“The spy of yesterday has not been taken.”
“So these gentlemen were telling me,” smiling over at Barry.
“But it is most important to the safety of our command and the good of our cause that he be found—dead or alive.”
She merely nodded, never taking her steady gaze from his face.
“That he could have gotten out of the town is impossible. My men ran him in from the west side, over the bridge of the Eno. The sentinels were at their posts upon the north, east, and south sides of the village; he could not have passed them without detection.”
Again he paused; and finding that something was expected of her she said, in a most matter-of-fact way, “I see.”
“Then the only conclusion to come to is, that he is still in the town. Well, now, every house in this vicinity, where he was last seen, has been thoroughly searched save yours. I have talked with Lord Cornwallis—”
She stood up suddenly, with a dignity of movement that well-nigh disconcerted him. “I pray you, Colonel Tarleton, cut your explanation short.”
“Then in short, madam, I have here an order from his lordship to examine your house and premises.”
She stretched out her hand for the paper silently, imperiously.