Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-04-09
CHAPTER III.

IL was thanksgiving morning. Frances Up
ton and her uncle were seated at the breakfast
| table discussing the weather, which, as the
| former said, was neither fish, flesh nor good
red herring. but misty, mostly drzzle, which
made the colonel ache in all his bones. The
| servant entered, bearing on his salver the
mornings post. Frances seized her letter with
| avidity. 1t bore the Washington postmark and
| the contents ran thus:
lyon will be surprised, know, dearest
Frances, when tell you that my plans have
Ieeei'ed something OF an upset and that We are
to be married on the 18th Of December instead
| Of january. Frank finds that We can get away
at this time more easily than later. This of
course, means good deal of hurry for me, but
nope IT Will not matter seriously to Won
since your bridesmaids gown is In the hanny
state Of completion. Now, want you to com.
on to Washington rs soon as you can other wise
we shall lose too much of our visit together.
Cannot you start by the Monday after this
reaches youI And do not let Col Upton for
get that he 10 TO join you in time for tho wed
ding. Frank sent particular message in his
| last letter and says he must not be disappointed
IN this respect. / haven't time for more.
You will excuse brevity, know, Write us by
what train You will leave Louisville and we
VIII Nuke al Tue arrangements for meeting
| You. Yours ever, IsAREI."
Frances handed the letter across to her uncle
WHO read 1t with half frown upon his
brow. 1t was soroly against the old gentle
man Will to allow his niece to go to this we'd
ding and thus run directly into the enemy's
lines, but he did not know very we'll how to
| avoid it. He had hoped all along that some
thing would happen 10 prevent, but as nothing
| had happened and Frances heart was set upon
| 1t he could not find it i'll his own to disappoint
her. He trusted also that all his teachings his
| precepts with which he had indoctrinated her.
his admonitions and announcements would not
be in vain. He made pretense OF grumbling
as he saw her eager, expectant face: Only
TOO glad to run on and leave your poor, old
| uncle"
''Oh, but you know, dear. you are to follow
very soon after. You surely will, YOU know
won't you? Now promise" she assisted. drop
ping her napkin anu running round to his end
Oh the table; II you don't III never forgive
YOU"
SO what could he do but promise? Yet he
did not enjoy the prospect. The meeting be-
tween himself and Senator Ewing would neces-
sarily be strained, but they would both be too
sensible to let anything interfere with the gem
eral reioicings.
They had not seen each other since the war
hrst broke out, and during the excitement
which preceded the war eacn had been too
strong an advocate OF his own views to be on
very good terms, though their plantations had
lain side by side.
Mr.. Ewing being on the victorious side and
having lost but little in tine great strife had
laid aside the bitterness that still ra led in the
breast OF his old neighbor, who had returned
disabled for active life to his desolate home
only to weep over the grave OF his beautiful
young wife. whom he had left in the bloom and
Dr.iilancy OF her youth. and to search in vain
ior the son who was 10 perpet1ate his name
and inherit his ancestral homestead There
was tnen lett HIM but one object ON earth for
winch to live. His widowed brother, diving,
hequeathed to him his infant daughter
together with a third portion OF his large
property.
Col Upton took the little girl, called Frances
Tor her father sake, into his sorrow,uy heart
to I'LL the place of his lost boy. Frank, also
named Tor this same brother. For wears he
sought to ind the son whom his wife on her
dealhbed left to the care Of a trusted maid to
be delivered to her husband with her last mes
sage Of love.
He learned these scanty details from the
family of neighbor to whom the maid had
gone to stay till the war should end and the
father return for his boy. but in the general
confusion Of affairs and devastation of homes
and property, when the slaves had for the most
part fed in terror or seeking freedom, the
rumors OF battles and sight Of soidery proved
too much for the ignorant, faithless creature,
and she, too, escaped with the child, leaving no
trace.
When the closest INQUIRY and research had
failed to reveal any knowledge OF his son the
broke hearted colonel gave himself up to an
absorbing care and affection for the niece who
was. indeed a daughter to him and whose
sweet, winning ways alleviated in time his
deep grief.
She seldom spoke Of her uncle's trials.
which she had learned by degrees as she grew
to womanhood; respect and reverence for
him prevented her ever saying more to their
friends than that he had lost his wife and child
during the war. So Isabel, whose quick per-
ception would have at once unraveled the
mystery Of her lovers life, knew nothing of the
particulars Of Col UPson's career; !.
The wedding morning dawned bright and
clear after days Of what the official reports
designated a. ''increasing cloudiness" and the
bridal party drove to church exulting in the
fact that the sun had delgned TO shine upon
, their festivities.
ibid you send special request to the clerk
OF the weather map to keep OF his lows?'' asked
Harold, under the canopy, a. he handed his
sister from the carriage TO take her place on
her fAther's arm.
Up the isls moved the sll-important proces-
sion. ushers in dignihed phalaux, maids Of
honor in bewildering ioveliness and. lastly, the
fair young bride in her shipmsring satin and
lilies Of the valley.
Every seat was crowded with the many
friends who came TO do honor 10 the occasion
and play their minor parts IN ne drama that
nsvsr grown old