The Purchase Price | Page 3

went on
Carlisle; "and then I was to lose you, as I have said. I have had no
definite instructions as to how that should be done, my dear Countess."
His eyes twinkled as he stiffened to his full height and almost met the
level of her own glance.
"The agent who conveyed my orders to me--he comes from Kentucky,
you see--said to me that while I could not bow-string you, it would be
quite proper to put you in a sack and throw you overboard. 'Only,' said
he to me, 'be careful that this sack be tightly tied; and be sure to drop
her only where the water is deepest. And for God's sake, my dear
young man,' he said to me, 'be sure that you do not drop her anywhere
along the coast of my own state of Kentucky; for if you do, she will
untie the sack and swim ashore into my constituency, where I have
trouble enough without the Countess St. Auban, active abolitionist, to
increase it. Trouble '--said he to me--'thy name is Josephine St. Auban!'
"My dear lady, to that last, I agree. But, there you have my orders. You
are, as may be seen, close to the throne, so far as we have thrones in
this country."
"Then I am safe until we get below the Kentucky shore?" she queried
calmly.
"I beg you not to feel disturbed,--" he began.

"Will you set me down at Louisville?"
"Madam, I can not."
"You have not been hampered with extraordinary orders. You have just
said, the carte blanche is in your hands."
"I have no stricter orders at any time than those I take from my own
conscience, Madam. I must act for your own good as well as for that of
others."
Her lip curled now. "Then not even this country is free! Even here there
are secret tribunals. Even here there are hired bravos."
"Ah, Madam, please, not that! I beg of you--"
"Excellently kind of you all, to care so tenderly for me--and yourselves!
I, only a woman, living openly, with ill will for none, paying ray own
way, violating no law of the land--"
"Your words are very bitter, Madam."
"The more bitter because they are true. You will release me then at
Cairo, below?"
"I can not promise, Madam. You would be back in Washington by the
first boats and trains."
"So, the plot runs yet further? Perhaps you do not stop this side the
outer ways of the Mississippi? Say, St. Louis, New Orleans?"
"Perhaps even beyond those points," he rejoined grimly. "I make no
promises, since you yourself make none."
"What are your plans, out there, beyond?"
"You ask it frankly, and with equal frankness I say I do not know.
Indeed, I am not fully advised in all this matter. It was imperative to get
you out of Washington, and if so, it is equally imperative to keep you

out of Washington. At least for a time I am obliged to construe my
carte blanche in that way, my dear lady. And as I say, my conscience is
my strictest officer."
"Yes," she said, studying his face calmly with her steady dark eyes.
It was a face sensitive, although bony and lined; stern, though its owner
still was young. She noticed the reddish hair and beard, the florid skin,
the blue eye set deep--a fighting eye, yet that of a visionary.
"You are a fanatic," she said.
"That is true. You, yourself, are of my own kind. You would kill me
without tremor, if you had orders, and I--"
"You would do as much!"
"You are of my kind, Madam. Yes; we both take orders from our own
souls. And that we think alike in many ways I am already sure."
"None the less--"
"None the less, I can not agree to set you down at Cairo, or at any
intermediate point. I will only give my promise in return for your own
parole. That, I would take as quickly as though it were the word of any
officer; but you do not give it."
"No, I do not. I am my own mistress. I am going to escape as soon as I
can."
He touched his cap in salute. "Very well, then. I flattered myself we
had done well together thus far--you have made it easy. But now--no,
no, I will not say it. I would rather see you defiant than to have you
weaken. I love courage, and you have it. That will carry you through. It
will keep you clean and safe as well."
Her face clouded for the first time.
"I have not dared to think of that," she said. "So long as we came in the

special train, with none to molest or make me