The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1918-11-22

Try lOTestT. Ou, yes, LIE dSSuLueu lAe
innocent air quite dramatically. Some
of the war office people believed In him
until the damning documents were laid
before them.
"And he was still somehow In touch
with things, Wallace, and the leakages
went on a~fterward- That's why we
had orders to hang him as soon as
Santiago was taken. He did the kind
est thing he could have done to him,
sniper's bullet.
III tell you who the child's mother
was, Wallace, because / was unfortu'
nate enough to know her. She vas q
Miss Rennie, Miss Marjorie Rennie
Of a Baltimore family-ine people
and, of course, with a tradition like
that, she believed in the scoundrel alb.
solutely. She came to me twice. The
first time was before the informal trial
held by the department. She begged
me to believe he was innocent and the
victim of q trap. / wouldn't even lis
ten. You know, when a man has to
run down his friend he has to harden
his heart.
"She came to me again, after Hamp-
ton was broken. She told me L had
played false to my best friend and
that I'd suffer for it to the last day OF
my life. I've we forgotten that in
terview, and you can guess 10Y il
made me mad to hang Hampton when
we learned that he was still keeping
up the game from his exile in Cuba.
He mus have got quite a number of
confidential papers out of the war of
flee. That's about ALL"
Its enough" said Wallace. "The
girl married him. them"
$50 much we learned. And also that
she died later. You see, we've been
pretty close on the fellows track the
last couple Of years-ever since the
val became a probability, In fact.
Most of the officers in the regiment
are since that time. but 1 guess they
all knew something, and kept it quiet,
like you"
Wallace nodded. 81 fancy there's a
good deal of feeling" he said.
quite a good DEAL" said the major.
dryly. "And l guess you'll agree with
me that this makes it-let's say, a lit
tie difficult to adopt his child Off
cially?"
you mean the remembrance would
be too bitter?"
81 mean hat that position is the
one and only position that she is dis
qualified from holding, by reason of
BIRTH"
"Still,' urged Wallace, sit isn't in
the blood. The mother was decent.
Why should that baby be furnished
with her fathers treachery?"
IT'S written in the Good Book"
began the major.
"And there's something else about
Goals of fire, too, Major, which came
as a sort of revision of the old law.
It's just what we ought to do, because
it's the only way to adjust the mat
ter"
Adjust it? Adjust what?" cried
the Major, with sudden passion.
1.-The whole of hat hellish business,
Major. The man was once an officer
OF the Seventeen. He's dead and his
crimes have died with him. We want
to forget hat such a thing could have
happened, n the only way is to leave
him to Gods judgment and TO cast
out all bitterness from u hearts.
You quoted Scripture to newell, 1
gave you the answer from the same
Book. Let death bring oblivion to the
mans memory. He's left us the child
Start here. Start fresh. I have the
right to the kid, but what you have
told me makes me feel strongly that
there's q Providence In this affair,
and I'll lend her to you-mark that
word. Major i-on that condition or
none"
Major Howard pulled at his mus
tache In agitation. "You don't really
mean it, Wallace?" he asked.
II do. If you want me to let you
take her till the wars over"
1T means forgiving that black
guard"
1T means forgetting him and letting
the Judge judge"
at goes against every instinct. I'd
bring her up away from the regimental
life. Besides, there are the Others"
"Who else knows?"
well, of course, nobody else knows
LIZ IhC oCGA 114h was. I1t 1OlOlCI
will have to know. But he needn't
know we've adopted the child. He's
going South after the war. However,
I'm afraid Kellerman knows. He rec
ognized what was left of the face, or |
suspected somehow. 1 could tell from |
his manner"
81 don't see any overwhelming diff
iculty in that. You can trust Keller
The major nodded, and it occurred
% Wallace that he would rather trust
my of the officers than Kellerman. He
conceived a prejudice against him
which he could not have explained.
"And Hampton's name was erased
rom the old mess list" Wallace ON
inued.
The major, who had been pulling at
lis muStache and thinking deeply,
anne to his decision.
"Well. I'll take her on those terms,