The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-06-05
DISAPPEARED.
CONTINUED.

traces of my pure wifely and motherly
duty: vet to have the father of these chill
dren call it in question! | cannot tell
you how it stung me: or how my life
Grew black and withered as by a frost.
He did not charge me with inideiity;
he did not dare that; but he told me to
look into my own heart and see if it held
no secret from him-to recall the day L
have told You of, when our first discus
sion of Captain Bartlett took place. and
another. soon after that, which had pass
ed without notice at the time, but some
conversation with Our old acquaintance,
Miss Craige-nOw fi%ourishing as Il bride
in Washington-had recalled.
had my secret. PeriiapsI was wrong:
bat never have felt that | was, III con-
ccaling, or rather forbearing to mention.
what had passed that day. We were on
an exploring expedition for Miss Craige's
amusement, waited on by Captain Bart
lett and my husband. She had never
seen a bomb proof" as we Familiarity
called the cavern of solid masonry under
the ramparts, green with age and Il COLI
slant dripping moisture, lighted in a dim,
ghostly way by the %narrowest Sits that
we've capable of admitting light and air.
never could bear TO 90 in to it, though
it was the chief point OF interest to all
visitors; for my vivid imagination pco-
pied it with a frightened crowdo of women
and children; and | thought of my own,
with fever, pining for light and warmth
and food. perhaps; The picture flied up
by the wounded, with their stitied groans
-,,I cyrnNti.a t.1,s. d, nd ny-aY fl,n
dull boom of shot or the crashing splin-
tering of shell; to recall the gnawing
anxiety forgotten for the moment, the
lives dearer than our own that were per-
lied for our sake. For this was the shell
ter provided i'll case of seige; and though
the blessing of peace has so long lowered
oyer us, who could tell, who can tell,
when for our national sins. of greed and
pride and God-forgetfnlness, the horrors
Of war may sweep over us again!
Some of the passages leading to this
chamber We're quite dark, dark as the
crave. which their sitting blackncss
could alone be compared to. Miss Craige
shriekcd with real or pretended terror,
and urged us to hurryon. Frederick was
our pilot, and being familiar with tho
way. | begged him TO lead her as quickly
as possible to the light. He took her
hand to guide her, and they hurried OF
before. It was then that Captain Bart
lett dared to follow their example. Nay
more, he tried to pass his arm around my
waist and draw me to him, saying |
know not what-my anger deaiened me.
Do YOU know how repulsed HIM As
any man would have resented insult |
struck him i'll the face; a blow that sent
him back from ne staggering blindly:
aud before he had recovered ! was in the
light aud protected by my husbands
presence
knew then how falsely he had con-
strucd my flushed face. and my silence
ut Miss Craige's bantcriug. Well, he was
Il man, and therefore vain, and without
the gift of discerning purity in others,
his own soul being sullied. Some day,
when the world is come of age, men may
b. educated to know that the laws of
virtue and purity were given without
reference to sex, aud the requisition at
the sole tribunal in which Just judg-
ments are rendered will he made thus.
If we had been alone, outraged feeling
would have found instant relief without
a thought of consequence But Miss
Craige demanded attention with her pref
~ protests and feminine t%errors; aud
Captain Bartlett responded to them with
a ready and utter GOODNESS
that disconnected me and made me won
der whether | had not dreamed it all
As followed after them, ! said, Shall |
tell my husband, who Will never believe
how innocent l am of any encourage
ment to thisIhad man-who will inevita-
bly, challenge him, and bring the sin of
murder upon Il of them, and public
scandal upon MYSELF" | thought Of my
children, with their unsullied livcS-of
Frederick, wounded, dying, buried out
Of my sight; and / locked away the secret,
which was not a guilty one, to save my
own good name, but, above all, the
crime of bloodshed, which would inevi-
tably have followed the revelation
There is the point-was | wrong III hav
ing the secret? No, | asked unerring
wisdom to direct me, little rs l knew of
Gods Willingness to hear us. Hot, i'm
p~ulsivc, jealous as my husbands nature
then was-amenableto the laws of honor
before the law of GOd-l did we'll.
met Captain Bartlett twice after that
Us quietly rs if it had been Col. Craige.
or good-hearted young Vaudeville. who
was still home-sick Tor his mother. not
withstanding a West Point separation
He had the ~effromtery to offer me his
hand, when he called to take leave; hut
did not see it, and he knew why. Fred
erick often wondered ut his exchange.
which took place before his leave expir-
ed; but | gave no sign that l compre-
hended it.
Frederick was not arich man. In fact
he had nothing but his pay, and knew
it when he asked me to marry him. A
pittan.s, as one may see, to those who
haveknown-evcry indulgence from child
hood. Ny school bills at Madame Che
gary's amounted to nearly as much, year
after year; for you know she always de-
sired her young ladies to make a good
appearance, and cur figures Were never
submitted to any but a French dress
maker. I.FEf
The same week that Frede. ick asked
mo TO marry him the son of my fathers
old friend, the best known banker in the
southwest, placed a princely fortune be-
fore me, to outweigh the attentionso of the
poor Lieutenant. How often Frederick