound and their standards wrong. 
 I did that when I went North to find and rescue 
 Captain Pegram. I knew perfectly that my good 
 
 39 1 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 aunts would look upon my conduct with positive 
 horror, and that the least any other woman of 
 my acquaintance would say about my conduct 
 would be ' How could she ? ' in tones that meant 
 all that is possible of condemnation. But I did 
 not care for all that, and I do not care for it now, 
 because I know that what I did was right, and 
 that Chummie would have said so if he had lived 
 till now. The trouble is that in the main I share 
 those opinions of other women which so restrict 
 the liberty of all women. I am afraid of those 
 opinions because they are my own as well as 
 others' ; I submit myself to those standards of 
 feminine conduct because I share the opinion 
 that sets them up and enforces obedience to them." 
 At this point Agatha " shied " away from the 
 thought that had in fact suggested all this intro- 
 spective meditation. She would not admit, even 
 to herself, that she was strongly moved by a per- 
 fectly natural impulse, to bridge the chasm that- 
 lay between her and Baillie Pegram, to remind 
 him of what he had said to her that far-away 
 morning on the picket-line at Fairfax Court- 
 house, and so give him opportunity to say it 
 again. When that thought intruded itself upon 
 
 39 2 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 her, she was shocked and startled by it. It 
 seemed to her immodest in an extreme degree, 
 unwomanly, almost atrocious. She would not 
 harbour it for a moment. She cast it out of her 
 mind, and was bitterly resentful against herself 
 for having permitted it even to suggest itself. 
 
 " I must act at once," she resolved, when the 
 day's march was resumed. " I must flee from 
 the devil of this temptation. If Captain Pegram 
 suffers no relapse to-day, I will bid him good- 
 bye in the morning. No, I will not bid him good- 
 bye. That would be too well, it would be 
 almost like acting upon that hideous thought. I 
 shall simply go without saying a word to him. 
 Perhaps I shall leave a little note for him, simply 
 telling him that I am going to look after affairs 
 at Willoughby, as he no longer needs his French 
 nurse. I'll be very careful, in writing it, not to 
 not to make it more than coldly courteous 
 and friendly." 
 
 It was nearly nightfall when the cavalcade 
 rejoined the main body of Lee's army. Agatha 
 made haste to secure a careful examination of 
 Baillie by a staff surgeon. He reported that the 
 convalescent man had taken no harm from the 
 
 393 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 journey, but was so far recovered that a month's 
 rest would render him fit for duty again. As- 
 sured of this, Agatha sent for Sam and minutely 
 instructed him as to the care of his master on the 
 homeward journey which, she had arranged, was 
 to begin immediately, with the assistance of an 
 ambulance for a part of the way. 
 
 Then, early the next morning, she went to 
 Stuart, and preferred a request. In the present 
 disturbed state of things she hesitated to make 
 the journey to Willoughby alone, and she asked 
 for an escort for a day. 
 
 Stuart looked at her with a face far sadder 
 than his was accustomed to be, and said : 
 
 " I have very bad news for you, Miss Agatha. 
 You cannot go to Willoughby for there is no 
 Willoughby. That was one of the many planta- 
 tions ravaged by Pope while he held Northern 
 Virginia. The house and all the barns were 
 burned, and every living animal for a score of 
 miles around was killed. Even if Willoughby 
 had been spared, it would not do for you to live 
 there now. The armies will move to new posi- 
 tions presently, nobody knows where, and 
 this northern part of Virginia will be no fit place 
 
 394 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 for women and children to live in till the war is 
 
 over." 
 
 The girl sat pale and speechless, as she listened. 
 It was as if she had received a blow in the face. 
 She had bravely met danger and sorrow and hard- 
 ship, and had endured them all with heroic reso- 
 lution. She seemed now quite unable to endure 
 this new trial of her courage. She made no 
 outcry and shed no tears. She simply sat there 
 before the headquarters camp-fire, statue-like in 
 her pallor and her immobility. Stuart gently laid 
 his hand upon her head, and sought to soothe her 
 with a voice that was always gentle when he spoke 
 to a woman. 
 
 Agatha seemed not to know what he was 
 doing. She made no response to his words, and 
 as he looked into her face the light went out 
 of her great brown eyes. 
 
 A moment later she reeled, and Stuart caught 
 her in his brawny arms. 
 
 " Bring a surgeon quick," he commanded. 
 
 Then he gently laid the seemingly lifeless form 
 upon a blanket which the sentinel spread upon 
 the ground. 
 
 395 
 
XXXI 
 
 AT WARLOCK AND AT THE OAKS 
 
 FOR the first time in her life Agatha 
 Ronald was ill. For the first time her 
 strength had given way under prolonged 
 strain. The surgeon who had been summoned to 
 attend her ordered that she should be sent imme- 
 diately to some place in rear of the army's exposed 
 position, where she could have complete rest. 
 
 Unfortunately there was no such place within 
 a day's journey no place which might not at 
 any hour become the scene of battle or at the least 
 of massive manoeuvring. Nowhere short of 
 Charlottesville was there a secure resting-place 
 for the overwrought nerves that had so stoutly 
 held their own as long as their ministering 
 strength was needed in the service of others. 
 
 While this matter was still under perplexed 
 discussion, Marshall Pollard made his timely 
 appearance. Hearing of the arrival of Baillie 
 
 39 6 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 and Agatha with Stuart's returning column, he 
 had ridden forward from his camp to meet and 
 greet his friends. He had passed a quarter of 
 an hour with the master of Warlock, who was 
 now permitted to sit up most of the time, and 
 who was to start almost immediately on his 
 homeward journey. While they two were talking 
 together, word reached Sam's ears that his " Mis' 
 Agatha " had fallen ill at General Stuart's camp- 
 fire. Marshall went with him immediately to 
 her, under an injunction from Baillie to " get 
 her out of this, Marshall, if you can. Tell her 
 not to mind me, but to take care of herself. Tell 
 her I shall be ready for duty almost immediately 
 tell her I'm on duty tell her anything and 
 everything that will persuade her to let you take 
 her to a place of safety." 
 
