The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1901-04-19
Copyright E. Lppincott rights
CHAPTER MI.

When Virginia seeded and her
young men rushed :" the front, among
the first to seek a commission was
Raymond Holbin. This was in the
days when most people believed that
the military feature of secession
would prove little more than a grand
spectacular demonstration. Gradu-
cites of West. Point were at once in
great demand, and backed by the
Brookin influence Holbin was APP
pointed a captain of infantry among
the state troops, no search of his rec
ord being at the time possible; but
when the state transferred her troops
to the confederate government, and
Holbin sought a co.onelcy. 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.
rotary 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 Sc
cure a modification of the sentence
had followed-and in this struggle
many politicians had been arrayed by
Holbin's mother, but in vain. The
sentence stood; and these people new
er forgot the issues involved; the
Holbins hated jefferson Davis. The
name "Holbin" had c.ung to the mem
DRY of the hero of Buena Vista; he
declined to appoint Raymond Holbin
or to commission him in any way to
command honorable men. The dec-
sion was in harmony with his devo-
ton 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
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.
This woman, secure in her social posi-
ton, displaying by her own efforts
and the efforts of her stepdaughter
in hospital work devotion to the
southern cause, was in secret fast bal
Rncing accounts with jefferson Davis.
Friends, of Raymond Holbin. for he
still had a few, with the aid of his
mother, secured him a bomb-proof po-
sition with a rank of captain; and
plotting that might be demanded.
What seemed to Holbin an oppor-
tunity for 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. Ee did not dare to disregard
her card and responded instantly to
her implied command. armed with
his old secret and a virtuous indig-
nation. He had almost forgotten her.
A year before, when she had suffi-
GENTLY recovered from her illness to
permit it, he had sent her north, de-
ceived by sacred" pledges, to a new
hiding-place. The immediate opening
of hostilities had seemed to fix the
separation. 1t had never occurred to
him that she would make an effort
TO cross the lines.
The new meeting between Louise ana
Holbin was marked by a great display
of passion on his part; she was calm
and collected, a suggestion of reckless
ness, however. in her eyes and every
movement; her face relentless and
white with despair of an abandoned
life. For the first time Holbin failed
TO move her to anger or to tears.
Il came" said she, when his rage had
spent itself and in answer to his oe.
spairing offer of money if she would
depart, mot because l need your as
sistance-that is, your money, for l dc
not; l am now well supplied" She
could not have touched him in a more
delicate spot. a swift jealousy, a curl
Gus indignation, filed him.
Whose money!" he asked, breath.
lessly.
He is very rich, and gives with a lib
eral hand when the woman is smart
Is able. is fearless. and willing to risk
her life at his bidding 1t was not the
speech, but the cautious glance which
involuntarily she gave to her surround.
ings that awoke a suspicion in his
breast.
Louise, you are "a"
"Hushl l am a mother robbed OF
her child; that is explanation enough;
for such a woman is capable Of any