The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-20
PEGGY O'NEAL ID: o. ;:;:: =:
CONTINUED from Last Sundays News)
CHAPTER IN.

CONTINUED from Last Sundays News.)
CHAPTER IN.
THE GENERAL SELECTS HIS sue
CESSOR.
Now fell across us the sultry sum-
ner; sometimes with rain, and steamy
mud to follow; and then with stretches
of burning dryness when the dust
curled aloft on the impertinent lip of
the wind to fill folks eyes and faces.
There came, too, the shadow of inn
pending calamity to rest upon us, for
the Generals health began to flag, and
it would look for a while as though
he had been marked by death itself
The malady was never understood by
me, and ] think the doctor lived no
better off; but, us near as one might
guess, it arose from the boys and reek-
ing marshes fringing the river on our
south, and on which, morning and
evening, I've seen the damps and mi
asmas lying white and thick as flock
of wool-a sight to shake the strongest.
The General was indeed i'll, and with
face turning to be wan while his bag
gard eye grew ever more bright and
hollow He lost greatly the use of his
legs; those members being swollen to
q preposte size, and his feet dropsi-
cal, so that he could not be said to
walk but only hobble. He must be
supported, leaning commonly on my
arm, though sometimes Pegs pretty
shoulder was his crutch; for she was
with him very constant, reading to
him. or passing him glass, or cheer
ing him with her talk of flippant moth
ings.
With his usual bitterness of resOlu-
ton the General would each day be
up and dressed and pass the hours on
a lounge which Augustus prepared, ana
where he might lie and through the
open easement command prospect OF
the distant Arlington hills
To such a loWness did the General
sink that his death was waited for,
and the doctor who attended him
and did no good-felt driven to give
him the name Of it.
For one who is in so high a place"
said the doctor. must needs have
weighty concerns to be put in order;
and, therefore, of all folk he should
be shown his end in time"
This was gospel true enough as an
abstraction, but in the case of the Gen
eral that doctor should have known
how his business was to cure, and not
stand prating of death. OF this l in
formed him in such wise that he was
at once for leaving the house and
never coming back. The loss might
have been easily measured had he done
so.
1t was the General himself who told
me he was TO die; and it stood
marvel the good patience and SYM
pathy whereWith he went upon the in
formation. One would have supposed
it was of my death he talked.
And in the bottom of it," said he,
in conclusion, IT have the chance of
bprff--DnintiDp his WjfQg
picture-"and that chance alone would
make twenty deaths worth trying. For
when we come to the end of it, Ma
jor the heaven they talk of may be
true" This last with a manner of
reverie as when hope upholds convic-
ton leaning to a fall
AS best it could, my nature fought
against a belief that the General would
die; but his own word overpowered
Inc. The fear of it, when he told the
news, went through me like a spear.
Or it was as if a stone were rolled
upon my heart
Sick folk for a rule, are impatient
and sharply cross with those about,
even with their best beloved. But the
General would be the opposite, and was
never more tolerant than now when
he lay i'll; and this kindness made it a
privilege and a pleasure to be near him,
and not a burden to be borne.
with him-fresh and sweet as cluster
of volets, about a sick room she was
worth her weight in drugs. And the
General and she had never so full
space for acquaintance before, and so
each day he came to know Peg bet
ter and to love her more.
There existed throughout this sum-
mer a kind of truce in the crusade
against Peg; the Rev. Ely had turned
to be as mute as an oyster, while
the Rev. Campbell and those harpies
whom Noah so confounded We're not
only silent but deeply out of sight.
There was neither sign nor rumor to
come from them.
The books of account which Peg
and I brought away from her mothers
on the night when we were logged,
showed all Peg claimed. For the June
her detractOrs spoke of in their lyings,
and for three years before and well
nigh a twelvemonth to follow, Timber
lake was in town, and, after his we'd
ding, constantly with Peg until he