The Mistress of the House
95
will be my pleasure thus to serve a Federal officer. You have a lamp without?"
"On the stairs?"
She led the way like a mistress in her own home, and I followed. There was a force of character about the girl not to be ignored. She chose to treat me as a guest, uninvited, but none the less welcome, a position I was not reluctant to accept. I held the lamp as we went down the stairs together, the rays of light pressing aside the curtain of darkness.