 Marshall was quick to see the necessity of 
 prompt action, and Agatha was far too ill to 
 oppose his plans in any way. Stuart had ordered 
 a little tent stretched for her, and here it was 
 decided she should remain until Captain Pollard 
 could arrange for her removal. 
 
 He first secured a week's leave of absence for 
 himself. While arranging that, he had half a 
 
 397 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 dozen of his men scouring the country round 
 about in search of a carriage. One was found 
 which had escaped destruction during the days 
 of Pope's unsparing ravaging. It was an old- 
 fashioned vehicle of family state, swung high 
 upon C springs and stoutly built for service. 
 
 In this conveyance, Agatha, still dazed and 
 unresisting, was started on her homeward jour- 
 ney early the next morning. One of Pollard's 
 battery men acted as driver, while Pollard himself 
 rode by the side of the carriage. 
 
 About midnight the party reached Charlottes- 
 ville, where tender, loving hands took charge 
 of Agatha for the night. 
 
 The journey had rather rested than wearied 
 her, and the physician who had been summoned to 
 attend her found her free from all positive ill- 
 ness. 
 
 " She has need of nothing now but rest and 
 quiet," he said. 
 
 When Marshall called upon her in the morning, 
 he found the young woman's mind clear again, 
 and her nerves under control. 
 
 'Tell me of Captain Pegram," she eagerly 
 demanded, as soon as she had briefly expressed 
 
 398 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 her gratitude to Pollard for the care he was tak- 
 ing for her comfort. 
 
 With that gentle smile which always so in- 
 vited affection, Marshall reassured her concern- 
 ing her late patient. 
 
 " He is in Sam's excellent hands, and on his 
 way to the rear by this time. He will be on duty 
 again pretty soon. Indeed, if the army were sta- 
 tioned anywhere in particular just now he 
 wouldn't go away from it at all. He would take 
 command of his battery at once, merely reporting 
 himself on the sick-list for a week or two. As it 
 is he must go away for a little while. Now let 
 us talk about yourself. I have a week's leave, 
 granted for the express purpose of letting me 
 do what is best for you. Tell me what is best 
 or rather it's the same thing what is 
 most to your liking? Will you stay here, or " 
 
 " If I may," she answered, quickly, " I want 
 to go home to The Oaks, I mean, for that is 
 the only home I have in all the world now. Please 
 take me there." 
 
 " It would be a very long journey by carriage," 
 he said, as if talking to himself, "but we can 
 
 399 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 make the trip by rail if you are strong enough to 
 stand it." 
 
 It was necessary in those days to think of a 
 railway journey as a formidable undertaking for 
 any but the strongest persons. There were no 
 such things known then as sleeping-cars, or 
 drawing-room cars. The railroads were badly 
 built, with the rails spiked down to loose ties, and 
 in no way joined together at their ends. The cars 
 were coupled together by chain links, and oper- 
 ated with hand-brakes, so that when a train was 
 stopping, there was a jolting which in our day 
 would be deemed intolerable. In Virginia at that 
 time there was the additional discomfort of lam- 
 inated iron rails, and cars badly out of repair. 
 
 But Agatha's courage had come back to her 
 now, and she was eager to complete her journey 
 as speedily as possible. So Marshall sent the car- 
 riage back to its owner, and with Agatha, took 
 the first train for Lynchburg, whence another 
 railroad would convey them to their destination. 
 
 There was very little of conversation between 
 
 the two as they travelled, for the jarring and the 
 
 rattle of the disjointed train, as it jolted over its 
 
 intolerably ill-kept road-bed, made talking dirfi- 
 
 4OO 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 cult and hearing well-nigh impossible. But dur- 
 ing the long pauses at the stations Agatha related 
 the story of her adventures, with something of 
 that relish which one always feels in telling of 
 experiences past, which were anything but relish- 
 ful at the time of their occurrence. 
 
 Better still, the two friends talked much of 
 Baillie Pegram, a subject that enlisted the sym- 
 pathetic interest of both, and drew them closer 
 than ever together as friends. 
 
 The good ladies of The Oaks welcomed Agatha 
 with all of tenderness that their dignity would 
 permit. They deeply disapproved of all that she 
 had done, of course, but they reflected that she 
 had suffered much, and as she was not now 
 strong they forebore to emphasise by words of 
 censure the condemnation which they could not 
 avoid manifesting in their manner. Agatha did 
 not much mind their disapproval. This was one 
 of the cases in which, feeling that her conduct 
 had been altogether right, she was not troubled 
 by the contrary opinions of others. Moreover she 
 had other subjects to think about. 
 
 Captain Pollard went at once to Warlock, after 
 delivering his charge into her aunts' hands, and 
 
 401 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 on the next day, when he visited The Oaks to ask 
 concerning her, he reported that the master of 
 Warlock had reached home and was still rapidly 
 gaining strength. 
 
 This news gave Agatha a little shock. She 
 had intended, as we know, to take herself out of 
 Captain Pegram's life as quickly and as com- 
 pletely as possible, and now circumstances had 
 forced her to place herself near to him again. She 
 knew that as soon as he should be able to ride, 
 ordinary courtesy would compel him to visit her, 
 and well, she did not want him to do that. 
 She felt herself in the position of a woman who 
 has purposely placed herself in the way of inviting 
 attentions, or at least has suffered herself to be 
 so placed. 
 
