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Before the Dawn

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. A Woman in Brown 3

II. A Man's Mother 16

III. The Mosaic Club 25

IV. The Secretary Moves 40

V. An Elusive Face 52

VI. The Pursuit of a Woman 71

VII. The Cottage in the Side Street 83

VIII. The Pall of Winter 97

IX. Robert and Lucia 117

X. Feeding the Hungry 131

XI. Mr. Sefton Makes a Confidence 137

XII. A Flight by Two 150

XIII. Lucia's Farewell 162

XIV. Prescott's Ordeal 170

XV. The Great Rivals 181

XVI. The Great Revival 193

XVII. The Wilderness 204

XVIII. Day in the Wilderness 206

XIX. Night in the Wilderness 223

XX. The Secretary Looks On 236

XXI. A Delicate Situation 248

XXII. The Lone Sentinel 264

XXIII. Out of the Forest 269

XXIV. The Despatch Bearer 280

XXV. The Mountain General 292

XXVI. Calypso 300

XXVII. The Secretary and the Lady 323

XXVIII. The Way Out 334

XXIX. The Fall of Richmond 346

XXX. The Telegraph Station 360

XXXI. The Coin of Gold 370

BEFORE THE DAWN

CHAPTER I

A WOMAN IN BROWN

A tall, well-favoured youth, coming from the farther South, boarded the
train for Richmond one raw, gusty morning. He carried his left arm
stiffly, his face was thin and brown, and his dingy uniform had holes in
it, some made by bullets; but his air and manner were happy, as if,
escaped from danger and hardships, he rode on his way to pleasure and
ease.

He sat for a time gazing out of the window at the gray, wintry landscape
that fled past, and then, having a youthful zest for new things, looked
at those who traveled with him in the car. The company seemed to him, on
the whole, to lack novelty and interest, being composed of farmers going
to the capital of the Confederacy to sell food; wounded soldiers like
himself, bound for the same place in search of cure; and one woman who
sat in a corner alone, neither speaking nor spoken to, her whole aspect
repelling any rash advance.

Prescott always had a keen eye for woman and beauty, and owing to his
long absence in armies, where both these desirable objects were scarce,
his vision had become acute; but he judged that this lone type of her
sex had no special charm. Tall she certainly was, and her figure might
be good, but no one with a fair face and taste would dress as plainly as
she, nor wrap herself so completely in a long, brown cloak that he could
not even tell the colour of her eyes. Beautiful women, as he knew them,
always had a touch of coquetry, and never hid their charms wholly.

Prescott's attention wandered again to the landscape rushing past, but
finding little of splendour or beauty, it came back, by and by, to the
lone woman. He wondered why she was going to Richmond and what was her
name. She, too, was now staring out of the window, and the long cloak
hiding her seemed so shapeless that he concluded her figure must be bad.
His interest declined at once, but rose again with her silence and
evident desire to be left alone.

As they were approaching Richmond a sudden jar of the train threw a
small package from her lap to the floor. Prescott sprang forward, picked
it up and handed it to her. She received it with a curt "Thanks," and
the noise of the train was so great that Prescott could tell nothing
about the quality of her voice. It might or might not be musical, but in
any event she was not polite and showed no gratitude. If he had thought
to use the incident as an opening for conversation, he dismissed the
idea, as she turned her face back to the window at once and resumed her
study of the gray fields.

"Probably old and plain," was Prescott's thought, and then he forgot her
in the approach to Richmond, the town where much of his youth had been
spent. The absence of his mother from the capital was the only regret in
this happy homecoming, but he had received a letter from her assuring
him of her arrival in the city in a day or two.

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Before the Dawn