The leader-enterprise. [volume] (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1912-1915, 1913-04-18

| close upon the way; nelSHDoIly Hoinoo
began to multiply; and SO striking a
borseman riding uniformed and unat-
tended could not Whereabouts go far
unrecognized. He was wayla1d and
hailed to dinner, despite excuses and
protests of public business calling for
dispatch. There was charming
woman to be seen at the house, his
| friend told him, If good dinner was
| not argument enough-and his bust
ness could not spoil for an hours stay
| in agreeable company. And so, OF
sudden, under constraint of Virgtnian
hospitality, he was hurried into the
presence of the gracious young matron
who was at once, and as If OF right. to
make his heart safe against further
quest of adventure.
Martha Custis was but six-and-twen-
ty. To the charm Of youth and beauty
were added that touch Of quiet sweet
ness and that winning grace Of self
possession which come to woman
wived In her girlhood. and widowed
before age or care has checked the
Arst full tide Of life. At seventeen
she had married Daniel Parke GUSTS,
q man more than twenty years her
senior; for eight years of quiet love
and duty as wife and mother had
only made her youth the more gra-
cious In that rural land Of leisure and
good neighborhood; and years wild
owhood had been but a suitable prepa-
ration for perceiving the charm OF this
stately young soldier who now came
riding her way upon the public
business.
A Willing Captive.
His age was her own; all the land
knew him and loved him for gallantry
and brave capacity; he carried
himself like a prince-and he forgot
his errand to linger in her company
Dinner was soon over, and his horses
at the door; there was the drilled and
dutiful Bishop, trained servant that
he was, leading his restless and i'm
patient charge back and forth with
In sight of the windows and Of the
terrace where his young colonel tar
ried, absorbed and forgetful; man and
beast alike had been in the serv-
ice Of the unhappy Braddock, and
might seem to walk there lively mem
cries of duty done and undertaken.
But dusk came; the horses were put
up; and the next morning was well ad-
vanced before the distracted young
officer got at last to his saddle, and
spurred on belated to Williamsburg.
His business concerned the prepare
tons then afoot for General Forbes
advance upon Duquesne. II came here
at this critical juncture," said Wash
ington to the president of the council,
"by the express order Of Sir John st.
Clair, to represent in the fullest man.
ner the posture of our affairs at Win
chester"-lack of clothes, arms, and
equipage, lack of money, lack Of wise
regulations touching rank and disci-
pine.
A Visit and Pledge.
General Forbes had been in Phila-
delphia a month already, awaiting the
formation Of his army in Virginia;
Sir John st. Clair, his quartermaster-
general, had come into the provinces
to see that proper plans were made
and executed; it was necessary that
matters should be pressed forward
very diligently and at once, and Wash
ington, when once at the seat of gov
eminent, was not slack to urge and
superintend official action.
But. the troublesome business once
in proper course, he turned back to
seek Mrs. GUSTS again, this time at
her own home, ere he went to the long
distance of the frontier The onset
was made with soldiers promptness
and audacity. He returned to his post,
after delay too slight to deserve any
reasonable mans remark, and yet with
a pledge given and taken which made
him look forward to the end of the
campaign with new longing as to
the winning of real home and an
unwonted happiness.
This was not Washington's first ad-
venture in love, but it was his last,
and gave him a quiet joy which stood
him in stead a whole lifetime.
No young virginian could live TWEEN
ty-six years amidst fair women in
that hale and sociable colony without
being touched again and again by the
quick passion; and this man had the
blood of a lover beyond his fellows.
Despite the shyness of raw lad
who lived much in the open, he had
relished the company of lively women
from the first, meeting their gay sal
lies sometimes with a look from his
frank blue eyes that revealed more
than he knew. Love had first found
him out in earnest six years ago,
when he was but just turned OF
twenty: and it had taken all the long
while since to forget his repulse at
the hands of a fair young beauty IN
that day Of passion.
An Earlier Love Affair.
Mary Phillipse had but taken his
fancy for a moment, because he could
not pass such a woman by and deem
himself still a true Virginian. 1t was
more serious that he had been much
in the company, these last years, OF a
fair neighbor of the vivacious house