 She had done nothing of the kind, of course. 
 Indeed, she had had no choice in the matter, but 
 the very thought that Baillie Pegram might so 
 interpret her course, distressed her greatly, in 
 her still nerve- tortured condition. She cared 
 nothing whatever for what others, including her 
 aunts, might think of the matter, but the thought 
 that Baillie Pegram might misunderstand was 
 intolerable. 
 402 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Her aunts added to her embarrassment by 
 adopting a course which plainly showed that they 
 entertained a fear identical with her own. They 
 sent a note to Warlock every day, inquiring con- 
 cerning the health of that plantation's master. 
 They made these notes as coldly formal as stilted 
 rhetoric could contrive, and they were at pains to 
 read the missives to Agatha before sending them. 
 
 " Why do you do that? " she asked, when the 
 second day's note was read. There was almost 
 a querulous tone in her protest. 
 
 " Why, it seems to us proper, dear; we want 
 you to be assured that we make no mention of 
 your presence here, but take the utmost possible 
 pains to show Captain Pegram how entirely you 
 
 At that point Agatha rose to her feet and 
 looked indignantly at her relatives. For a mo- 
 ment there was danger of an outbreak of offended 
 pride, but by an effort the girl controlled herself 
 and said, simply : 
 
 " Please don't do it any more. I shall feel hurt 
 if you offer again to read to me anything you 
 may have written. If you will excuse me I 
 
 403 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 think I will go to my room now. I am not strong 
 to-day." 
 
 It was the custom of the good ladies to protest 
 that they " never could understand Agatha ; " but 
 on this occasion they understood her sufficiently 
 to know that they had trodden very near a danger- 
 line which they were more than unwilling to 
 cross. 
 
 Baillie Pegram in his turn was by no means 
 minded to submit to the manifest purpose of The 
 Oaks ladies that he should hear nothing about 
 Agatha, beyond what Marshall Pollard had re- 
 ported to him during the two days of his stay 
 at Warlock. Marshall had gone now, and Baillie 
 wrote in response to the second of the notes : 
 
 " I am getting well quite as rapidly as my best 
 friends could wish. There is not the slightest 
 occasion for uneasiness about me. I am even 
 permitted to ride horseback a little. But I am 
 exceedingly anxious for tidings of Miss Agatha, 
 whom you have not mentioned in either of your 
 notes. Will you not send me word concerning 
 her, or better still, if she is well enough to write, 
 will you not ask her to send me a few lines? 
 My gratitude to her for all that she has done 
 
 404 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 for me is very great, and so is my anxiety to 
 know that she is recovering from the painful 
 illness which was caused by her generous self- 
 sacrifice in my behalf." 
 
 As Agatha had asked her aunts not to read to 
 her their letters to the master of Warlock, those 
 ladies chose to interpret her request as including 
 his letter to them. They made no mention of the 
 fact that he had written to make inquiries con- 
 cerning her. She wondered a little that he had 
 not done so, but on the whole, she argued, it was 
 better so. 
 
 Baillie was not so easily pleased. He chafed 
 when the next note came from The Oaks, bring- 
 ing no tidings from Agatha, and when still an- 
 other of like character followed it, he grew 
 uneasy, lest the silence might mean that Agatha 
 had herself forbidden all mention of her in letters 
 from The Oaks. 
 
 " She is taking that method, probably," he 
 argued, " of dismissing me again, and letting me 
 know that I must not presume upon the service 
 she has done me. What a fool I am, to be sure! 
 I have been reckoning upon her devotion to me 
 in my illness and captivity as proof that what I 
 
 405 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 brutally blurted out at Fairfax Court-house was 
 not unwelcome to her after all. With her quick 
 feminine perceptions, she has discovered how I 
 have been misinterpreting her duty doing, and 
 she wants now to show me my error in the sim- 
 plest way possible." 
 
 As he meditated, the soldier impulse in him 
 asserted itself, the impulse to dare the worst in 
 the hope of achieving the best. 
 
 Acting upon that impulse he immediately 
 wrote a note to Agatha, and sent it by Sam, 
 with orders to deliver it to her in person, if 
 possible, and at all events to ask for an answer 
 and fetch it. 
 
 In his note he told Agatha of his unanswered 
 inquiries, and of the great uneasiness he felt con- 
 cerning her health. Finally he begged her to 
 relieve his anxiety by sending a line in reply. 
 
 406 
 
XXXII 
 
 IN RIGHTEOUS WRATH 
 
 THE grounds about The Oaks mansion 
 were much more extensive than was cus- 
 tomary on Virginia plantations. The late 
 owner, Agatha's father, had cherished the forest 
 growths jealously, permitting no tree to be cut that 
 could in any wise be preserved, and forbidding the 
 encroachment of the lawns immediately about the 
 house upon the wild woodland growths that bor- 
 dered and surrounded them. It was Agatha's 
 delight on windy autumn days to wander in these 
 woodlands, and on this morning Sam encountered 
 her quite half a mile from the house. She was 
 hatless, and the wind was taking what liberties 
 it pleased with her thick-growing hair, while she, 
 having turned child again in her enjoyment of 
 the brilliant, gusty morning, was wading about in 
 the depths of the fallen leaves, delighting her 
 soul with their rustling. 
 
 407 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Sam delivered his note and she read it. In- 
 stantly the child spirit in her took flight and she 
 became the strong, resolute, self-contained young 
 woman that she had learned to be during the 
 storm and stress period of her recent life. Her 
 sudden access of dignity did not spare even Sam. 
 Like an officer in battle issuing his orders, she 
 turned to the negro boy and said: 
 
 " Return to your master at once. Tell him 
 you met me far from the house. Say to him 
 that I am almost as well as ever, and that I will 
 answer his note during the day. There. Go 
 now, and deliver the message as I have given it 
 to you. Do you hear?" 
 
