Pittston Gazette

              » » tZ"KFSSMJ""! Oldest Newsoaoer in the Wvomine Valley. PITTSTON, LUZEItNE CO.* PA., FRIDAY, MAY 2, 1890. A WeeKly Local and Family Journal. \ it was remarked tnat Air. Hayrie was out surprisingly quick for a fellow who had teen so recently threatened with brain fever. The Rayners were to go east at once, so it was said, though the captain's leave of absence had not yet been ordered. The colonel could grant him Eieven days at any time, and he had telegraphic notification that there toould be no objection when the formal application reached the war department. Rayner called at the colonel's office and asked that he might be perloitted to start with his wife and sister. His second lieutenant would move in and occupy his quarters and take care of all his personal effects during their absence; and Lieut. Hayne was a most thorough officer, and he felt that in turning over his company to him he left it in excellent hands. The colonel saw the misery in the captain's face, and he was touched by both looks and words: « THE DESERTER. decided—until this morning, after the captain came back from the office. There is nothing to prevent our going, now that he has Been the coloneL" to tDe discnargecl. They cannot tind him now; but perhaps Mr. Hayne can. Mr. Hayne, try to. You—you must." icu Co nu-i your way—done your work. You'll tee soon enough the hideous web "Thank ye, sir. I know ye'll be good to her. Go with the lootenant, Kate, darlin', go. Shure I'll be happier then." The woman is a liend. She is the devil in petticoats—and ingenuity. My Qod! sir, I have been in torment for weeks past—my poor wife and I. I have been criminally, cowardly weak; but I did not know what to do—where to turn—how to take it—how to meet it. Let me tell you." And now great tears were standing in his eyes and beginning to trickle down his cheeks. He dashed them away. His lips were quivering, and he strode nervously up and down the matted floor. "When you refused to let Clancy re-enlist in the —th, two years after Battle Butte, he came to me and told me a story. He, too, had declared, as I did, that he had seen the money packages in Hayne'i hands, and he said the real reason he was kicked out of the —th was because the officers and men took sides with Hayne and thought he had sworn his reputation away. He begged me not to 'go back on him' as his own regiment had, and 1 thought he was being persecuted because he told the truth. God knows I fully believed Hayne guilty for more than three years—it is only within the last year or so I began to have doubts; and so I took Clancy into B company and soon made Mrs. Clancy a laundress. But she made trouble for us all, and there was something uncanny about them. She kept throwing out mysterious hints I could not understand when rumors of them reached me; and at last came the fire that burned them out, and then the stories of what Clancy had said in his delirium; and then she came to my wife and told her a yarn that—she swore to its truth, and nearly drove Mrs. Rayner wild with anxiety. She swore that when Clancy got to drinking he imagined he had seen me take that money from Capt. Hull's saddle bags and replace the sealed package; she said he was ready to swear that he and Gower—the deserter—and instant about the corners of bis mouth, and then he held out his hand: "She knows by this time, Mrs. Waldron.""i did not see: i knew ne would." More vivid color, and much hesitation now. "Indeed we must, Hayne. and quick about it," said the major. "Now is our chance, I verily believe. Let us get the doctor first; then little Kato'will best know where to look for Clancy. Come, man, get your overcoat." And he hastened to the hall. of trouble you've entangled about my husband. Don't you dare s*y—don't you dare think"—and now sho rose with sudden fury—"that ho was the—that he lost the money I But that's what all others will think." "Knew he would! Why, Nellie, what do you mean? He didn't tell you that he was to see Capt. Rayner. He couldn't have known." "There was not before, Kate; for Mr. Billings told me yesterday morning, and I told you, that the colonel had said you could start at once, and you replied that the captain could not be ready for several days—three at least." And, trembling, he bent and kissed her wet clieeks. She threw her arms around his neck and clung to him in an agony of grief. Gently they strove to disengage her clasping arms, but she shrieked and struggled, and poor old Clancy broke down. There were sturdy soldiers standing by who turned their heads away to hide the unbidden tears, and with a quiver in his kind voice the major interposed: An hour later Mrs. Bayner was standing on the platform at the station, Ross and others of her satellites hanging about her; Capt. Rayner was talking in subdued tones with one or two of the senior officers; Miss Travers, looking feverishly pretty, was chatting busily with Royce and Foster, though a close observer could have noted that her dark eyes often sought the westward prairie over which wound the road to the distant post. It was nearly train time, and three or four horsemen could be seen at various distances, while, far out towards the fort, long skirmish lines and fluttering guidons were sweeping over the slopes in mimic war array. By Oapt, 0EAXLE8 HIS, U. & A. Author of "Dmtrw—m AnuA," "Tk» CoU- "But I knew, Kate; and