Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1889-06-28

th"e ~ OuBhl 10 go, ana go he would.
It wai thorough surprise to both the
pair, This meeting among the mountains;
aud II was the last thing Ton Creighton
intended, to fall In love with Miss
NJ EsiFange, much less to let her know
it, but he could not help himself; with
characteristic impetuosity she lost her
heart ID these solitudes, where all the
real character of the young man showed
itself, no longer oyerlaid by the customs
Of society. She saw how true, how
tendeIt how brave he was, how superior
TO thesociety men who had only bored
her in New York. She had indeed
distip graAed him even there from a
rtasSuperiority of aspect, but now
she know and loved him and showed
it witt such naive simplicity that Tom,
for all his good resolutions, broke down
and fell at her feet. Only a day had
their engagement been made known,
when tho summons Tom expected,
came. Viva was almost frantic, it was
the first time in her life that her will
had been useless; but now it beat against
rock Tired with the vain struggle
repeated till Toms heart ached to its
depths, at length recognized that his
strength of character must dominate
hers; and after long wild flood of tears
and convulsion of sobs she said at
last:
you will go-if you must prom
ise me TO live, to come backW
d" promise to come back if lido live,
Viva. How can say will llve9 That
is the chance of war and the will of
God" sPromise, promisep' she
shrieked. "You must promise me to
live shall die here, right in your
arms, unless you dol'
Her pallid face, her streaming eyes,
the sobs that seemed to rend her slight
shape, tho piteous curve of her red lips,
took him by storm. The lovely, un-
reasoning, willful creature, torn by
passion of love and grief all for him,
shook his strong soul to its center. What
man ever resisted such overwhelming
passion or thought it foolish when
he was its objcct2 Tom Creigh.on's
soul bazcl in his eyes as he held that tiny
figure closer to his breast.
'1promiscp' y he said.
So he went and she stayed. The for
tunes Of war befelI him; but in battle
he seemed to dodge the bullets that
fkIucs aoeut him, manfG!ly as he
fought, for he felt Viva's imploring eyes
upon him. "Creighton's luck was the
Jest Of the decimated regiment; but no
man charged him with cowardice. The
thrill and splcndor of this new life had
swept off his con ervatism; tue war justi
fed its If by its dash and valor. He
rei1cel in the clangor of its trumpets,
the roar of its guns, the rush of its
charges; and when the miasma of the
marshes where he lay encamped defed
his will and scared his flesh with fever,
when he lay half conscious for many
week in the hospital, the will to live,
the intent to keep his word to Viva,
saved him. The nurses wondered TO
hear but two words in the low mutter of
his delirium: 81 promise promised"
but those words were his talisman.
When his heart AMI flesh failed he
seemed to see WAS upturned, woeful
face. and he said to himself, 81 prom
ise, with fresh strength each time; for
he had learned faith in himself. At last
the war was over; but thoroughly we'd
ded to a soldiers life, and become a
proverb among men for courage and
quick resource, he was transferred to
the ranks Of the. regular army, given
furlough of six months, and flew at
once t, Viva.
Poor Vival the war had spared her
Tom, but both her parents had died
during his absence, and she was quite
alone To describe their meeting would
be sacrilege; it was even as the meeting
of those who arise together at the rising
of the dead and look at the dawning of
that heaven which they shall spend to-
gether. Naturally Tom desire TO hasten
their marriage, and Viva did not refuie;
for except a salaried chapcron, she was
quite alone in that loneliest of positions,
the inmate of fashionable boarding
house. She did not care to waste her
time or her strength on an elaborate
trosseau; she left all that to Mrs. Mer-
win; it seemed TO her that she could not
exist out of Toms presence. Yet one
DAY sne could not see hlmi she was Ill {;
she only saw the doctor, an oil man
who had watched her from childhood.
"Viva," he sal to her, as he drew on
his gloves after an hour at her bedside,
and as soon as the nurse, hurriedly
] 's44lssaissas 4ss 1asmassssa
needful errand.
"Viva, you must tell Captain Creigh-
ton."
q will mott" she answered angrily.
''But you mustr'
~ never will After all these wretch
ed years of waiting, do you think l will
throw my life away, DIR. sandsl"
''If you do not, shall"