The Portland daily press., 1897-03-16

linen ne turned MS pack upon Jules,
who strutted out with tipsy defiance and
prepared himself for his departure to join
his corps by few more farewell glasses
with his friends.
This, then, was the secret of Hortense
which he had that day learned Her love
was for Jules, but her mother had COM
PEELED her to accept the rich cousin and re-
pulse the poor one. Should he write to
Hortense and upbraid her for her insincer-
ity? How could he do SO when he had
hardly respected himself in reading the let
ter unaddressed to him?
Each moment that he thought of the
faithlessness of Hortense augmented his
anger and caused desperate craving for
action. The next morning he informed
Constant g. Co. that he must retire from
his office, as it was his intention to join
Che ranks of the French army as a private
soldier
my dear Lemoine," said Henri Con-
slant, "this is simply quixotic The war
is not one of self defense, but one of ambi-
tion'
Louis was resolute, however, in his plan
of action.
well, sighed Henri Constant, eff you
are decided, there's an end We must give
you years leave, though goodness knows
how we shall conduct the business without
YOU"
Louis smiled bitterly.
Il
In the last year Of the empire, as in the
final days of the previous one haste and
precipitation took the place of care and
caution. The soldiers were rushed through
their drills with as little attention as was
applied to their kits, the one object in view
being that Of having large army to take
the field as soon as war should have been
declared. The provisions Indispensable for
the campaign were considered as duly SUD-
piled on the strength Of those official re-
turns which were accepted as unimpeach-
able, the supplies of the ammunition itself
being almost taken as a matter of course
All this was too soon realized before the
fatal month of August had but little more
than half run its course, each day bringing
the outnumbered Frenohmen nearer to
their doom in the disastrous year of 1870.
The defeats of Gravelotte and Recon-
vile had compelled thU retreat of the forces
into Metz, leaving many of the wounded
to the promisouous attention of the victorJ.
Without asserting that they were worse
cared for than were those wounded on the
conquering side, it is certain that the
French soldiers who were left on the field
had very bad time of It, In the crowded
shelters which were improvisei as hospi-
tails the dangers that were not the least
terrible arose from gangrene and py@mia,
and the symptoms Of those fatal develop
ments quickly doomed their sufferers to
the inferno DER which might have been
written the dread warning, "Abandon
hope, all ye that enter here. /"
Among this crowd of the doomed victims
of the lust of empire and the pride Of
power were two French soldiers hurried in
with the rest One had suffered amputa-
tion of both his legs; the other had been
the victim of a breast confusion, caused
from the fragments of an exploding shell,
and was in peril from the shock rather
than from the gravity of the effects of the
wound, which could not be considered Sc
rious.
In any case he had been brought to that
pesthouse hastily and improperly, for there
was no sign Of Rangrene or blood poison
ing in his symptoms.
AS the former rolled his head from side
to side upon the straw spread over the
earth of the shed where he lay, his eyes
fell ur,On the form of his mel phhor