I told him how the captain had suffered." CMTD DNfUv,' "Mmrtmia "If that were true, Kate, there would be this difference between his trouble and Mr. Hayne's: Capt. Rayner would have wife, wealth and friends to help him bear the cross: Mr. Hayne has borne it five long, years unaided. I pray God the truth has been brought to light." "But how could you know that he would shake hands with him?" mu. "Well, now he is; and that ends it. Never mind what changed his mind." Hayne followed as though in a dream, reached the threshold, turned, looked back, made one quick step toward Miss Travers with outstretched hand, then checked himself as suddenly. His yearning eyes seemed fastened on her burning face, his lips quivered with the intensity of his emotion. She raised her eyes and gave him one quick look, half entreaty, half command; lie seemed ineffectually struggling to speak—to thank her. One moment of irresolution, then, without a word of any kind, he sprang to the door. She carried his parting glanco in her heart of hearts all night long. There was no mistaking what it told. "He promised me." It was unsafe to trifle with Nellie Travers, as Mrs. Rayner might have known. She saw that something had occurred to make the captain eager to start at once; and then there was that immediate sending for Mrs. Clancy, the long, secret talk up in Kate's room, the evident mental disturbance of both feminines on their respective reappearances and the sudden announcement to her. While there could be no time to make formal parting o&lls, there were still some two or three ladies in the garrison whom she longed to see before saying adieu; and then there was Mr. Hayne, whom she had wronged quite as bitterly as any one else had wronged him. He was out that day for the first time, and she longed to see him and longed to fulfill the neglected promise. That she must do at the very least. If she could not see him she must write, that he might have the note before they went away. All these thoughts were rushing through her brain as she busied herself about her little room, stowing away dresses and dropping everything from time to time to dart into her sister's room in answer to some querulous call. Tet never did she leave without a quick glance from her window up and down the row. For whom was she looking? The silence was unbroken for a moment. Nellie Travers could hear the beating of her own heart as she nestled closer to her sister and stole a hand into hers. Mrs. Rayner was trying hard to be dutiful, stern, unbending, to keep her faith with the distant lover in the east, whether Nell was true or no; but she had been so humbled, so changed, so shaken, by the events of the past few weeks, she felt all her old spirit of guardianship ebbing away. "Must I give you up, Nell? and must he, too?—Mr. Van Antwerp?" "He has not answered my last letter, Kate. It Is nearly a week since I have heard from him." (COXTWCD.) , What fierce reply Mrs. Rayner might have given, who knows? but at that instant a quick step was heard on the piazza, the door opened suddenly, and Capt. Rayner entered with a rush. The pallor had gone; a light of eager, half incredulous joy beamed from his eyes, he threw his cap upon the floor, and his wife had risen and thrown her arms about his neck. "Let her stay awliile; it will be better for both. Don't put him in the prison room, Graham. Keep them by themselves for a while. We will come for her by and by." And then, before them all, he held forth his hand and gave Clancy's a cordial grasp. ' "Cheer up, man. You've taken the right step at last. You are a free man today, even if you are a prisoner for the time being. Better this a thousand times than what you were." "I have missed all this," she said, pointing to the scene; "and I do love it so that it seems hard to go just as all the real soldier life is beginning." "Goodness knows you've had offers enough to keep you here," said Foster, with not the blithest laugh in the world. "Any girl who will go east and marry a 'cit' and leave si* of seven penniless subs sighing behind her, I have my opinion of; site's eminently level headed," he added, with rueful and unexpected candor. "I have hopes of Miss Travers yet," boomed Royce, in his ponderous basso; "not personal hopes, Foster—you needn't feel for your pistol—but I believe that her heart is with the army, like the soldier's daughter she is." And, audacious as was the speech and deserving of instant rebuke, Mr. Royce was startled to see her reddening vividly. He would have plunged into hasty apology, but Foster plucked his sleeve: "You must not take this last affair too much to heart, Capt. Rayner/ We in the—tli have known Capt Buxton so many years that with us there is no question as to where all the blame lies. It seems, too, to be clearly understood by Mr. Hayne. As for your previous ideas of that officer. I consider it too delicate a matter to speak of. You must see, however, how entirely beyond reproach hia general character appears to have been. But here's another matter: Clancy's discharge has arrived. Does the old fellow know you had requested it?" "Have they found him?-' was her breathless question. What has happened? You look so different." "Found him? Yes{ and he has told everything."