Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-06-25

mo, Fanny" said her husband stopping
her; 81 may want something from the eel
laret Leave me your keys"
"You will kill yourself with hard work.
Let us both go. love"
mo, no" said the colonel. go yourself
YOU have a headache"
mo, Arthur she answered. IF you sit
up, will stay too"
ITS of no use Fanny"
ls "Stll, l will stay here"
IF am going to sit up, said the colonel,
II want my slippers"
Let me get them she cried eagerly.
''Sit down"
mo, I'll get them myself They are in
the closet, l know. Is it locked No, l see
it is not; the key is in the door"
He laid his hand upon the door handle of
my place of confinement, For half a mo-
ment he hestated to turn IT, | heard Fanny
sob think she caught him by the arm.
Let me go, Fanny" he said, impatiently.
81 must. You had better go away
He threw the door wide open. The gas
light streamed in the sitting room. She
rallied all her strength and came in after
him.
Nothing met their eyes but the dresses, the
shelves, the rows of pickles and preserves,
the broken furniture, the trunks, the linen in
lavender. But standing opposite the door,
with its hinges toward them, they may have
seen large Saratoga trunk, marked on the
side, in big white letters Miss Fanny Lew
is Its lid was not quite closed, the hasp
having caught upon the rim.
The colonel drew back. Poor Fanny per
haps fancied had mysteriousy disappeared.
They took the slippers from the floor and
went into the sitting-room. There l heard
her coaxing him to go to bed but there
seemed some hardening of her husbands
lRnri toward her which chilled l4p RVatIy
persuasions.
Fanny" he said at last, IF you insist ON
sitting up with me, get me some paper and
an inkstand from your chamber"
There was no resisting this request which
he made like "A command She must again
have made movement to pick up her key
basket and he must again have checked her,
for she exclaimed, '"Oh l forgot l beg
your pardon, and left the room.
The moment she was gone, l heard him
rattle the keys. He put one more of them
into his pocket | heard, too, click, if
h. were engaged in cooking his revolver
TLon ho remarked. aloud The store-room
has no window l have him safe. He must
stay there until morning. If a brave man.
he will keep quiet Only coward would
take advantage of herr
de pulled out his watch. "Half past
twelve" he said, as Fanny came back again
" udi hkoul sue may nave ltll rs hut ltlt NE
without protection, and her husband exposed
To attack if | were armed
Here is paper and ink, she said
Now 90 to bed, darling
No, love; l will sit up here" and she
took her place upon the sofa.
Meantime no words can adequately depict
the discomfors of my situation. | knew per
fectly well that the colonel knew where 1
was and that in good time he was going to
dispose of me. quite agreed with him that
gratitude to Mrs. Lewis required me to keep
still l also knew that whatever plan he
might be laying for my capture, was to be
done in such way as to spare his wife as
much as possible. l thought that for her
sake had better let him work it his own
way. | only trusted l should be able to
prove TO the provost marshal that | was Mai
or Dangerteld and not the secret agent was
supposed TO be. Meantime my physical suf-
ferings were almost uncomfortable. In the
empty Saratoga trunk my position was mex
pressibly cramped and painful. l was per-
fectly conscious that the slightest noise ]
made would be heard by the husband and wife
in the sitting room, and was unwilling to dis
turb any hope the latter might entertain that
| was gone. Ny plan was to wait till she
was out of the way, and then place myself at
the disposal of her husband.
Meantime Il solemn silence seemed TO set
tie on the house and all the neighborhood.
Ny nerves had become so excited that | Gould
with difficulty keep myself from uttering in
voluntary cries. Hour after hour heard the
deep cathedral bell. Had it not been for the
hope l entertained, in common with the col
onel, of saving Fannys feelings from a shock,
and her wifehood from suspicion, l should
have come forth at once, and made an end of
my misery. Sometimes, as all around me
seemed SO still | fancied that the married
pair had quilted the sitting room. But felt
that if l tried to leave the house, watched AS
knew it to be, my capture on her doorstep
would compromise her loyalty.
Time moved like eternity. At last the
morning market wagons began moving, the
dawn came peeping into my retreat. There
was another violent pull at the street door
bell. heard the colonel rouse himself to
answer it. l heard Fanny start up to her feet,
while a coarse voice called out loudly in the
passage,
"What up by peep of day colonel ?"
'Yes l had report to write up. Clay
pole has left everything in disorder
Il thought I'd let you know, colonel, that
that spy we were talking of last night is in
the hands of the marshal. l was mistaken
about his being seen about this place. The
police got on the track of him last evening,
and took him at that nest of secession, Mrs.
Charles Garey's."
As the street door closed upon this visitor,
heard Fanny give a suppressed sob
Then he was not-him @' said her hus-
band, careless of grammar at that supreme
moment of reconciliation.
mo, no." she cried. He said he
was poor prisoner who had jumped off the
train"
Poor little Fanny brave little Fan !"
said her husband and | guessed, though |
could not see, how he was comforting her.
'Let this be a lesson to you not to play with
treason. Henceforward leave it alone severe
ly. You must be one with me, dear wife.
Such things are not allowable in our position.
Now go aud call Bridget, and tell her TO get
breakfast. l must get to the office early.
And, Fanny" he added 'tell her to slip
down the alley the first thing and tell Viii
liams, who owns the dray, that when he has
harnessed up his horse for his days work, l
wish him to back up to our side door. am
determined to get ria of everything that be-
longs to my sister Fanny. I'll send her
trunk away I'll clear the house of treason
and secession. Tell Bridget that l say so.
1t may be a warning to her, love"
In half an hour Bridget announced the
dray.
"Send in my orderly" said the colonel,
'and see if you can see anything around the
corner, of the policeman"
As Bridget was executing this order the
colonel entered the store-room and closed the
spring lock of the trunk lid.
'Have you the key of Fanny's trunk, my
love 2"
II don't know"
"Give it to me, " he said, decidedly. "Since
your man is not the spy share your treason
for this once, that henceforth you may al
ways side with me. Ha. policeman" he
added, as he threw open the outer door of the
store-room, which opened ON the alley, will
you help the drayman and my orderly to get
this trunk of my sisters on the dray? She
has been sent South, as you know, and l de-
cline to keep her things. Yes, suspect it
may weigh over two hundred pounds 1t is
powerful heavy as you say. But that is the
way always with ladies'"
By this time l was hoisted on the dray.