He passed the lines of the Union army
unchallenged and spent his first night in Washington in Joe Hall's
famous gambling saloon on Pennsylvania Avenue. He arrived too late to
make any attempt to see Betty. He stood for half an hour on the corner
of the street, gazing with wistful eyes at the light in her window. He
dared not call and involve her in the possibility of suspicion. He must
wait with caution until she left the house and he could speak to her
without being recognized. If he failed to get this chance he would write
her as a last resort.
In Hall's place he found scores of Congressmen and men from every
department of the Government service. Old Thaddeus Stevens, the leader
of the war party in the House, was playing for heavy stakes, his sullen
hard face set with grim determination.
He watched a young clerk from the War Department stake his last dollar,
lose, and stagger from the table with a haunted, desperate look. Ned
followed him into two saloons and saw the bartenders refuse him credit.
He walked through the door of the last saloon, his legs trembling and
his white lips twitching, stopped and leaned against the wall of the
little bookstore on the corner, the flickering street lamp showing dimly
his ghastly face and eyes.
Ned glanced uneasily behind him to see that he had not been followed.
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