Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1900-12-29
C!iApTER III.

-AAI EN- Ill
Although Brant was convinced as
soon as>he left the house that he could
not accept anything from the Boom
pointer influence, n that his inter
view with Susy was fruitless. he knew
that he must temporize. While he did
not believe hat his old playmate
would willingly betray him, he was
uneasy when he thought of the vanity
and impulsiveness which might conf
promise him-or of a possible jealousy
that might seek rover g.. Yet he had
no reason to believe that Susy's ma
ture was jealous, or hat she was likely
TO have any cause. but the fact was
that the climax of Miss F'aulkner's re-
~ppearanC when they were together
affected him more strongly than the
real climax of his interview with
Susy-which was her offer. Once out
OF the atmosphere of that house, 1t
struck him, too, that Miss Faulkner
was almost as much of an alien to 1t
as himself. lie wondered what she
had been doing there. Could it be pos
sible that she was obtaining informa-
ton for the south? But he rejected
the idea as quickly as 1t had occurred
to him. Perhaps there could be no
stronger proof Of the unconscious in
nuence the young girl already a over
him.
He remembered the liveries of tho
diplomatic carriage that had borne her
away and ascertaired without difficult
ty hat her sister had married n of
the foreign ministers, and that she was
the guest in his house. But he was
the more aslonished to hear that she
and her sister were considered to be
southern ~unionists, and were greatly
petted in governmental circles for
their sacrificing fidelity to the fac.
His informant, an official in the state
department, added that Miss Matilda
might have been a good deal of a mad
cap at the outbreak Of the war, for the
sisters had a brother in the confed-
crate service, but that she had
month. For" he added, "she IA at
the white house for the first time last
week, and they say the president
talked more to her than any other
woman"
The indescribable sensation with
which this simple information filled
Brant startled him more than the news
itself. Hope, Joy, fear, distrust and
despair alternately thrilled him. He
recalled Miss Faulkner's almost agon-
izing glance of appeal to him in the
drawing room at Susy's, and it seemed
to be equally consistent with the truth
of what he had just heard-or some
monstrous treachery n deceit of
which she might be capable. Even
now she might be a secret emissary of
some spy within the presidents fam
lily: she might have been In CORE
s~pondence with some traitor in the
Boompointer clique, and her imploring
glance only the result of a fear of ex-
posture. Or, again, she might have
truly recanted after her escapade at
Gray Oaks. and feared only his recol-
lection OF her as g~o-between of spies.
And yet both OF these presumptions
wee inconsistent with her conduct in
the conservatory 1t seemed impossi-
BILE that this impulsive woman, capa-
BILE of doing what he had himself
known her to do, and equally sensitive
to the shame or joy of such impulses,
should be the same heartless woman
Of society, who had so coldly recog-
nized and parted from him.
But this interval of doubt was
transitory. The next day he received a
dispatch from the war department, or
derirg him to report himself for duty
at once. With a beating heart he hur-
ried TO the secretary. But that official
had merely left a memorandum with
his assistant, directing General Brant
to accompany some fresh levies to a