Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-04-08

Then came joy in which Mrs. Lane
for the time being forgot her perplexities.
Capt. Fred obtained a seven days leave
from the regiment and few as straight
to her arms as circuitous railroad route
could carry him. He greeted Miss Mar
shall as cordially as ever, but he did not
call her Portia as he had intended, be-
cause Mabel warned him in letter that
it served to revive associations which
were not all joyous. ''Icalled her Portia
long before she met Mr.. Hearn," was
Lanes stout reply; "but if she doesn't
like it, that's enough" Maj. Kenyon
was hidden to dinner the evening of his
homecoming, and of course many of
the garrison people happened in, and so
there was nothing but general chat.
But two evenings later, when the major
was sitting in the big armchair and dis
coursing on some of his favorite hobbies,
he preached anew the matter of Judge
Hear1l's letter urging his son to quit the
service
Have You never heard Hearn's an
swer, major" said Lane. He read it
to me before sending it, and / thought it
Miss Marshall was sitting at the table
under the bright lamp as Lane began to
read. Mabel noticed that she leaned
forward, shading her eyes with her
hand
II have thought it all over. my dear
father The offer you make me is one
for which l thank you with all my heart.
Few men could quit the service under
better auspices, or return to Il home
more loved or friends more loving, and
yeti cannot. Ten years of my life,
perhaps the best ten. have been spent in
profession which with every year pre-
sents new fields, new studies and new
requirements. l have worked honestly,
have won friends and, in all modesty
may say, good name. Admitting all
you write of this recent attempt of the
papers to blacken it, my friends here
tell me that it but proves the strength
of my record that even concerted news
paper assaults could not harm me in the
eyes of right thinking people.
Il love the duties. | am deeply at
tached to many of my comrades. l can
be a very fair soldier, and might only
make a very poor lawyer. For these
reasons l think ought to stand where i
am. But there is still another reason.
Father, when l bound myself to the
United States as q cadet l received at
the hands of the nation a schooling such
as l could get at no other institution in
the world. and was nodded by the ma
ton for its service. If in after years !
found myself better fitted to serve in
some other way, then there might be ex-
cuse for rendering resignation. But
when feel and know that am far more
soldier than l can ever be anything else,
1t all the more convinces me that my
efforts belong now and for lifetime to
the nation that trained me and that
have sworn to serve. ~
THE dear ones at home know me best,
it is true. The class in whose supposed
interests | have been so unjustly aSsailed,
it is also true, is very different from that
in which we move. But, in the broad
light of soldiers duty, neither the love
of the one nor the unreasoning hate of
the other should swerve me. The hard
est knocks a soldier has to bear come
sometimes from the very men whom he
is sworn to defend. You would not
have me yield because of a singing
wound or two, nor would be worthy of
your name if faltered now. 1t is my
belief that, despite apparent apathy,
there is still north or south place in
the hearts of the people for every soldier
who seeks faithfully to serve them. and
in that faith-God helping mel shall
fo1la-x- +E,o II. lo,- - a.
by Jupiter" said Kenyon, as he
sprang to his feet and strobe c1citedly
up and down the room. isn't that
enough to make one damn the liberty of
the press, to think that Il month ago il
was holding up that fine fellow for
everything that was low and contempti-
bic. Miss Marshall if / were Why,
she's gomez
just stepped into the dining room a
moment" said Mrs. Lane promptly,
though her eyes We're trimming. Now,
isn't that Mr. Hearn all OVER
But Georgia Marshall had not gone
into the dining room. Mabel found her
over at the end OF the veranda gazing at
the distant night lights across the dark
and silent valley.
September came, and the Eleventh
would soon be On its homeward march.
Letters to the regiment made frequent
mention of CID Kenyoa's devotion to
Miss Marshall. and even Hearn had tc
hear occasional bits OF conversation that
told him that in quitting Ryan he had
abandoned the field to rival But
when orders reached them there was
other news: Miss Marshall was to re-
turn to the east at once. Despite every
plea" wrote Mabel, ''shc persists in it,
and a'lanant IS no more yielding than
Is her determination. / am utterly
heartbroken, but cannot prevent it,
She has been making arrangements for
a new position of some kind for the last
SIX weeks, and she VIII leave before the
regiment gets back
And when tho Eleventh came march
ing into Ryan late il the month, and a
host of tanned and bearded troopers
rode in behind the band on its dancing
grays, Georgia Marshall had vanished
from the scene