There was some tension of mind or muscle that kept sleep far from him.
So he remained at the window, casting up the events of the day and those
that might come.
The evening was well advanced when he was quite sure that he heard a
light step in the hall. He would have paid little attention to it at
an ordinary time, but, in all that silence and desolation, it called
him like a drum-beat. Only a light step, and yet it filled him with
suspicion and alarm. He was in the heart of a great and victorious
Union army, but at the moment he felt that anything could happen in this
strange house.
Slipping his pistol from his belt, he opened the door on noiseless hinges
and stepped into the hall. A figure was disappearing in its dim space,
but, as he saw clearly, it was that of a woman. He was sure that it was
Miss Woodville and he stepped forward. He had no intention of following
her, but his foot creaked on the floor, and, stopping instantly, she
faced about. Then he saw that she carried a tray of food.
"Are we to have our house occupied and to be spied upon also?" she asked.
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