Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-08-02
FROM THE RANKS.
By CAPTAIN CHARLES KING.
lCopyright. Is0i. by the J. B. Lippincott Col
CHAPTER VII.

lCopyrisht, 1894, by the J. B. Lppincott Col CHAPTER VII
 Before guard mounting, almost half an hour before his usual time for ap- bearing at the office, Colonel May nard hurried into his desk, sent the or derly for Captain Chester, and then the clerks in the sergeant majors room heard him close and lock the door. As the subject of the shooting was already under discussion among the men there assembled, this action on the part of the chief was considered highly signifi- cant. It was hardly five minutes before Chester came, looked surprised It find ing the door locked, knocked and was admitted
 The look on the haggard face at the i desk, the dumb misery ill the eyes, the wrath and horror in it all, carried him back 20 years to that gloomy morning in the casemates when the story was passed around that Captain Maynard had lost a wife and an intimate friend during the previous night. Chester saw at glance that, despite his precau- tions, the blow had come the truth been revealed at one fell swoOp.
 "Lock the door again, Chester, and 1 come here. 1 have some questions to ask you"
 The captain silently took the chair which was indicated by wave of the colonel's hand and waited. For q mo- ment no word more was spoken The old soldier, white and trembling strange | ly, rescated himself at the desk and covered his face with his hands. Twice he drew them with fcebly stroking movement over his eyes, us though to rally tho stunned faculties and face the trying ordeal Then shiver passed through his frame, and with sudden lift tf tho head he fixed his gaze on Ches- ier's face and launched the questions:
 'Chester, is therc any kindness to O man who has been through what have i'll telling only half tale, as you have donc:''
 The captain colorcd red. ''I am at a loss to answer you, colonel" he said after brief reflection. "You know far more than you did half an hour ago. and what I knew l could not bear to tell you as yet.
 My God, my God. Tell me all and tell me at once. Here, man, if you need stimulant tO your indignation and can not speak without it, read this. found | it, open, among the rOscbushes ill the | garden, where she must have dropped it when out there with you. Read it. | Tell me what it means, for, God knows, I cant believe such thing of her. He handed Chester n sheet of note paper. It was moist and blurred on the first page, but the inner pages, though damp, were ill good condition. The first. second and third pages were close | ly covered ill q bold, nervous hand that | Chester knew well. It was Jerrold s writing beyond q doubt, and Chester face grew hot as he read, and his heart turned cold as stone when he finished the last hurried line:
 l My DARIING-I rlust sec you, if only for 6 l moment, before you leave. Do not let this | alarm you, for the more think the more I an convinced 1t is only a bluff, but Captain Ches. 1 ter discovered my absence early this morning | when spying around usual, and now Inc | claims to have knowledge of our secret. Even l if he was on the terrace when l got back il | was too dark for him to recognize me- and ii | seems impossible that he can have got any real | Clcw. He suspects, perhaps, and thinks tC force me 10 confession, but 1 would guard | your name with my life Be wary Act as | though there were nothing on earth between l Us, and if We cannot meet until then will be | at the depot with the others to sec you of, and will then have n letter ready with full particu- | lars and instructions. IL will be in the first | thing I hand tU you. Hide it until you car | safely read 1t. Your mother must not be al | lowed q glimmer of suspicion, and then you art safe. As for me, even Chester cannot make | the colonel turn against me now. My jealous l one, my fiery sweetheart, do you not realizG now that was wise in showing her muct | attention? thousand kisses Come wha may. they cannot rob us of the past
 l HOWARD.
 fear you heard and were alarmed by the shots just after I left you. All was quiet wheI | got home.
 It was some seconds before Chester could control himself sufficiently tC speak. "I wish to God the bullet hac gone through his heart!" he said
 ''It has gone through mine-througl mine! This will kill her mother. Ches ter. cried the colonel, springing sud denly to his feet, "she must not know it. She must not dream of it 1 tell yoI it would stretch her ill the dust, dead for she loves that child with all he strength. with all her being. I believe for it is two mother loves in one. Sh, had son. older than Alice by severa years, her firstborn-her glory he Wa but the boy inherited the father pas sionate and impulsive nature. He lovet girl utterly beneath him and would have married her when he was only 20 There is no question that he loved he well. for he refused to give her up, n' matter what his father threatened. The, tried to buy her of. and she scOrneC them. Then they had a letter written while he was sent abroad under pretens, that he should have his will if he cam
 back in a year unchanged. By love, i seems she was as much in love as he and it broke her heart. She went of ant died somewhere and he came bacl ahead of time because her letters hat ceased and found it all out There wa an awful scene. He cursed them both father and mOther-and left her sense less at his feet, and from that day t this they never heard of him, neve could get the faintest report It brok Rcnwick-killed him, guess, for h died ill two years, and, as for the moth CT, you would not think that a woman so apparently full of life and health Wa i'll desperate danger. She had some or Ganic trouble with the heart years ago they tell her, and this experience ha developed it so that now any great emo tion or sudden shock is perilous- Do yol not see how doubly fearful this come to Us: Chester. have weathercd ont awful storm, but I'm old and broker now. This-this beats me Tell m, what to du"
 The captain was silent few mo ments- He was thinking intently
 Docs she know you have that let
 ter:' he asked.
 Maynard shook his head "I lookes
 back as I came away. She was in tn
 parlor singing softly to herself at tn
 very moment picked it up, lying opel as it was right there among the roses - the first words staring me in the face