The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-09-03
YUSEF AND ZARA.

IS whether he hadn't better swear hel
4 again that they might again fall into
is each others arms, when he was aroused
1t from his dreams by touch upon the
s shoulder. He turned fercely on the
n intruder, and Immediately turned back
n not so iercely. It was an officer, q
d shouider-strapp hireling in military
d clothes, who held paper in his hands.
g "Art Yusef Thaher ?" said the op.
S pressor.
= 81 am," proudly said the youth; at
n which Zara, who had come to the con-
clusion that she had been fainting long
e enough, awoke with sigh.
= 81 have been searching for you, my
}, buck, high and low" said he. You're
n drafted, and must go where glory waits
Q you! !"
e "Wretch ~ retorted Yusef, "tLou
t lest The quota OF our ward was made
D up week ago"
s :" Ha Ha p sneered the hireling.
l "not so fast. In truth, you thought so,
= men, and the caliph revised the figures
for dozen of the wards, this among
} the others. The draft was drawn this
morning, and you were hit.
"Why this haste?" said lusef.
I I "Canst not wait till thou hast the
evening paper? Perchance he will fig
ure again and let us out"
/" 1t won't do" said the officer "we
can't wait. We must have men. Comep p
"But l am physically unfit. /
am"
81 know what you are going to say.
You are ruptured, have a cough, have
varicose veins, and are near sighted.
etc. 1t won't do. We have reduced
the causes of exemption to barely one."
"And that is"
"Death before draft"
els there no escape?'
s'Nary. There isn't time to get sub
stjtutes, and if there was-"
81 haven't got the stamps, you would
say, but delicacy prevents you. True,
too true -
"Here p shrieked Zara, tearing the
massive jewelry from her ears and fin
gers, and arms and bosom "take these
glittering gauds, and give me back my
Yusef T.
The officer looked at them, and re-
turned them with a perceptible sneer
on his finely chisled features with the
significant remark, "Dollar store !"
All hope was gone
cat least, said z IRA, "let's do the
regular thing"
"Yusef r'
"Zara !"
And they fell into each others arms,
mutually assuring each other that,
| through veal and woe, they would be
true to each other forever and forever.
In the course of four minutes Yusef
| Thaher was on his way to join his reg
iment, leaving Zara fainting on the
sward.
Did she remain true to him? We
shall see.
One year elapsed. A gallant soldier
was standing at the door of an humble
cottage. Twas Yusef. He had returned
unscathed by a bullet, bayonet, or
shell. He had been ia the commissary
department, and had snUffed the battle
afar off.
"Mother !" hissed he, "tell me,
| Zara-"
Zara was married precisely eleven
months ago, my son, to one of the
first gentlemen of Cairo, who made a
big thing out of an army contract"
married |" hissed he, through his
clenched teeth, and shifting himself
twice on the forehead. married !"
Certainly, my son." replied the
mother, wringing out a shirt, calmly,
"about month after you were
drafted"
"Tell me, did her paternal parent on
her fathers side compel her thus to
sacrifice her youth and her beauty, thus
to break her plighted troth, thus to go
back on herself and me?"
"No."
"Did not her father speculate in
pork, and get caught on falling mar
L = l. a. 70
test, and did not this rich villain offer
her the dread alternative of her fathers
ruin or her hand ?"
"Nary. She laid for him until she
gobbled him."
"Did she never speak of me? Has
she grown pale and wan, and so on ?"
"Not wan. She's as fresh as a
peach and the gayest of the gay. The
bulbul sings not more sweetly. nor the
nightingale more frequently" replied
the old lady, putting more soap on a
dirty wristband. "She faunts at the
opera, while wash shirts at fifty cents
a dozen, Bismullah Such is life"
"Destruction y muttered Yusef. "I
will meet her. / will confront her, and
taunt her with her faithlessness, and
then -" And uttering a despairiDg
shrek, he flung himself from the
house.
"There was sound of revelry by
night p
There was a ball in progress at the
Spread Eagle hotel, at which were the
elite and bon ton of Cairo. That none
but the elitest of society should be
there, the managers had put the tickets
at twenty shillings.
Zara was there, in the highest spir-
its. Her baby had been dosed with !
soothing syrup to keep it sleeping !
and relieved of care on its account, she (
was rushing things. She had just fin {
ished a waltz, and was waiting, painting. I
while her cavalier was bringing her a
goblet of water, when a manly form ap-
preached. He was clad in blue, but
his features were hid by a slouched hat {
drawn low down, and an immense mill {
tary overcoat, which he kept over bis !
face, as Claude Melnotte does in Sir
Edward Bulwer Lytton's Justly cele-
brated play of the "Lady OF Lyons"
"Zara !" higsed this singular figure.
"Who calls me by that name ?" said
she, drawing herself up to her full
height.
"Zara, dost remember the garden
the orange grove in which the bulbul
sang and the fountain squlr6edE
"Ah, sir, whosoever you are, my papa
has such a garden, but the fountain
squirts no more; ; the hydraulic ram is
busted -
"Like my hope!" Kissed Yusef, in
fierce whisper, that hydraulic ram
the patentee warranted to endure, like
your love, forever and forever. Dost
remember me ?" said he, seizing her by
the arm and throwing of the cloak and
striking an attitude.
" You Pardon me. 1t strikes me as
though, some time, had seen your face
somewhese; where, / cannot recollect.
Your name, sir ?"
She was as cool as a condensed cucum-
Der. Not an emotion was visible on
her countenance.
Yusef had supposed that coming at
her in his melOdramatic shape would
wiring her bosom but it didn't wiring. !
The poor wretch looked with puzzled |
L. FL i