Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1911-05-18
The Mysterious Messenger.

boy Of eighteen-enteTed and held out TO
her letter, on which she saw at a glance
the superscription in her husbands hand
writing. The young soldier was very
pale, and she noticed that though the
weather was fine his clothes were soaked
with water. But she was too eager to
read the message TO dwell upon this, and,
seizing it, she carried it to an open win
dow for better light TO read it. 1t, too.
was soaked with water, and the lines
were badly blurred. She managed TO
make out that the war was over, and
Captain Winterton would soon return to
her, though since he must accompany
his command il would yet be few days.
Then she turned 10 the young soldier.
He was gone. The sudden vaniShment
so startled her that she dropped the let
ter on the window sill.
AStoniShed that she had not heard his
step, she walked into the hall, which was
not carpeted and would surely resound
under any tread, especially that OF boot
ed soldier. She ran TO the front door,
expecting to see him walking across the
"parade" to the soldiers quarters, but
no one except the SentrlCS and a few
loungers appeared. Starting back into
the room, she went TO the window to re-
read the letter, when she noticed that it
was not there. The apartments were
not far above the ground, and she looked
out, expecting that it had blown out OF the
window and was lying below. She did
not see If and went outside to look for
IT, butwithout success.
She was frightened. She dreaded lest
this strange message from her husband,
coming in such uncanny fashion, was a
prelude to bad news. She sent re-
quest for the officer in command OF the
post TO visit her, and when he came she
told him the story. He declared that TO
his knowledge no messenger had come
from the lava beds, but he would make
sure by inquiry of the officer Of the day.
That officer replied that no such mesSen-
ger had been seen at the post. Hall a
Gozen people were set TO hunting for the
missing letter, but it was not found.
In the evening the post surgeon called
on Mrs. Winterton at the commandments
suggestion, oStensibly to ask for news
from her husband, but really to see if she
was not overwrought by anxiety. He
found her pale and nervous, but could
detect nothing further. II was the opin-
ion of the officers and their families that
the mysterious courier and the letter were
the creation OF Mrs. Wintenon'S brain.
No one except herself had seen either
courier or letter. The soldier could not
have got into the post without having
been seen by the sentry at the gate and
the one pacing before the officers quar-
terS.
The police squad, whose duty it was
TO pick up every bit OF paper that Uttered
the inCloSure, was instructed TO look out
for the letter, but they never produced it.
Mrs. Winterton'S nervousness increased
10 hySteria, and word was sent to her
husband TO return as soon as possible.
He obtained leave to do so and at once
set out for the fort. The commandant
met him before he saw his wife and told
him of the vision, or whatever it might
be, that had visited Mrs. Winterton.
Winterton stood aghaSt. 1t was some
time before he could reply to inquiries as
to his aStonishment, but at last he said
"They say the dead cannot visit us. |
have just had evidence that they can.
Young Harding, the messenger, was as
devoted TO me as ever was soldier TO his
commander. He was the son Of banker
in the east, and, being ambitious TO be a
soldier, he enlisted and would have now
been promoted. He was pet Of mine,
and twice during this war saved his life,
once by crawling out to him beyond our
firing line, where he had been left after
retreat and could not raise his head with
out getting bullet through it, again by
forcing him to the ground moment be-
fore a storm of bullets was sent over our
works. AS soon as hoStilitieS had ceased
| chose him TO take the news to my wife.
On my way here learned that he was
pursued by Indians who had not given
up the struggle and was drowned attempt
ing to swim the horse across the river"
II was decided not TO encourage Mrs.
Winterton in the belief that she had been
visited by the dead. BY the surgeons
advice her husband feigned TO be ignor-
ant of the messenger and told her that 1t
had been reported to him that she had
been i'll and, about the time OF young
Harding's supposed arrival, on the bor-
ders OF delirium. Mrs. Winterton, how
ever. could not be deceived, and after a
time. when she was in better physical
condition, her husband admitted the facts.
The admission did not alter her feelings
in the matter. Ever since the mysterious
visit she has had habit Of waking in the
early morning and seeing again in fancy
the dripping boy standing before her
holding out TO her the water-stained note.
Writes a friend from Cannes to the
Gentlewoman: 81 heard story the other
night at dinner given here which is, !
believe, a true one, and as it might amuse
your readers | pass it on. A little boy
..t..I a. .;..n q RihIa 70 his r11nthPr on