"Jack and young Perley."
"Who gave you—who told you that?"
"Your father. He is the only person I have talked with since I got my wits back."
Kate drew back with a shuddering horror.
"Are you quite sure, Mr.—Mr. Jones that my father told you that?"
"Perfectly certain. Do you suppose that I would not have taken measures to find out where my own—I mean where friends were? These boys saved me from prison once and from a death nearly as dreadful as Libby. Could I be indifferent to them?"
"But why should papa tell you they were safe, when—when our hearts have been tortured? Ah! I see. He wanted to spare you the anxiety. Ah! yes. He knew that you would fret and worry, and that you could not recover under the strain." Kate's heart swelled with a triumphant revulsion. She had vilely suspected without cause. She must now do justice. Jones eyed her pensively, holding his head with both his hands.
"Nothing has been heard of the boys since when?"
"Nothing directly since the escape from Richmond. Miss Sprague brought that news, and about the same time a paragraph in the Herald announced that prisoners from Richmond had reached the Union lines on the Warrick."
"When was that?"