It was after night when I reached Martinsburg, and the only unoccupied room in the hotel where I stopped was the one belonging to a Federal quartermaster, that officer having been called away to Washington. The landlord, accordingly, put me in there, and I proceeded to make myself as much at home as possible in the quartermaster's quarters. As luck would have it, however, the officer returned during the night, and after I had retired, and finding the door bolted, he commenced a furious knocking.
A Disturbance.
I was asleep when he began to make this noise, and it caused me to wake with a start. I had no idea who it was, but thought some drunken fellow was making a disturbance. I therefore concluded not to take any notice, thinking that when he found he could not get in he would go away. The quartermaster, however, was angry at finding his room occupied, and being unable to obtain a response, finally said, "Open the door, inside there, or I will break it open!"
I thought that it was high time for me to speak now, and so said, in a half terrified tone of voice, " Who are you? What do you want?"
Finding that his apartment had a feminine occupant, he lowered his voice somewhat, and said, " Excuse me, madam," and walked to the office, where he gave the clerk some sharp words for permitting any one to take his room.
I heard him say, "I would like thundering well to know who she is;" but the clerk was unable to give him any satisfactory information, and the upshot of the whole matter was, that he was obliged to sleep in the parlor, the clerk apologizing for the inconvenience caused him, by saying that he did not know he was going to return so soon.
The next morning I overheard the quartermaster say to the old negro porter, "Uncle George, do you know who that woman is that they put into my room last night?"
"No, sah; I doesn't know, sah," replied the darkey.
"What train did she come on?"
"On the western train, I believe, sah."
"Was anybody with her?"
"Not as I knows of. I didn't see anybody with her, sah."
"Is she good looking?"
