St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-01-15


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, Ardsley made in
quiries, and learned the truth. He was
bitten with desire to obtain the un-
attainable 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 500"
She nodded. and Ardsley went back to
his seat.
$50 you have refused the entire
army?' he asked, as they walked home.
-'Not quite"
"The entire department?
.Well, fair percentage of it" she ad-
mitted.
..Are you going to refuse me?'
Il can't say until you are offered
Il offer myself now"
"And accept you now"
"Good enough. viii you announce
our engagement tonight at supper?"
.At the risk of being adjudged insane
YES
'.Put on this ring until can get you
another. Your hands are not small. 1t
viii fit your middle finger. Now am in
earnest"
$50 am T." she said.
They were very much in earnest, the
event proved, and the garrison derived
unmixed pleasure from the total, un-
conditional, obvious surrender of Miss
Hampden. She was as open in her in
fatuation as she had always been in ev-
erything else. And Ardsley was equal
ly infatuated. He took back the class
ring and gave her diamond which
cost him three months pay. They were
altogether happy. So. just fortnight
before the day arranged for their we'd
ding, the gods demanded the first pay.
ment on their loan.
Ardsley was ordered off on a scout
Miss Hampden was the sort of girl
who might have been expected to take
this reasonably. But she did not. She
clung to Ardsley and cried like airy
little girl, and did not behave in the
least like woman who had seen count
less scouts. And she let him go to TIE
wars, remembering her standing with
her arm against the wall and her head
upon her arm, sobbiLg 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 tbs
scout. He was in fight on what should
have been his wedding day. Others
were killed and their bodies were re
covered and buried. but Ardsley's body
was never found. There was tale thai
fire had been seen on the battlefield
the night after the encounter. and in
the midst of the fire tree with form
which might have been that of man
against it. There were Indians grouped
around it. Miss Hampden never heare
the story. She never even guessed a
what had happened until 20 years aft
erward.
She was the superb and spiritless wife
of mighty general, and she was &C
companying her husband on tour OF
inspection in the west. They were at an
agency one day and were visiting the
tepees. 1t was the agency of the In
dians that young Ardsley had fought
two decades before, and the general.
wife was nerving 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
4 exclaimed.
His wife repeated her words of 20
years a-past.
MAY i see it?. she asked, coolly.
She took it in her hands and turned
it about. She could make out the de
sign, though it seemed to have passed
through some heat that had melted it
There was no doubt in her mind New
ertheless she looked inside. The hea
had not affected it there. and the in
|
ID. A." she said; 1t was David Ards
ley's ring. The fire did not touch TIL
letters. l understand now why the,
never could tell me which was hi
grave"
The general broke the string an
picked up the class ring from among tn
scattered baubles. The squaw was cha,
tering and whining and clawing aroun
on the earth. The general held tn
ring out to his wife. She raised tn
dark eyes that had been so bright an
happy the last time ii had been hei
out to her.
sCan have it?" she asked.
The general put it in her hand. an
the hand closed over it.
"Thank you," she said.-San Francis
, CO Argonaut.