San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-03-26
THE ROSE OF CHATHAM.
By MAURICE THOMPSON

"But Rose, tell me, explain. what Is
all this for? What have doneF
Nothing, nothing. Don't speak, hurry
away, gop
He was now outside the doorway on
the uppermost step and she with the door
half closed was looking at him, the trem-
bling light from the lamp Pickering on
her pale, earnest, excited, beautiful face.
She was still motioning him away. A
puff of air blew out the lamp. Prescott
was not sure whether or not it was Rose
that caused the darkness by puff from
her bloodless lips.
Some one is coming, go very lightly,
make no noise, hurry away. Good-by,
dear, dear Wayne" he heard her say,
and then the door closed with a barely
audible click of the heavy latch.
Dazed, cruelty tortured, quite baffled
in every way, the poor lover turned from
the house and passed out into the street,
where he paused and looked up, in the
vain hope Of catching some assuring
glimpse; all was dark and the fog was
every minute growing denser. Not
sound, not CLINT Of light, not hint of
life came from the dim, solemn looking
mansion.
He fingered for a while, he hardly
knew why, then walked slowly and, for
for the first time in his life, unsteadily
away, taking the direction of his COM
pany's camp Naturally enough the
words "Good-by, dear, dear Wayne"
were ringing sweetly, yet with almost
unbearable pathos, in his ears. True
lover that he was, he felt the security of
his hold upon Roses heart. He could
not doubt her faithfulness. What then
was the meaning of the strange treat
ment he had received? Of course it was
quite impossible for him to formulate
any satisfactory explanation, and the
more he thought of it the more mysteri-
Gus it seemed Doubtless his magma
ton exaggerated the whole affair, but at
best, under the circumstances, there was
much in it to arouse the deepest anxiety,
if not the widest and most shapeless
suspicious which now crowded his brain.
Hitherto he had been frequent and al
ways welcome visitor at the Fenwicke
place; nothing of which he was aware
had happened to cause the sudden
change, nor was there any theory upon
which he could account for the singular
and almost frantic conduct of Rose in
driving him away.
In going back toward the camp he did
not rush along with the eager haste that
had urged him when his feet were set in
the other direction, but trudged heavily
and slowly, with his face drawn and his
hands clinched.
The fog, driven in more and more
from the river, the creeks and the marsh
es lying seaward, was now so close and
heavy that it made the darkness almost
as great as if there had been no moon at
all. The lieutenant had forgotten his
collision with the strange man earlier in
the evening, but the incident was sud-
denly and forcibly recalled by being re-
peated. Plump together they ran again,
but this time, as Prescott was moving
slowly and his opponent very rapidly, the
former found himself fiat on his back
in the sandy street, while the sturdy
stranger was going on his way appar-
emily not in the least disconnected. This
was less seen than felt and heard by the
PROSTATE and thoroughly enraged lieu
tenant, who sprang to his feet and slash
ed away with his sword, much gratified
that it struck the very substantial but
quite invisible enemy, who turned and
fired pistol. By the quick, keen blaze
the men saw each other for an instant.
The shot missed, and again Prescott cut
savagely, this time making an ugly
wound on the others face. Another
flash and sharp report; the ball grazed
the ieutenant's arm and plowed along
his side. Then the man rushed upon
him and dashed him to the earth as if he
had been a child, kicking him and
stamping upon him heavily.
"Take that-and that, and that. you
dirty dog of a rebel!''
Prescott heard and then became in
sensible.