Mohun | Page 9

light to make out the figures in the wagon. There
were two. One was a portly and plainly clad old countryman, with a
prominent nose, a double chin, and fat hands decorated with pinchbeck
rings. Beside him sat an old woman, as fat as himself, wearing a faded
calico gown, a "coal-scuttle" bonnet, and a huge ruffled cap beneath.
Stuart looked keenly at the wagon, called to the driver to halt, and
demanded whither he was going, and on what business. The old
countryman smiled. The question seemed to strike him as absurd, and
his explanation was simple and calculated to remove all suspicion. He
stated that his name was Brown--that he lived near the village; had
brought in a load of vegetables to sell, on the preceding evening--some
friends had persuaded him and "his old woman" to spend the night, and
they were now going home.
Stuart peered under the coal-scuttle bonnet.
"And this is your 'old woman' my friend," he said with a laugh.
"Jest so, sir," was the wheezy reply of the fat old countryman, smiling
sweetly. "You see she would come along, sir. Womankind is mighty
contrary!"
"A profound sentiment!" laughed Stuart, and riding on without further
words, he left the countryman free to proceed on his way.
We crossed a little stream, rode on toward Fleetwood, and had nearly
reached Brandy when Stuart suddenly reined in his horse.
"Do you know what I think," he said, "that I have done a foolish
thing?"
"What, general?"
"To let that old fellow go on. I don't like his looks."
"The old countryman?"
"Yes; I wish I had arrested him--him and his wife."
"Arrested them?"
Stuart nodded.
"I have an instinct about rascals, Surry; and something tells me that I
have been guilty of an imprudence."
"Was not his explanation satisfactory?"
"No."

"What could be wrong?"
"Everything."
"And his 'old woman,'" I said, laughing; "think of that highly
respectable dame."
"I like her least of all!"
"From instinct?"
"If you choose."
"I think your instinct misleads you this time, general."
"I think not."
"Well, we will see."
And we did see.
In two hours the head-quarters tents were pitched upon Fleetwood Hill
beyond Brandy, and Stuart sent his provost marshal to Culpeper
Court-House, with orders to conduct the prisoner taken by Mohun on
the preceding night, to General Lee, for examination.
An hour afterward the worthy provost returned in hot haste with the
astounding information that the fair lady was nowhere to be found. She
had disappeared from her chamber, none knew how, before daylight,
and as a notoriously suspected individual who had lately been hanging
round the tavern had disappeared too, it was probable that they had
gone off together. Upon this point, a note left by the lady directed to
"General Stuart" would probably give information. This had been
found upon her table. And the provost wound up by handing the note to
Stuart.
He read it with an air of decided ill-humor. Then throwing it upon his
desk, burst into a laugh.
"Well, Surry," he said, "who is right and who is wrong, now? Read
that!"
And he pointed to the note, which I opened and read. It was in a
delicate female hand, and ran as follows:--
"General Stuart will pardon the attempt his captive is about to make, to
effect her escape. He made himself quite charming in their brief
interview, but liberty is sweet. Finding a friend unexpectedly in this
quarter of the world, I have made every arrangement with him; he is a
great master of disguises, and, though the travelling costume which I
shall adopt will make me look hideous, I hope it will enable me, before
sunrise, to pass a private ford, known to my friend alone, and reach the

opposite bank of the Rappahannock.
"Farewell, my dear general. If all the rebels were like yourself, I might
change my politics. I have but one other friend in your army--Colonel
Mohun, of the cavalry. Present my regards to him, and say that we will
meet again."
That was all. I raised my eyes from the paper, and looked at the general
with stupefaction.
"Then that 'old woman' was the lady?"
"Precisely."
"And we are fooled?"
"Completely. They are by this time on the other side of the
Rappahannock."
With these words, Stuart dismissed the whole subject, turned to his
desk, and in a moment was busy at his official writing.

VII.
THE BALL BEFORE THE BATTLE.
On the same evening I was riding with Stuart toward Culpeper
Court-House.
"Do you know where we are going, Surry?" he said, with a laugh.
"I can guess, I think."
"Try."
"To the ball given by the young officers to the Charlottesville belles
tonight."
"You are wrong, old fellow. I don't dare to go