He exhibited still a marked reserve on the subject
of his past life: but I thought I could see that the ice was melting.
Day by day he grew gayer--gradually his cynicism seemed leaving him.
Who was this singular man, and what was his past history? I often asked
myself these questions--he persisted in giving me no clue to the
secret--but I felt a presentiment that some day I should "pluck out the
heart of his mystery."
So much, in passing, for my relations with Mohun. We had begun to be
friends, and the chance of war was going to throw us together often. I
had caught one or two glimpses of a past full of "strange matters"--in
the hours that were coming I was to have every mystery revealed.
Meanwhile Lee was resting, but preparing for another blow. His army was
in the highest spirits. The camps buzzed, and laughed, and were full of
mirth. Gettysburg was forgotten, or if remembered, it only served to
inflame the troops, and inspire them with a passionate desire to "try
again." In the blaze of a new victory, the old defeat would disappear.
Such was the condition of things in the army of Northern Virginia in
the first days of October, 1863.
III.
THE OPENING OF THE HUNT.
It soon became obvious that Lee had resolved to strike a blow at his
adversary.
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