Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-10-28


 UT wnIcn ne was qulte painlliIy though not dangerously wounded that he was i'll good hands and would be we'll cared for, and this news-a great relief-was promptly transmitted to Fred's general and by him telegraphed to the far western home
 On well-made stretcher lay the cen. tral figure of household and local in- terest, Lieut.. Jack Chiffon, slowly but surely gaining strength and spirits with every day. And who wouldn't under similar influences flor two fair young daughters of the old common wealth vied with each other in assidu- < ous effort to entertain" the trooper invalid. Lovely were they both, these cousins of the blood, and most carefully had they been chosen for this special duty by their acknowledged leader, chief of the little clan of kinswomen. Brilliant. beautiful and daring, who of their brave order could lay claim to leadership so long as Rosalie cared to hold it? They followed and obeyed her eagerly, loya1ly, though in years she was but IS, and five, at least,
 
 Ever since the days of short dresses, braids and pinafores, she had been dominant among them. Tomboy had they called Rosalie at ten, for she could ride any horse within miles of Charlottesville, and preferred walking stilts, flying kites or running races to the customary allurements of girlhood. 1 She had one envy, one champion, one idol-her brother, barely two years her senior-and apparently but one gorrow-that she could not do every 1 thing that Jack could, and not for lack of trying.
 Then as they grew older, and other girls brothers began showing hither-. to unsuspected fondness for Jacks so- 1 ciety, and coming to see him at all hours of the day, and other girls them selves began making eyes at Jack, her 1 indifference to the first and her fury at the second were comical to see. And l then, when the war came on and Vir- | ginia sprang to arms and Jack to sad- 1 dle and his first commission in Jeb I Stuart's famous First cavalry, she was ] all afire with fervor and patriotism on l the one hand and of mad jealousy Of Maud Pelham on the other, for on Maud had Jack cast favoring eyes. l And so, when she brought her brother ! home to nurse and pet and coddle to < her hearts content, while she was all soothing sweetness on the side that 1 showed to him, she fairly bristled on l the other-that which all well-fayored feminine callers, inquirers and friends l must needs encounter when they asked I to see him. She established a regular roster book and told off the list of the sacred band-her hench women, in to four relief" of two girls each-one I relief only tQ be on duty each day and l no outsiders to be admitted. Needless to say Maud Pelham was not of the elect, and Jack speedily Showed he wished it were otherwise.
 i And so this sweet April morning, | with a soft, languorous air playing I about the wooded, sun-kissed heights, l she had two such awfully nice ! young girls to cheer him, while she l herself turned dutifully to another l wounded officer, a youth in dark blue I and gold who had been for over an | hour a silent watcher of the merri- ] ment about Chilton's cot, while he, | E to get far away.
 p It was not that they were cold, con- \ strained or inconsiderate when speak ing to him, but, the doctor had to be much away now; Lieut.. Jack was al- ways surrounded by his fair body guard; the one man Benton loved, his I boon companion Paul, had gone to re- join his regiment, and the one woman 1 who could have made Benton's stay a | world of strange, sweet, watching de- l light was beginning day after day to 1 show less inclination to approach him at all. A fortnight of watching that beautiful dark face had done it's work. Fred Benton was mending in body, but not in mind, for doubly now was he prisoner.
 And this April morning the news he heard had made him all the more rest less and troubled The federals were landing in force and marching on 4 Yorktown, and Longstreet's whole command had been sent away. with others, to meet them. He doubted not that his old comrades of McDowell's s corps would be in action ere ever he could reach them, and the thought a drove his pulses up to fever heat again. Rosalie Chiffon, without seeming to look, saw it in. the flush of his anx- ious face.
 You will be having fever again, Mir. Benton" said slse, and the cool, white hand that at first had arranged the bandages Of his head and arm with out 3 sign of hesitancy, seemed now to fa1ter and shrink as though it had 4 to be forced to an unwilling task. It
 stung Benton sore, for, man-1ilxe, he could read only one interpretation. How different had she been with Ladue when. for three days, he was feverish and headachy.
 For several days after his capture it had been Benton's belief that Paul