 Sam's face grew long, as he turned about, and 
 Agatha caught sight of it. She was in a mighty 
 rage, but not with Sam. She bethought her that 
 the boy had misunderstood, to the injury of his 
 feelings, so she called to him, and added: 
 
 " I did not mean to speak sharply to you, Sam. 
 You don't deserve any but kindly words. I was 
 thinking of something else. How are you since 
 you got back to Warlock, and tell me truly how 
 your master is." 
 
 ' Thank you, Mis' Agatha," answered the 
 408 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 boy, his face all smiles again, " Mas' Baillie he's 
 a-gittin' as lively as a spring chicken what don't 
 mean to be ketched. He rides every day now, 
 an' don't he jes' eat! He'll be all right in a 
 week or two, yo' may be sure. As fer Sam, he 
 ain't never nothin' else but well, specially now 
 dat we done git away from dem Yankees an' 
 back to Warlock ag'in ! " 
 
 Nevertheless Sam grew distinctly melancholy 
 as he rode homeward, repeating his message time 
 and again in order that he might deliver it cor- 
 rectly. The message seemed to him unduly curt, 
 and certainly the note he had delivered seemed 
 somehow to have angered Agatha. Sam won- 
 dered how and why, and he grieved over the cir- 
 cumstance, too, for Sam had taken the liberty of 
 making up his mind that Agatha would make an 
 ideal mistress at Warlock, and that the master of 
 Warlock was planning some such destiny for her. 
 Her message and her manner suggested that she 
 resented all this, and that his master's hopes, 
 which he took for granted, were likely to be 
 disappointed. 
 
 Baillie Pegram's interpretation of the message 
 
 409 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 when it was delivered to him did not materially 
 differ from that which Sam had put upon it. 
 
 " She resents the liberty I have taken," he 
 thought, " in writing to her directly. She has 
 forbidden her aunts to reply to my inquiries 
 made through them. She has sought in that way 
 to tell me, by indirection, that the old family war 
 between herself and me still endures ; that all her 
 suffering and sacrifice in ministering to me was 
 inspired solely by a sense of duty ; that she wishes 
 now to end our intimacy as she did two years 
 ago. Clearly that is the state of the case, and she 
 is naturally angry now that I have forced an 
 attention upon her which compels her to tell me 
 directly what she had meant me to infer. What 
 an idiot I was to do that ! " 
 
 In the meanwhile Agatha had walked rapidly 
 to the house. At the beginning of her journey 
 she indulged her indignation freely. She re- 
 hearsed all the bitingly sarcastic things she meant 
 to say to her aunts, all the defiance she intended 
 to hurl at their helpless heads. But as she spent 
 her superfluous vitality in brisk walking, she 
 recovered her self-control. 
 
 "I will not scold," she resolved. "That 
 4IO 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 would be undignified. I will be calm and cour- 
 teous, saying as little as may be necessary to let 
 them see my displeasure. They have grievously 
 compromised my dignity by what they have done. 
 I must not sacrifice what remains of it by a petu- 
 lant outbreak. They have treated me like a child 
 in pinafores, who must be restrained lest she mis- 
 behave. I must show them that I have outgrown 
 pinafores. I must prove myself incapable of 
 childish misbehaviour." 
 
 Firm in this determination, she entered the 
 house with Baillie Pegram's note in her hand, and 
 upon joining her aunts before the library fire, she 
 said quite calmly : 
 
 " I have a note from Captain Pegram, who has 
 got a notion into his head that I am seriously ill, 
 and that you are concealing the fact from his 
 friendly knowledge. He tells me he has twice 
 asked you for news of me, and you have made 
 no response. Of course you forgot to mention 
 in your notes that I am quite well again." 
 
 The ladies looked at each other with troubled 
 eyes. Presently one of them spoke: 
 
 " No, dear, we did not forget. We have only 
 been mindful of proprieties which Mr. Pegram 
 
 411 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 seems strangely to forget or ignore. Under the 
 circumstances, and in view of the relations be- 
 tween the Ronalds and the Pegrams, it seemed to 
 us rather impertinent in him to send messages to 
 you, even through us. We intended to rebuke his 
 presumption by ignoring the messages. Why, he 
 even went so far as to ask us to let you write to 
 him yourself." 
 
 Agatha received all this in silence, controlling 
 herself with difficulty. It was not until a full 
 minute after her aunt had ceased to speak that 
 she said: 
 
 " Go on, please." 
 
 " There would seem to be no more to say ; for 
 surely it is needless to comment upon Mr. Pe- 
 gram's crowning impertinence in writing directly 
 to you." 
 
 " Go on, please. Tell me all about it. You 
 see I don't at all understand." 
 
 By this time the good dames began to realise 
 that Agatha was either very angry or very deeply 
 hurt, so they decided to soothe and placate her. 
 This is how they did it. 
 
 " No, dear, I suppose you do not understand. 
 How should you, with such bringing up as your 
 
 412 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 grandfather gave you? Of all the strange per- 
 versities " 
 
 " Stop ! " cried Agatha, rising from her chair 
 with a look upon her face which her aunts did not 
 understand but gravely feared. Their last spoken 
 words had set her free to speak. She had not 
 dared resent their criticism of Baillie Pegram's 
 conduct. That might have been misinterpreted. 
 But the reflection upon her grandfather was a 
 different matter. She stood there livid to the 
 lips and shaking with the indignation which she 
 was struggling to suppress. After that one word, 
 " Stop ! " she remained silent for a space, strug- 
 gling to restrain the angry utterance that was 
 surging to her lips. At last, speaking in a con- 
 strained voice, she said: 
 
 " I will not hear another word. Neither you 
 nor any other human being is worthy to speak my 
 grandfather's name except with reverence. He 
 was great, and wise, and unspeakably good. He 
 hated lies and shams and false conventionalities." 
 
