“Willingly?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Gladly, perhaps?”
“Yes, sir; it would do no good to deny it. The South is my country; my heart is Southern, and it is all in her cause.”
“Then the tale you told me of your wrongs and the persecution of your family was made up for the occasion?”
“They—they told me to say it, sir.”
“And you would betray and destroy those who pitied and sheltered you. Do you comprehend how base you are, you poor misguided thing?”
He replied with sobs only.
“Well, let that pass. To business. Who is the ‘Colonel,’ and where is he?”
He began to cry hard, and tried to beg off from answering. He said he would be killed if he told. I threatened to put him in the dark cell and lock him up if he did not come out with the information. At the same time I promised to protect him from all harm if he made a clean breast. For all answer, he closed his mouth firmly and put on a stubborn air which I could not bring him out of. At last I started with him; but a single glance into the dark cell converted him. He broke into a passion of weeping and supplicating, and declared he would tell everything.