Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1897-02-11
CHAPTER nI.-CoNTINUEp.

CHATTER nI.-CoNTNUEp
"My brother wrote 10 me tina. the
evening after you left the burying par
" picked up the body of what they he
lieved to he mulatto woman living
on the slope. Ii was not Rose. but the
body of that very woman-thc real aud
only spy-whom YOU had passed
through the lines at daNhrcah. Nv
brother thinks she was accidentally
killed in the first attack upon YOU 10y
her own friends, and So fell a 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 IRON
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 1 ought TO tell you this: il
seems that he and his friend had a
strange sympathy for you in what they
appear 10 know or guess of YOUR rela-
tions with that woman. and | think he
was touched by what he thought was
your kindness and chivalry 10 him on
account of his sister. But l 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. IL seemed so impossible To do
il in an atmosphere and 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 il seemed
70 me that YOU were 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
~ forgotten.
Il had been wanting TO say some
thing else 10 you when had got rid of
my dreadful message. / do not know
IL YOU still care 10 hear. But YOU were
once generous enough TO think that
] had done you a service in bringing
letter 20 your commander. Although
i know better than anyone else the
genuine devotion TO your duty that
made you accept my poor service, from
all that l can hear you have never Lad
the credit of il. Will you now try me
again. l am in more favor here, and
j might yet be more successful in 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 galioped
away.
There was little difficulty in finding
the cemetery of Three Pines Gro; sing
a 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. Brant 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
sodden in decay.
How long he remained there he did
not know. And then a solitary brgle
from the camp seemed TO summon him
as il had once summoned him before
and he went away-as he had gone once
before-to a separation that he now
knew was for all time.
Then followed a month of superin-
tendence and drill, and the infusing
into the little camp under his instruc-
ton the spirit which seemed TO I've
passing out of his own life forever
Slut in by alien hills on the border land
OF the great struggle, from time 10 time
reports reached him of the bitter fight
ing and almost disastrous successes of
his old division commander. Orders
came from Washington 20 hurry the
field. and a faint hope sprang up in his
mind. But following it came another
dispatch ordering his return TO the
capital.
lie reached il with neither hope nor
fear. SO benumbed had become his spir-
il under this last trial, and what seemed
20 be now the mockery of his last sacri-
q = y. -
longer a question OF her life and safety,
he knew that he could still preserve
her memory from stain, by keeping
her secret even though its divulgence
might clear his own. Fer that reason
he had even hesitated to inform Susy of
her death, in the fear that in her
thoughtless irresponsibility and inn
pulsiveness she might be tempted TO
use il in his favor. He had made his
late appointment a plea for withhold
ing any present efforts TO assist him.
He even avoided the Boompointers'
house. i'm what he believed was partly
a duty to the memory of his wife. But
he saw no Inconsistencies in occasional
~ extending his lonely walks to the
vicinity of foreign legation, or in be-
ing lifted with a certain expectation at
the sight of its liveries on the avenue.
There was a craving for sympathy in
his heart. which Miss Faulkner's let
ter had awakened.
Meantime he had reported himself for
dnty at the war department. with little
hope. however. in that Formally. lsut
he was surprised the next day when
the chief of the bureau informed him