Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-03-08

steep grade plunged the road TO The
stableA Il was - unprepoaoesslng 3 |
place for home - ever was chosen By |
. man Of education or position; and Mr..
Hayne was possessed Of both.
In garrison, despite the dat parade,
there was grand expanse Of country to |
be seen stretching away towards the
snow covered Rockies. There wis life
and the sense of neighborlinen to ones
kind. Out on Prairie avenue ell was
wintry. desolation, except when twice
each day the cavalry officers went plod-
ding by on their way to and from the
stables, mufiled up In their fur caps and
coats, and hardly distinguishable from 20
many bears, much les from one another.
And yet Mr.. Hayne smiled not unhap-
pily as he glanced from his eastern win
dow at this group Of burly warriors ths
afternoon succeeding his dinner ct the
colonel's. He had been busy all day long
unpacking books, book shelves, some
few pictures which he loved, and his
simple, soldierly outfit Of household
goods, and getting them into shape. His
sole assistant was q Chinese servant, who
worked rapidly and well, and who
seemed in no wise dismayed by the
bleakness Of their surroundings. II any
thing, he was disposed to grin and In
dulge In high pitched commentaries In
"pidgin English" upon the unaccustomed
amount of room. His master had been
restricted to two rooms and q kitchen
during tho two years he had served him.
Now they had house to themselves,
and more rooms than they knew what
to do with. Tho quartermaster had
sent detail Of men to put up the stoves
and move out the rubbish left by the
tailors; "Sam" had worked vigorously
with soft soap. hot water and big mop
in sprucing up the rooms; the adjutant
had sent little note during the morn
ing, saying that the colonel would be glad
to order him any men he needed to put
the quarters in proper shape, and that
Capt. Rayner had expressed his readi-
ness to send detail from the company
to unload and unpack his boxes, etc., TO
which Mr.. Hayne replied in person that
he thanked the commanding officer for
his thoughtfulness, but that he had very
little to unpack, and needed no assist
tLIC0 uCyOuu tHtV hiLCdOy ohOIuCu ny Ju0
quartermaster's men. Mr.. Billings could
not help noting that he made no allusion
to that part of the letter which spoke Of
Capt. Rayner's offer. It increased his
respect for Mr.. Haynes perceptive
powers.
While every officer of the infantry bat
talon was ready to admit that Mr Hayne
had rendered valuable service to the men
of the cavalry regiment, they were not
80 unanimous in their opinion as to how
it should be acknowledged and requited
by its officers. No one was prepared for
the announcement that the colonel had
asked him to dinner and that Blake and
Billings were to meet him. Some few
Of their number thought it going too far,
but no one quite coincided with the ve-
hement declaration Of Mrs. Rayner that
it was an outrage and an affront aimed
at the regiment in general and at Capt
Rayner in particular. She was an ener-
getic woman when aroused, and there
was no doubt Of her being very much
aroused as she sped from house to house
to see what the other ladies thought of
it. Rayner's wealth and Mrs. Rayner's
Qu6utIco ilbu IIlstu6 hCI dll uuuOuOUcu
though not always popular leader in all
social matters in the Riflers. She was
an authority, SO to speak, and one who
knew it. Already there had been some
points on which she had differed with
the colonel's wife, and it was plain to all
that it was a difficult thing for her to
come down from being the authority
the leader of the social element of a gar
rison-and from the position of second
or third Importance which she had been
accorded when first assigned to the sta
ton.
There were many, indeed, who assert
ed that it was because she found her new
position unbearable that she decided on
her long visit to the east, and departed
thither before the Rifers had been at War
rener month. The colonel's wife had
greeted her and her lovely sister with
charming grace on their arrival two days
previous to the stirring event of the din
ner, and every one was looking forward
to a probable series of pleasant entertain
ments by the two households, even while
wondering how long the entente cordiale
would last-when the colonel's invitation
to Mr.. Hayne brought on an immediate
crisis. 1t is safe to say that Mrs. Rayner
was madder than the captain her hus-
band, who hardly knew how to take it.
| He was by no means the best liked officer
in his regiment, nor the "deepest" and
best informed, but he had a native
shrewdness which helped him. He noted
even before his wife would speak of it to
him the gradual dying out of the bitter
feeling that had once existed at Haynes
seriously to make inquiries, that the man
whom he had practically crushed and
ruined in the long ago was slowly but
surely gaining strength, even where he
would not make friends.
Worse than all, he was beginning tc
doubt the evidence Of his own senses az
| the years receded, and unknown to any
soul on earth, even his wife, there was
growing up deep down in his heart &
gnawing, insidious, ever fostering feal
that after all, after all, he might have
been mistaken. And yet on the sacred
oath of a soldier and a gentleman, agains
the most searching cross-examination
again and again had he most confidently
land positively declared that he had botl
seen and heard the fatal interview OF
which the whole case hinged. And a
to the exact language employed, he alon'
Of those within earshot had lived to tes
tify for or against the accused; of tn
five soldiers who stood in that now cele
brated group, three were shot to dealt
within the hour. He was growing ner
vous, irritable, haggard; he was getting
to hate the mere mention of the case
The promotion of Hayne to his own com
pany thrilled him with an almost super
stitious dismay. Were his words com