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

camp Of occupation near the front for
Organization" Brant felt a chill OF
disappointment. Duties of this kind
had been left To dubious, regular army
| veterans, hurriedly displaced genera
| officers and favored d~etrimehtals. But
IL It was not restoration, 1t was no
longer inaction, and 1t was at least a
release from washington.
1t was, also, evidently he result OF
some influence; but hardly that OF the
B~oompointers; for he knew that Susy
wished TO keep him at the capital. Was
there another power at work to send
him away from Washington? His pre-
vious suspicion returned. Nor were
they d~issipated when the chief or the
bureau placed a letter before him with
the remark that II had been
TO him by a lady. with the request that
II should be delivered only into his
own hands. "She did not know your
hotel address, but ascertained you
were to call here. She said Ii was or
importance There is no mystery about
II. general eontinued The official with
a ~mlschievous glance at Brant's hand
some, perplexed face; although It's
from q very pretty wonian-whom we
all know"
Mrs. Boompointer?' suggested
Brant with affected l~ightness.
1t was a maladroit speech. The Of
hcial's face darkened. I'VE have not
yet become a postal department for the
| Boompointers, general he said, drily,
however great their influence else
where. 1t was from rather a different
style of woman-Miss Faulkner. o
will receive your papers later at you
hotel, and leave tonight" I.
Brant's unlucky slip was still potent
enough TO divert the official attention,
-. ia .,gntfiJ I'M va nniira1 the change
In his visitors face, and the abruptness
Of his departure.
Once In the<street, Grant tore off the
envelope. But beneath IL was another,
on which was written in a delicate, re-
fined hands please do not open this
until you reach your destination
Then she knew hs was going! n
this was her influence. All his suspi-
cions again returned. She knew he was
going through the lines, and this very
appointment, through her influence,
might be a plot to serve her and the
enemy. Was this letter which she was
intrusting TO him the cover OF a miss
i've to her southern friends, which she
expected him to carry, as a return Tor
her own act of self-Sacrifice? was TINS
the appeal she had been making to his
chivalry. his gratitude. his honor? The
perspiration stood In beads on his fore
head. What defect lay hidden In his
nature that seemed to make him an
easy victim of these intriguing wom-
en-? He had not wen the excuse of
%gallantry. Less susceptible to the po-
tencies OF the sex tina most men, he
was still compelled TO bear that repu-
tation. He remembered his coldness to
Miss Faulkner In the first days of their
meeting, and her effect pom his sub
alterns. Why had she selected him
from among them, when she could
have modelled the others like wax to
her purpose? Why? And yet with the
question came a possible answer that
he hardly dared to think of: that In
it's very vagueness seemed to fill him
with a stimulating thrill n hopeful
ness. He ~quickened his pace. He
would take the letter and yet be mas
ter of himself when the time came tc
open II.
That time came three days later, IN
his tent on Three Pin Crossing. As
he broke open the envelope he was re-
lieVed to find that it contained no 9th
er Enclosure, and seemed intended only
for himself. 1t began abruptly:
"NWhen you read this you will un'
derstand why / did not speak to YOU
when we met last night; why l ever
dreaded that you might speak to me
knowing what / ought to tell you ever
at such a place and moment-some'
thing you could hear from me alone
| did not know you were in Washing
ton, although / knew that you were re
lieved: I had no way of seeing you o.
sending to you before, and i only cam
TO Mrs. ~Boompointer's party in tn
hope Of hearing news of you.
you know that my brother wa
captured by your pickets, in compan!
with another officer. He thinks yol
suspected the truth, that he ana nj
friend were lowering near your lines Il
effect the escape OF the spy. But M
says that although they failed to hell
her she did escape, or was passet
through the lines by your connivance
He says that you seemed TO know her
that from what Rose, the mulatto Wo
man. told him, you and she were evi
IDENTIFY old friends. l would not speal
of this, nor intrude upon your private
affairs only that l think you ought t
know that | had no knowledge OF
when | was in your house, but believed
her to be a stranger to you. You CAV
me no intimation that you knew her
and I believed hat you were franl
with me. But / should not speak o
this at all, for l believe that ii woul'
have made no difference with me II
repairing the wrong that | thought
had done you, only that as ! am forcet
by circumstances TO tell you the ter
rible ending Of this story you ought t
know 1t all.
Concluded Next Weekly