The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-23

nurses, aud once more appeared radiant in
their ordinary apparel
Hugh was much struck when his late nurse
presented herself, no longer, as she laugh
Ingiy Informed him. in that capacity but as
/ Aatemoiselle Ivanhof come to visit N. le
| Capt. Fleming and congratulate him on his
recovery from his late serious illness. IL is
possible that Hugh rather overdid the graft
| tude on this occasion. aud thanked Made
m oislle more effusively and adecdonately
/ than was absolutely necessary, but one
thing Is quite certain, that Fleming found be
had slipped imperCspt.bly from the role of
a patient into that OF lover. And if soft
smiles and sweet glanceS went for anything.
Z into that Of favored one, too-Made-
moiselle Ivanhoff was no innocent girl, but
/ worldly young lady, who had seen men and
/ cities; but she was also OF an imperious dis
| position, and one who gave free rein TO her
| caprices-one Of those wome who indulge
II those small whirlwinds of passion which
I their imagination 50 magnifies. Flirtations
/ with them, while they last, always assume
the dignity Of a grande passion.
Mademoislle on this occasion had become,
in the first instance, interested IN the man
she had nursed ba K TO life. She had
wound up by falling in love with him after
/ her fashion
All, they were dull, these provincial
! towns, this young Englishman would serve
70 amuse one here in the springtime; and
\ from this point Of view Marie had appro-
priated Hugh IN the beginning. However,
it could not be said from want of COMPETE
ton Mademoiselle Ivanhof had allowed
herself to be more infatuated alb lut this
new lover than she usually permitted her.
| self. There were plenty of her compstriots
! quite willing to ellven Batchi Serai for the
capricious lady. She never lacked admir-
ers, let her go where she would. but she
elected the E1glshmau her cavalier, and
all endeavors to shake his position proved
hopeless.
1t was awkward for Hugh, but it was not
very easy to say how he could extricate
himself. He was a prisoner, aud 80 could
| not run away from temptation. He could
| not quarrel with the woman who had
nursed him unweariedly through that terri
BILE illness. Ii was not that he was false to
his English love, though there were passages
in his Irritation with Marie Ivanhoff that
would have scarcely met her approval
Still, when young man of about and 20,
as IN Hugh's case, is exposed to all the fas-
cinations OF pretty woman, who makes no
| attempt at concesling a tendreSse for him
| self, it is small wonder if he gives occasion
for the coupling of their names in the Cos
sip of a small country town.
1t was very singular, Hugh thought, that
| no news should have come to him OF Nellie
/ Lynden; Of course he didn't get his letters
with the regularity he would have done in
his own lines. but still, they did come to
him; at uncertain inter walls few were for
| warded by his own regiment, so that had
Nellie written be most certainly ought to
have received anything there might be from
her. His promotion. too, he had ceased to
| think about that, he was out of it now, and
It little signified what regiment bore him on
its strength. He supposed that it was all
| ont of it now, that they would be all on
| their way home soon; in Batchi Serai they
| seemed just as convinced that the war was
| finished, as they were in the allied camps.
| Hugh could not but admit that there was
some truth in what Russian colonel had
said to him:
Eyes, you have taken Sebastopol, but to
the defense belongs all the glory. When
that siege becomes history, it is not your
side who will be most talked about, among
all the chiefs engaged in it, Todleben
| will stand out head and shoulders above
| the rest"
| But what did Hugh caro- about history.
| The present was what he had to do with,
and very pleasant he found it. 1t was lotus
eating, if you will, this dangling at the
skirts of Mademoisslle Ivanhoff, it was not
behaving quite fairly perhaps to his fiancee
but then, what could he dos 1t might not
be quite right, but it was very pleasant; if
his conduct was not exactly what it ought
l w pC, nc, ab Oil GN6nbc, COuluA u6lp IL, uuu
| because man was engaged to be married
to one woman, he was justified in behaving
like brute to all the rest. 1t would all
come to an end now in a few weeks, and
| Marie and he would part dear good friends.
He certainly did have occasional misgiv-
ings, that parting might be an unpleasant
business, he had not promised marriage to
Marie Ivanhoff, neither had he informed
her that he was pledged to another. But
that young lady undoubtedly regarded him
as quite her own property. and Hugh knew
full we'll that those dark eyes of hers could
tighten on occasion, and that she was no
woman to take q wound to her GrDlor
propre tamely.
There were two things that certainly
ought to have occurred to Hugh had his
mind not been occupied-namely, that
taking all the circumstances into consldera-
ton it would be as well that be should re-
turn to England, and, secondly, that if he
set to work in earnest there would probe-
bly, not be much difficulty in his doing SO.
he was prisoner on parole at present, and
the peace he regarded as almost certain. 1t
was not likely that the Russians would give
him permission to go home if he wond sim
ply give his word not to serve against
them in case of a resumption of hoStilities.
But If all this failed to cross the mind of
Hugh Fleming, Tom Byng and his brother
officers were considerably struck by it.
why hugn fingered az batcnl SERIAL was H.
applicable. except upon the grounds of his
having fallen deeply in love with this fair
Russian. That would account for every
thing, otherwise it was SO very odd that he
didn't come to spend the last few weeks of
the Crimean campaign with them. None of
them doubted that he bad only to apply for
such permission to obtain It, and one would
have thought that he would have enjoyed
having a last look at the old places where
they had fought aud suffered in the society
Of the old comrades, who had fought and
suffered with him.
"aang it." as Brydon said, "he ought to
be anxious to see us, but when a fellow gets
in that way he losses all sense of regard for
his fellow creatures bar one. Pm blest if
don't think he looked upon Tom and me as
rather de trop at Batch Serai the other
day."
1t may easily be supposed that Fleming
had no monopoly of the correspondence from
Manchester. The regiment had been sta
TONED there for some months, aud one or
two of his brother officers, although not
circumstanced as Hugh was, exchanged a
few letters with friends they had made
there. And SO it came to pass that though
Hugh did not go to England. the news Of
his entanglement with Mademoiselle Ivan
hoff did. and in due course it came to the
ears of Frances Smerdon.
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