The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1894-12-28


him; only Arnitagc-his captain-had
decent word for him at any timo, and
even he was stern and cold. Tho most
onvicd and careless Of the entire COM
mand, the Adonis, tho beau, the crack
shot the graceful leader i'll all garrison
gayeties, the beautiful dancer rider,
| tennis player, the adored of SO many
sentimental women at Sibley, poor Jor-
rold had found his level, and his proud
and sensitive though selfish heart was
breaking.
Sitting alone under the trees, no had
taken o sheet Of paper from his pocket
case and was writing by the light If the
rising moon. One letter was short and
easily written, for, with few words,
he had brought it TO close, then fold
cd and in bold and vigorous hand adj
dressed it. Tho other was far longer,
and over this one, thinking deeply,
erasing some words and pondering much
over others, no spent long hour. It
was nearly midnight, and he was chilled
to the heart when he stiffly rose and
took his way among the blanketed
groups to the campfire, around which
so many OF his Wearied comrades were
sleeping tho sleep Of the tired soldier.
Hero he tore TO fragments and scattered
in the embers some notes and letters
that were in his pockets. They blazed
up brightly, and by the glare no stood
one moment studying young Rollins
smooth and placid features. Then he
looked around on the unconscious circle
Of bronzed and bearded faces. There
wero many types of soldier there-men
who had led brigadeS through the great
war and como back to the humble bars
of tho line officer at its close; men who
had led fierce charges against the swarm.
ing Indians in tho rough old days of
the first prairie railways; men who had
won distinction and honorable mention
in hard and trying frontier service; men
who had their faults and foibles aid
weaknesses like other men and were ag-
gressive or compliant strong willed or
yielding, overbearing or meek, rs arc
their brethren in other walks of lie;
men who were simple i'll heart, single
in purpose and ambition, diverse in
characteristics, but unanimous in ono
trait-no meanneSs 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 ono who
could say of him, HE is generous, and
stand his friend?" Was there ono of
them, one of theirs, for whom he had
ever denied himself pleasure, great or
smalls He looked at poor old Gray, with
his wrinlsled, anxious face, and thought
of his distress of mind. Only few
thOusands-not three years pay-had
the veteran scraped and saved and stored
away for his little girl, whose heart
was aching with its first cruel SORROW
his work, his undoing, his c1rsed, 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, fathers
plying sympathy could not DO her help
with the coming year. Would Gray
mourn him il the fortune Of war mado
him the victim? Would any one Of those
averted faces look with pity and regret
upon his stiifening form! Would there
DO any orc on ocrsh 70 whom his death
would be q sorrow bat Nina? Would
it even be blow 10 her? Sho loved him
wildly, he knew that, bat would she
were she TO dream tho truth? He knew
her nature well. He knew how quickly
such burning love could turn to fiercest
hate when convinced that the object was
utterly untrue. He had said nothing to
her of the photograph, nothing at all Of
Alice, except to protest time and again
that his attentions to her were solely to
win the good will of tho colonel's fam
lily and OF tho colonel himself, so that
he might be proof against the machina-
tions of his foes. And yet had he not
that very night ON which he crossed the
stream and lot her peril her name and
honor for enc stolen interview-had he
not gone TO her exultant welcome with
traitorous knowledge gnawing at his
heart? That very night, before they
parted at the colonel's door, had he not
lied to Alice Renwick, had he not do
MED the story of his devotion to Miss
Beaubien. and was not his, praoticod
eye watching eagerly the beautiful
dark face for one sign that tho news
was welcome and SO precipitate the
avowal trembling Oh his lips that it
was her no madly loved-not Nina!
Though sho hurriedly babe him good
night, though she was unpreparcd for
any such announcement, he we'll knew
that Alice Rcnwick's heart futtered at
tho earnestness of his manner, and that
he had indicated far more than no had
said.
Fear, not love, had drawn him to
Nina Beaubien that night, and hope
had conferred on her moro beautiful
rival when the discoveries Of the night
involved him in the first trembling
symptoms Of tho downfall TO come.
And he was to have spent tho morning
with her, the woman to whom he had
lied in word while she to whom he had
lied in word and deed was going from