The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-08-03

sentimental women at Sibley, poor Jer-
rold had found his level, and his proud
and sensitive though selfish heart was
breaking
Sitting alone under the trees, he had
taken q sheet of paper from his pocket
case and was writing by the light Of the
rising moon. One letter was short and
easily written, for, with a few words,
he had brought it to close, then fold
ed and in bold and vigorous hand ad-
dressed it. The other was far longer,
and over this one, thinking deeply,
erasing some words and pondering much
over others, he spent long hour. 1t
was nearly midnight, and he was chilled
to the heart when he stiflly rose and
took his way among tho blanketed
groups to tho campfire, around which
so many of his weariod comrades were
sleeping tho sleep of the tired soldier
Here he tore to fragments and scattered
in the embers some notes and letters
that were in his pockets. They blazod
up brightly, and by the glare he stood
one moment studying yGeng Rollins
smooth and placid features. Then he
looked around on the unconscious circle
of bronzed and bearded faces. There
were many types of soldier there--men
who had led brigades through the great
war and gone back to the humble bars
of the line officer at its close; men who
| bol 1o1 Ec-cp oh oruoc oooir,14 tl,o c1vorn,.
ing Indians i'll the rough old days of
the first prairie railways; men who had
won distinction and honorable mention
i'll hard and trying frontier service; men
who had their faults and foibles and
weaknesses like other men and were ag-
gressive OF compliant, strong willed or
yielding, overbearing or meek, as are
their brethren in other walks Of life;
men who were simple in heart, single
in purpose and ambition, diverse in
characteristics, but unanimous in one
trait-no meapness could live among
them-and Jerrold's heart sank within
him, colder, lower, stonier than before,
as he looked from face to face and cast
up mentally the sum of each mans
character.
His hospitality had been boundless,
his bounty lavish; one and all they had
eaten of his loaf and drunk Of his cup,
but was there among them one who
could say of him, 's.He is generous, and
l stand his friend?" Was there one Of
them, one of theirs, for whom he had
ever denied himself a pleasure, great or
small? He looked at poor old Gray, with
his wrinkled, anxious face, and thought
of his distress of mind. Only q few
thousands-not three years pay-had
tho veteran scraped ard saved and stored
away for his little girl, whose heart
was aching with its first cruel SORROW
his work, his undoing his cursed, self
ish greed for adulation, his reckless
love of love. The morrow's battle, if
, it came, might leave her orphaned and
alone, and, poor as it was, a fathers
pitying sympathy could not be hGr help
with the coming year. Would Gray
! mourn him if the fortune of war made
him the victim? Would any one Of those
: averted faces look with pity and regret
, upon his stiffening form? Would there
: be any one on earth to whom his death
: would be a sorrow but Nina? Would
it even be q blow to her? She loved him
wildly, he knew that, but would she
, were she to dream the truth? He knew
her nature we'll. He knew how quickly
such burning love could turn to tiercest
: hate when convinced that the object was
: utterly untrue. He had said nothing tC
, her of the photograph, nothing at all Of
: Alice, except to protest time and again
, that his attentions to her were solely tc
, win the good will of the colonel's fam
, lily and Of the colonel himself, so that
t he might be proof against the machina
tions of his foes, And yet had he no
= that very night OH which he crossed thC
!, stream and let her peril her name ant
honor for one stolen interview-had hi
J not gone to her exultant welcome will
} traitorous knowledge gnawing at hi
: heart? That very night, before they
J parted at the colonel's door, Lad ho no
l lied to Alice Renw!ck, h0d he not do
! MED the story Of his devotion to Mis-
} Beaubien, and was not his praot!ce(
| eye watching eagerly the beautifu
: dark face for ono sign that the new
t was welcome and so precipitate th
l avowal trembling or his lips that i
, ! xxrau how hn ,,,n1lv- ln,r,l Ninn
{ Though she hurriedly bade him goot
5 night, though she was unprepared fo
= any such announcement, he well knev
t that Alice RenWick's heart futtered q
3 the earnestness of his manner, and tina
5 he had indicated far more than he ha,
said.
5 Fear, not love, had drawn him t.
t Nina Beaubien that night, and hop
had centered On her more beautiful
: rival when the discoveries of the nigh
< involved him i'll the first trembling
r symptoms Of the downfall to come
t And he was to have spent the morning
1 with her, the woman to whom he ha,
S lied in word, while she to whom he ha
l lied in word and deed was going fror
r him, not to return unti! the german
and even then he planned treachery
t He meant to lead with Alice Renwio
and claim that it must be with tho colo
1 nel's daughter because the ladies @
3 the garrison were the givers. Then h
: knew Nina would not come at all an
s. possibly might quarrel with him O.
l that ground. What could have been o
l ca n solution Of his troublous predica
. ment? She would break their secret er
gagement; he would refuse all reconcili
1 alton and be free to devote himself t
Alice. But all these grave complica
. tions had arisen. Alice would not come
1 Nina wrote demanding that he shoul
lead with her and that he should NEE
her at st. Croix, and then came tn
crash. He owed his safety to her sci
L sacrifice and now must give up all hop