The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1875-04-15

strange place to meet you, and this n
strange place for you to fipd me in. |
was in town the whole of the horrible
day. The German soldiers We're very
kind to us, but the town was so horri-
BILE that came out and crept into n
house at Fomme de Givonne. | have
come across the field where the 18th
de Ia Ligny perished, because wanted
to see if l could recognize the body of
one of my cousins"
Your news is good" said George.
" You looked coolly for the body Of
your lover"
81 do not understand YOU" she said.
"You are as rude to me as | used to be
to you; but in this ruin we must forget
all. My nerve is good, because after
the breach between myself and Aime
Herbert, who grossly deceived you,
have entered nursing sisterhood, and
have taken my first VOWS, and | shall
take the veil in three months. NV
father sent Mr.. Deleval after me but |
think among those kindly Germans I
could have done without his assist
ance."
"Mr. Dclaval said he was your
brother !"
"Mr. Delaval my brother !" said She
Mr. Delaval is Pole; I believe
known to most police courts in Europe
He is splendid spy, and my father
employed him, but could get him no
papers he is too well known. Are you
married yet?"
"No, not yet"
cit is delicious to meet you here,
after all. Look around at these poor
innocent young men, lying SO quiet; in
the presence of death one seems to be |
almost with God. We loved each other
once, now your heart has gone to an
other human being, and mine is given
to heaven"
They stood looking at one another
Their interview had been short, but
they had found out something in it
they had found that they cared for one
another. Still the man had cast away
his heart on the altar of avarice, and
the woman, as women will, had dedi.
Gated hers to religion.
A loudnoise of talking disturbed them
They retired unto themselves. The
Bengal officer came up and said zone
of those denominations Of percussion
shells is lying here unexploded. Come
up, Dickson, and look at it,"
She took his arm and went with him.
One gentle pressure told him the truth.
She loved him still.
Delaval had the she'll in his hand. AS
they advanced he was discoursing about
it, and holding it aloft. "The percus-
sion fuse in this one has gone wrong"
he said. "See, | will throw it down
among us, and you shall SEQ that it will
not explode"
Before any one could stop the mad
man be had done it. There was great
blue flame, and a sound totally different
from the report of cannon. A shat
tering, broken noise, then smoke and
an instant's silence. Delaval was pros
trlte and horribly injured about the
head, and George Dickson had his left
arm torn away aud was crying out for
water.
There was burying party near,
| across the road, composed mainly OF
the citizens of the town, who seemed
to prefer this dreadful occupation to |
Watching the ruins of their own homes
They came and helped the two wound
ed men but London doctor who was
there said there was no help for either
of them.
They carried them to Givonne, and
laid them in a barn, in the straw, side
by side. The English doctor attended
to George, and he tried to sleep but |
the man on the left of him was rest
less, and in trying to soothe him he
found that it was Delaval, groaning
heavily.
"Why, are you hurt, too, said
George, ~ am very sorry for that.
What fool you were to play with
that she'll"
"I did it on purpose" said Delaval.
81 saw that she cared for you still, [
wished to destroy you. Are you badly
hurt ?"
81 am miserable cripple for life,"
said George. "But God knows | for
give you. Why did you do it?"
| tell you that saw she cared for
you. love her and she hates me. |
wanted to kill you and her too. Is she
dead ?"
"No, she was not injured" said
George.
81 wish she was. But now that you
are utterly ruined it does not so much
matter. One comfort is, that she will
never look at you now"
Delaval died that night, but George |
was delirious, and did not know it.
His head was confused for long time,
and he came to himself very slowly. |
The first person he knew was his faith
er he fanced he must be in London,
because mis- father never went out OF
London on any pretexS whatever, and
he would never take the trouble to
come ten miles to see him, though he
might spend a hundred pounds IN
sending him a doctor, and scold him
violently for the expense afterward,
When he saw his father at his bedside,
he concluded that he must be in Lon
don.
But only at first the walls were not
London walls, so bright and SO clean,
and those leaves tapping at the windows
were vine leaves, which certainly grow
in London, but in a most dingy state.
The first information that his father
gave him was that he was still at
Givonne, and that Paris was besieged.
There was an intense tenderness III
his fathers manner, which he had never
noticed before. He made guess at
the reason OF this when his mind fully
returned to him. He knew that he had
lost his left arm. "And my father,
he argued, "thinks that have forgot
ten it in my delirium, and hesitates to
tell me Of it,"
The next time that the immovable old
face came near him, he threw his re-
naming arm around the old man's neck,
and said: eff had two arms, father,
would put them both round your neck.
Forgive your poor cripple for any sor-