Mohun; Or, the Last Days of Lee and His Paladins Part 81

Throwing his bridle over a bough near the low fence, Mohun approached the door on foot, I following, and when close to the door, he gave a low knock.

"Come in!" said a cheerful and smiling voice.

And Mohun opened the door, through which we pa.s.sed into a small and very neat apartment containing a table, some chairs, a wide fireplace, in which some sticks were burning, a number of cheap engravings of religious scenes, framed and hanging on the wall, and a low bed, upon which lay a woman fully dressed.

She was apparently about thirty-five, and her appearance was exceedingly curious. Her figure was slender and of medium height; her complexion that of a Moorish or oriental woman, rather than that of the quadroon, which she appeared to be; her hair black, waving, and abundant; her eyes as dark and sparkling as burnished ebony; and her teeth of dazzling whiteness. Her dress was neat, and of bright colors.

Around her neck she wore a very odd necklace, which seemed made of carved bone; and her slender fingers were decorated with a number of rings.[1]

[Footnote 1: "I have endeavored to give an exact description of this singular woman." Colonel Surry said to me when he read this pa.s.sage to me: "She will probably be remembered by numbers of persons in both the Federal and Confederate armies. These will tell you that I describe her accurately, using her real name, and will recall the strange prediction which she made, and which I repeat. Was she an epileptic? I do not know. I have certainly never encountered a more curious character!"--EDITOR.]

Such was the personage who greeted us, in a voice of great calmness and sweetness, as we entered. She did not rise from the bed upon which she was lying; but her cordial smile clearly indicated that this did not arise from discourtesy.

"Take seats, gentlemen," she said, "and please excuse me from getting up. I am a little poorly to-day."

"Stay where you are, Amanda," said Mohun, "and do not disturb yourself."

She looked at him with her dark eyes, and said, in her gentle, friendly voice:--

"You know me, I see, General Mohun."

"And you me, I see, Amanda."

"I never saw you before, sir, but--am I mistaken?"

"Not in the least. How did you know me?"

The singular Amanda smiled.

"I have _seen you_ often, sir."

"Ah--in your visions?"

"Yes, sir."

"Or, perhaps, Nighthawk described me. You know Mr. Nighthawk!"

"Oh, yes, sir. I hope he is well. He has often been here; he may have told me what you were like, sir, and then I _saw you_ to know you afterward."

I looked at the speaker attentively. Was she an impostor? It was impossible to think so. There was absolutely no evidence whatever that she was acting a part--rather every thing to forbid the supposition, as she thus readily acquiesced in Mohun's simple explanation.

For some moments Mohun remained silent. Then he said:--

"Those visions which you have are very strange. Is it possible that you really _see_ things before they come to pa.s.s--or are you only amusing yourself, and others, by saying so? I see no especial harm in the matter, if you are jesting; but tell me, for my own satisfaction and that of my friend, if you _really_ see things."

Amanda smiled with untroubled sweetness.

"I am in earnest, sir," she said, "and I would not jest with you and Colonel Surry."

I listened in astonishment.

"Ah! you know me, too, Amanda!"

"Yes, sir--or I think I do. I think you are Colonel Surry, sir."

"How do you know that?"

"I have _seen you, too_, sir?" was the smiling reply.

I sat down, leaned my head upon my hand, and gazed at this incomprehensible being. Was she really a witch? I do not believe in witches, and at once rejected that theory. If not an impostor, then, only one other theory remained--that Nighthawk had described my person to her, in the same manner that he had Mohun's, and the woman might thus believe that she had seen me, as well as my companion, in her "visions."

To her last words, however, I made no reply, and Mohun renewed the colloquy, as before.

"Then you are really in earnest, Amanda, and actually see, in vision, what is coming to pa.s.s?" he said.

"I think I do, sir."

"Do you have the visions often?"

"I did once, sir, but they now seldomer come."

"What produces them?"

"I think it is any excitement, sir. They tell me that I lay on my bed moaning, and moving my arms about,--and when I wake, after these attacks, I remember seeing the visions."

"I hear that you predicted General Hunter's attack on Lexington last June."

"Yes, sir, I told a lady what _I saw_, some months before it came to pa.s.s."

"What did you see? Will you repeat it for us?"

"Oh, yes, sir. I remember all, and will tell you about it, as it seems to interest you. I saw a town, on the other side of the mountain, which they afterward told me was called Lexington--but I did not know its name then--and a great army of men in blue dresses came marching in, shouting and cheering. The next thing I saw was a large building on fire, and through the windows I saw books burning, with some curious- looking things, of which I do not know the names."

"The Military Inst.i.tute, with the books and scientific apparatus," said Mohun, calmly.

"Was it, sir? I did not know."

"What did you see afterward, Amanda?"

"Another house burning, sir; the Federal people gave the ladies ten minutes to leave it, and then set it on fire."

Mohun glanced at me.

"That is strange," he said; "do you know the name of the family?"

"No, sir."

"It was Governor Letcher's. Well, what next?"

"Then they went in a great crowd, and broke open another building--a large house, sir--and took every thing. Among the things they took was a statue, which they did not break up, but carried away with them."