The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-05-24

rapidly. 1t would never do to give
way before Margaret. There were poll
tics at work in the regiment, he said,
but they would stand out against the
regulars. They'd have their own Off
GERS. He ratified on without noticing
that Margaret was utterly unrespon-
sive, nor by and by when silence fell
between them, that she sat with tightly
clasped hands, staring out into the
moonlight. And while she tried to form
the words that seethed in her brain,
ne fell asleep. She started as his gen.
tie, regular breathing reached her ear,
then she slid down upon her knees and
studied his face. He was a soldier
now, and her husband no longer. And
so he slept on, while the woman, torn
by thousand jealousies, knelt beside
him, wide-eyed and dry-lipped. The
dull gray dawn scattered the sparkling
moonlight. The keen ears of the
watching wife caught the sound of
footsteps hurrying toward the armory,
and her fingers closed conVulsively on
the pillow where her husbands head
rested. They should not take him
from her. She would not stay alone
been good and faithful wife, and her
place was at his side. 1t was her re-
ward-her right.
Lawrence moved slightly, and the
light famed in Margarets eyes. Softly
she crept to the window and lowered
the shade. The sun was casting slant
rays through the budding vines. Then
she went back to her vigil.
But the shade was too narrow for
the window and one ray of light more
persistent than it's mates, found the
crevice. 1t shot into the darkened room,
and Margaret's glance followed it's
course. 1t struck full and fair on the
opposite wall, and she gave startled
cry. The light rested on a sash of dull
red cloth and sabre denied and rust
ed. And in the quiet of the early morn
ing came, like a voice from the past,
the words which had accompanied
those mementos of another war. They
had been penned by her fathers hand.
II am sending your Uncle Albert's
sash and sword, because you have
named your boy for my favorite
brother. Hang these on your wall, and
on every Memorial Day sit down be-
fore them with your boy and tell him
of the man who wore them in the good
fight. Your uncle was a plain, blunt
man. There is much in warfare that
is humble, plain and homely, but back
of this lies the spirit which makes he
roes from towards"
Heroes from towards"
Margaret's breath came hard and
fast.
Her husband stirred again, and she
laid her hand gently in his. Instinct
lively, even in his sleep, he responded
to her touch, and she felt him move,
as If to come closer to her. Then she
bent over. Her lips touched his.
Harry, dearest it is time to wake
up. They have sounded reveille at the
Armory."
Ten short minutes, during which
Harry Lawrence felt that never before
had he and Margaret been so COM
pletely one-and then he was gone.
She did not go back to the armory, and
he left her standing at the vine-clad
fence, with the mornings dew in her
eyes, and the glad spring sunlight on
her lips. Later, when the train pulled
out, she stood with BERTHE among the
throng of weeping women, and it
seemed to Harry, leaning from the rear
of the last car, that all the glory Of
the whole world shone in her face. For
under her breath she was murmuring:
THANK God, my husband never
knew!"