Within The Enemys Lines | Page 6

details of his meeting with his uncle.
"Is Miss Florry at home?" asked Mulgate, in a more gentle tone, as
though he had a deeper interest in the direction he had indicated.
"She is at home, and was at the supper table with us."
"How does she seem to be?" asked the stranger.
"First rate; she is as jolly as though no one ever heard of such a thing as

war," replied Corny, with enthusiasm.
"Did she say anything about her stay at Glenfield?" inquired Mulgate,
whose interest seemed to mount to the pitch of anxiety.
"Not a word; she did not even hint at Glenfield, or anything connected
with it," answered Corny; and, after the sharp tones of the other, he
seemed to take pleasure in thorning him with negative answers.
"Did she say anything about me?"
"Not a word."
"Didn't she mention my name?"
"She did not."
"Didn't she ask about my health, or want to know where I was?"
"Florry did not allude to you in any manner. If she wanted to know
where you were, she did not say a word about it to me," replied Corny,
in the most decided tones.
It was still light enough to see that there was something like a frown on
the brow of Mr. Mulgate. He had evidently believed that the daughter
of the millionnaire of Bonnydale was interested in him, and his
inquiries indicated that he expected her to ask about him; but she had
not made the remotest allusion to him. Besides, she was as jolly as she
had been at Glenfield, when war was a matter of the future, which few
believed would ever be realized. She had not grown thin and pale
during her absence from him, and she did not appear to be wasting her
sweetness in pining for him.
"What in the world are you talking about, Mulgate?" suddenly
demanded his companion on his side of the fence. "I thought we were
here for business, and you are talking about some girl."
"She is the lady of whom I spoke to you; she spent the last winter with
her uncle at the Glenfield Plantation. I am interested in her," replied

Mulgate, as though he had given a sufficient excuse for the questions
he had put to Corny.
"Are we to capture her and take her back to the State of Alabama?"
demanded the other, who seemed to be a gentleman of forty at least.
"I don't know; that depends; but, Captain Carboneer, I hope you will be
my friend in this little matter," added Mulgate.
"I don't know any thing about the little matter; but I am not willing to
jeopardize the enterprise that brings us here to help you out with a love
affair," replied the older gentleman. "There will be time enough for you
to look for a wife after the war is over, and you have more time to
attend to the affair."
"Mr. Mulgate, I should like to know something more about your
intentions before we go any farther," interposed Corny, in a tone so
decided that Mulgate had to listen to him, especially as he had obtained
so little sympathy from the elderly gentleman.
"Speak quick then, for we have no time to spare," added Mulgate.
"Do I understand from what you have said that you intend to take
Florry Passford back to the South with you?" asked Corny, with his
teeth closely pressed together, so that it was rather difficult for him to
speak intelligibly.
"I answer, as I did before, that I don't know what I shall do; that
depends," replied Mulgate evasively.
"Depends upon what?"
"I have no time to discuss that matter now," added Mulgate, turning to
his companion.
"But I have time to say that I will ruin the whole enterprise if you mean
to commit an outrage such as you appear to have in your mind," replied
Corny, as vigorously as though he had been the military equal of the

one he had called "major" by accident.
"Do you mean to be a traitor to your country, Neal?" demanded
Mulgate angrily.
"Neither to my country nor to my uncle."
"Your uncle is a Yankee, and is doing all he can to subjugate the free
South. He has no rights which we are bound to respect," said Mulgate
fiercely.
"This will never do," interposed Captain Carboneer; and this may or
may not have been his real name. "We are getting into a disagreement
at the very first step of our enterprise."
"I don't know you, Captain Carboneer, but I wish to be understood as
meaning every word I have said; and I will wreck this enterprise, if I
am shot for it, rather than allow my cousin to be carried off in
connection with it," protested