The Irish standard., 1896-05-02

mt&ht have Ac4e&4DeQ IL j l0Se4sy 00s |
was g veal u, - .unreiie ctius
my life g. pnr1,osele but Tor you, he
creatures you speak pf. But give mo |
now Ut least the credit OF 8 devotion to !
! my cause equal TO your own, which I
have never denied you. For tho night
that you left mo / awoke to . Aense Of
my own worth1e ssness and degradutaohI
erhaps have even to thank yon tori
this awakening and r1alize the bitt
ter truth. But that night 4 found my
.tr i yocation, NY purPoss'e my man
hood - !" u M. ,.15
5SsS A bitter laugh came trpnsthe pillow
sonwhich shr had lang uidly thrown her
self. II. believea1 left You. With Mrs.
Hooker spare mo the details, !"
The blood rushed to Rrant's face, and
then receded az suddenly.
= You left me with Capt. Pinkney, who
had tempted YOU, and whom + killed."
he said, furiously
They were, both staring ct each other.
Suddenly he said: flush" and sprang
towards the door, as the sound Of hur-
ried footsteps echoed along the pas
sage. But he was too late; it was
thrown open Is the officer 81 the guard
who appeared standing 81 the thresh-
hold. .. ~. GO. d. ~.
1.-TWO, confederate officers arrested
lowering around our pickets. They de-
nand to see you.''
+. Before Brant could interpose two
men, In riding cloaks Of confederate
gray, stepped into the room with q
jaunty and self-confdent air.
ss'Not demand, general" said the fore
most, a tall, distinguished looking man,
lifting his hand with graceful depre-
eating air. "In fact, too sorry to bother
you with an affair of no Importance ex-
cept to ourselves. A bit Of after-dinner
bravado brought us in contact with
your pickets, and Of course we had to
take the consequences: Served us right, |
and we were lucky not to have got bull
: let through US. Cad! TIM afraid my men
would have been less discreet! lam Col.
Lagrange, of the Fifth Tennessee; my
young friend here is Capt, Faulkner, Of
the First Kentucky. { Some excuse for a
youngster like him=-n0ne for me! l."
He stopped, for his eyes suddenly fell
upon the bed and It's occupant. Both he
and his companion started. But to the
natural unaffected disrniay Of gentle
men who had ihhSwn;iittinglyy intruded up
on lady's bedchamber, Brant's quick
eye saw more disastrous concern
superadded. Col. Lagrange was quick
to recover himself, as they both re-
moved their caps.
"a thousand pardons," he said, hur-
riedly, stepping backwards to the door.
'tBut I hardly need say to fellow-ofi-
Ger, general, that we had no idea, Of
making so gross an intrusion! We
heard some cock-and-bull story of your
being occupied with an escaped escap-
ing nigger-or we should never have
forced ourselves upon YOU"
Brant glanced quickly at his wife.
Her face had apparently become rigid
on the entrance of the two men; her
eyes were coldly fixed upon the ceiling.
He bowed formally, and with a wave of
his hand toward the door, said:
"I will hear your story below, gentle
men" 80. w. H., - f.,.,x=44.,r, ~,
stopped to quietly turn theskey insthe
lock, and then motioned them to pre-
cetle him down the staircase. '
CHAPTER. VII.
Not word was exchanged till they
had reached the lower landing and
Brant's private room. Disris~ ng his
subaltern and orderly with I. sign