Waterbury Democrat., 1901-03-28
Ms E|l sss na, HeNk!s !s II:nEs 1e HARRY IEbbqsa0'
Copyright 1899, by J. B. Lippincott Com.
 Dany. All -'~Ntr reserved
CHAPTER XII.

when Virginia seeded ana 1er young mem rushed to the front. among the first to seek commission was Raymond Holbin This was in the days when most people believed that the military feature of secession would prove little more than grand spectacular demonstration. Gradu- ates of West Point were at once in great demand, and backed by the Brookin influence Holbin was ap- pointed captain of infantry among the state troops, no search of his rec ord being at the time possible; but wien the state transferred her troops to the confederate government, and Holbin sought a colonelcy, advancing in Support of his application the fact that he had been an officer in the reg ular army, the matchless memory of the southern president recalled his history. Jefferson Davis had been sec retary of war at the time the Holbin court-martial was held, and the rec ord coming before him for review, he had promptly approved the sentence of the court. A long struggle to se- cure a modification of the sentence had followedi-and in this struggle luduy DoAltACldAS Ado DCCh al dy Ch OJ Holbin's mother, but in vain. The sentence stood; and these people nev- CT forgot the issues involved; the Holbins hated Jefferson Davis. The name "Holbin' had clung to the mem- ory of the hero of Buena Vista; he declined to appoint Raymond Holbin or to commission him in any way to command honorable men. The deci- sion was in harmony with his devo- tion to his principles, a devotion that was destined to make him in the end the most unfortunate of American statesmen.
 This new public reflection upon Hol- bin filled him with an ungovernable rage. Had safe opportunity offered, he would not have hesitated to send a bullet through the heart of the man who was responsible for it. Indeed, he armed himself, and for many months was convinced that he might at any moment be dedicated to the discharge of a patriotic duty. The president of the confederacy walked daily in the presence of death, for fanaticism and desperate men sur rounded him. His safety lay in the fact that he walked in the sunlight, where the results of an attack prom ised never less than life for life. And Raymond Holbin was not the man to barter his away; he bided his time. A far more dangerous enemy was his mother, who numbered official ac- quaintances in Washington by the scores, and who knew when and where to plant the deadliest blow. l. ;oJ tion, displaying by her own efforts and the efforts of her stepdaughter in hospital work devotion to the southern cause, was in secret fast bal ancing accounts with Jefferson Davis.
 Friends of Raymond Holbin. for he still had few, with the aid of his mother, secured him a bomb-proof po- sition with a rank of captain; and there he stuck, with all the time for plotting that might be demanded What seemed to Holbin an oppor- tunity for a sweeping revenge came very unexpectedly. Up to then he had been but an instrument in the hands of his mother and that large circle of invisibles known to him who sapped the strength of the confeder- acy. Their many interests preceded his. The opportunity came through Louise. He did not dare to disregard l her card and responded instantly to 1 her implied command, armed with 1 his old secret and virtuous indig- 1 ration. He had almost forgotten her. 1 A year before, when she had suffi- cient7y recovered from her illness to i permit it, he had sent her north, de- cs;ved by sacred" pledges, to a new h:ding-place The immediate opening of bostiiities had seemed to fix the separation. 1t had never occurred to hia that she would make an effort | to cross the lines.
 The rev meeting between Louise ane Hclbin was marked by great displa, of passion On his part; she was calm and collected, 3 suggestion of reckless 1ess. however, in her eyes and every
 movement; her face relentless ane white with despair of an abandoned life. For the first time Holbin failed to move her to anger CT to tears.
 T came," said she, when his rage hat spent itself and in answer to his de spairing offer Of money if she woule depart, mot because 1 need your as sistance-that is, your money, for d not; 1 am now we'll supplied Sh could not have touched him in nor delicate spot. A swift jealousy, a curi ous indignation. filled him.
 "Whose money?" he asked, breath lessly.
 "Hei is very rich, and gives with a lib erai hand when the woman is smart is able, is fearless, and willing to risl her life at his bidding." It was not tn
 speech, but the cautious glance whicl involuntarily she gave to her surround ings that awoke suspicion in hi
 breast.
 Louise, you are a"
 "Hush! an a mother robbed o her child; that is explanation enough
 for such 8 woman is capable Of any
 thing, even murder, as you know Ray
 mond. where is my daughter?" H
 looked at her uneasily, and the whit feather appeared in spite of his effort
 to conceal it.
 "She is well, and we'll cared for"
 "I asked you where, and you have no
 answered mel"
 There is much to be agreed upon be
 tween us before l tell you that" h