The Irish standard., 1891-04-18

blood in Norfolk oyster. In my opin-
ion you have done very pluclay, com
rnendable thing, and there are brighter
eyes than old Mats will CLEAN approval
when the story's told at Nashville.
CHAPTER XII
NIGHT ATTACK.
"Winstanley is not much of place, y
Frank Besant said, as they marched
that September afternoon up the one
dusty street that constituted the main
portion Of the misera ble village, whose
saualid houses and sal]ow, unwhole-
some inhabitants seemed from their
signs OF decay TO be unworthy the no.
tice of friend or foe. No wonder Bragg
had not stayed his march to pillage SO
contemplate a community, as it was
really only a settlement OF unhealthy
"eracker'' whites, ON whom even the
slaves looked with contempt.
"No, it isn't much Of a place." Lieu
tenant Gregory, to whom Franks re-
mark had been made, assented, with an
expressive shrug of the shoulders.
"They say he was a bold man who first
swallowed an oyster: but hang nee, ii
! he woult, not be bolder who laid hi1n.
self to rest in ane Of these huts.
"Yet that may be Our fate" Frank
rTophesiad.
''The Lord forbid!' was the pious re-
loinder.
But amid ali this squalor, one house
stood high Oh hill at the further end
of the village, which boasted greater
pretensions than its humble neighbors.
| Il was q great, square, stone building,
utterly without ornament, but roolny
and capacious, which never by any pos
sibility could have suggested home, but
which was large enough to promise
accommodation for a host: and out Of
it's square, ugly gateway, a tall. spare,
middle-aged man was coming at a rapid
WALL towards the advancing column.
'Howdy! Howdy!" cried one of the
cracker gentry, coolly offering a be-
grimed paw to Major Hopkins, a court
esy which that gentleman pretended not
to notice.
"Who is this person coming down the
hill?" the officer asked
'sHi1n's Squar' Dixon, him is. We
'uns dom take much stock in he-kyind
o. peart on his raisin', an thinks his
self better'n res O. U.S.
Squire Dixon forthwith rose one
hundred per cent in the Majors estima-
tion, good opinion, which was forti~
fed by his unaffected expression of
pleasure at the presence OF Northern
troops, and his kindly offers of hospi-
tality
''1 am sorry kyant house you all, %
he said, heartily, 'b,1t your officers will
find welcome in my pore home, an
your men can take up their quarters in
the village church" q proposition which
was gratefully accepted.
All went merry as & marriage-be1l.
Considering the times, a bountiful sup
per was done ample justice to by the
grateful officers, who did not fail also
to appreciate a box OF excellent cigars
and an abundance of whisky, which,
though forced upon them with a gener-
GUS display of hospitality, they in
dulged in with moderation. The squire
proved himself an admirable host, and
won golden opinions from his we'll
pleased guests. His was a peculiar
case, as he explained to them. Sent as
boy to a school in Massachusetts,, he
had acquired sentiments which were at
variance with the opinions of his neigh
bors, particularly as regards the ques~
tion of the abolition Of slavery, of which
he approved and which, of course, had
made him marked man in the COM
munity. When the war broke out,
though his sympathies had been entire
ly with the North, he had never dared
to declare them, though he was willing
now and at all times to sacrifice any
thing in reason to his conviction--any
thing, in fact. short of begga1ing his
family. His family? Oh, yes, he had
! a wife and three daughters who were
now in Cincinnati, thank Heaven! be-
yond the reach of immediate danger.
AS the Major said, when they reached
their chambers, Mr.. Dixon was alto
gether most interesting person.
Lieutenant Cuthbertson, of Charlie Full
toms company, was on guard duty: the
rest of the officers were assigned to a
suite of chambers side by side at the
back of the mansion overlooking a neg
lected garden After brief chat in
the Majors room they retired to rest
But Hopkins, though he had professed
fatigue, was not inclined to follow the
example of his subordinates: so instead
| Of throwing his weary limbs on the
tempting feather-bed he lit cigar, put
out his lamp, and drew a chair up to
his chamber window. It was brill
liant moonlight night, almost like day
in it's semi-tropical clearness, and the
Major, who was a man of sentiment,
looked with unfeigned pleasure on the
pretty scene which met his gaze. In
front of him lay the garden and orchard,
and beyond, rugged country road
winding up the side Of a hill covered
with scrub, but whose top was crowned
with lofty forest trees, sharply defined
| in the white moonlight.
Could Frank Besant have followed
the current of the Majors wandering
thoughts, he would indeed have been
startled; for his meditations were on
the possibility Of a man sincerely low
! ing two women, with himself as an IL
lustration of the problem, and one OF
Il l.