Semi=weekly graphic., 1896-08-01
CHApTER Y

along. He told her OF the latest move
ments of the world eff fashion, sub
ject which she would willingly have
discussed to the exclusion Of anything
more personal-and his measured Ian
guage helped to still her disquieted
heart and brain. Had not her own sad
ness been what it was she must have
observed his embarrassment At last he
abruptly changed the subject.
/ ana glad you are pleased with my
little present, he said 1.-The truth is
that brought it to propitiate Zee and
to get you to help me out of a mighty
difficulty"
1t was inconceivable to Phyllis that
this Independent bachelor-whom she
admired in some respects-could have a
difficulty
Phyllis, I'll tell you my secret at
once, fer / have u monstrous secret to
confide before 1 can ask your counsel
The case is, then, that / am married
Yes, | have privately married a dear
young belle, and if you knew her, and
hope you viii, You would say every
thing IN her praise. But she is not quite
the one that my father would have
chosen for me-you know the paternal
idea as well as land l have kept it
secret. There will be terrible row no
doubt, but think that with your help
may get over it. If you would only
do me this rood tufn-when I have told
my father, l mcan-say that you never
could have married me, you know, or
something Of that sort-'pon my life it
viii help to smooth the way nightly
am so anxious to win him round to
my point of view and not to cause any
estrangemert. -
What Phyllis replied she scarcely
knew, or how she eounseled him as to
his unexpected situation. Yet tile relief
that his announcement brought her was
perceptible. To have confded her trou-
bic in return was what her aching heart
longed % do, and had Humphrey been a
woman she would instantly have poured
ont her tale. But to him she feared to
confess, and there was q real reason for
silence till a sufficient time had elapsed
to allow her lover and his comrade to
get out Of harm $ way
she sought SOLITARY place and spent the
time III half regretting that she had not
gone away ard in dreaming over the
meetings with Matthaus Tina from their
beginning to their end In his own
country, among his own countlywomen,
he would possibly soon forget her, even
to her very name
Her listlessness was such that she did
not GO out of the house for several days
There came a morning which broke in
fog and mist, behind which the dawn
could Ne discerned in greenish gray, and
the outlines of the tents aad the rows of
horses at the ropes The smoke from the
canteen fires dropped heavily.
The spot at the bottom of the garden
where she had been accustomed to climb
the wall to meet Matthaus was the only
inch of English ground in which she
took any interest, and i'll spite of the
disagreeable haze prevailing she walked
out there till she reached the well
known corner. Every blade of grass was
weighted with little liquid globes, and
slugs and snails had crept out upon the
plots She could hear the usual faint
noises from the camp, and i'll the other
direction the trot Of farmers on the road
to Weymouth, for il was market day
She observed that her frequent visits to
this corner had quite trodden down the
grass in the angle of the wall and left
marks of garden soil on the stepping
stones by which she had mounted to look
over the top. Seldom having gone there
till dusk, she had not considered that
her traces might be visible by day. Per
haps it was these which had revealed
her trysts to her father.
While she paused i'll melancholy re-
gard she fancied that the customary
sounds from the tents We're changing
their character. Indifferent as Phyllis
was to camp doings now, she mounted
by the steps to the old place. What she
beheld at first awed and peIalexed her
Ihen she stood rigid, her fingers hooked
to the wall, her eyes staring out of her
head, and her face as if hardened to
stone.
On the open green stretching before
her all the regiments in the camp were
drawn up in square, in the midst of
which two empty collins lay on the
ground The unwonted sounds which
she had noticed came from all advane-
ing procession. 1t consisted of the band
of the York hussars playing a dead
march. Next two saddle soldiers OF that
regiment, guarded on each side and ac-
eompanied by clergyman. Behind
came a crowd of rustics who had been
attracted by the event The melancholy
procession entered the square and halt
ed beside the collins, where the two con-
demned men We're blindfolded and each
placed kneeling on his coffin. A few
minutes pause was now given while
they prayed
A firing party Of IL stood ready with
leveled carbines. The commanding off
Ger, who had his sword drawn, waved
it through some cuts of the sword ex-
ercise till he reached the downward
stroke, whereat the firing party dis
charged their volley. The two victims
fell, one upon his face across his coffin,
the other backward.
AS the yolley resounded there arose