- "Told—what?" * Hayne, too, spoke a few kind words in a low tone, and gave the old soldier his hand at parting. Then the guard closed the door, and father and daughter were left alone. As the groups around the guard house began to break up and move away, and the officers, re-entering the carriages, drove over to headquarters, a rollicking Irishman called to the sergeant of the guard: ' CHAPTER XVII. The morning rvport of the following day showed some items under the head o! "Alterations" that involved several of the soldier characters of this story. Ex- Sftrgeant Clancy had been dropped from the column of present "on daily duty" ""What did you write, Nellie?" "What I had done twice before—that he ought to reler-se me." "And—fc ClaAcy's the only 6onfesafaD yoo have heard today5s' "The only ode." A pause, then: "I know what you mean, Kate; bat he la not the man to—to offer his love to a girl he knows is pledged to another." "But if you were free, Nellie? Tell me." v "Told that he and Gower were the men. They took it all." "Clancy—and Gowesl The thieves, do you mean? Is tliat—is that what he confessed?" she asked, in wild wonderment, in almost stupefied amaze, releasing him from her arms and stepping back, her eyes searching hia face. and taken up on that of absent without leave. Lieut Hayne was also reported absent. Dr. Pease and Lieut. Billings drove into the garrison from town just before the cavalry trumpets were sounding first call for guard mounting, and the adjutant sent one of the musicians to give his compliments to Mr. Royce and ask him to mount the guard for him, as he had just returned and had important business with the colonel. The doctor and the adjutant together went into the colonel's quarters, and for the first time on record the commanding officer was not at the desk in his olfice when who shoulder straps began to gather for the matinee. "Does ho know the ould woman's skipped, sargent? Shure, you'd better tell him. 'Twill cheer him, like." "No, sir," answered Rayner, with hesitation and embarrassment. "We wanted to keep him straight, as I told you we would, and he would probably get on a big tear j[f he knew his service days were numbered. I didn't look for its being granted |For forty-eight hours yet." "Well, he will know it before night; and no doubt he will be badly cut up. Clancy was a fine soldier before he married that harridan of a woman." "She has made him a good wife since they came into the Rifiers, colonel, and has taken mighty good care of the old fellow." "Nothing else in the world, Kate. I don't understand it at alL I'm all atremble yet. It clears Hayne utterly. It at least explains how I was mistaken. But what—what could she have meant?" But when, a few moments after, the news was imparted to Clancy, the effect was electric and startling. With one bound and a savage cry he sprang to the door. The sergeant threw himself upon him and strove to hold liim back, but was no match for the frenzied man. Deaf to Kate's entreaties and the sergeant's commands, he hurled him aside, leaped through the doorway, shot like a deer past the lolling guardsmen on the porch, and, turning sharply, went at the top of his speed down the hill towards Sudsville before man could lay hand on him. The sentry on Number One cocked his rifle and looked inquiringly at the officer of the guard, who came running out With a wild shriek little Kate threw herself upon the sentry, clasping his knees and imploring him not to shoot. "I have no right to say, Kate; but"— and two big tears were welling up into her brave eyes, as she clasped her hands and stretched them yearningly before her—"shall I tell you what I think a girl would say if she were free and had won his love?" She seized a wrap and stepped to the doorway.Mr. Hayne was up and around again. The springtime was coming, and the prairie roads were good and dry, and the doctor bad told him he must lire in the open air awhile and ride and walk and drive. He stood in do want of "mounts," for three or four of his cavalry friends were ready to lend him a saddle horse any day. Mr. and Mrs. Hurley, after making many pleasant acquaintances, had gone on to Denver, and Gapt. Buxton was congratulating himself that he, at least, had not run foul of the engineer's powerful fistu. Button was not in arrest, for the case had proved a singular "poser." It occurred during the temporary absence of the colonel; be oould not well place the captain under arrest for things he had done when acting as post commander. In obedienoe to his orders from department headquarters, he made his report of the affair, and indicated that Cap*- Buxton's conduct had been inexcusable. Rayner had done nothing but, as was proved, reluctantly obey the captain's orders, so he could not be tried. Hayne, who had committed one of the most serious crimes in the military catalogue—that of drawing and raising a weapon against an officer who was in discharge of his duty (Rayner), had the sympathy of the whole command, and nobody would prefer charges against him. The general decided to have the report go up to division headquarters, and thence it went with its varied comments and indorsements to Washington; and now a court of inquiry was talked of. Meantime poor bewildered Buxton was let severely alone. What mode him utterly miserable was the fact that in his own regiment, the —th, nobody spoke of it except as something that everybody knew was sure to happen the moment he got in command. If it hadn't been that 'twould