Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-04-18

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gone into Mysteries when they were told
that Lieut.. Hayne was the man to whom
the one owed his life and the other her
money. Some one met Capt. Rayner on
the sidewalk the morning Stannard came
marching home and asked him if he had
heard the queer story about Clancy. He
| had not, and it was told him then and
there.
Rayner did not even attempt to laugh
at it or turn it off in any way. He looked
dazed, stunned, for u moment, turned
very white and old loobins, and hardly
saying good day to his informant, faced
about and went straight to his quarters.
lie was not among the crowd that gath
cred to welcome the incoming cavalry
men that bright, crisp, winter day, and
that evening Mrs Rayner went to the
hospital to ask what she could do for
Clancy and his wife. Capt. Rayner al
ways expected her to see that every care
and attention was paid to the sick and
needy of his company, she explained to
the doctor, who could not recall having
seen her on similar errand before, al
though sick and needy of Company B
were not unknown in garrisons where
he had served with them. She spent a
good while with Mrs. Clancy, whom she
had never noticed hitherto, much to the
laundress indignation, and concerning
whose conduct she had been known to
express herself in terms of extreme dis
appreciation. But in times of suffering
such things are forgotten; Mrs. Rayner
/ xuac full of cvO,patb v anI iptaro-t. tharo
was nothing she was not eager to send
them, and no thanks were necessary.
She could never do too much for the
men of her husbands company.
Yet there was member of her hus-
bands company on whom in his suffering
neither she nor the captain saw fit to call.
Mr.. Haynes eyes were seriously injured
by the flames and heat, and he was now
livie,g III darkness, 1t might be a month,
said the doctor, before he could use his
eyes again.
'Only think of that poor fellow all
alone out there on that CHASTITY prairie
and unable to rcadr was the exclama-
ton of one Of the cavalry ladies in Mrs.
Rayner's presence; and, as there was an
awkward silence and somebody had to
break it, Mrs. Rayner responded:
eff | lived on Prairie avenue | should
consider blindness blessing"
1t was an unfortunate remark. There
was strong sympathy devSi..ping for
Iayne all through the garrison. Mrs.
Rayner never meant that it should have
any such significance, but inside of
twenty-four hours, in course of which
her language had been repeated some
dozens of times and distorted quite as
many, the generally accepted version of
the story was that Mrs. Rayner, SO far
from expressing the faintcst sympathy
or sorrow for Mr.. Haynes misfortune, so
far from expressing the natural gratifi
cation which a lady should feel that it
was an officer of her regiment who had
reached the scene of danger ahead of the
cavalry officer of the guard, had said in
SO many words that Mr.. Hayne ought to
be thankful that blindness was the worst
thing that had come to him.
There was little chance for harmony
after that Many men and some women,
of course, refused to believe it. and said
they felt confident that she had been
time that Mrs. Rayner was bitter against
Hayne, and had heard of her denuncia-
ton Of the coloners action. So, too, had
the colonel heard that she openly de-
clared that she would refuse any invita-
ton extended to her or to her sister
which might involve her accepting hos
pitality at his house. These things do
get around in most astonishing ways
Then another complication arose;
Hayne, too, was mixing matters. The
major commanding the battalion, a man
in no wise connected with his misfort-
unes, had gone to him and urged, with
the doctors full consent, that he should
be moved over into and become an in
mate of his household in garrison. He
had big, rOomy house. His wife ear
nestly added her entreaties to the ma
Jors, but all to no purpose: Mr.. Hayne
firmly declined. He thanked the ma
jor; he rose and bent over the lady's
hand and thanked her with a voice that
was full of gentleness and gratitude;
but he said that he had learned to live
in solitude. Sam was accustomed to all
his ways, and he had every comfort he
needed. His wants were few and sim
pie. She would not be content, and
urged him further. He loved reading:
surely he would miss his books and
would need some one to read aloud to
him, and there were so many ladies in
the garrison who would be glad to meet
at her house and read to him by turns.
He loved music, she heard, and there
was her piano, and she knew several
who would be delighted to como and
play for him by the hour. He shook his
head, and the bandages hid the tears
that came to his smarting eyes. He had
made arrangements to be read aloud to,
he said; and as for music, that must
wait awhile.
The kind woman retired dismayed-
she could not understand such obduracy,
and her husband felt rebutfed. Stan
nard, of the cavalry, too, came in with
his gentle wife. She was loved through
out the regiment for her kindness and
grace of mind, as well as for her devo-
ton TO the sick and suffering in the old