Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1904-06-23

III you II tllnk less ABOUT PUNISH
ment. revenge and getting even with
everybody and everything you'll soon
begin to prosper"
Hamilton WINGED but smiled as one
quite sure of himself
Jean followed the soldier to rickety
log pen on the farther side Of the
stocknde, where he found the prisoner
restlessly moving about like bird in
a rustic cage. 1t had no comforts, that
gloomy little room. There was no fire
place. the roof leaked. and the only
furniture consisted of a bench TO sit
on and a pile of skins for bed. Alice
looked charminsly forlOrn peeping out
OF the wraps in which she WIS bundled
against the cold her hair tluffed and
rimpled in shining disorder ar: und her
face.
The guard let Jean in and closed the
door. himself staying outside.
Alice was rs glad to see the poor lad
as if they had been parted for n year.
She hugged him and kissed his drawn
little face
"You dear, good Jean." she mur-
INJURED. You did not forget me-
81 brought you something" he whis-
pered. producing the book.
Alice snatched 1t, looked at it and
:hen at Jean.
"Why. what did you bring this for.
you silly Jean? | didn't want this.
1ont like this book at ALL It's hateful.
( deSpise it. Take 1t back"
There's something in it for you, a
paper with writing on it. Lieutenant
Beverley wrote it ON there. It's shut
up between the leaves about the mid
die"
'Sh-s-shl Not so loud. The guard II
hear YOU" Alice breathess.y whispered,
her whole manner changing instantly.
She was trembling, and the color had
been whisked from her face as the
flame from candle in sudden draft
She found the note and read 1t
dozen times without a pause. her eyes
leaping along the lines back and forth
with pathetic eagerness and concentra-
ton. Presently she sat down OH the
bench and covered her face with her
hands. A tremor first, then convul-
sive sobbing shook her collapsed form.
Jean regarded her with drolly SYM
pathetic grimace. elevating his long
chin and letting his head settle back
between his shoulders.
"Oh, Jean, Jean." she cried at last.
looking up and reaching out her arms.
"Oh, Jean, lie is gone, gone, gone!'
Jean stepped closer to her while she
robbed again like a little child.
She pulled him TO her and held him
tightly against her breast while she
once more read the note through blind
ing tears. The words were few, but
to her they bore the message of desola-
ton and despair. \ great haunting,
hollow voice in her heart repeated
them until they echoed from vague dis
tance to distance.
1t was written with bit of lead on
the half of mildewed fly leaf torn
from the book:
Dear Alice-I am going away. When
you read this think Of me as hurrying
through the wilderness to reach our army
and bring 1t here. BE brave. as you al
ways have been; be good, as you cannot
help being; wait and watch for me. love
me, as / love you. / WIN come. DO not
Hamilton and his command. Courage.
Alice dear: courage and wait for me
Faithfully ever, BEVERLEY.
She kissed the paper with passionate
fcrvor, pouring her tears upon it in
April showers between which the light
of her eyes played almost Gercely, so
poignant was her sense of despair
which bordered upon desperation.
"Gone, gomez 1t was all she could
think or say. Gone, gone!"
Jean took the offending novel back
home with him. hidden under his jer-
kin, but Beveriey's note lay upon
Alices heart, a sweet comfort and a
crushing weight, when an hour later
Hamilton sent for her and she was
taken before him. Her face was stained
with tears and she locked pitifully dis
tressed and disheveled, yet despite all
this her beauty asserted itself with
subtle force
Hamilton felt ashamed looking at
her, but put on sternness and spoke
without apparent sympathy:
Miss Roussillon, you came near com
mitting a great crime. As it is, you
have done badly enough, but | wish
not to be unreasonably severe. l hope
you are sorry for your act and feel like
doing better hereafter"
She was trembling, but her eyes
looked steadily straight into his. They
were eyes of baby innocence, yet they
irradiated n strong womanly spirit just
touched with the old perverse. mis-