The Washington times., 1913-08-10

| head of charging column No; full oi
| hcnors and quick with life, he was to
come back and claim her, and even
/ but the man she really loved with al
not a soldier at ALI He was a lawyer,
and some declared him to be recreant,
| because he delayed the proffer Of his
| services TO his State. While thousands
! OF her best people were already In
| arms he had fingered In the North. that
North that Ariadne In a blind unrea-
sontng. totally feminine, as well as en-
tirely youthful. way. was growing 20
hate with an inveteracy which should
have bespoken a better cause for ami
mostly. And Ariadne despised when she
hated: Had not the craven Yankees
tacks Of Beauregard's brave young
Southerners through all the long July
afternoon but yesterday at Manassas
| and her lover was not there with the
young manhood of the Statei
However. Ariadne did not question thu
young lawyers patriotism on that ac-
count, not she. She trusted like youth,
naturally; she dreamed like youth, alb
solutely; and she hoped like youth,
without a doubt. without a reservation.
She knew why he had delayed. or IL she
did not, he would explain it all, for he
was coming back todayl A servant had
galloped up to the great house by the
river road that morning with a note for
the old judge, in which the writer said
that he had at last reached Richmond,
and that after he had attended to some
necessary business In the city he would
be with them ere the night fell
The judges race was nearly run. Had
the times been peaceful he might have
fingered on long past three-score-and-
ten years, but his heart had been rent
and torn within him by the events of
the past year, even as the Union for
which he had fought had been rent and
torn In the last analysis Judge Lewis
was for the State as against the United
States. That is not saying that he view
ed the severance OF relations between
the grand Old Dominion between the
Chesapeake and the mountains and the
greater Dominion that extended from
the Atlantic to the Pacific with equani-
nifty or satisfaction.
nanced secession The hot-headed i'm
pulsiveness of South Carolina was not
reflected by the great calm State which
had given Washington to the land and
was soon to give Lee as evidence Of the
quality of her manhood. But when
armed foot was set upon her soil and
she was required to choose between
fighting against and fighting with the
wayward sisters that lay beyond her
borders to the South. her decision was
certain. There was only one course she
could pursue
1t was pain and grief to the old man.
as IL was to many another true-hearted
patriot, when Virginia, which had been
its mother. as 1t were, went out OF the
Union. Sadly, sadly, with eyes that did
not flash, but that brimmed with tears,
he saw the slender hands of Ariadne
strike the flag Of the United States
from the staff from which, from sun
rise to sunset by his orders. It had
while she hoisted in its place the new
flag to which he was almost too old to
give allegiance.
New things are for youth Ariadne
had not fought for that flag as he had,
she had not poured out her life blood
not seen 1t grow star by star until IT
had become the most glorious constel-
lation in the heraldry Of the heavens
Old Aza, the judges body servant, who
in Mexico. usually hoisted and lowered
the flag. but on that day that 1t had
come down for the last time, Ariadne
herself insisted upon striking 1t, and
her own self hauled the flag which she,
with the assistance Of Aunt Dessy. her
black old nanny. had made to the top
Of the tall staff. It was the twitch OF
her vigorous young arm-she was a
wiry little body, strong, II slight-which
had shaken 1t out to the breeze be-
fore the audience of wondering and
amused slaves. who clapped their hands
and cheered delightedly. not discerning
what either banner meant to them 1g-
norance knows no standard and Is in
different to its flag.
Yet the triumphant Ariadne was sorry
after IL was all over when she saw the
stricken look and noted the despairful
gesture with which the old man COW
cred his white face with his whittier hand.
Had he been in power he could have
done no other than as his friends and
successors in the State had done, yet
the doing Of II broke his heart.
Ariadne had become suddenly fearful
lest the expected guest would not ar
rive in time to see her grandfather
again. When the letter came that MORN
ing the judge had revived marvelously.
He had insisted upon being dressed for
the first time in months, after dinner,
and they had brought him out upon the
broad gallery surrounding the old
colonial house. There through the fad
ing hours of the long afternoon, his eye
had wandered from field to copse, from
copse to river. It was the home Of his
ancestors, the home of his boyhood,
were its acres, happy and joyous its
slaves. Contentment and the peace of
fruitful summer were there.
But generally, with an eagerness so
great as to be painfully obvious even
to the girl by his side, the Judge would
turn from the fields and woodlands, in
which he had played as child, to
search the winding river road Antici-
patton gave him certain fictitious
strength, or the appearance of it; ex-
citement lent to his pale cheek a touch
of color which wavered like the rosy
glow that ftfully comes from a dying
fire on a midnight hearth, as he saw
away down the road a far-off moving
figure II had been visible to the girl
for some time. She was keen-eyed, but
she had said nothing lest she raise false
hopes. The judge shaded his brows
with his hand and looked.
NV child" he said in a voice Of sill
very sweetness, which, when II had been
strong with virile power, had charmed
his friends and even awakened the ad-
miration, and. what was more import
ant, commanded the silence Of his enc
mics when he had spoken; my child, is
not that he, yon horseman?"
Yes, grandfather" answered the girl