Chapter I: Preface

"The tragic interlude" in this little war-time comedy of the affections really happened as I have described it. The men who went to their death beside the _Housatonic_ in Charleston harbor were Lieutenant George F. Dixon of the Twenty-first Alabama Infantry, in command; Captain J. F. Carlson of Wagoner's Battery; and Seamen Becker, Simpkins, Wicks, Collins, and Ridgway of the Confederate Navy, all volunteers. These names should be written in letters of gold on the roll of heroes. No more gallant exploit was ever performed. The qualities and characteristics of that death trap, the _David_, were well known to everybody. The history of former attempts to work her is accurately set down in the text of the story. Dixon and his men should be remembered with Decatur, Cushing, Nields, and Hobson.

The torpedo boat was found after the war lying on the bottom of the harbor, about one hundred feet from the wreck of the _Housatonic_, with her bow pointing toward the sloop of war and with every man of her crew dead at his post,--just as they all expected.

I shall be happy if this novel serves to call renewed attention to this splendid exhibition of American heroism. Had they not fought for a cause which was lost they would still be remembered, as, in any event, they ought to be.

For the rest, here is a love story in which the beautiful Southern girl does not espouse the brave Union soldier, or the beautiful Northern girl the brave Southern soldier. They were all Southern, all true to the South, and they all stayed so except Admiral Vernon, and he does not count.

CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY.

BROOKLYN, N.Y., February, 1904.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Hero _versus_ Gentleman 15

II. She Hates them Both 33

III. A Strife in Magnanimity 51

IV. Opportunities Embraced 65

V. What happened in the Strong Room 81

VI. An Engine of Destruction 103

VII. The Hour and the Man 115

VIII. Death out of the Deep 125

IX. Miserable Pair and Miserable Night 141

X. A Stubborn Proposition 157

XI. The Confession that Cleared 171

XII. The Culprit is Arrested 185

XIII. Companions in Misery 199

XIV. The Woman Explains 223

XV. The General's Little Comedy 241

ILLUSTRATIONS

"Miss Fanny Glen detested a masterful man" _Frontispiece_

PAGE

"'Ah, Sempland, have you told your little tale?'" 43

"The door was suddenly flung open" 95

"Poor little Fanny Glen ... she had lost on every hand" 153

"'You were a traitor to the South!' said General Beauregard, coldly" 191

"'Would they shoot me?' she inquired" 219

A Little Traitor to the South