Winslow introduced him to all, not omitting Peek, to whom Semmes bowed graciously, as if they had never met before, and as if the negro were the whitest of Anglo-Saxons.
“Sit down, Mr. Semmes,” said Vance; “I have a few questions to put to you. Please answer them categorically. Are you acquainted with a young lady, claimed by Mr. Carberry Ratcliff as a slave, educated by him at Mrs. Gentry’s school, and recently abducted by parties unknown from his house near Lafayette Square?”
“I do know such a young person,” replied Semmes; “I had her in my charge after Mr. Ratcliff’s compulsory departure from the city.”
“Well. And do you know where she now is?”
“I certainly do not.”
“Have you seen her since she left Ratcliff’s house?”
Happily for Semmes, before he could perjure himself irretrievably, there was a knock at the door, and Antoine entered, followed by the bloodhound, bearing something tied in a white handkerchief, in his mouth.
A general sensation and uprising! For all except the lawyer had been made acquainted with the nature of the dog’s search. Semmes glanced at the bloodhound,—then at the negroes,—and then at the other persons present, with their looks of absorbed attention. Surely, there was a dénouement expected; and might it not be fatal to him, if he left it to be supposed that he was colluding with Ratcliff in what would be stigmatized as rascality by low, cowardly, base-born Yankees, though, after all, it was only the act of a slave-owner enforcing his legal rights in a legitimate way?
Darting forward, just as Vance received from Antoine the little bundle the dog had been carrying, the lawyer exclaimed: “Colonel Vance, I do not know, but I can conjecture where the girl is. Seek her at Number 21 Camelia Place.”
Vance paused, and looked the old lawyer straight in the eyes till the latter withdrew his glance, and resorted to his snuff-box to cover his discomfiture. Deep as he was, he saw that he had been fathomed. But Vance bowed politely, and said: “We will see, sir, if your information agrees with that of the dog.”