XXVIII
_WHEN A MAN TALKS TOO MUCH_
When Baillie had had his rest, he asked Agatha again to tell him of herplans. She explained that it was understood in the little town that hewas a French gentleman who had suffered a severe hemorrhage; that assoon as he should be sufficiently recovered, it was his purpose toreturn to his own country in charge of his French nurse; that sheplanned in that way to sail with him from New York for Liverpool, wherehe would be free, as soon as his health should return, to go to theBahamas and sail thence for Charleston, Wilmington, or some otherSouthern port, in one of the English blockade-runners that were nowmaking trips almost with the regularity of packets.
Baillie approved the plan, though he lamented the length of time itsexecution must consume.
"Agatha," he said,--for since that morning at Fairfax Court-house hehad addressed her only by her first name,--"I owe you my life, and Ishall owe you my liberty, too, as soon as this admirable plan of yourscan be carried out. I owe you, even now, such liberty as I have, for butfor you--"
"You mustn't forget Sam," she interrupted; "it was he and not I whorescued you from the prison hospital."
"O, my appreciation of Sam's devotion is limitless, and my gratitude tohim will last so long as I live. But it was you who brought him North;it was you who planned my rescue at terrible risk to yourself, and putSam in the way of accomplishing it. And the doctor tells me without anysort of qualification that but for your coming to me as a nurse when youdid, I should have died certainly and quickly. Don't interrupt me,please, I'm not going to embarrass you with an effort to thank you forwhat you have done. There is a generosity so great that expressions ofthanks in return for it are a mockery--almost an insult, just as anoffer to pay for it would be. I shall not speak of these thingsagain--not now at least, not until time and place and circumstanceshall be fit. I only want you to know that silence on my part does notsignify indifference."
Baillie made no reference to that occasion when an untimely declarationof his love had been wrung from him only to be met by a passionlessreminder that the time and place were inappropriate. He feltinstinctively that any reference to that utterance of his would be ineffect a new declaration of his love. In this spirit of chivalry,Baillie scrupulously guarded both his manner and his words at this time,lest his feelings should betray him into some expression that mightembarrass the woman whose care of him must continue for some time tocome. Feeling, on this occasion, that he had approached dangerously nearto some utterance which might subject his companion to embarrassment, heresolutely turned the conversation into less hazardous channels.
"Your plan is undoubtedly the best that could be made under thecircumstances," he said, "and as for the waste of time, we must simplyreconcile ourselves to that. After all, I cannot hope to be strongenough for several months to come, to resume command of my battery insuch campaigns as this great leader of ours will surely give us. For heis really and truly a great leader, Agatha. Only a great general couldhave wrought the marvels he has achieved. He would have proved himselfgreat if he had done nothing more than prevent McClellan's reinforcementby sending Jackson to the valley. That was a great thought. And the nextwas greater. Having compelled the Federals to divert their reinforcingarmy from its purpose, he brought Jackson to Richmond, and fell uponMcClellan with a fury that compelled his vastly superior army to abandonits campaign and retreat to the cover of its gunboats. There was asecond achievement of the kind that only great generals accomplish. Andeven that did not fulfil the measure of his greatness. With a trulyNapoleonic impulse, and by truly Napoleonic methods, he instantlyconverted his successful defence of Richmond into an offence which hasbeen equally successful, so far. By his prompt movement against Pope hehas compelled the complete abandonment of McClellan's campaign and thewithdrawal of his army from Virginia. By his crushing defeat of Pope, hehas cleared Virginia of its enemies, and changed the aspect of the war,from one of timorous defence on the part of the Confederates to one ofconfident aggression."
"What a pity it is," answered Agatha, "that some such man was not incommand when the first battle of Manassas was won!"
"Yes. Such a man, with such an opportunity, would have made a speedy endof the trouble. He would never have given McClellan a chance to organisesuch an army as that which has been besieging Richmond. However, that isnot what I was thinking of. I was going to say that a man capable ofdoing what Lee has done, will not rest content with that. He willcontinue in the aggressive way in which he has begun, and we shall hearpresently of other battles and other campaigns. Agatha, I simply _must_bear a part in all this. I am getting stronger every day now, and cansit up two hours at a time. Why can we not now carry out your plan? Whycan we not go at once to New York in our assumed personalities, and sailimmediately, so as to save all the time we can?"
