The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1897-12-23

man in this place who is in the same
| fix"
The astonished Ardsley looked about
him. and he picked out the entire num-
ber by their faces. Miss Hampden
dropped her head in her hands and
laughed with the rest.
Between the acts, Ardeley made in
quiries and learned the truth. He
was bitten with a desire to obtain the
unattainable. and he was not one to
daily. He went behind the scenes.
Whom are you going home with,
Miss Hampden?" he asked
Il fear no one will take me, after the
light Mr.. Graves has put me in"
May / do So"
She nodded, and Ardsley went back
to his seat.
80 you have refused the entire
! army?" he asked, as they walked home
Not quite"
"Ihe entire department"C
well, fair percentage of it," she
admitted.
Are you going to refuse me?'
II can't say until you are offered"
al offer myself now"
And | accept you now"
Good enough! VIII you announce
our engagement tonight at supper?"
AT the risk of being adjudged in
sane-yes."
Put on this ring until l can get you
another. Your hands are not small.
1t will fit your middle finger Now l
am in earnest"
so am l." she said.
They were very much in earnest the
event proved; and the garrison de-
rived unmiXed pleasure from the total,
unconditional, obvious surrender of
| Miss Hampden. She was as open in
, her infatuation as she had always been
in everything else. And Ardsley was
| equally infatuated. He took back the
class ring and gave her a diamond
which cost him three months pay.
They were altogether happy So, just
fortnight before the day arranged
for their wedding, the Gods demanded
the first payment on their loan.
Ardsley was ordered off on a scout.
Miss Hampden was the sort Of a girl
who might have been expected to take
this reasonably. But she did not. She
clung to Ardsley, and cried like any
Little girl. and did not behave in the
least like woman who had seen
countless scouts. And she let him 20
to the wars remembering her standing
with her arm against the wall and her
mead upon her arm, sobbing as If her
heart were utterly broken. He himself
was moved and stern. Loring would
have liked to remind her that hearts
which were really wrung did not show
their pain. He had not yet recovered.
Ardsley did not come back from the
scout He was in a fight on what
should have been his wedding day.
Others were killed and their bodies
were recovered and buried, but Ard
sley's body was never found. There
was tale that a fire had been seen on
the battlefield the night after the en-
counter, and in the midst of the fire
q tree with a form which might have
been that of man against it. There
were Indians grouped around it, Miss
Hampden never heard the story. She
never even guessed at what had hap
pened until twenty years afterwards.
She was the superb and spiritless
wife OF mighty general, and she was
accompanying her husband on a tour
OF inspection in the West. They were
at an agency, one day, and were visit
ing tepees 1t was the agency of the
Indians that young Ardsley had fought
two decades before; and the general s
WIFE was nerying herself not to show
that she remembered this.
The general was examining the trim
kets that hung On string around the
neck of half-blind squaw.
Here is West Point class-ring!'
he exclaimed.
His wife repeated her words of twen-
ty years a-past.
May see it?" she asked, coolly.
She took it in her hands and turned
1t about. She could make out the des.
Ign, though 1t seemed to have passed
through some heat that had melted II.
There was no doubt in her mind.
Nevertheless, she looked inside. The
heat had not affected it there, and the
initials were quite plain even yet.
ID. A." she said, at was David Ard.
sley's ring. The fire did not touch the
letters. | understand now why they
never could tell me which was his
grave"
The general broke the string and
picked up the class-rlng from amone
the scattered baubles. The squaw was
chattering and whining and clawine
around on the earth. The general held
the ring out to his wife. She raised
the dark eyes that had been so bright
and happy the last time it had beer
held out to her.
Can l have it?" she asked.
The general put it in her hand, ant
the hand closed over il. Thank you,
she said.-Argonaut.