Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-06-13

tor her--least o. Oh did Billy. He was
too loyal to be jealouG, too honorable
and chlvalrous to believe the woman
he loved could stoop to deqsit; for
the rest. who could see her and not
admires And she was his. he was 90
secure, so exultant
Then the war came on, and Billy
and / and the rest OF my world and
yours, major, went out to fight for
the South.
"It-it IL not easy always to hear
lovers raptures In patience" said
the colonel, after pause; "but II l
had known-poor BillyI The thought
OF Diana's love and welcome cheered
and frightened for him those four
long. awful years Of bitter trial and
sore defeat, and when. after Lees
surrender, we turned our faces home
ward the JOY Of seeing her again
swallowed up all troubles In 1t.
II remember as II 1t were yester-
day how we came home" The mar
rator's voice tfembled, and the major
instinctively reached out his hand
toward him. 81 remember how
how it all looked--the familiar scene
that the desolation of war had
touched and shriveled with its curse
the untitled fields. the broken
fences. the ruined homes. We rode
along with bowed heads and heavy
hearts, two wearied. gaunt, ragged
soldiers of q lost cause. when sud-
denly our horses SHE'D, and coming
toward US, down shady pathway,
was Diana Worthington. / looked
at Billy, ut his TRANSPORTED face, and
then / turned my back. 1t is not
good for one man to look on the un-
yelled soul OF another.
Diana, DianaY / heard him cry
as he threw himself of his horse and
at her feot, and then he caught her
hands and held them against his
ragged gray jacket as IL he would
still the tumult Of his beating heart.
oh, Billy she answered, with
the light laugh l remembered so we'll
Of old. oh, Billy, haven't you
learned any self control in all these
years? You must forget am mar
ried.'
Married. he cried, and reeled
and would have fallen, but caught
him.
Why. yes she said; to Mr..
Appleby. Haven't you heard itT
And she laughed again as IL she did
not know every word stabbed him.
You know" said the colonel, softly,
that when man gets his death
wound sometimes he stands still and
straight for moment, unconscious
even of the pain. 1t was that way
with Billy. He Strengthened him
self, as I've seen him do when we
charged the enemy, but his voice
never raised itself above whisper
He compelled her eyes to meet his.
Il swear by the love and truth
you have murdered in me, he said.
you shall answer to me yet for this.
Tell your husband that; and when
the day comes / will show as little
mercy as you have shown me. Go!
And he pointed sternly to the wood
land path she had come. Go; you
dishonor an honest man with your
presence.' ~zey- ~ L &C. ----g
"She shrank away from him. from
his haggard face and accusing eyes,
and when she bad gone ! turned to
him Withhold knows what words OF
impotent sympathy-but before the
misery in his face, pity itself was
dumb. Betrayed, forsaken by the
woman he worshiped--what was
there to say?
He waved his hand to me in fare
we'll, and struck off into bridlepath
that led to his ruined home, and the
very night seemed to close in around
him in added darkness as he went.
forth on his lonely and despairing
way.
''Of course we soon knew the par
ticulars of Diana Worthington mar
riage. The Baynham estate, like
many another in the South, was
swallowed up in the maelstrom OF
war. Old Mr.. Baynham had specu-
lated in Confederate money. failed,
of course, died and when Billy came
home he was absolutely penniless.
Diana had no notion Of wasting her
charms on nm impecunious husband,
and wealthy man coming along,
she married him. 1t was all very
commonplace and unromantic, and
-usual-only, you see. knew Billy.
"Well, / came on here to try to
retrieve my own fortunes, which were
bad enough, God knows, and rather
lost sight of Baynham. OF course l
knew he studied law, and after
while was elected Governor, but l
didn't know much else until the other
day when / met Uncle Ike, his old
body servant, as was telling you.
1T seems that Of the slaves and
possessions that had once been Bayn-
hams, all were gone; he had abb
solutely nothing with which to start
his unequal fight against fate, except
his iron will and determination to
succeed. He stayed for few days
in the old home, gathering himself
together after the blow Diana had
given him, and then one morning he
called Uncle Ike and his wife into
the house and explained to them his
plan. He was going into the county
town to study law. The old man
protested against It, saying he would
starve. and indeed the chances looked
very flattering for it. But Judy
his wife-who had carried Billy on
her tender black breast when he was
baby, encouraged him in 1t. So he
went. And, by Jove!" said the
colonel. with his face alight with en-