Wichita eagle., 1889-06-05
HOW HE WON HIS WIFE.

ceSslon OF circumstances through which Mai
Henry Estes won his handsome Bile eyed
wife
Among the recruits who were sent forward
to be mustered into New England cavalry
regiment attached to the Army of the Poto-
mac, In the spring of 1864, was young man
Of fine appearance and excellent education,
who from the first showed signs of having at
some time been under military drill. No re-
cruit ever fell into his place with less trouble,
Or SO rapidly adjusted himself to the rough
ness and hardships of camp life. Every
inch a soldier" was Mai Estes comment the
first time that his glance rested on Private
Herbert Jauvrin, and neither In camp nor in
battle had he ever any reason TO modify his
verdict
The rank and file with whom Jauvrin asso-
ciated could never quite make him out. They
recognized instinctivelv that he belonged to
O higher social order than their own; they
found out that he had Travelled in many
lands; they said among themselves that he
was a foreigner and yet were puzzled 10
know just where to place a man who spoke
half dozen languages, and yet they were
never jealous or ill-natured towards him.
He performed his duties with unfailing con-
scientiousness; was in his place in every en-
gagement; proved himself hero in the
skirmish at st. Mary's Church and in the
long and dangerous raid to Trevyllian sta
ton, and endeared himself to every man in
his company by some little act of kindness or
CHEEKY word of comradeship.
That there was a mystery about him was
evident. Not that he ever attempted to Gre
ate such an impression-far from it. But
officers and men knew that there must have
been some strong cause that had moved
man of his culture to enlist as a private in a
cavalryregiment in which he had not single
acquaintance. There were hints enough given
him to break through his reserve and talk
about himself, but he always brushed them
aside with a laugh and the oft quoted byword
of the camps, who wouldn't be a soldierg'
"By Jove!" said the colonel one day, as
Private Jauvrin retired from his presence
with a courtly salute, THAT fellow has
broken more than one heart, and in our set,
too, major, or I'm a Block Island Goldfish
Put him in a swallowtail and he would be the
most distinguished looking man in the regi-
ment, and would saunter through the Ian
GERS like lord Iwish ! could do something
for him, but he doesn't ask for promotion
and doesn't seem to want 1t, and | don't
know who his friends are SO as TO push him
I'd bet whale to mackerel that there's
woman In the case, and a mighty pretty one,
too"
1t was in an insignificant little skirmish on
the edge of Chapins Farms that Private
Jauvrin received a desperate wound which
caused him to be sent to the Cavalry Corps
hospital on the Appomattox. AT first he
bade fair to recover, and the whole regiment
prepared to welcome him back, and the
colonel had made interest at Washington to
procure bis promotion to second lieutenant.
But one day messenger came from the
Corps hospital with the news that Jauvrin
was worse, and with an earnest request that
1lai. Estes would ride over to see him
The major had always manifested sincere
liking for the soldier and had tried more than
once TO win his confidence with sincere de-
sire TO befriend him. He had not been sue
oeSsful, yet there had always been that sort
of friendship between officer and man that
had led Maj. Estes to sit down and talk with
him Of other times and other scenes. It was
shock to him to hear bad tidings of the soldier
whom In his own mind he had associated with
a story of romance and whom he honored as
an example of duty.
1t was on a chilly autumn afternoon that
the major lifted the flap of the wall tent in
which Jauvrin lay on a rough cot set on the
bare ground. He was shocked at the change
in the wounded mans appearance The stall
wart frame had become reduced to skin and
bone, and only the eyes had retained the old
fire of life. He fairly started when the ghost
of the well remembered and once ringing
voice welcomed him and tears started to his
eyes as be grasped the thin and wasted hand
and said: Poor follow, why did you not send
for me beforep
The major stayed at the hospital that night
and, little by little, as the strength of the
speaker permitted, he learned the story of
Private Jauvrin-
Born to an old and honorable name, and the
prospective inheritor of wealth, Herbert
Jauvrin, after wild and hayward boyhood,
had been commissioned a lieutenant in the
British army before he had reached bis ma
jority and had fought gallantiy before Sc
bastopoL Among his papers would be found,
he said, his commission and his Crimean
medal On his return to England he had
gone the way of al young men in his position
and had exhausted his income and the round
of London pleasures. AT last his father and
his family had cast him off and he had wax
ened from his dreams TO find himself deprived
I
tailed estates of his family.
There was one pure spot, he said, in the
darkness Of his life He had loved and his
love had been returned Il did not know
there was such loveliness on earth" said the
dying soldier, until met Helen Conyng-
ham. have her picture here and you shall |
effort, he drew. out portfolio from under 4
n 20 ~,
letters are hero, too-do what you viii with |
the picture and the letters, and only write to /
her and tell her that l gave her my last .
and all my love"
At intervals he filed in the rest of the story.
The girl whom be loved had forgiven him /
ngain and again for his wanderings and had .
tried to help him build up his shattered life. /
At last she had applied the heroic remedy and /
sent him a letter 10 say that she would not
consent to see him again until he could come
TO her clothed and in his right mind"
''She was right, major, and I say now and !
VIII say with my last breath, God bless her
for her sweet faithfuiness TO duty"
In a desperate mood Herbert Jauvrin had
sold his commission, taken steamer for Amer
lea and for while had passed life Of gay
dissipation In New York and other American
cities AT last the inevitable crisis came.
hLs money had gone and so were tne friends
Oh hIs butterfly summer. When his last dollar
tad been spent he -alisted IN q regiment then
III trouble up there IN Red Hen Gulch! Get
out the boys and We'll go see what's up. Hear
that yelf No. of course you didn't You
couldn't hear the steam whistle down at the
quarry mill unless you climbed UP on the roof
ana iaid your ear to the pipe. Don't talk
go get the boysr
at was beginning 70 grow dark, when I
heard faint calls away off down the noun