And with mutual salutes they parted—the young aid-de-camp accompanying the lady to her horse, and aiding her to mount. They then set forward toward the Court-House. Stuart had ordered the prisoner to be conducted thither, and detained at the village tavern, under guard, until morning, when she would be sent to Richmond.
As they disappeared, I entered the general’s tent, and found him laughing. Leaning one hand upon his desk, covered with papers, upon which rested his feather-decorated hat, he carelessly played with the tassel of his yellow sash with the other hand. His blue eyes sparkled, and his mustache curled with humor.
“That is really a beauty, Surry?” he said, “and I have laughed heartily.”
He threw himself on his red blanket as he spoke, and began playing with his two setter pups, whose names were “Nip” and “Tuck.” He had brought them out of the lines on his saddle.
“Well, you are really a magician,” I said. “You charm the evil spirit, and make prisoners laugh.”
Stuart laughed in reply.
“That is a curious person that Mohun sent me,” he said; “at first she was disdainful enough; but I paid her a few compliments, and now she is in an excellent humor, as you saw.”
“Yes.”
“But what about the fight?”
I made my report of the events of the evening.