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

l1ayne Will neeu tnTeS Oh lOlu lnen 10 |
help him get his quarters in shape. l |
suppose you have already thought to
send them"
And Rayner flushed, and stammered, |
'They have not gone yet, sir; but 1 had |
thought OF it,
Later, when the sergeant sent the re- |
CURED detail lie reported to the captain
in the company office in five minutes:
1.-The lieutenants compliments and |
thanks, hut he does not need the men,"
The dinner at the colonels, quiet as it
was aihi with only eight at table, was an
affair of almost molnentous Importance
to MI. hayne. 1t was the hrSt thing or
the kind he had attended in five years,
and though he well knew that it was in
tended by the cavalry commander more
especially as recognition of the services
rendered their suffering men, he could
not but rejoice in the courtesy and tact
with which he was received and enter
tanned. The coonel5 wife, the adju-
tants. and those of two captains away
with the field battalion were the four ladies
who were there to greet him when. es-
cOrted by Mr.. Blake he made his appear
ance. How long-how very long--it
seemed to him since he had sat i'll the
presence of refined and attractive women
and listened to their gay and animated
chat. They seemed all such good friends,
they made him so thoroughly at home,
and they showed so much tact and ease
that never once did it seem apparent
that they knew of his trouble in his own
regiment; and yet there was no actual
avoidance of matters i'll which the Riders
were generally interested.
1T was mainly of his brief visit to the
east however, that they made him talk
of the operas and theatres he had attended,
the pictures he had seen, the music that
was most popular; and when dinner was
over their hostess led him to her piano,
and he played and sang for them again
and again. His voice was soft and sweet,
and, though it was uncultivated, he sang
with expression and grace, playing with
more skill but less feeling and effect than
| he sang. Music and books had been the
| solace of lonely years, and he could
easily see that he had pleased them with
| his songs. He went home to the dreary
rookery out on Prairie avenue and
! laughed at the bowling wind. The bare
grimv walls and the dim kerosene lamp,
even Sans unmelodious snore in the
back room, sent no gloom to his soul. 1t
had been a happy evening. 1t had cost
| him hard struggle TO restrain the
emotion which he had felt at times; and
when he withdrew, soon after the
trumDets sounded tattoo, and the ladies
fell to discussing him, as women will,
there was but one verdict-his manners
were perfect.
But the colonel said more than that.
He had found him far better read than
any other officer of his age he had ever
met and one and all they expressed the
hope that they might see him frequently.
No wonder it was of momentous import
ance 20 him. 1t was the opening to a
new life. 1t meant that here at least he
had met soldiers and gentlemen and their
fair and gracious wives who had vel
coined him to their homes, and, though
they must have known that a pali of sus
picion and crime had overshadowed his
past, they believed either that he was in
nocent of the grievous charge or that hi,
years of exile and suffering had amply
atoned. 1t was happy evening indeed
TO him; but there was gloom at Capt
Rayners.
The captain himself had gone out soor
after tattoo lie found that the parlol
was filled with young visitors of botl
sexes, and he was in no mood for merri
ment. Miss Travers was being welcomed
to the post in genuine army style, anC
was evidently enjoying it. Mrs. Rayne
was fitting nervously in and out of tn,
parlor with a cloud upon her brow, anC
for once in her life compelled to preserv,
temporary silence upon the subject up
permost in her thoughts. She had beer
forbidden to speak of it to her husband
yet she knew lac had gone out again will
every probability of needing some ont
to talk to about the matter. She coult
not well breach the topic in the paro
because she was not at all sure how
Capt. and Mrs. Gregg of the cavalr,
would take it, and they were still there
She was a loyal wife, her husband
quarrel was hers and more, too; and sh
was woman of intuition even keene
than that which We so readily accord tin
:. sex. She knew, aud knew well, that
hideous doubt had been preying for
long time i'll her husbands heart o
hearts, and she knew still better that
would crush him to believe it was evel
suspected by any one else. Right o
wrong, the one thing for her to do, sh
doubted not, was to maintain the origi
nal guilt against all corners, and to los
: no opportunity of feeding the flame tina
! consumed Mr.. Haynes record and repu
tation. lie was guiity-he must
guilty; and though she was a Christia
, according to her view of the Casa pi
lar of the church III matters of publ
charity and picturesque conformity t
, all tue rubric called for in the services
and much that it did not-she was unrt
. lenting in her condemnation Of Nj
> tayne.
5 To those who pointed out that he ha
made every atoncment man could max
: she responded with the severity Of col
) seious virtue that there could be n
n atonement without repentance and no l.