The San Francisco call., 1903-12-20


that level to which he habitually de-
seconded, there being nothing to engage
his energies, but his acquaintance with
Miss Fanny Glen had altered him.
Lacy met her in the hospital and
there he loved her. Rhett Sempland
met her in a hospital. too. Poor Semp-
land had been captured in an obscure
skirmish late in 1851. Through SOME
hitch in the matter he had been held
prisoner IN the North until the. close
OF 1863. when he had been exchanged,
and. wretchedly i'll. he had come back
to Charleston, like Lacy, to die.
He had found no opportunity for dis
tinction of any sort. There was no
glory about his situation, but prison
life and fretting had made him show
what he had suffered. At the hospital,
then. like Lacy. he too had fallen In
love with Miss Fanny Glen.
BY rights the hero, not OF this story,
perhaps. but the real hero, was much
the handsomer Of the two-it is always
so in romances; and romances-good
ones. that is-are the reflex Of life. Such
a coordination OF manly beauty with
unshaka ble courage and reckless auda-
city was not often seen as Lacy exhlo-
tied. Sempland was homely. Lacy had
French and Irish blood in him and he
showed II. Sempland was mixture
Of sturdy Dutch and English stock Yet
if women found Lacy charming they IN
stinctively depended upon Sempland-
There was something thoroughly at
tractive in Sempland. and Fanny Glen
unconsciously fell under the spell OF his
strong personality. The lasting impress
sion which the gayEty and passionate
abandon of Lacy could not make
Sempland had effected. and the girl was
already powerfully under his influence
-stubbornly resistant. nevertheless.
She was fond Of both men. She loved
Lacy for the dangers he had passed,
and Sempland because she could not
help it, which marks the relative Guat-
itv Of her affE Eetions. Which one she
loved the better until the moment at
which the story opens she could not
have told.
Nobody knew anything about Fanny
Glen. At least there were two facts
only in possession of the general pub
lie concerning her. These, however,
were sufficient. One was that she was
good. The men in the hospital called
her an angel. The other was that she
was beautiful. The women Of the city
could not exactly see why the men
thought so, which was confirmation
strong as proofs of Holy Writ!
She had come to Charleston at the
outbreak Of the war accompanied by
an elderly woman of uneXceptional
manner and APPEARANCE who called
herself Miss Lucy Glen, and described
herself as Miss Fanny Glen's aunt.
They had taken house in the fashion
able quarter of the clty-they were not
poor at any rate and had installed
themselves therein with their slaves.
They r7sde no attempt to enter into
the social life Of the city and only be-
came prominent when Charleston be-
gan to feel acutely the hardships Of the
war which It had done more than any
other section to promote.
Then Fanny Glen showed her quality.
A vast hospital was established and the
young women OF the city volunteered
their services.
The corps Of nurses was in a state
OF constant fiuxion- Individuals came
and went. Some Of them married pa
tieuts. some of them died with them,
but Fanny Glen abided.
Not merely because she stayed while
others did not, but perhaps on account
OF her innate capacity. as we'll as her
tactfuI tenderness, she became the chief
Of the women attached to the hospital.
Many a sick soldier lived to love her.
Many another, more sorely stricken,
died blessing her.
In Charleston she was regarded as
next in Importance to the general who
w wi
his ships. his forts. his guns and his
man. had been for two years fighting
off the tremendous assaults that were
hurled upon the city from the Union
ironclads and ships far out to sea- 1t
was a point Of honor to take, or to hold,
Charleston, and the Confederates held
II till 1861
Fanny Glen was a privileged charac-
ter, therefore, and could go anywhere
and do anything, within the lines.
Under other circumstances there would
have been a thorough inquiry by the
careful Inhabitants of the proud strict
Southern city into her family relation
ships: but the war was great leveler,
people were taken at their real value
when trouble demonstrated It, and few
questions were asked. Those that were
asked about Fanny Glen were not an
swered. It made little difference then.
Toward the close OF 1863. however.
there was an eclipse IL the general
hospital. for Fenny Glen fell III.
She was not completely recovered
early in 1854, when she had the famous
interview with Rhett Sempland, but
there was not the slightest evidence Of
invalidism about her as she confront
ed him that. afternoon in February.
Wounded pride, outraged dignity.
burning Indignation, supplied health
enough for regiment OF convalescents.
The difference between the two culmin-
ated IN disturbance which might apt
ly be called cyclonic, for Sempland on
neNriY the first occasion that he had