The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-09

, that time wOuIt have spent moHsJ IIeeIy
only T. have had the very late news from
~ Crjneq. No war we have engaged in
sInca has excited such feverIsh interest IN
England until we come to the dramatic
storv Of Wos.ley's s. lendid dash across the
desert to Khart1um, with its desperate
fighting. sad death roll-all enduring In that
melanch7ly wall TOO late"
That IL was an excessively anxious time
for Nell LINDEN may be easily believed and
one thing that puzzled her much was, for
| the first time she did not know where her
J lover might be. When she had last heard
from him he was doing duty as usual with
the til, but Miss Lynden had seen that
gazette in which Hugh was promoted into
the Grenadier Guards, even a little before
it reached the Crimea. Her father, whose
knowledge OF the British army was as accu-
rate as If he had passed some years OF his
life in it and was familiar with all the de-
tails thereof, in reply to her questioning had
Informed her that an officers promotion
from one regiment to another involved his
Joining the regiment he was promoted to
that Fleming would therefore join the
Guards; and that the Guards, in consequence
| Of the terrible punishment they had en-
dured at Inkermann and their sufferings
during the winter, had been so reduced that
they had been sent lwn to Balaklava and
placed in reserve Miss Lynden therefore
/
not actively engaged upon this occasion.
He has done enough, Frances, Pm sure;
and il be is only safe Pm sure it cannot
signify his not being with the old regiment
| this time
To which Miss Smerdon made no reply.
| She could only think that the man who de-
| spisad her, the man whom she never meant
to see again, but VIII I'M, alas she still loved,
was he still at the front. All, was he still at
| ba Ap6 the an r a into her
eyes and she thought what wouldn't she
| give, even TO know that much
| DR.. Lynden showed an indifference about
the return lists that made the two girls per-
fectlv furious. AS Miss Smerdon said:
We don't expe t our fathers to take
quite same interest in our lovers that we do
ourselves, but darling Nell, your fathers
really might have some little feeling for
them be knew fairly well, such few
months ago"
The lives of the oombatants III the eyes of
DR.. Lynden we're as the loss of so many
pawns in the game, save and except 1t
should happen to be that of some combat
ant of mark. But as he had already said
there were no Napoleons nowadays. and
there was only one man engaged in the
struggle whose value the doctor appraised
at a very high standard, and that was the
Intrepid Eng lneer who had SO long defended
febastOpoL The doctors mind at present
was busy with con lectures as to where the
second act would take place.
"As for the north SIDE" he would say,
"iy's perfectly immaterial. | don't suppose
the Russia ans care whether we have it or
they; their fleet is sunk, we shall destroy
their arsenal, blow in their docks, and Sc
bastopoi is thing of the past-c'eSt ti1i."
But the grim returns are cabled home at
last. And the two girls glance eagerly
through the list until they come to the til.
The regiment was engaged quite as holly as
it had previously been in the QuarTies, but
fortune had favored it on this occasion, and
it had suffered far less severely both in
officers and men. Two of the former only
we're wounded, and it was with sense Of
intense relief that they saw no mention OF
the names of either Byng or Fleming.
Then they turned to the general account Of
the capture of the place, of which. though
the reports we're as yet meagre, there were
still quite sufficient to make one long to
learn the whole story of the finish of the
great drama which had been SO long exacted
before it. Suddenly Miss Smerdon, who
was now in entire possession of the paper,
uttered low cry, and gasped out;
20. Nell, Nell. my darling, am SO sorry
for your
Frances eye had once more reverted &c
the list of killed and wounded, and at the
bottom of this she saw what had before as
capped their eyes.
1--WE regret to say that Capt. Fleming, OF
the Grenadier Guards, is among the miss
ing"
Nell LINDEN turned very white, and heI
lips twitched little; but more habituated
she only held out her hand, and said quietly
though her voice shook little:
Give me the paper"
Placing her finger on the fatal line
Frances handed it to her in silence
For moment Nell gazed at the para
graph half vacantly, as one who did not un
! derstand its meaning, and this in truth sh,
did not She was trying to think wha
| "missing" meant Why did they not know
where he was. II he we're killed, if h,
| wounded, surely some one must know
| Could it mean that he was prisoners No
hardly that, she thought; since Inkerman,
! it mad so rarely happened that officers haC
been made prisoners on either side, not fol
any barbarous reasons OF refusing quarter
but simply it had happened so.
But Miss Smerdon could only reply, witt
tears, that she did not know and missing
| must mean missing"
Then Nell reflected what her father haC
told her, that Hugh would at once have t
| join his new regiment; and again shl
| glanced at the brief story of the assault
contained in the paper she held III her hand
Yes, her father was right, it mentioue,
that the Guards and Highlanders, though
marched up to the front had been held il
reserve during the Sth Of September.
must be a mistake; the next mail woul
| probably bring a letter from Hugh, an
make her laugh over her fears. Surely
| after preserving him through SO much dan
| ger, God could not DE so cruel as to. TAX
her lover from her on the last day of tia
| terrible siege. She never reflected tina
such sorrow must by the lot of many
woman in England wh) had read the re
turns that day.
But the next mail brought no letter frou
| Hugh. and then. heart-sick with terribl
anxiety, Nell Lynden wroN Tor news t
Maj. Byng. She had nervtd herself nov
for the worst. She knew some disaste
must have befallen Hugh, or he would
never have failed to scrawl a note afte
such a battle as the last. She shed no tears
she made no outward moan; she eve
shrank from specializing over Hugh's proba
BILE fate with her friend. But her face wor
that look of sternly, repreSsed troubl
which is far more touching in a woman
| than lamenUation and tears. As for thes
latter, Frances in her sympathy shed quit
enough, one might indeed have suppose
| that Hugh was her lover Instead of onl
her friends.
But the next mail brought letter from
the Crimea to Miss Lynden. directed in
hand which, though she failed to recognize
brought the blood to Miss Smerdon's TEN
pies when she saw it.
DEAR Miss LYNDEN," it ran. Knowing
exactly how things stand between you anC
| Hugh Fleming, feel sure you will be yer
distressed at not bearing from him las
mail have waited TO write to you I'll
this in the hone that I might have 200,