 Here the roused tigress in Agatha was sharply 
 restrained. She found herself about to indulge in 
 a tirade, and that she was resolved not on any 
 
 413 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 account to do. Still speaking in a voice of 
 enforced calm, she added : 
 
 " I must go now and write to Captain Pegram. 
 I shall dine with the Misses Blair at The Forest 
 to-day." 
 
 To Baillie she wrote: 
 
 "It is very kind of you to feel so much solicitude 
 on my account. But it is needless, as I am quite 
 well again and growing stronger every day. I 
 go in half an hour to dine at The Forest, where I 
 shall remain till to-morrow. After that I shall 
 go to Richmond in search of some way in which 
 I may be of service. I am pleased to hear through 
 Sam that you are so greatly better. Thank you 
 again for all your kindness to me, and good-bye." 
 
 Having despatched this note, Agatha donned 
 her hat and cloak and walked out of the house. 
 Without a pause she passed on through the 
 grounds and along the road to the plantation 
 known as The Forest. 
 
 She had made no adieus to her aunts. ' To 
 do that," she reflected, " I should have to tell lies, 
 or act them. I should have to say I am sorry to 
 leave them, and I am not sorry. Oh, Chummie! 
 the world is very lonely now that you are not in 
 
 414 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 it ! But you mustn't grieve in heaven, Chummie. 
 It will not be for long, you know, and while I 
 stay here I'm going to try harder than ever to 
 be true and good and altogether truthful, as you 
 want me to be, and when I go to join you I'll 
 be happy enough to make up for all these little 
 troubles here." 
 
 At that moment a merry gust of wind blew off 
 her headgear. She picked it up, but did not 
 replace it on her head. She liked to feel the crisp 
 breezes in her face. She even indulged the fancy 
 that they bore caresses to her from Chummie. 
 
 415 
 
XXXIII 
 
 UNDER RED LEAVES 
 
 AGATHA'S note, coming after her curt 
 message, was a sore puzzle to its recipient. 
 One might interpret it to mean anything 
 or nothing. It was courteous enough, but its 
 courtesy was colourless and cold. It was such a 
 note as might have been addressed to the veriest 
 stranger. There was nothing in it to reassure 
 the master of Warlock as to Agatha's view of his 
 conduct, nothing to allay his fear that she had 
 resented his inquiries as an impertinence. On 
 the contrary, if that were the meaning of the 
 former silence and of the morning's message, this 
 note was precisely such as a sensitively self- 
 respecting young woman might have written 
 when compelled by his persistence to write to him 
 at all. 
 
 It was a very bad quarter of an hour with him, 
 416 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 during which he read the missive a dozen times, 
 unable to make out what it meant. 
 
 But Baillie Pegram was not a man to despair 
 until he must, or to rest under a painful uncer- 
 tainty. It was his habit of mind to meet dangers 
 and difficulties half-way, and question them insist- 
 ently concerning their extent. He called Sam, 
 therefore, and bade him bring the easy-going 
 pacer which he had begun to ride for exercise, 
 and mounting the animal he set off at a gentle 
 gait toward The Forest. 
 
 He appeared there half an hour before the four 
 o'clock dinner was announced, and his welcome 
 by his hostesses, Miss Blair and her sister, was all 
 the warmer for the reason that his arrival indi- 
 cated, more surely than any message from War- 
 lock could have done, the extent of his convales- 
 cence. 
 
 Perhaps he was welcome also on another 
 account. For the Misses Blair were deeply con- 
 cerned about Agatha, and they hoped that he 
 might persuade her, as they had failed to do, to 
 give up her plan of going to Richmond and seek- 
 ing service as a hospital nurse or in some other 
 capacity in which a woman might employ herself. 
 
 417 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 They were deeply concerned as to the matter of 
 nursing for the reason that it was deemed highly 
 improper in Virginia for any but married women 
 to nurse in the military hospitals, where the pa- 
 tients, of course, were men. 
 
 Agatha had told them as little as possible of 
 her affairs. She had said nothing whatever of 
 her quarrel with her aunts, only telling them that 
 she had left The Oaks finally, and asking them 
 to send thither for such personal belongings as 
 she had there, so that she might remain overnight 
 at The Forest, and go to Richmond on the 
 morrow. The younger Miss Blair had volun- 
 teered to go in person on this errand, and from 
 her the ladies at The Oaks had first learned that 
 Agatha had finally quitted the place in her resent- 
 ment. They were greatly distressed, and immedi- 
 ately ordered their carriage and drove to The 
 Forest, where Baillie Pegram found them on his 
 arrival. 
 
 Their pleadings with Agatha had been earnest, 
 insistent, and wholly fruitless. She had mani- 
 fested no anger, and they had discovered no 
 resentment in her voice as she replied to them. 
 She had made no complaints and uttered no 
 418 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 reproaches. To all their pleadings she had 
 answered, simply: 
 
 " I have quite decided upon my course. I shall 
 not change my plans." 
 
 The good dames were in such despair that they 
 even welcomed Baillie's coming. 
 
 " We have done everything, said everything/* 
 they hastily explained to him ; " why, we have 
 almost apologised to the child, and all to no pur- 
 pose. Perhaps you can have some influence, Cap- 
 tain Pegram. Will you not speak to her? " 
 
 " I shall speak to her, of course," was his reply. 
 " I am here indeed for that express purpose. But 
 I shall certainly not try to dissuade her from any 
 course that she may desire to pursue. That would 
 be an impertinence of which I am incapable." 
 
