Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1896-06-13

them, Wnen she coulu nave muueicu Tie
others like wax to her purpose? Why?
Ard yet with the question came a pos
sible answer that he hardly dared to
think of; that in its very vagueness
seemed to fill him with stimulating
thrill and hopefulness. He quickened
his pace. He would take the letter and
yet De master of himself when the time
came to open it.
That time came three days later, in
his tent on Three Pine Crossing, AS he
broke open the envelope he was re-
lieved to find that it contained no other
Enclosure. and seemed intended only for
himself. 1t began abruptly:
when you read this you will under
stand why did not speak to you when
we met last night; why even dreaded
that you might speak to me, knowing
what ought to tell you even at such
place and moment--something you
could hear from me alone. | did not
know you were in Washington, al
though I knew that you We're relieved;
had no way of seeing you or sending
to you before, and | only came to Mrs.
Boompointer's party in the hope of
hearing news of you.
"You know that my brother was cap
tured by your pickets, in company with
another officer. He thinks you sus-
pected the truth, that he and his friend
were lowering near your lines to effect
the escape of the spy. But he says that
although they failed to help her she
did escape, or was passed through the
lines by your connivance. He says that
you seemed to know her, that from
what Rose ,themulattow woman, told him,
you and she were evidently old friends.
I would not speak of this, nor intrude
upon your private affairs only that
| think you ought to know that had
no knowledge of it when was in your
house, but believed her TO be stranger
to you. You gave me no intimation
that you knew her, and believed that
you were frank with me. But should
not speak of this at all, for 1 believe
that it would have made no difference
with me in repairing the wrong that
thought l had done you, only that as !
am forced by circumstances to tell you
the terrible ending of this story you
ought to know it all.
"My brother wrote to me that the
evening after you left the burying par
ty picked up the body of what they be-
lieved to be a mulatto woman lying
on the slope. 1t was not Rose, but the
body of that very woman-the real and
only spy-whom you had passed
through the lines at daybreak. My
brother thinks she was accidentally
killed in the first attack upon you by
her own friends, and so fell double
martyr But only my brother and his
friend recognized her through her
blackened face and disguise, and on the
plea that she was a servant of one of
their friends, they got permission from
the division commander to take her
away, and she was buried by her friends
and among her people in the little Gem
etery of Three Pines crossing, not far
from where you have gone. My brother
thought l ought to tell you this; it
seems that he and his friend had a
strange sympathy for you in what they
appear to know or guess of your rela-
tons with that woman, and | think he
was touched by what he thought was
your Kindness and chivalry to him on
account of his sister. But I do not
think he ever knew, or will know, how
great is the task that he has imposed
upon me.
you know now, do you not, why !
did not speak to you when we first
met. 1t seemed so impossible to do
it in an atmosphere and a festivity that
was SO homogeneous to the dreadful
message l was charged with And
when had to meet you later-perhaps
may have wronged you-but it seemed
to me that you We're so preoccupicd
and Interested with other things that
might perhaps only be wearying you
with something you cared little for.
or perhaps already knew and had quick
ly forgotten.
81 had been wanting to say some
thing else to you when / had got rid of
my dreadful message. l do not know
if you still care TO hear. But you were
once generous enough to think thai
l had done you a service in bringing
letter to your commander. Although
| know better than anyone else the
genuine devotion to your duty that
made you accept my poor service, from
all that / can hear you have never had
the credit of it. VIII you now try me
again? | am in more favor here, and
| might yet be more successful il show
ing your superiors how true you have
been to your trust, even if you have
little faith in your friend Matilda
Faulkner"
For long time he remained motion
less with the letter in his hand. Then
he arose, ordered his horse and galloped
away.
There was little difficulty in finding
the cemetery of Three Pines crossing
hillside slope, hearsed with pine
and cypress and starred with white
crosses, that in the distance looked
like flowers. Still less was there in
finding the newer marble shaft among
the older lichen spotted slabs. which
bore the simple words: alice Ben
ham, Martyr" A few confederate sol
diers, under still palmer and newer
wooden headstones, carved only with
initials, lay at her feet. Grant sank
on his knees beside the grave, but he
was thrilled to see that the base of
the marble was stained with the red
pollen of the fateful lily, whose bios
SONS had been heaped upon her mound.
but whose fallen petals lay dark and