Yet in naught, he resolved, would he betray himself. This mistake, on the contrary, might open to him some means of getting through the lines and back to his command with this map—this precious plan of the defences of the place that would be of distinct value to the cause of the Confederacy.
He therefore cast aside his half-formulated scheme of seeking escape from the supposed detective through the street. He had remembered that there were stairs on the galleries, leading from one floor to another, and thence to the quadrangle, as well as the great main staircase from the hallways into the office. He at last took his way, however, down this main staircase, with its blatant publicity, and its shifting groups of Federal officers and busy, newly imported civilians. He recognized the wisdom of his boldness almost immediately. Mr. John Wray of Manchester, England, standing conferring amicably with a cluster of worthies of that marked commercial aspect, alertness, and vim of expression, which imply the successful business man of the heady, venturesome type, since known as "plungers," turned and perceived him, and catching his eye beckoned to him with great empressement.
"Allow me, gentlemen, to introduce Mr. John Wray, Junior—the son of my cousin, John Wray," he said.
There ensued the usual greetings, the usual stir of hand-shaking, and if any eye in the office had chanced to note the newcomer with the faint suggestion of doubt or interest or suspicion, which a stranger is apt to excite, it evaporated at once, for the elder Mr. Wray was well known in the hotel and the town, having been here often before, and was a very sufficient voucher for any kinsman.
Genial indeed this group proved at dinner, seated on either side of the upper portion of one of the long tables. Julius found it accorded with his subsidiary character as youthful kinsman of one of the chief spokesmen to maintain an intelligent and receptive silence. Once or twice one of the more jovial of his newly acquired cousin's confrères gave him a glance and lifted his wine-glass with a nod, as who should say, "To you, sir," in the midst of the general discourse.
This was eagerly commercial, for the most part, and piecing the details together as he plied his knife and fork, Julius learned that his new friend was interested in a flourishing American concern which had large government contracts for ready-made army clothing, the woollen cloth and other textile fabrics being supplied from Manchester, and was indeed one of the English agents. He could not reconcile anything that he heard with a requisite for caution or for any service which he could perform, necessitating secrecy or an alias, or his sudden and affectionate adoption as a kinsman.
"It is a trait of piety to trust in Providence," Julius reflected in this quiescent state. "But I doubt if my confiding reliance in this fix can be set down to my credit. For the Lord knows there's nothing else to do!"
He created the impression of a decorous, well-bred youth, and in the fashionable English clothes he looked little less British than the elder John Wray. There was so much good-fellowship that it was natural that the postprandial cigars with a decanter and glasses should be taken out to a summer-house in the quadrangle, where at one extremity the river had a slant of the westering sun on its surface. The hills of the distance were of a dull grapelike blue against an intensely turquoise sky; the magnolia trees above their heads already bore fine cream-white blossoms among the densely green and glossy foliage, and the surrounding town was cut off from sight and sound by the three encompassing sides of the hotel. Yet it was not a solitary place. No one looking at the group could imagine it had been chosen for seclusion. From the galleries of each of the three stories a glance could command it. Guests were continually sauntering into and out of the office. Here and there a Federal officer strolled along the little esplanade above the water-side. On the lower veranda two elderly men—one a chaplain—were playing very slowly and with great circumspection a game of chess. There were onlookers here, with whom time seemed no object, calmly studying the moves, solaced by a meditative cigar, and at long intervals showing a flicker of excitement at the magic word, "Check!"
The summer-house had already a thatch of vines, but bare columns upheld the roof, and it occupied a little circular space of gravel, whence a broad gravel walk ran toward each point of the compass. An approach could be instantly observed, a step instantly heard, and therefore it did not seem to Julius altogether incongruous that business of importance and details of secrecy should presently be broached. The table in the centre was all at once covered with papers, and he began to understand the mysteries that had hitherto baffled him when gradually the details of a very bold and extensive blockade-running scheme were unfolded.
This was in defiance, of course, of the Federal regulations, and in so far militated against no interest of the government that Julius had sworn to serve. But it was a private enterprise for personal profit, and whether the export of cotton from the country to England at this juncture accorded with the policy of the Confederate States he had no means of knowing. At one time, he was aware, there existed an impression that the official withholding of such shipments as could be effected by running the blockade tended to create such paucity of the staple in the English market as might influence the already pronounced disposition of the British to interfere in aid of the Confederacy, and bringing the war to an end remove this restriction of manufactures and trade. All this was beyond his province. He held very still, remained keenly observant, watching for the loophole that might enable him to quit these tortuous ways for the very simple matter of fighting the battles of his section. After these various turmoils of doubt, and hope, and despair, it would be a mere trifle to charge with his company to the muzzles of the biggest howitzers that ever bellowed.