 The Oaks ladies flushed as he spoke the word 
 " impertinence," remembering their own recent 
 use of the term in connection with his conduct. 
 Perhaps Agatha had told him of that in her letter, 
 they thought. If so it would be most embarrass- 
 ing for them to dine in his company and hers. 
 So, pleading their great agitation of mind as their 
 excuse, they returned at once to The Oaks, leaving 
 
 419 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Baillie and Agatha as the only guests of the 
 Misses Blair at dinner. 
 
 When left alone with the young woman after 
 dinner, the master of Warlock opened the con- 
 versation as promptly as it was his custom to 
 open fire when the proper moment had come. 
 
 " Agatha," he began, as the two stood in the 
 piazza in the glow of the early setting sun and 
 in the midst of the blood-red Virginia creepers 
 that embowered the place, " Agatha, do you re- 
 member the words I spoke to you on the picket- 
 line at Fairfax Court-house?" Then without 
 waiting for her reply, he continued : "I have 
 come to you now to say those words over again, 
 at a more fitting time and in a more appropriate 
 place. I love you. I have loved you ever since 
 those days in Richmond, those precious days when 
 I first began to know you for what you are. I 
 loved you all through that cruel time when, in 
 obedience to what you believed was your duty, 
 you decreed that there should be ' war between 
 me and thee.' And now after all that you have 
 done and dared for me, my love for a nature 
 so pure, so noble, so heroic, passes understanding. 
 
 420 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 I have a right to tell you this now. Tell me in 
 return, if it displeases you ? " 
 
 With that absolute truthfulness which was the 
 basis of her nature, Agatha replied as frankly 
 as he had spoken. 
 
 " It pleases me," she said. " I had not ex- 
 pected this. I thought I had repulsed you so 
 rudely that oh ! Baillie, you will never know." 
 
 In a torrent of tears that were a more welcome 
 answer than any words could have been, she 
 buried her face in her hands. 
 
 Half an hour later these two sat by a crackling 
 fire, arranging practical affairs. 
 
 " You do not wish to go back to The Oaks, 
 then, even for a few weeks, and to save appear- 
 ances? " 
 
 " No, Baillie, I cannot. I should have to act 
 a lie every hour of my stay there. I should be 
 obliged to pretend friendship for my aunts when 
 I feel nothing of the kind. They have insulted 
 the memory of my grandfather, and they have 
 spoken of you in a way that never so long as 
 I live will I let any human being speak of you 
 without resenting it. I do not care to ' save ap- 
 pearances,' as you put it. Appearances may look 
 
 421 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 out for themselves. ' Saving appearances ' is 
 only a sneaking way of lying. No. I will go to 
 some friends in Richmond, if they will let 
 me " 
 
 " Why not go to Warlock? " he asked. 
 
 " Why, that would outrage the proprieties 
 beyond forgiveness now that we well, under 
 the circumstances." 
 
 So Mistress Agatha did " care for appear- 
 ances " and conventions after all. But Baillie 
 did not think of that. 
 
 " Why not go there as the mistress of Warlock 
 as my wife?" he asked. "Why should we 
 not be married to-morrow at Christ-Church-in- 
 the- Woods? I am a soldier. I shall be strong 
 enough to return to duty presently. When I do 
 so I shall want to feel that you are safe at War- 
 lock, that you are mine, my wife to cherish while 
 I live. Say that it shall be so, Agatha ! Let me 
 send word to Mr. Berkeley, the rector, to-night, 
 that we shall be at the church at noon to- 
 morrow ! " 
 
 The girl thought for a moment, and then said : 
 
 " Yes, that will be best. For then, if you fall 
 ill or are wounded again, I shall have a right to 
 422 
 
At Christ-church-in-the-woods 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 go to you and care for you. Let it be so. Now 
 you must not ride to Warlock on horseback 
 to-night. It is very cool, and you have already 
 overtaxed your strength. I shall ask Miss Blair 
 to send you over in her carriage." 
 
 When he had gone Agatha announced the 
 news to her hostesses and straightway set about 
 writing a score of little notes to be despatched 
 by negro messengers early in the morning, to 
 her friends in the neighbourhood. To her aunts 
 she wrote simply, and without formal address of 
 any kind, the bare statement : 
 
 " Captain Baillie Pegram and I are to be mar- 
 ried to-morrow, Thursday, at noon, at Christ- 
 Church-in-the- Woods." 
 
 This note she sent before going to bed. When 
 it was received at The Oaks, a conversation en- 
 sued which was largely ejaculatory: 
 
 "How shocking!" 
 
 " Yes, and how scandalous ! " 
 
 "What will people say!" 
 
 " The girl must be bewitched ! " 
 
 " And yet it is better than nursing soldiers, 
 and she an unmarried woman ! " 
 
 " Perhaps. At any rate it is clear that we can 
 
 423 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 exercise no restraint over the poor, headstrong 
 child." , 
 
 " No, Captain Pegram has completely under- 
 mined our influence. Of course we cannot lend 
 our countenance to the affair by attending ! " 
 
 " I think we must. Otherwise people will talk. 
 They might even call it a runaway match." 
 
 "That would be too dreadful!" 
 
 :( Yes. I think we must put the best face we 
 can on the affair by attending. In these war- 
 times everything is topsyturvy. Ah, me! What 
 a pity we couldn't have had the child's bring- 
 ing-up to ourselves ! " 
 
 1 Yes, we should have made a very different 
 woman of her. Anyhow, with this marriage all 
 our responsibility for her will be at an end. And 
 after all, perhaps it is as well to have it so, for 
 if she had remained single there is no knowing 
 at what moment she would have done something 
 else as scandalous as her going North to nurse 
 Mr. Pegram was." 
 
 And so they cackled for half the night. 
 
