The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1912-05-13
CHAPTER x.
A Woman's Tenderness

Woman's Tenderness
Youth Is never largely given to re
Election. which Is the gift Of years
and although my life had in q measure
rendered me more thoughtful than
might have proven under ordinary
conditions, yet 1t is to be frankly con
tessed. by one des.rous of writing
merely the truth, that generally
acted more upon impulse than reason
As ! stood forth in the sunlight OF
Tat lonely noun = 70 l, my hands
securely bound behind my back. the
end of the rope held by one Of my
captors, while his fellow leaned lazily
upon his gun and watched us, |
thought somewhat deeply over the sit
uation and those peculiar circum.
stances leading up to a.
Under other conditions might have
FELT tempted to enter into converse
ton with my guards, who, as now
perceived. were far from being. the
rough banditti had at first imagined.
Judging from their faces and language
they were intelligent enough young
fellows, such as l had often found in
the ranks of the Federal army. But
realized they could aid me little.
II any, In the one thing most de-
sired to know. and even If they could.
a sense of delicacy would have caused
me to hesitate in asking those per-
sonal questions that burned upon my
lips. My deep and abiding respect for
this woman whom l had so strangely
met. and with whom had attained
some degree of intimacy, would never
permit of my discussing her, even in.
directly. with private soldiers behind
the back of their officer. Every sense
Of honor revolted at such a thought
Not through any curiosity of mine,
however justified by the depth of my
own feeling. should she be made the
subject of idle gossip about the camp.
fire.
For. in truth. at this time, unhappy
as my own situation undeniably was
and as a soldier realized all its
dangers,-l gave 1t but little considera.
ton. Usually quick of wit. fertile in
expedients. ever ready to take ad.
vantage of each opportunity, / had
taken stock of all my surroundings.
yet discovered nowhere the slightest
opening for escape. The vigilance OF
the guard. as we'll as the thorough
manner In which was bound. rend.
cred any such attempt the merest
madness.
Then 1t was that other thoughts
came surgtng upon me in q series of
interrogatOries. which no knowledge l
possessed could possibly answer Who
was this proud. womanly woman who
called herself Edith Brennan? She
had been at some pains to inform me
that she was married. yet there was
that about her-her bearing. her man.
ner-which | could not in the least
reconcile with that thought. Her ex.
IRENE youthfulness made me feel It
improbable. and the impression re-
NAMED with me that she intended to
make some explanation Of her words,
when the coming of Bungay inter.
rupted US. How they might be ex.
planned could not imagine; l merely
struggled against accepting what /
longed to believe untrue. And this
man? this Federal major, bearing the
same name. whom she called Frank.
who was he? What manner of rela.
tionship existed between them! In
their meeting and short intercourse
had noted several things which told
me much-that she feared, respected,
valued him. and that he was not only
swayed by. but intensely jealous Of
any rival in. her good opinion Yet
their unexpected meeting was scarcely |
that of husband and wife, Was be |
the one she sought in her night ride |
from one Federal camp to another? |
If so. was he brother. friend. or hus-
band?
Such we're some of the queries |
silently struggled with, and they were
rendered more acute by that deepen
ing interest which now confessed to
myself was feeling toward her who
inspired them. 1t may be fashionable
nowadays to sneer at love. yet certain
1t IS, the rare personality of this
Edith Brennan had reached and in
fluenced me in those few hours we
had been thrown together as that of
no other woman had ever done Pos
sibly this was SO because the long
years in camp and field had kept me
isolated from all cultured and refined
womannood This may. indeed. have
caused ~ to be peculiarly susceptible
to the beauty and purity OF this one.