The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1889-06-28

VI uCE luuOCeu0d tuuL even RdtO ulm kldus
ness in this hour of martrydom.
ooh God !" he prayed, again and again, "ro
be free only for one hourl To see her face
once more, and tell her l believe in her ut
last"
But when freedom might have been his the
bond OF his word had fettered him rs with
iron, and now in the eyes of all men he was n
traitor, and arraigned on the heaviest charge
that could be laid against soldier. The
hopelessness OF his fate came home to him at
last with Il bitterness he had never doomed
possible. But now he knew her guiltless,
stainless, pure, as when he had taken her to
his heart and his whole soul went out in that
one intense longing-that tierce imploring
,ry, "To be free-only for one hourl"
He looked down at his fettered limbs in
mute agony. OF bodily suffering. weakness
pain, even of the fate in store for him, he did
not think-only of her. He had wronged
her SO deeply. judged her so harshly, and
through all she had loved him with love
whose depth and purity he had never faith
omed before, till it came homo to him with
the divine force OF resistless truth, wrung
from tho reluctant lips Of his powerful rival.
"What she has suffered |" so he said to him
self, again and again. "And I-her protec-
tor-her guardan-the sharer of her life-I
was the first to misjudse and forsake her."
He grew delirious in his agony as he thought
Of it. AS he pictured her now--hunted, op-
pressed, pursued by ruthless foes, by pas
sion merciless and cruel as the grave, the
violence OF his hatred against this powerful
enemy Increased to fever point. 1t was
not for himself he feared death now, not
for himself that he would have recalled the
blow, whose penalty his life would pay-but
for her. For her who would be ut his rivals
mercy henceforward, for her whose youth,
and beauty, and wealth of love and faith were
all sacrificed because of his want of trust.
"If she had only told me-" ho moaned in his
feversh remorse. Chow could dream it
was her father she sheltered2"
For he WAS in ignorance as yet Of the oath
she had taken, of the cowardly desertion and
traitorous betrayal Of which this man had
been guilty. He knew nothing Of the strug-
gle between daughters duty and wifes
| love that had so perplexed and tortured
the girls young. loving heart. He knew
| nothing of the cause that had induced he r
| to accompany her father in his hour OF peri!
seeing that her husband no longer believed
in her, and had forsaken her-firstl Now it
was all too late. He had no hope left. With
the morrow the court-martial would sit-his
| fate would bo decided, and then
AS that thought crossed his mind he threw
himself ON his knees-his fettered hands up
raised to hcaven-the hot tears raining down
his white, sunken checks. ooh God" he
prayed, "if in Thy courts above there Is
| atonement for earth's sufferings, or forget
fullness OF earth's pain, let me meet her there
| since here we may not ever meet In life
| gain"
With the next days noon the trial began.
The case was brief, clear, indeiensible.
| The plan Of escape fortunately gave no
names, bore no address, but the fact of its
being in his possession was conclusive evil
| dence. The soldiers gave witness as to
| hearing the struggle between the Prussian
| officer and the prisoner. Colonel Won Brand
stein swore to the assault stating that the
man was evidently desirous of resaining
| possession of the paper by violence. The
statements were concise and plain enough.
When Leroux was asked if he had anything
to say he merely replied that the provooa-
ton given him had been too strong for any
man to resist, and that Won Brandstein had
in the first place, seized him by the throat,
and given him the lie direct. When ques-
toned as to the plan OF escape, he refused to
| say from whence 1t had come or who con-
trived to deliver it. but said that being on
parole he had declined taking any steps in
the matter, and il he had intended to escape
he would not have waited three weeks before
making the attempt He know that what he
had done was uniusti6able in military law,
but he begged the judges to take into consid-
Grafton the tyranny and cruelty TO which he
had been subjected ever since his entrance
into the garrison. HIS enemies themselves
could bear witness to that, and therefore he
considered himself morally exonerated. IL
Tor once he had dealt with his tyrant and
traducer as man to man, not as soldier to
| 1ficer.
~ know stand at disadvantage here. "
no said. 81 am prisoner at the mercy OF
| NY enemies. l can hardly expect you to be-
iiev. that with the means of escape at hand
refused to profit by them yet, with death
before me- solemnly swear speak but the
truth. The story may be hushed up-doubt.
less 1t will-but truth, sooner or later, comcs
| TO the fore; aud then, in other lands aud In