“I saw her fair cheeks turn as red as blood, and knew she was angry, though no one would have thought so from her language. She cast an appealing glance at me; I could read her thoughts as plain as print.
“‘Doctor Dodson,’ said Lottie, as she laid her hand on his shoulder and looked up into his face, ‘would it be charitable, would it be Christian duty, to forsake a friend merely because that friend had been forsaken by the world? It seems to me that that would be the very time when a true friend would stick closer. Now, my dear doctor, you know how much I respect you; you are well aware of the fact that no one has a higher regard for your opinions than I have; nay, you know how much Eddie and I love you—it would make me miserable indeed if I were to incur your displeasure; I believe that when you have looked at both sides of the case with an impartial eye you’ll not be angry with me for refusing to forsake my unfortunate friend in this dark hour of her troubles. You say that my reputation has already suffered injury by my association with Viola Bramlett. I regret very much to hear it. I am sorry indeed that my reputation is so feeble as to be crippled by such puny assaults. I have been flattering myself with the idea that an honest woman’s reputation could withstand all such assaults and come out unscathed. But if it is true that my character has been damaged by my friendship for Miss Bramlett, it would not repair the damage for me to forsake her now. I must be permitted to have my own way in this matter, and at no distant day you will rejoice with me for having done so.’
“I saw tears trembling in Lottie’s eyes as she looked up imploringly into Doctor Dodson’s face.
“‘By Jove, child, you shall have your own way!’ said the doctor, as he pressed a kiss on her brow; ‘you shall do as you like, and I shall cram this fist down the throat of any scamp who dares to speak a word against you. I admire your fidelity to your friend, my child. Ah, ha! that I do. Miss Bramlett was fortunate in securing such a friend; what does anybody want with a friend except when he is in trouble? Ah, ha! don’t you see, Eddie, my boy? We’ll go back now. Let Lottie alone; she has got more sense than both of us. Ah, ha! can’t you see how it is yourself? Go along and do exactly what she tells you to do. She is pilot of this boat, Eddie, ah, ha! you see it, don’t you?’
“I started to Vicksburg at 10:30, and was absent from home a little over three weeks. I, however, succeeded in securing all the information that Lottie wanted, though I had to make a trip to New Orleans before I found it.
CHAPTER XXI.
“There is nothing I detest more than I do a mystery of any sort. Notwithstanding my abhorrence of it, I now found myself, by some unaccountable cause, entangled in a most singular and inexplicable web of mystery. The more I struggled to extricate myself from it the lower down did I plunge, until despite my efforts I found myself inundated and helpless.
“One evening, after I had performed a very hard day’s work at the drug-store, I hurried home to seek that rest which the excessive labor of the day caused me to need. It was some time after dark when I lifted the latch of the gate which stood in front of Doctor Dodson’s handsome residence and began to walk leisurely along the gravel road leading toward the house. The night was unusually dark, the sky being totally obscured by innumerable black, angry clouds, while ever and anon the sound of distant thunder announced the approaching storm, and an occasional flash of lightning would every now and then cast a bright light around me. I halted a few paces from the gate, leaned against one of the tall poplar trees that stood near the edge of the road, and took off my hat, to let the cool fresh breeze fan my fevered brow. My head was aching severely, my cheeks were hot, and the blood in my veins seemed to be boiling; I concluded that a few moments spent in the open air would relieve me. Soon after I had halted I thought I heard the sound of footsteps approaching the spot where I stood. I knew it was not Doctor Dodson, for he had left town early in the morning to visit a patient in the country, informing me that he would not be home until next day. I became convinced that the grounds had been invaded by some one—perhaps a thief who was waiting for an opportunity to rob the house. I tried to peer through the darkness, hoping to see the intruder, but I was straining my eyes in vain, for I could not distinguish any object at a distance of ten feet, except when the space was momentarily lighted up by the flashes of electricity that often blazed among the clouds. Sometimes I would imagine that I had been deceived; but my doubts were finally set at rest when I distinctly saw the form of a man as he dodged behind a tree just as a bright streak of lightning blazed for a second about me.
“‘Who are you, and what do you want here at this late hour?’ I demanded in a loud tone.
“‘Fly for your life, Ed—your hiding-place is discovered; you have no time to spare—the officers are after you—large rewards have been offered for your capture, dead or alive—get away as soon as you can!’