“Oh, yes, I would throw open my house and heart to them, but, meanwhile, I should go and camp out in the forest! Five children under ten years of age! It is sweet to die for one’s country in preference to living in the house with five children.”
Mrs. Charteris was much disgusted with him for these sentiments, and so expressed herself. She then inquired after Madame Isabey and Adrienne in Richmond, and how the family at Harrowby were doing in Mrs. Tremaine’s absence, and especially after the hegira of most of the house servants.
“We are doing remarkably well,” answered Isabey. “Mrs. Neville Tremaine is, you know, a very accomplished housekeeper and manages admirably the raw hands imported into the house,” Isabey continued, speaking easily and naturally of Angela, meaning to lead up to the object of his visit: but Mrs. Charteris suddenly forced his hand. She paused a moment, and then said with a sad and perplexed air:
“Captain Isabey, may I give you a caution?”
“Certainly,” replied Isabey, smiling. “I am the most cautious man alive, and have more cautions than enterprises, but I should not mind a few more.”
“It is a serious business upon which I wish to warn you,” replied Mrs. Charteris, gravely. And then, leaning toward him, she continued in a low voice: “Be very careful what you say before Angela Tremaine!”
Isabey looked at her in astonishment, and made no reply, and Mrs. Charteris spoke again quietly:
“You know the suspicion about her which has gone all over the county.”
“I do not know of the slightest suspicion which attaches to Mrs. Neville Tremaine,” replied Isabey, in a tone which startled Mrs. Charteris. She looked at him narrowly. He had perfect command over his temper, his tongue, and his features, but the blood had suddenly poured into his dark face, and Mrs. Charteris’s eagle eye saw it and promptly grasped that Angela Tremaine possessed great interest for Isabey. It only made her more keen to put him on his guard.
“What I mean,” she said, “is that Angela Tremaine is in constant communication with Neville Tremaine, and it is believed that she sends Neville news of the Confederates which, of course, is meant to injure us.”