The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1889-06-01

answered to line in the strong fine face,
except that it was older, darker, more
worn, as 1t well might be after the stress
of war; the smile was sadder and
sweeter than ever Hugh's had been,
but it was Hugh's voice in tone and
accent.
There was long story to tell when
Marion could listen but through it all
she felt a strange and ghastly sense that
she was listening to a tale from another
world, was following a sound in the
dark.
Alexander Heriot was indeed the
true image of his brother ; he had been
tall and pale and delicate in his youth !;
but when the war broke out, and he
openly avowed his opposition to the
course of the South, he was obliged for
his mothers and his hfe's sake to take
refuge IN the mountains till he could
find way to join the army of the
North, as he knew Hugh had done.
The outdoor life and enforced exercise
restored him to perfect health, and in
six months he had found the Union
army, but not Hugh and volunteering
into the ranks, had fought we'll ard
bravely till peace came then he went
back to his native place only to find
his mother dead, and his sister, the
bride of the day, widowed and alone,
but bitter against HIM with that intense
bitterness that only exists between those
who are kindred. and have been dear
to each other,
There too he found the report of
Hugh as missing; and having no home
for his sister had gone to her hus-
bands friends in Savannah-and no
means to make the plantation remuner-
ative, he sold it for a small sum, and
dividing the proceeds with Cornelia,
devoted himself to tracing Hugh. At
last, by one of those accidents we ought
to call providents, he discovered his
brothers knapsack in the hut of poor
man not far from the battle field, and
by dlnt of rewards offered learned that
the man from whom that knapsack was
taken had crept away mortally wounded
u me shelter OF a IeW BUSHES during
the fight, and had been found there by
the cracker, who took possession of his
arms and his accoutrements.
But he made grave for our poor
Hugh, Marion, Alexander said, with a
trembling volce-a grave where decora-
tions never fail. The fellow showed
me where he buried him, between two
pine-trees. On one of them climbs a
Cherokee rose that drops its thick
white petals on the sod, and wild BIOS
SONS have trailed all over the mound,
till it is fair as your mothers grave to-
day. 1 could but think when 1 saw it
that the God of the brave and the loyal
had not forgotten Hugh's lonely pillow
in the Wilderness"
After leaving his brothers place of
rest, Alexander had opened his KNAPP
sack and found in it Marion's letters
ard her picture. AS Hugh had said,
the twin brothers were alike in every
fibre, and Alexander's heart opened at
once to enshrine the lovely woman
Hugh had adored and left for his
country.
But what had he to offer her? Before
he dared endeavor to fill his brothers
place he must have home to which
he could ask Marion he could not
honorably ask her to share his poverty,
for it was utter.
Before long, however, he found a
place in some of the new enterprises of
the South worked there as manfully as
he had fought, and just as soon as his
position was assured, and he could ask
an absence from the work, he came to
the North, and arriving at Alton on
Memorial Day, was directed where to
find Marion at her mothers grave.
Her whole heart went out to him as
soon as he spoke ; for to her he was
Hugh, and no other-the aspect, the
voice, the manner, even the very
thoughts he shared with her, were all
Hugh's and the mans nobility forbade
him to feel one jealous pang when,
without even knowing it, over and over
she gave him his brothers name.
Nor did she delay her marriage, as
he feared might be her wish.
We have been engaged so long, she
answered him, when he asked her, that
| do not feel in haste. Dear Sandy,
Hugh told me l should love you, if l
knew you, better than l loved him.
Perhaps l shall ; yet always l shall think
that Decoration Day was also Resur.
rectiOu Day to me.