Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-03-21


In the course Of the evening Lieut.. Fal-
lon approached Gay. and said:
sMiss Heber, must say to you that you
are startlingly like former friend OF mine.
1t seems almost as if she stood before me as
/ first knew her. 1t is a strange, a start
ling coincidence. | could almost think
but no. Impossible! You are the sister OF
Mr.. Heber, are you not?"
Gays pure face flushed.
"Yes," she answered, with some hesita-
ton.
The disguised Blue Jack turned yet
whittier. He had marked that hesitation,
and his wonder at it thrilled him with a
sudden fear.
"You do not look like your brother, Miss
Heber?" he remarked.
81 have been told so before" said Gay
dryly.
"And you are his own sister," per sisted
Blue Jack, with agitation.
81 do not know your motive for making
such inquiries, Lieutenant" said Gay, after
a moments thought. II do not therefore
know how to reply 20 you. / should like
to know the name of your friend whom
resemble, but for an answer to your inqui-
ries must refer you to my brother"
Gay Heber seized the first opportunity
TO inform her adopted brother of the par
ticulars of her singular interview with the
false Lieut.. Fallon.
81 told him to speak to you, Mark" she
said, 'sbut my heart has been on fire ever
since. What if he should have known my
mother"
"He looked like death when he first saw
your face. Cav" said Mark, thOughtfully.
at was as if he had seen ghost"
Gay started and exclaimed:
"From the moment l beheld the man
shrank from him. l had an instructive fear
and adherence of him. Oh, Mark, dear
Mark, don't let him know any mere about
me than he knows now"
III will not, GAY" said Mark soothingly.
aft he is your father, he shall not know
that you are his daughter"
The promise comforted Gay, who smiled
family through the gloom that had fallen
upon her.
AS some young people came toward the
HeSers, Mark arose abruptly, and went to
look after his oxen.
Gay was about to join Mark, when the
false Lieutenant Fallon approached him,
offering him cigar.
Cline evening, Mr.. Heber," said the dis
guised Blue Jack cautiously. "What
You don't smoke ? Smoking is a vice. l
wish l could break myself of it. Your
sister is a lovely child, or girl, I should
say. She must be fifteen years old. Is she
not?"
s'She is but child yet, lieutenant-only
fourteen-she is more womanly than many
girls of eighteen"
"Only fourteen said the pretended lieu
tenant musingly. 81 had fancy that
she was fifteen. 1 knew a child once-per-
haps she is dead nOW-but ifshe were living
she would be fifteen years of age, and the
very picture of your sister. And, oddly
enough, that child's name was the same as
your sister's-Gabriellen
Mark depressed start, and turned away
| his paling face from the keen scrutiny of
the scheming william.
"The child l alluded to-" continued the
false lieutenant, "had black hair and brown
eyes; rather a singular combination; but
her mother, poor creature, had had the same
features, and had been great beauty in
her day. She was New York belle, Ia
belle Gabrielle! But she went insane, and
wandered away with her child and was
never heard of more.
aft you had seen the New York dailies
| of thirteen years ago." resumed the false
! lieutenant, "you could not have failed to
notice a striking advertisement offering g
| thsusand dollars reward for information OF
the whereabouts of an insane woman and
her child. The reward was afterward in
creased to five thousand dollars. Did you
ever hear of the advertisement, Mr.. He
! ber.'
"Never," said Mark. "How should
have seen it?"
'sAh, yes; true. You were but boy a
the time. Yet ifyOu lived near New York
you might have heard of the disappear
ance."
81 did not live near New York"
"Why, the conductor told me you came
| from York State" said the false lieutenant
$50 did" responded Mark.
''May ask from what part?" inquired thu
william.
"Certainly," said Mark. 81 come from
the western part of the State. May l asl
the name of the lady whose disappearance
called forth the advertisement of which you
speak?'
"Her given name was Gabrielle" said tn
! pretended officer eYasively. "lf could
get a trace of that insane woman and hel
child, would give thousand dollars out o
my own pocket. Think what start in lif
that sum would give a young man likt
you"
Mark shrank back, as from the touch o
an embodied pestience.
81 can give you no assistance in you
search, Lieut.. Fallon," he said coldly.
''Permit me TO ask if Miss Heber is you
own sister, born Of the same parents a
yourself?" demanded the pretended office
abruptly.
81 do not tolerate any intrusion into IN
private family affairs, Lieut.. FallOn," sal
Mark haughtily. "My sister has alread
been ANNOYED by your questions in regart
to her history, aud I must request you t.
leave us alone"
81 beg your pardon, Mr.. Heber," said th
villain, adding maliciously, 81 see this is
sore subject with you. You have not sal
that Miss Heber is your own sister. pre-
sumo you cannot say so truthfully."
eve will not discuss the matter, si
Cav Heber is my sister, and while | liy
she shall not lack for protector"
"Ah, yes" said the pretended office
using his favoIite phrase Of assent
aBrothers are not usually so devoted
SISTERS as you SG6lu 10 USs MI 11ODCI'
That evening Gay, whose curiosity ha
been stimulated by what had taken place
to find out something more about he
parentage, was examining some jewe
, which had been left by her mother, an
some trinkets which she had possesse
when child. She had taken them from
little box in the bottom of her trunk, an
, thought herself perfectly secure under tn
cover of the wagon, when she suddenly d.
tected the false Lieut.. Fallen peering g
/ her through hole which he had cut in til
canvass. All this she reported to Mark.
, On the following day Mark had violeI
] alteration with the pretended Lieutenan
No one had eyes or ears for anything BIT
: this exciting scene, and it thus happene
: that small body of horsemen in the I'm
| form of the United States had come VI
, and had dashed into the very camp befoI
their approach was noticed.
A loud bugle call from the head of th
troops was the first token the emigrants II
ceived of the new arrival.
| In a moment the combatants wei
loosed, and all eyes turned to the new
, corners.
! 7 so,,A FoI1o-, loolyaA