The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1905-04-27

/ he ileu. l. iAdte ~ lkiLcdlS u lliiilp "
tell the plain truth, I was too ~fiercely
mad to handy words with him
What made you mad, Monsieur
John?"
Twas his threat to me-to faint me
with my fathers o%utlawry. Do you
greatly blame me, Margery?'
NO"
Thereat a silence came and sat be-
tween us, and | fell to loving her the
more because of it; but when she spoke
l always loved her more for speaking.
My father has had little peace since
coming here" she said at length. H
is old and none too we'll; and as for
king and congress, asks nothing but
his right to hold aloof. And this they
viii not give him"
Remembering that Jennifer had told
me Of Gilbert Stairs trimming, l smiled
within.
That is the way OF all the world in
wartime, ma petite. A partisan may
suffer once for all, but both sides hold a
neutral lawful prey"
Twas as the spark to finder; my
word the spark and in her eyes the an
sWering flash.
Il tell him sol" she cried. II tell him
always hat the king will have his own
again. Bat still he halts and hesitates;
and when these rebels come and quar-
ter on us
l fear she must have seen my inward
smile trfs time, for she broke off in the
midst, and 1 made haste to forestall her
flying cut at me.
oh, come, my dear; you should not
be so fierce With him when you yourself
have brought a rebel to his house to
nurse alive
She looked me fairly in the eye. you
should be the last to remind me of my
treason, Monsieur John"
Then you are free to call it reason,
are you, Margery?" l said.
She looked away from me again.
How can it well be less than treason?'
Then suddenly she turned and clasped
her hands upon my knee. You must
not be TOO hard OF me, Monsieur John.
I've tried to do my duty as 1 saw it,
and 1 nave asked no questions. And
yet | know much more thar you have
told me-"
What do you know?"
II know your wound has been your
safety. If you should leave his room
and house today you would never wear
the buff n blue again, Captain Ire
ton"
You mean they would hang me for a
spy. VIII you believe me, Margery. if
/ say I have not yet worn the buff and
blue at all?"
OH" The little exclamation was of
pure delight: Then they We're all mis-
taken? You are no rebel, after alp"
Was ever man 50 tempted since the
fall Of Adam? AS I have writ it down
for you in measured words, I was no
more Than half a patriot at this time.
And love has made more traitors than
it's opposites of lust or greed. In no
uncertain sense l was a man without a
country; and this fair maiden on the
hassock at my feet was all the world
to me. 1 SAY in briefer time than any
clock hands eve measured how much
q yielding word might do for me; and
then I thought Of Richard Jennifer and
was myself again.
May, little one" I said, there has
been nc mistake. Fol their own pur-
poses my enemies have passed the
word that | am here as the Baron de
Kalb's paid spy. That is no mistake;
It's a lie cut out of whole cloth. I came
here straight from New Berne, and
back of that from London and the
continent, and scarcely know the buff
INC blu by sight. But I am Carolina
boIsl, dear lady land this King Georges
governor hanged my father. So, when
God gives me strength to mount and
ride"
Now who is 1erce?" she cried. And
then, like lightning: will you raise a
band of rebels and come and take your
own again?"
you know I will not" I protested, so
gravely that she laughed again, though
now there We're tears, from what we'll
spring Of emotion l knew not, in her
eyes.
ooh, mercy me! Have you never
one little grain of imagination,
Monsieur John? You are too mon
strous literal for our poor testing age"
Then she sobered quickly and added this:
and yet I fear that this is what my
father fears"
feared it once with reason, or that now
the houseless dog she petted should have
l.fe Of me though mine enemy Should
sick hin on. But I did say her father
had no present cause to dread me.
He thinks he has. And surely there
Is cause enough she added.
1 smiled, and, loving her the more for
her fairness, must smile again.
Nay, you have changed all that. dear
lady. Truly, l did at first fly out at him
and all concerned for what has made me
a poor pensioner in my fathers house
or rather in the house that was my ia
Tiers. But that was while the hurt was
new. I ave been a soldier Of fortune too
long to think overmuch of the loss of Ap-
pleby Hundred. Twas my fathers, GER
tainly; but twas never nine"
"And yet-and yet it should be yours
John Ireton." She aid it bravely, with
uplifted face and eloquent eyes that one
who ran might read.
Continued Next Weekly