Before Socola could purchase his ticket for the South, Senator Barton laid his heavy hand on his shoulder.

"I just ran down, sir, to ask you to wait and go in Senator Davis\' party. He has been threatened with arrest by the cowards who are at the present moment in charge of the Government. He can\'t afford to leave town while there\'s a chance that so fortunate an event may be pulled off. I have decided to stay until Lincoln\'s inauguration. My wife and daughter will make you welcome at Fairview. And you\'ll meet my three boys. I\'m sorry I can\'t be with you."

Socola\'s masked face showed no trace of disappointment. He merely asked politely:

"And the party of Senator Davis will start?"

"A week from to-day, sir—and my wife and daughter will accompany them—unless—of course—"

He laughed heartily.

"Unless the great Attorney General, Edwin M. Stanton, decides to arrest him—if he\'ll only do it!"

Socola nodded carelessly.

"I understand, Senator. A week from to-day. The same hour—the same train."

In a moment he had disappeared in the crowd and hurried to the office of the Secretary of War.

Holt received his announcement with a smile about the corners of his strong, crooked mouth.

"That\'s lucky. I\'d rather you were with Davis ten to one. Amuse yourself for the week by getting all the information possible of their junta here—"

"Barton will stay until the inauguration—"

"Of course—a spy in the camp of the enemy. He could be arrested, but it\'s not wise under the circumstances—"

"You will not arrest Senator Davis?"

"Nonsense. Stanton\'s a fool. Nothing would please them better. I\'ve convinced him of that. A wrangle in the courts now over such an issue would postpone its settlement indefinitely. The Supreme Court of the United States has sustained the South on every issue that has been raised. The North is leading a revolution. The South is entrenched behind the law. They can\'t be ousted by law. It can only be done by the bayonet—"

Holt paused and looked thoughtfully across the Potomac.

"Report to me daily—"

Socola silently saluted and left the office with his first feeling of suspicion and repulsion for his Chief. He didn\'t like the blunt, brutal way this Southern Democrat talked. He couldn\'t believe in his honesty. Beneath those bushy eyebrows burned a wolf\'s hunger for office and power. On the surface he was loyal to the union. He wondered if he were not in reality playing a desperate waiting game, ready at the moment of the crisis to throw his information to either side? The air of Washington reeked with suspicion and double dealing.

"Oh, my Country," he murmured bitterly, "if ever true men were needed!"

He strolled through the street on which Senator Davis and Barton lived directly opposite each other. He would call on Jennie and express his regret that their party had been postponed. At the door he changed his mind. Too much attention at this stage of the game would not be wise. He passed on, glancing at the distinguished-looking group of men who were emerging from the Davis door.

He wondered what was going on in that home? It seemed impossible that Davis should be the leader of a Southern rebellion. Clay or Toombs, yes—but this man with his blood-marked history of devotion to the union—this man with his proud record of constructive statesmanship as Senator and Secretary of War—it seemed preposterous!

Could he have heard the counsel Davis was giving at that moment to the excited men who made his unpretentious house their Mecca, he would have been still more astonished. For six days and nights with but a few hours snatched for sleep, he implored the excited lead............