Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-02-07

after tie hand that wrote ii has been long
dead and cold"
With trmbEng fingers abe opened it..
INV dear-may | say my dsarestF-
Anne were the first words that her eyes
fen o /. Her own filed with tears WiPing
them away before going on to read more;
she caught sight Of the date: o board
n. M's troop ship Arisdne, Nov. n.
Anne started. Strange and stranRer.
Two dsys later than the reported date OF
his dsath-snd the writing 30 strong snc
cIssT No sign of weakness or linesss
go sbs read on with frantic eagerneEs
-, was not a very long letter-but when
Anne had read the two or three somewhat
hurriedly written pages, her lace 2
changed as If from csreWorn, Palhd middle
AGE hack to fresh, sunny youth She fell
'o3 her knees in fervent, unspoken thankE-
lin. She kissed the letter-the dear.
5sant;ful letter, as if il we're 9 living thing!
81, il too much-too much" she said.
.rWbat have I done to deserve such bless-
edness?' .
This vac what the letter told. The OF
;cer whose death had been announced was
not "our Major Graham" not Graham OF
the One Hundred and Thirteenth at al
Int an officer belonging to another regi-
ment who had come on board at Msierls
80 -s.nrn 70 india, believing his health to
bs on;ts restored. The doctors had in
soms uay mistaken his case" wrote Ken
rs,b pfor he broke down again quite sud
dsnIv and died two days ago. he was 8
vsTv GOOD fellow, and We have all been
yery cut up about it. He took q fancy to
me and I have been up some nights with
him. and | am rather done up myseh l
lie this TO post at the Cape. for a fear
has struek me that-his initials being so
mpch IKE mine-some report may reach
Won tbss it if /, not La. / dare 70 think
Won would-but | cannot in q letter tell
Won why. l must wait TIL see you. l
have had q somewhat strange experience,
and it is possible, Just possible, that L may
be able to tell you all about II, viva yoce,
sooner than l had any idea Of when l last
saw YOU. In the meantime goodbye, and
God bless you, my dear CHILD" =,
.Then'followed spostscript-ofsom days
later date. written in great perturbation o:
shirt At 6ndiug that the letter had by mis-
take not been posted at the Cape. After
sll nv anxiety that you should see 1t as
o "a or before the newspapers, It is really
too bad. cannot understand how 1t hap
peued. Isupposeit was that was go busy
getting poor Grahsm's papers and thing:
together 10 send on shore that overlooked
it. 1t cannot now be posted till we get 10
GALES"
That vas all. But was it not enough
and more than enough? The next few
weeks passed Tor Anne Midway like a hap
p7 dream. She was content o 70 walt
wears eyen-she had recovered faith IN her
self. faith IN the future.
The next Indian mail brought her no
letter. somewhat 10 her surprise. She
wondered what had made Kenneth allude
10 his perhaps seeing her again before long
she wondered almost more what was the
"Strauge experience to which he referred.
Could il have had any connection with her
most strange experience that November
afternoon And thus wondering she
was sitting alone in he own house again
nv this time--one evening toward the end
of Aoril. when a ring at the bell made her
look m from the book she was reading,
half dreamily asking herself what visitor
could be coming 20 late. She heard steps
and voices-.s door shutting, then Ambrose
opened that Of the drawing room where
she was sitting and came mp TO her, his
wrinkled old face all flushed aud beamin7.
ut was me- tina. frightened you so that
dav, maam.' he began. ITS right it
should be me again. But its hlmsalt--his
very III self this time. You may believe
M. indeed 90,
Anne started 10 her feet. She felt her
self growing pale--she trembled so that she
could Scarcely stand.
Where ia he?' she said. You have
not IN, him into the library anywhere out
there
"Ha would have it Fo, ms'sm. He said
be would explain to vH0 Oh. go to him,
ms'sm--you'n re it'll be al right"
Anne made her way to the library. Bot
.as the door q strange tremcr seized her.
She could scarcely control herself to open
il. Yes there again on the hesrthrug
stood the tall figure she had 50 often pict.
/ rrad TINS 10 herself She trembled and
all bat fell, but his voice. his own hearty
living voice speaking to her in accents
tenderer and deeper than ever heretofore
Treasured her and Gispersed at ore the
fear that lad lowered about her.
Anne, nv dear Anne. 1t is I myself
Don't look 40 ~frighSend," and in q moment
he had led her forward, and stood With his
hard on her shoulder, looking with his
kind earnest eyes into hers.
"Yes." he said. dreamily, 1T was Just
thus Oh, how often | have thought OF
this moment. Anne, if an mistaken for
4 give nv presumption~-but | cant think
am Anne, my darling. you do love me?.
There was no need of words. Anne hid
her face on his shoulder for one happy mo.
ment. Then amid the tears that would
come she told him all-all she had suffered
and hoped and feared her love and her
agony Of humiliation; when she thought
it was not returned; her terrible grief when
she thought him dead and get the consols'
ton Of believing herself to have been hls
laat thought in lite. .
50 YOU shall bs-my frat and my LAST
&c hBsSClcu' NY nLhC 'J
And then she told him more OF the
strange story we know. He listened WITH
intense eagerness bat without testfying
mQ.h surprise, for less increculity.
Il anticipated something Of the kind,
J he said, after a moment or two OF silence,
1T is very strange. Listen, Anne; at the
time, the exac time so far IS | can rough
II calculate, at which you thought you ssw
me l was dreaming of yon. 1t wss be
tween four and FIVE o'clock in the after
roon, was it notY'
Anne bowed her head in assent.
"Tha, would have made i! about six
o'clock where we then we're" be vert on
c~onsidenngly. Yes; it was about seven
when | awoke. | had,lsin down thst after
noon with a frightlul headache. Poor
Graham had died shortly before midnight
the night before, and | had not been able
to sleep, though | was very tired. dare
say | was not altogether in what the doctors
call a normal condition, from the physical
fatigue ard the effect generally OF isving
watched him die. | was feeling less
o.-,Llr $50, nan un1aratand than pne