 424 
 
XXXIV 
 
 THE END AND AFTER 
 
 A FEW weeks later came the news that a 
 campaign was on and battle impending. 
 Burnside had replaced McClellan in com- 
 mand of the Federal armies in Virginia. He had 
 at once begun a campaign against Richmond, 
 moving by way of Fredericksburg. There Lee 
 met him, posting the Southern veterans on the 
 circling hills behind the town and awaiting his 
 adversary's assault. 
 
 Baillie Pegram had resumed command of his 
 battery now, but no longer with the light guns 
 that he had used while galloping with Stuart. 
 A captured Federal battery of six twelve-pounder 
 Napoleons had been assigned to him, and with 
 these he took position on the crest of Marye's 
 Heights, where there was presently to occur one 
 of the most heroic battles of all the war. 
 
 It was nearly mid-December when Burnside 
 
 425 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 crossed the river and moved to assault Lee. His 
 army, though greater than Lee's, was not quite so 
 great in numbers as it had been when McClellan 
 had commanded it near Richmond's gates; but 
 it was greatly more formidable in all other re- 
 spects. The men who composed it were war- 
 seasoned veterans now, and its officers had fully 
 learned their trade of command. Moreover the 
 army had successfully held its own against Lee 
 at Sharpsburg, and the confidence inspired by 
 that event was an important element of strength. 
 But in Burnside the Federal administration had 
 again failed to find a leader capable of so employ- 
 ing the North's stupendous resources of men, 
 money, and material as to crush the splendid 
 resistance of the Army of Northern Virginia. 
 
 So Burnside failed, as McDowell, and McClel- 
 lan, and Pope had failed before, and as Hooker, 
 who succeeded him in command, failed even 
 more conspicuously, when, in the following 
 spring, he made the campaign of Chancellorsville. 
 
 After Chancellorsville Lee crossed the Potomac 
 again. Then came Gettysburg, which proved to 
 be the turning-point in the war, so far as the 
 armies of Virginia were concerned. 
 426 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 For before the next campaign opened the 
 campaign of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and 
 Cold Harbour the North had recognised in 
 Grant a leader who knew what use to make of the 
 means at his command, and, more important still, 
 a leader who clearly saw that the strength of the 
 Confederacy lay, not in the possession of cities 
 or the holding of strategic positions, but in the 
 superb fighting force of Lee's army. Grant, in 
 supreme command of all the armies of the Union, 
 directed the work of all of them to the one task of 
 crushing Lee, and in the end he accomplished it. 
 When that was done, this most stupendous war in 
 modern history was over. 
 
 In all these epoch-making events the master of 
 Warlock did his part, with a devotion that 
 wrought a colonel's stars upon his collar and 
 added honour to the name he bore. During the 
 long winter of 1863-64, while the mud-bound 
 armies lay helplessly idle in winter quarters, 
 Baillie had Agatha with him in his log hut near 
 Orange Court-house, and before the campaign 
 opened at the Wilderness in the spring, an heir 
 to Warlock was born in camp, a child ver- 
 itably " cradled in a revolution." 
 
 427 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 Agatha was near her husband, too, during the 
 long siege of Petersburg, though she could not 
 be actually with him; for his place was on the 
 lines, where the " scream of shot, and burst of 
 shell, and bellowing of the mortars " were cease- 
 less by night and by day, for the space of eight 
 months, before the end came. But she was always 
 near at hand, as one of that heroic band of 
 women who stayed and starved in the beleaguered 
 city, heedless of the storm of huge shells that 
 daily wrecked buildings there and tore cavernous 
 trenches in the streets. She remained there to 
 the end as the others did, in order that they might 
 minister in loving, life-saving ways to the 
 wounded, who were daily brought in from the 
 lines on ever-busy litters. 
 
 When at last the attenuated lines that had so 
 long and so heroically held their ground against 
 an ever-increasing disparity of numbers, were 
 broken, and Lee ordered the instant evacuation 
 of the city, Agatha made her way on foot to 
 Warlock, and there, with her babe, awaited the 
 return of the man she loved, and whose voice 
 she fancied she could hear in the receding echoes 
 of the cannon. 
 
 428 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 He came at last, ten days later, and 
 Agatha greeted him with loving looks and words 
 that cheered him in that despondency that at 
 first made every returning Confederate lament 
 that he had not been permitted to share the fate 
 of those who had fallen facing the foe. 
 
 Over the mantel in that family room which in 
 Virginia was always called " the chamber," 
 Agatha hung up the artillery sword, the pistols, 
 the colonel's sash, and the Mexican spurs that the 
 master of Warlock had worn in his campaigning. 
 
 " Those are for the little boy to see daily as 
 he grows up, so that he may know what manner 
 of man his mother wishes him to become what 
 manner of man his mother loves and reveres." 
 
 Then she brought two other mementos and 
 hung them also on the wall. One was the ser- 
 geant-major's jacket on which she had stitched the 
 chevrons on the day before Manassas. 
 
 " So you found the old jacket, did you ? " asked 
 Baillie. " I kept it as a reminder of you." 
 
 ;< Yes I know. I found it in the little closet 
 where you had hung it. I should have left it 
 there always, just as your hands had placed it, 
 if if you had not come back to Warlock again." 
 
 429 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 She was weeping now, but her face was joyous 
 in spite of the tears. For had he not come back 
 to her, strong and well and still young? And 
 should not they two find ways in which to meet 
 their present poverty with stout hearts and heads 
 erect? 
 
 " We must l look up/ Baillie, ' and not down 
 forward and not backward.' We have each 
 other left " 
 
 " And the boy our boy ! " he interrupted. 
 " Yes, we have enough to live for enough to 
 enrich our lives to the end. And thanks to you 
 I have courage left both to do and to endure." 
 
 " Courage ? Of course. You could never lose 
 that and still live. It is as vital a part of you 
 as your head itself is." 
 
