“I am, sir.”
“She had it carefully concealed in her clothing, General,” spoke up the clerk. “I suspected her, and had her watched.”
“You have done your country a great service,” replied the General. “Have you arrested the other party?”
“No, sir, I thought it best to deliver that article to you first.”
“Very well,” answered the General. “I thank you heartily for what you have done. Now, young lady,” continued the General, turning his attention to Mildred who was pale but calm, “how came you with this document?”
Mildred had concocted a falsehood which might have obscured her connection with the affair with a shadow of dubitation. But in early life the little story of George Washington and the cherry tree had made a deep, ineffaceable impression upon her mind, and neither could she “tell a lie.” If she spoke at all, she determined to tell the truth, let the consequences be what they might. So she answered:
“I brought it to a certain person in this city.”
“What is his name?”
“I cannot tell,” she replied. “You can do as you please with me, but I shall not compromise others.”