Year: 1866

The Lieutenant sat notionless in his sad
die, and, without moving muscle, return.
ed the uncivil stare. Suddenly the irasei-
BILE old gentleman raised his double. barrel.
ed shotgun, and fred at the Lieutenant,
no word having been spoken on either side,
except by the daughter, who, as she saw
the gun leveled, cried out in unagonized
voice, "Father" It was probably the first
time he had ever attempted the life of a hu-
man being, and in bis anger and haste he
missed the mark; his charge, whether of
ball or buckshot, whistled harmlessly past
the Lieutenaut's head, but the old familiar
sound reused the lion in his nature; he for
got the merits of the quarrel, and who was
his antagonist, aud as the latter, with fu-
rious oath, deliberately cooked the other,
barrel, and again leveled it, he whipped
out his long revolver, and fired with quick
but deadly aim, acquired by long practice.
The old man was shot through the heart.
He dropped his gun, threw up his arms,
reeled an instant in the saddle, and fell
headlong to the earth, limp, lifeless and
quivering mass of mortality. -. e. ,..-


With dilated eyes and nostrils, the unbsp.
py girl gazod horror.struok upon the scene
the Lieutenant spoke to her, but she an.
swered not, nor seemed to hear him then,
with long piercing scream, as if she had
hardly before fully realized tie awful fea-
lures of the tragedy, she closed her eyes
and fell faiuting into her lovers arms
When at length she regained consciousness,
the lieutenant proceeded to straighten the
body of his late antagonist upon its back,
compose its limbs, and spread his white
handkerchief over the face. Of course .
dead man was not usually of much impor-
tance in his eyes, he had seen so many of
them but he regretted much that this one
should be the father of the woman he had
chosen for bis wife. he could not shut bis
eyes to the disagreeable consequence that
the memory of this dreadful tragedy must
ever hang over them like cloud, shutting
out the sunshine from their married life.-
He attempted to address words of cousola-
tion to the lady, but she fixed her eyes'upon
the dead body of her father, and broke in
to the most piteous lamentations over the
ghastly spectacle, accusing herself of being
the cause of his death then turning sud.
denly upon her lover, she upbraided him
in the bitterest terms with having tempted
her to ruin, and slain her father 1t was
vainly that he reminded her of her former
fears of pursuit, and repeated declarations
that her father would kill them both (; it was
vainly that he declared his readiness to
blow bis own brains out then and there as
an atonemens, and protested that he had
fred upon her father only in defence of his
own life; she would not listen to him; she
saw in him only the red handed slayer of her
sire, and love was changed to horror and
detestation. She bade him begone, and
never see her no more, nor think of her,
and then remounting rode suddenly away
in the direction of home without turning to
look back. ....,......... i. ..


Slowly and sadly the Lieutenat stepped
into the boat awaiting him, and made his
way to the eastern shore of the river, leav-
ing the negro gazing stupidity upon the dead
body of his master. Climbing the high
bank, he stood few moments with bis eyes
fixed upon the spot where his hopes Of hap
piness had been so suddenly crushed, as if
he would fix it in his memory forever, and
then turning away, walked like an insane
man straight into the forest. r, ...


He is now in New Orleans, and I OBJ
tanned the particulars of this story from
one of his friends. There is sequel to it.
The lady of his love arrived here few
weeks ago Time has not only consoled
her for the loss of her father, but had
brought back tender memories of the man
she still loved; she was her own mistress,
heiress, of her fathers estate, and undoubt-
edly came here to seek him out. She ad-
dressed note to him, expressing the con-
viction that the death of her father BY bis
hand was necessity that could not have
been avoided under the circumstances, and
imploring his forgiveness for her own con-
duct on the occasion, and the words of
reproaoh she had spoken. What reply he
made, or whether lie made any, I do not
know, but am told that, although her love
is still returned, he fears to make her his
wife, lest the memory of the past should
forever rise between them and mar their
happiness.


Howcqer. the minds of men and women,
who fancy they love each other, are so con-
stituted that they look upon everything but
the enjoyment of that love as of small
importance; and it is not probable that the
Lieutenant's scruples or her own will long
keep them asunder. G. W.. s.


FoRTY.S1x YEARS EXPERIENoE.-A
gentleman who has had experience as a
farmer forty six years, gives the american