"I have thought of that," the young woman answered, "but the doctorperemptorily forbids it for the present. He hopes you will be wellenough two or three weeks hence to make the effort, but to make it shortof that time, he says, would be almost certainly to spoil all bybringing on a relapse. You must be patient; we shall in that way makeour success a certainty, and the war will last long enough for you tohave your part in it, surely."
"Yes, unhappily for our country, it will last long enough."
The next morning brought news of a startling character. Lee was alreadybeginning to fulfil Baillie's prediction by an aggressive campaign.Having driven the enemy out of Virginia, he now undertook to transferthe scene of the fighting to the region north of the Potomac. He hadsent Jackson again to clear the valley, and was marching another corpsnorthward upon a parallel line east of the mountains, while holding theremainder of his small but potent army in readiness to form a junctionwith either of the detached corps when necessary. The movement clearlyforeshadowed a campaign in Maryland which, if it should provesuccessful, would place the Confederates in rear of Washington, andrender that capital untenable, if Lee should win a single decisivebattle north of the Potomac.
The alarm in Washington was such as almost to precipitate a panic. Forhad not Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia proved themselves far morethan a match for every general and every army that had tried conclusionswith them? Moreover, as they were advancing, full of the enthusiasm ofrecent victory, and free to pursue whatever routes they pleased, therewas nobody to meet them except one or the other of two generals alreadydiscredited by defeat at Lee's hands, and an army drawn from those thatthe Army of Northern Virginia had so recently overthrown in the field.
Pope was no longer thought of as a leader fit for the task of meetingLee. His campaign in Virginia had ended so disastrously, that men forgotall his former achievements, at Island Number Ten in the Mississippi,and elsewhere. He had already been removed from command and sent tofight Indians in the Northwest. There remained only McClellan, whom Leehad already outmanoeuvred and outfought, and both the government andthe army had lost confidence in him. But the emergency was great, andMcClellan, who had been removed, was again ordered to take command.
From the two armies that had been driven out of Virginia, a new one wasquickly organised, which greatly outnumbered Lee's force. But instead ofmoving quickly to the assault, as Grant, or Sherman, or Thomas wouldhave done under like circumstances, McClellan moved at a tortoise-likepace, giving his adversary ample time in which to unite his threecolumns, pass the Potomac unmolested, and push forward into Maryland.
All this was to come a little later, however. On the morning when Agatharead the newspapers to Baillie, all that was known was that Lee wasrapidly moving northward, with evident intent to invade Maryland andpush his columns into the rear of Washington.
"This is good news for us, Agatha," Baillie said, when the despatcheshad been read. "Unless Lee receives a check, the Army of NorthernVirginia will be swarming all about us here within three or four days.If that occurs, you and I and Sam will have no difficulty in going toVirginia by a much more direct route than the one we have been planningto follow. An ambulance ri
de with liberty for its objective will do meno harm, while you and Sam shall be provided with good horses. Stuartwill take care of that, even if he has to capture the horses from theenemy."
"We may safely trust him for so much of accommodation," answered thegirl. "But if you excite yourself as you are doing now, you'll be illagain, and spoil all. You must go back to bed at once and go to sleep.That is your shortest road to rescue, now, whether Lee comes this way oris beaten back. In either case you will need all of strength that youcan manage to accumulate."
The sick man obeyed, so far at least as going to bed was concerned. Buthe found it impossible to comply with his nurse's further injunction bygoing to sleep. His pulses were throbbing violently with the excitementof hope, and his nerves were tense almost to the verge of collapse. Whenthe doctor returned from his round of visits he found his patient in afever that, in one so weak, was dangerous. During the following nightBaillie grew worse, and by the next morning the physician was convincedthat he had lost most if not all of the ground that he had gained duringthree weeks of convalescence.
"Mademoiselle Roland," he said, "I must command you to forbid him totalk hereafter, even in French."
Baillie heard the remark, and came instantly to Agatha's defence.
"It was not her fault, Doctor," he said. "It was all my own."
"O, I know that," answered the physician. "She's the discreetest nurse Iever knew, while you are without question the most obstinate,cantankerous, and unruly patient a nurse was ever called upon to keep insubjection."
"Am I all that?" Baillie asked Agatha, when the doctor had left theroom; "all that he said?"
"No, certainly not. But you mustn't talk. Go to sleep."
"Thank you!" was all that he could say in the stupor which the physicianhad induced with a sleeping potion.