Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1908-06-18

e~AAS AoSSS were Iramsd WHITE In the
window. and the adjutant and the
men outside held their breath as the
new boots creaked In the strained
silence straight up to the dreaded
door
dropping pin would have sounded
clearly, and the boys firm tap. tap.
tap shattered the stiffness and echoed
In the bare room. The silence closed
In again for Eve anxious seconds. n
bass growl rumbled from the shad
oWs, and the boy was in the presence.
Perhaps the colonel drowssd a little
He often aid In these latter days be-
meath the kindly faces on the wall
that smiled and grew dim as seen
through something in his eyes. Per
h2ps be did, for surely this was the
Nashville pike that thrummed Ike a
tocsin beneath his horses feet; and
surely this was his own troop that
cIattered along behind him in route
order; this was his own dark hair that
dropped below his ears and framed his
oronzed young face.
Then that last dance with the little
girl with brown eyes came up IN hi.
dream.
But with the incongruity ~ dreams
the colonel was far away from the
Franklin pike. though journeying
thereward on q trip that he had long
promised himself after Appornattox
NO troop changed behind him now. and
only the rise and fall Of a glossy bay
shoulder met his eye as he rested on
mis- pommsl and dreamed his drsaY2
Again he drew rein at a house near
Nashville. for his destination wa
niles beyond; and though the spires
OF the city showed blue-tinged in the
twilight distance. the night was roll
Ing In from the valleys and the road
was strange. Soon he was asking
CHEEKY young man for q nights hos
pitality and experimenting the stablin;
OF his horse.
This portion OF the coloneIs dre2n-
was apt to be intermittent with r.
ordered sequence Of events vortl
mentioning, for now he stood with his
back TO an open FIRE and his hostess
was on the stairs. There was a rustic
OF skirts In the hall and he had ad
Tanced step toward the door and
now stood with hand half raised. star
Ing dumbly into the panied face Of .
woman with brown eyes; and in thu.
surge Of emotion, forgetting tho
blanch Of his own face or the wonde,
OF his hosts
The bountiful supper was q torture
and the endless winter evening. with
the host rafting brainlessly of field
and stock and events, satisfied with
anoearable. A hundred times tina
Sleepless, miserable night he checked
AN impulse to steal down the stair,
and ride away with his misery. I'D
eheered. He walked down in the frs
wan light Of morning, but the man wa.
there TO meet him, goading his mind
to frenzy with wellintended banali
ties. To go without breakfast was IN
heard OF in the south? Would he thus
inJure the self-pride OF his willine
host? He must sit quietly Will.
everything was done to speed him o,
his way. The host himself would
must-see to the saddling OF his horse
and he was almost forced into
chair.
II only he had been spared that mo.
ment before the last, and yet, II he
had missed it, when he stood facine
that accusation that had been repeat
ed with her heart throbs and that al
last took words and fell upon hin,
blameless. with a quaver more bitter
than sobs, bitterness that had re.
NAMED with him until now, leavenine
his life and changing every attribute
Of youth
Why didn't you come? oh. why
didn't you Gomez" said the woman.
whose lot 1t was TO wait for his com
ing always.
And the man. her husband, stood
aghast as his guest rode on his fran
tic mission straight away from Nash
vile. with never a glance In that di.
rection or word OF farewell.
For the guest heard only the tread
OF his horses feet on the frost-hard-
ened road that intoned a question on
his anguish-numbed mind, over and
over again, and it grew loud and re-
coded and grew loud and became
tapping on his Office door; and he
raised his head and looked straight
into those brown eyes and that face.
and heard a fresh young voice saying:
Lieut.. - reports for duty" and
he was on his feet. quickly grasping
the lad by the arm.
What is your name, hoy, your
name?"
And the bitterness was gone away
forever.
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