Had her husband known this, she said, he would not have left home, and begged that she might be allowed to send an open letter through the lines to him to bring him back.

I allowed her to do so at the first proper opportunity, and Mr.Parks at once returned.

In the latter part of September, however, Governor Peirpoint of West Virginia thought it necessary to arrest some prominent citizens, known as Secessionists, and hold them as hostages for Union men that the Confederate troops had seized and sent to Richmond.

It happened that Mr.Parks was arrested as one of these hostages, without any knowledge on the part of the civil authorities of the circumstances under which he had returned home.

I was ignorant of his arrest till I received a letter from the lady, complaining bitterly of what seemed to her a breach of faith.