 Then she brought the other memento .and 
 fastened it into its place. It was a faded red 
 feather. 
 
 " I have carried that on my person," she said, 
 "ever since that day at Fairfax Court-house 
 when you first told me that you loved me." 
 
 A few months later Marshall Pollard came. 
 He hobbled upon a cork leg which he had not 
 
 430 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 yet learned to use with ease, but the old smile 
 was on his face, the old cheer in his voice. 
 
 " Agatha," he said, " I should like to occupy 
 my old quarters here during my stay, if I may. 
 You see, Baillie, it is as I told you long years 
 ago I must ask leave of my lady now. But 
 I don't mind, as my lady happens to be Agatha 
 instead of some other." 
 
 " And your other prediction is fulfilled, too," 
 answered the master of Warlock, " the prediction 
 that you made out there by the plantation gate. 
 The old life of Virginia is completely gone, the 
 old conditions have been utterly swept away. We 
 can never re-create them. We can never bring 
 the old life back, and perhaps it is better so. We 
 Virginians had for generations lived in the past. 
 Our manner of life and all our conceptions of 
 living were those of a century ago. We had not 
 kept step with progress. We have been rudely 
 shaken out of the lethargic ease that was so de- 
 lightful and perhaps so bad for us. We are free 
 now to create a new life in tune with that of the 
 modern world. 
 
 " And we shall do that right manfully. We 
 shall develop the resources of our region, and the 
 
 431 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 South will grow more prosperous than it ever 
 was before. Better still, our children will be 
 educated in the gospel of work, and learn the 
 lesson that was never taught to you and me till 
 war came to teach us, that it is in strenuous 
 endeavour, and not in paralysing ease, that a man 
 finds the greatest happiness in life." 
 
 " Tell me of your plans, Baillie." 
 
 " They are not mine. They are Agatha's. 
 We have arranged to convert this plantation, and 
 The Oaks, and all the land round about for 
 the company we have formed has bought every 
 acre that could be had into a nest of coal 
 mines. The deposit is a rich one, you know, and 
 I have had no difficulty in getting practical men 
 with abundant capital to join me in the enter- 
 prise. We are already building a branch rail- 
 road to carry our product. But there is to be no 
 shaft sunk within half a mile of Warlock House, 
 so that I shall be ' master of Warlock ' still. Tell 
 us now of your own affairs, Marshall." 
 
 1 There is not much to tell. Thanks to 
 Agatha's wonderful economy in spending, I still 
 have investments at the North which yield me a 
 sufficient income for my small needs. I have 
 
 432 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 divided my plantation into little farms, and have 
 let them to the best of the negroes and to some 
 white farmers. I am to get my rentals in the 
 shape of a share of the crops. This sets me free 
 to do the work that best pleases me. You know 
 I have been writing in a small way with some 
 success ever since I grew up. I shall write some 
 books now. I think I have some messages to 
 deliver that some at least of my fellow men may 
 be the better or the happier for hearing." 
 " But you will want to marry some day." 
 " No. My ' some day ' died years ago." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 433 
 
The Master of Warlock 
 
 By GEORGE GARY EGGLESTON, Author of "Dor- 
 othy South/' "A Carolina Cavalier/' Six Illustrations 
 by C D. Williams* J2mo. Dark red cloth, illustrated 
 cover, gilt top, rough edges* Price, $J50 each* 
 
 THE MASTER OF WARLOCK " has an interest- 
 ing plot, and is full of purity of sentiment, charm of 
 atmosphere, and stirring doings. One of the typical family 
 feuds of Virginia separates the lovers at first ; but, when 
 the hero goes to the war, the heroine undergoes many 
 hardships and adventures to serve him, and they are hap- 
 pily united in the end. 
 
 Dorothy South 
 
 A STORY OF VIRGINIA JUST BEFORE THE WAR 
 
 Baltimore Sun says : 
 
 " No writer in the score and more of novelists now ex- 
 ploiting the Southern field can, for a moment, compare in 
 truth and interest to Mr. Eggleston. In the novel before 
 us we have a peculiarly interesting picture of the Virginian 
 in the late fifties. We are taken into the life of the people. 
 We are shown the hearts of men and women. Characters 
 are clearly drawn, and incidents are skilfully presented. 
 
 A Carolina Cavalier 
 
 A STIRRING TALE OF WAR AND ADVENTURE 
 
 Philadelphia Home Advocate says: 
 
 " As a love story, l A Carolina Cavalier ' is sweet and 
 true ; but as a patriotic novel, it is grand and inspiring. 
 We have seldom found a stronger and simpler appeal to 
 our manhood and love of country." 
 
 Lothrop Publishing Company - - Boston 
 
The Captain 
 
 By CHURCHILL WILLIAMS, author of "J. Devlin 
 Boss," Illustrated by A. I. Keller. J2mo. Dark red 
 cloth, decorative cover, rough edges. Price, $J50 each. 
 
 TVTHO is the Captain ? thousands of readers of this fine 
 book will be asking. It is a story of love and war, 
 of scenes and characters before and during the great civil 
 conflict. It has lots of color and movement, and the splen- 
 did figure naming the book dominates the whole. 
 
 J. Devlin- -Boss 
 
 A ROMANCE OF AMERICAN] POLITICS. Blue 
 cloth, decorative cover, J2mo. Price, $1.50. 
 
 Mary E. Wilkins says: 
 
 " I am delighted with your book. Of all the first novels, 
 I believe yours is the very best. The novel is American 
 to the core. The spirit of the times is in it. It is inimita- 
 bly clever. It is an amazing first novel, and no one 
 except a real novelist could have written it." 
 
 Lothrop Publishing Company - - Boston 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 1PR 15 
 
 LD 21-100m-8,'34 
 
912736 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY