The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1911-12-30

| uncommon mlStakc in marriage.
Why. come to think about 1t. you must
nave met her yourself. Have you
reason to suspect this is not their
relationship"
Not in the least" l fastened TO
answer. fearful lest my thoughtless
exclamation might become the basis
Tor camp gossip Indeed was
scarcely in the lady's presence at all
coming in, as was left in charge Of
the sergeant"
Perhaps he felt that he had already
said too much. for we tramped on in
silence until We drew near a large,
square white building standing direct
ly beside the road
| This Is the old Culverton tavern
known as the Mansion House." he
said. 1T is a tremendous big build
Ing for this country. with as fine a
ballroom in it as l have seen since
leaving New York. We utilize 1t for
almost every military purpose. and
among others some Of the strong
rooms In the basement are found val
portant prisoners"
We mounted the front steps as he
was speaking. passing through cor
don OF guards. and In the wide hall
way | was turned tower to the officer
| In charge.
Goodnight. Captain said Cation.
kindly extending his hand You may
rest assured that shall say all can
In your favor. but 1t is to be regretted
that Brennan has great influence just
now at headquarters, and Sheridan is
not a man to lightly overlook those
hasty words you spoke to him"
could only thank him most warm
ly for his interest, realizing fully
from his grave manner my desperate
situation, and follow my silent con-
ductor down some narrow and steep
stairs until we stood upon the cement
ed floor of the basement Here
Heavy door in the stone division wall
was opened; was pushed forward
into the dense darkness within, and
the lock clicked duly behind me.
even distinguish the retreating steps
of the jailer
Tired as | was from the intense
strain of the past thirty-six hours,
even my anxious thoughts were insult
ficient to keep me awake Feeling
my way cautiously along the wall, |
came at last to a wide wooden bench,
and stretching my form at full length
upon it, pillowed my head on one
arm. and almost instantly was sound
asleep
When ! awoke. sore from my hard
Portable position in which l lay, it
was broad daylight That the morn
ing was. indeed, well advanced |
knew from the single ray of sunlight
which streamed il through a grated
window high up in the wall opposite
me and fell like bar of gold across
the rough stone floor. was alone
Even in the dark of the previous night
| had discovered the sole pretence to
furniture in the place. The room itself
proved to be a large and almost
square apartment. probably during the
ordinary occupancy of the house re-
ceptdcle for wood or garden produce.
but now peculiarly well adapted to
the safeguarding of prisoners.
The solid stone walls were Of suf-
ficient height to afford no chance of
reaching the great oak Orders that
OBJ LoI
the doing so offered favorable open
ing for escape. There were, apparent |
ly. but three openings of any kind
the outside window through which |
the sunlight streamed. protected by |
thick bars of iron; second opening, |
quite narrow, and likewise protected |
by a heavy metal grating; and the |
tightly locked door by means of which |
1 had entered. The second, | con-
cluded. after inspecting it closely, was
a mere air passage leading into some
other division of the cellar. noted
these openings idly. and with scarce
ly a thought as to the possibility of
escape I had awakened with strange
indifference as to what my fate might
be- Such a feeling was not natural
t. me. but the fierce emotions of the
preceding night had seemingly robbed
me of all my usua. buoyancy of hope.
Ii one sense | yet trusted that Mrs.
Brennan would keep her pledge and
tell her story to Sheridan; even if she
failed to do this, and left me to face
= bo rif Cr tho rome Thpn If mazda !
but small odds how soon it should be
over If she cared for me in the
slightest degree she would not let me
die unjustly. and to my mind then
che had hecnme the centre of all life