The Monitor-register., 1897-07-16

OIL ou'o PiO1iou poOr JOC6lyn 10r the
life she led him last winter in Cairo.
flirting with every man she mat, How
ever this will sober her if anything will.
Where is she now ?'
''She is out riding with Lord Perceval;
they started soon after breakfast and
may return at any moment"
THAT fellow Perceval wonder
Jocelyn did not put his foot down
there" Capt. Ferguson frowned and
relapsed into gloomy silence.
"See that little cloud of dust. That is
their party, nn doubt
"Mrs. Tailyour pointed to the distant
urdulating limo in the desert. II dread
this business Poor little soul, she is
not of the stuff for bearing trouble
well r'
Some few minutes later the little caval.
cade rode up. laughing and joking, to the
villa, all unconscious of the two people
who awaited it's arrival in sorrowful
silence, dreading the moment when their
sad intelligence must be made known.
MAude Jocelyn sprang from her horse
and ran lightly mp the steps toward
them with laugh on her lips-theu
something in the strange expression on
the two faces that confronted her froze
the words of merry greeting on her
tongue.
"Oh. my dear, my dear! - Mrs. Tall
your said, pitifully, taking her by the
hand and drawing her away.
oh, what is it, Mrs. Tailyour? What
has happened? Gerald lis he i'll ?-tell
me quickly; you have heard bad news"
Maud stammered, in terrified accents.
eyes, dear child, there is bad news,
be brave ~ and the older woman led the
girl quickly away to her own room.
There, later voice walled forth in an.
quish. "Gerald, my love ! Gerald Oh,
l cannot bear tit is not true Dead,
my dear love! Dead, Gerald, husband.
Lying dead while l rode laughing and
jesting across the desert ~ Then the
thought of their last words together
flashed across her mind; she seemed to
see again the proud, handsome face, and
hear again that pleading. earnest voice.
Can trust You, Maudie9 Promise me-"
And she had spurned his warning; had
refused his last request. and set her
whims in defiance of his feelings and
wishes AS she rode by the side of Lord
Perceval that day on the banks of the
canal she had listened with pie ased vanity
to his whispered words of admiration;
words which conveyed to her mind the
roue's worship CT her beauty, and at the
same time insisted that such beauty was
wasted on the grave, serious minded
soldier, Who was engrossed, heart and
soul, in his profession. She had listened
without protest to Lord Perceval's thinly
veiled sneers at her absent husband: she
had been disloyal, traitor in her pas
Sivity; false in word, if not in deed, to
the brave and tender heart which beat
with such true and passionate love for
her.
That evening, outside the railway sta
tion, detachment of soldiers awaited, in
melancholy m silence, the coming of the
train which was conveying to them the
body of their dead officer and comrade,
whom they had all respected and ad-
mired, Close by the gun carriage was
standing on which Gerald Jocelyn was to
make his last journey to the cemetery on
the hillside mile away; and at few
yards distance a closed carriage was
drawn up in which sat Mrs. Tailyour
holding in mute sympathy the hand of
the girl widow, who, white and fearless,
leaned back beside her, immovable in
calm despair. She had scarcely spoken
since she recovered from the deep sw oon
into which she had fallen after hearing of
her husbands death-had only announced
her determination to bid him last fare.
well beside his grave.
Capt. Ferguson was standing near the
carriage and whispered to Mrs. Tailyour
that the train was signaled; then he
withdrew from her sight inside the sta
tioD. Putting and painting, the train
swept 10; there was strange silence for
few seconds. followed by muff1ed
murmur of voices; the soldiers bent for
ward eagerly, and message was passed
down their line from one to another, ac-
companied by looks of amsz ID surprise.
Mrs. Tailyour pressed her companions
hand tighter, the terrible moment had
arrived-how would the girl face itP
Was it possible that she possessed suffi
cient strength of mind and body for the
horrible ordeal which she had set her
self?
Then Mrs. Tailyour saw Capt. Fergus.
on emerge from the station with dazed
look of CONSERVATION on his face, the
result, evidently, of great and over
powering emotion.
He came hurriedly toward them, max
ing signs to Mrs. Tailyour, which she
failed to understand.
Has it not come ?" she whispered to
him as he approached.
"There has been a mistake" he mur-
INJURED in reply; and Maud-though
apparently unaware of what was passing
around her-oanght the words; her face
woke to anima alton, she leaned forward,
crying:
"a mistake He has not come Oh,
tell me- quickly, can bear it. He is not
dead, he is alive-I see it OH your face;
for PHYS sake don't keep me in suspense.
let me out-I must go to him"
She was struggling to open the door
when some one put Capt. Ferguson quietly
aside, and then with a loud cry Maud
sprang past Mrs. Tailyour and foil Sob
bing on her husbands breast.
Yesl there had been mistake. Gerald
was alive, though not unipjured; for he
carried one arm in sling, and bandage
round his head acceptuated the startling
pallor of his face.
Two words omitted in the telegram
that day explained the mystery of his
resurrection. Accident. Jocelyn wound
ed, gunner killed." altered the whole
meaning of the message. Private Brown,
r A had the honors accorded to him
which had b. en prepared for Major Joc-
elyn's funeral, and Gerald drove back to
the villa with Mrs. Tailyour and his un-
conscious wife. Joy never kills, they
say, but Maud approached very near to
the shadow land of the Great unknown.
She came back from the borderland of
eternity no longer laughing, thoughtless
child, but woman in mind and feeling.