Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-06
been professionally ouartered,

been Professionally quartered. The town
was a hubbub of military occupation
General Lyon meant to advance upon the
Confederates next day, and the preparations
were confused, for in those early days of
the war the operations had little of the pre-
cision and orderliness subsequently,
achieved. Colonel Armytage's absence,
though brief, had left his duties 10 accu-
mulate, and he had no time to devote to his
regained wife.
Frivolous Mrs. Dimmock, interested by
the hurly-burly, had no thought of the
farmhouse that she had so recently Quilted; ;
but Mrs. Armytage wandered away into the
garden. She sat on bench, leaned against
the tree that made back for it, and turned
her face toward the bright moon, which had
risen just high enough to shine over the
wall that lined the garden on that side.
Externally she was the placid, cool, young
beauty. In her mind, so well hidden BY
her characteristic -self-control, was being
formed, and not without struggle, firm
resolution to think no more of Oliver Will
lett. A noise at the wall startled her, and
Oliver leaped over. He stood before her,
took off his hat and bowed low. His en-
trance to the garden had been rapid and
resolute; but now he was hesitant, as though
little confounded by his situation. Mrs.
Armytage rose, and looked at him with
wonder in her lustrous eyes as she said:
"What brings you here?"
''You," he answered.
"You are reckless"
ga lover knows no fear"
'But he should not let his own fearless
ness be the destruction of the woman he
loves"
"What do you mean?"
"Did you get the message that left for
you?'
''Yes; and came with it to its author"
They had spoken so rapidly that their
dialogue thus far had been as inconsiderate
as it was exciting to them; yet she main
tanned by for the most composure, and when
he would have grasped her hands she
stepped back with show of displeasure.
"Mv letter told you," she said, that you
must never see me again-thst there was a
sufficient reason why we must not meet
"It told me, too," he said, uncooled by
her repellent manner, "what your lips had
refused to tell. 1 had begun to believe that
you were heartless, and the sudden knowl-
edge of the truth-that you loved me-was
like stimulant to an invalid-potentt to make
the blood tingle, the heart bound and the
brain whirl. What could do but come to
you?"
Forget it if wrote. anything to encour-
age your madness. was thoughtless-I
scrawled hurriedly to escape observation.
Remember only that I said we must not
even think OF each other"
81 know the letter word for word"
He took from pocket a crumpled sheet
of paper that looked like page torn from a
diary; but he scarcely glanced at it as he
recited what was penciled on it.
sit says: The past two weeks were to me
like brief existence in another lite than
my own. had never loved any man. My
situation forbade me to entertain such
sentiment, except for one who was powerless
to excite it. You made me love you" He
held the writing before her, and added
triumphantly, ''they are your words"
"Blot them out and read the rest"
She stood with folded arms as passive as
statue. He read. aided by his recollection
and the bright light of the moon:
"I am free to confess it because I also tell
you that must abjure the passion that
makes me irresolute, while write out my
own sentence. cannot bear to explain to
you the reason why we must be strangers,
but it is absolute, irresistible, fnal.'
why do you come here after that?" she
said, still calm.
''I come to learn what the thing is that
can part u.s."
81 will not tell YOU"
is it that you are Unionist and Tan
officer in the Confederate armv?"
mo; that is not the reason"
he argued no more, but said, "You
ppSsle me, " as he thrust the paper into
breast pocket. She looked toward the