The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-08-04

He whispered gO0dby and died.
them back. My turn came later" Old
Sloat, too, chad his customary crack, {"
as he expressed it-a shot through the
wrist that made him hop ard swear
savagely until some of the men got to
laughing at the comical figure he cut,
and then he turned and damned them
with hearty good will and seemed oil
oblivious Of the bullets that went zip
ping past his frosting head. Young Rol-
lins, to his inexpressible pride and COM
fort, had bullet hole through his scout
ing hat and another through his shoul-
der strap that raised a big welt on the
white skin beneath, but, to the detri-
ment of promotion, no captain was kill
ed, and Jerrold gave the only file.
The one question at Sibley was, What
will Nina Beaubien do?
She did nothing. She would see no.
body from the instant the news came.
She had hardly slept at night, was al
ways awake at dawn and out at the
gate to get the earliest copy of the morn
ing papers, but the news reached them
at nightfall, and when some of the Ia
dies from the fort drove in to offer their
sympathy and coincidence in the morn
ing and to make tender inquiry the an
swer at the door was that Miss Nina
saw nobody, that her mother alone was
with her. and that "sho was very still. 1"
And so it went for some days. Then there
came the return Of the command to Sib-
ley, and hundreds Of people went up
from town to see the six companies of the
fort garrison march up the winding
road amid the thunder of welcome from
the guns Of the light battery and the
exultant strains Of the band. Mrs. May
nard and Alice were the only ladies of
the circle who were not there. A son and
brother had joined them after long alb
sence, at Aunt Grace's cottage at Sab
Ion, was the explanation, aud the colo
mel would bring them home in few
days, after he had attended to some i'm
portant matters at the fort. In the first
place, Chester had to see to it that the
tongue Of scandal Yves slit, so far as the
colonel's household was concerned, and
all good people notified that no such
thing had happened as was popularly
supposed-and everybody" received
the announcement with the remark that
she knew all along it couldn't be So
and that grievous and absurd but most
mortifying blunder had been made. 1t
was most unpleasant ghost to down,
the shadow of that scandal, for ii
would come up to tho surface of garri-
son chat at all manner of confidential
moments, but no man Or woman could
safely speak Of it to Chester. 1t was
gradually. assumed that he was the man
who had done all the laundering and
that he was supersensitive on the sub.
ject.
There was another thing never salts.
factorily explained to some Of the garri.
son people, and that was Nina Beau
bien's strange conduct. In less than O
week she was seen on tho street in col.
ors - brilliant colors when it was
known she had ordered deep mourning,
and then she suddenly disappeared and
went with her silent old mother abroad
To this day no woman in society under
stands it, for when she came back, long
long afterward, it was a subject or
which she would never speak. There
were one or two who ventured to ask,
and the answer was, "For reasons that
concern me alone" But it took no great
power Of mental vision to see that hel
heart wore black for him forever.
His letter explained it all She had
received it with psroxysm Of passion
ate grief and joy, kissed it, covered il
with widest caresses before she began
to read, and then, little by little, as the
words unfolded before her staring eyes,
turned cold as stone:
'It is my last night Of life, Nina,
and am glad tits So Proud and sensi'
tive as am, the knowledge that every