Baker sprang out, and beckoned to a soldier standing before the doorway. Nancy followed the Secret Service officer more slowly and paused, as the guard gathered about her, to gaze at the twinkling stars and fill her lungs with the cold, fresh air which fanned her hot cheeks.
"Come!" Nancy shuddered involuntarily as Baker's hand closed over her arm in no gentle grip. "This way." And they entered a wide hall.
A number of soldiers lounged on the benches which lined the walls on both sides. Recognizing Baker, they rose, and stood at attention.
"This way, Colonel," said the corporal of the guard. "Superintendent Wood is still in his office." And he preceded them down the hall.
Nancy answered apathetically all the questions the superintendent shot at her.
"Room No. 10, second floor, women's section," said the latter to an orderly, as he closed the register and filed his papers away. "See that clean bedding is taken there at once." The soldier saluted and hastened out of the room. "Now, Miss Newton, follow me." He led her into a smaller apartment where a stout woman and two colored assistants stood waiting. "The matron has to search you. Let me know when you have finished," he directed, and banged to the door.
Nancy submitted quietly to the ordeal. Her thoughts were elsewhere; she hardly noticed what the others did. She was soon told to put on her clothes, and the matron, leaving her under the watchful eyes of the other women, stepped out of the room. In a few minutes she returned and beckoned Nancy to the door. She found Senator Warren and the superintendent waiting in the hall.
"I sent to your aunt for some necessary clothes for you, Nancy, and the superintendent, here, says they will be brought to you as soon as my messenger returns with them."
"After they have been examined by me," put in Wood gruffly. "Your quarters are in Carrol Prison, where the women are confined."
He pointed up the dirty staircase, and Nancy, preceded by the corporal of the guard, climbed wearily up them, and turned down a long corridor. The corporal stopped before an open door midway down the hall, and signed to her to enter. Senator Warren, who had accompanied her by Wood's permission, stepped forward.