“It can’t be you, Dorothea!” he exclaimed incredulously.
“Did you think there was a spy about here, Hal?” April cried, seizing upon the implication his question suggested.
“Yes,” Hal answered, with growing resentment. “Ever since that night they came looking for that escaped prisoner from Andersonville. I was never satisfied about that. The men were certain the dogs tracked him to this house. It was here the trail stopped.”
“And Dorothea was out alone on the porch that night,” April cut in. “Isn’t that true?” she demanded, turning to the girl.
“Yes, it is,” Dorothea answered. “But so were you, for that matter. That doesn’t prove I’m a Red String, any more than that you are. You don’t have to go back that far, April. Tell Hal what happened lately. That’s what I was going to tell him.” Of the three Dorothea was now the calmest.
Hal turned an inquiring glance toward his sister.
“What happened?” he questioned.
“Dorothea met a Union officer in Coulter Woods!” April announced it with an air of finality. She had no wish to volunteer information about who that officer was, although she had no hope that her cousin would keep the matter secret.
“Is that true, too?” asked Hal.
“Yes,” Dorothea nodded, and she could not help smiling a little.