Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1913-02-20


head away, and Phyllida ventured to
press her hand, for she knew she was
thinking Of her only child, whose
grave was under the falling leaves in
the cold twilight.
Mrs. Allen recovered herself, and
went on quickly.
eff it was not so, Phyllida, what
made you refuse him after you had
been friendly for SO long,"
Il did like him a little, sometimes,
ma am" Phyllida answered timidly;
at least, / liked his coming, only l
never cared for him at all, and
knew if [ asked mother she would
wish me to be settled, and you were
away, and the other day, when 1 was
all alone, until you came, l almost
wished | had. But then" and he1
voice died away as she hung her head
and gazed into the fire.
my DEAR" said Mrs. Allen, stoop-
ing down to her and stroking her
cheek, tell me truly; was it because
your heart is over the water?'
Phyllida could only nod. and smile
up at her with quivering lips.
81 feared it might be so, though I
wondered at your keeping such a Sc
cret so long from me, but this morn
ing I had a letter which left me in
no doubt. 1t is meant for you as
much as for me. You shall read it to
yourself when you go to your room"
And that night, seated by her bed
room fire, Phyllida read the following
budget, which she and Mrs. Allen had
discussed fully, with many details and
comments on the rast and present,
before they retired to rest.
The letter was written in pencil on
many era IS Of Paper. How Phyllida
kissed the n when she was by herself!
IN some 2 aces it was almost illegible
to any bu, .ov.1g eyes, an j! smelt
strong 9 Tobacco :-avi23 lived for
LC. e i.an 4 mo. Il il the pocket of a
Dl,ch s-LLper.
1t was dated from French Flanders,
and began by saying Frank was pre-
pairing it, as he had opportunities of
writing for the first safe messenger
by whom he could send news of him
self to Mrs. Allen, and to one who was
yet more dear to him, as by that time
she must know. He knew they had
heard of him from his friend Mr..
Howard, so he would continue his
story after that gentlemans escape
from Verdun, as both his time and his
material might be limited.
The letter went on in grave, seri-
Gus strain, very unlike the light-heart-
ed lad Phyllida remembered; but who
could wonder at the change in him
when they had read it, and she felt
that all his sufferings and anxiety
brought them the closer together.
"The day after Towards escape"
he wrote, GAP of us were arrested at
the afternoon muster and sent to the
citadel for the night, where we lay
upon planks, with little thought of
sleep, so excited were we at the pros
pect of our long looked-for removal to
another fortress. AS we expected, we
were called out at dawn, divided into
two parties, and placed in wagons on
Valenciennes, well guarded by gems
d'armes. VIII or1pe.d circle round us
even at nIgnC wnen we lay on the
floor Of the inns, and SO frustrated all
the plans of escape [ had formed for
the road with my brother mids. We
had meant to take the first oppOrtun-
ity passing through a wood to leap
from the wagon, and trust to our
heels and it's shelter, but the vigi-
lance of our guard made this scheme
impossible, and We logged YEARLY on
for ten days until we reached Valen-
CienneS.
Little MarstOn would have follow
ed me through thick and thin, and
there were plenty Of other capital fell
lows, but, for one cause and another,
only bennett and White were ready
when the moment came, and these
three are with me as l write.
"At Valenciennes we were lodged in
the citadel in very close quarters, not
half as pleasant as at Verdun, and no
distinction made between the officers
and the seamen, except that we were
permitted to walk on the ramparts;
so | soon began to reconnOitre the
position with a view to escape. All
the sentinels and authorities were SO
much on the alert that we were oblig-
ed to let their suspicious of us cool by
time.
81 believe they had received a des-
perate character of me, as a willy
schemer, leading others away; so
pretended to devote myself entirely to
the study of Spanish had mastered
a good deal of French by this time
and wrote to my friends at Verdun
81 S%s sA