have been sonnaomjr else. The only certainty was that Buxton would never lose a chance of making an ass of himself. of being furious with him, the whole regiment—officers and men simply ridiculed and laughed at him. He had talked of preferring charges against Blake for insubordination, and asked the adjutant what he thought of it It was the first time be bod spoken to the adjutant for weeks, and the adjutant rushed out of the office to tell the crowd to come in and "hear Buxton's latest." It began to look as though nothing serious would ever come of the affair, until Rayner reappeared and people saw how very ill he was. Dr. Pease had been consulted; and it was settled that he as well as his wife must go away for several months and have complete rest and change. It was decided that they would leave by the 1st of May. All this Mr. Hayne heard through his kind friend, Mrs. Waldron. One day when be first began to sit up, and before he had been out at all, she came and sat with him in his aunshiny parlor. There had been a silence for a moment as sho looked around upon the few pictures and upon that bareness and coldness which, do what he will, no man can eradicate from his abiding place until he calls in thedeft and dainty band of woman. It was just about dusk when she heard crying downstairs—a child—and appa- Mrs. Rayner stood like one in a dream, her eyes starii g, her lips quivering; and Nellie, with throbbing pulses and clasping hands, looked eagerly from husband to wife, as though beseeching somo explanation."Look who's coming, you galoot! She hasn't heard a word either of us has said." M And though Nellie Travers, noting the sadden silence, burst into an immediate and utterly irrelevant lament over the loss of the Maltese kitten—which had not been seen all that day and was not to be found when they came away—it was useless. The effort was gallant, but the flamo in her cheeks betrayed her as, throwing his reins to the orderly who followed him. Mr. Hayne dismounted at the platform and came directly towards her. To Mrs. Uayner's unspeakable dismay, he walfcsd up to the trio, bowed low over the little gloved hand that waa extended in answer to the proffer of his own, and next she saw that Royce and Foster had, as though by tacit consent, fallen back, and, coram publico, Mr. Hayne waa sole claimant of the regards of her baby sister. There was but one comfort in the situation: the train was in sight. Forgetful, reckless for the moment, of what was going on around her, she stood gating at the pair. rently in the kitchen. Mrs. Rayner was with the baby, and Miss Travers started for the stairs, calling that she would go and see what it meant. She was down in the hall before Mrs. Rayner's imperative and repeated calls brought her to a full atop. two of our men, honorably discharged now and living oh ranches down in Nebraska, could all swear—would all swear—to th6 same thing—that I was the thief. 'Sure you know it couldn't be so, ma'am; and yet he wants to go and tell Mr. Hayne,' she would say; 'there's the four of 'em would swear to It, though Grower's evidence would be no good; but the two men could hurt the captain.' Her ingenuity was devilish, for one of the men I had severely punished once in the Black Hills, and both hated me and had sworn they would get even with me yet. God help me, colonel, seeing every day the growing conviction that Hayne was innocent, that somebody else must be guilty, I thought, what ft this man should, in drunken gratitude to Hayne for saving his life, go to him and tell him this story, then back it up before the officials and call in these two others? I was weak, but it appalled me. I determined to get him out of the way of such a possibility. I got his discharge, and meantime strove to prevent his drinking or going near Mayne. She knew the real story he would tell. This was her devilish plan to keep me on watch against him. I never dreamed the real truth. She swore to me that $300 was all the money they had. I believed that when he confessed it would be what she declared. I never dreamed that Clancy and his confederate were the thieves; I never believed the money was taken until after Hayne received it I saw how Hayne's guilt was believed in even in the face of contradictory evidence before the court. What would be the tendency "What, Nellie?" "She would say 'Ay.' No woman with a heart could leave a man who borne so much and come through it all so bravely." "What did she mear? What did she mean? I say again," asked Rayner, pressing his hand to lis forehead and gazing fixedly at his \vi$e. A moment longer sha stood there, as though a light—a long! hidden truth— ,were slowly forcing i;self upon her mind. Then, with impulsive movement she hurried throigh the dining room, threw open the kitchen door, and startled the domestics at their late breakfast.Poor Mrs. Rayner! Humbled and chastened as she was, what refuge had ■he but tears, and then prayer? "It is more than she did in the —th, sir. She was a handsome, showy woman when I first saw her—before my promotion to the regiment—and Clancy was one of the finest soldiers in the brigade the last year of the war. She ran through all his money though, and in the — th we looked upon her as the real cause of his break down, especially after her affair with that sergeant who deserted. You've beard of him probably. He disapiCeared after the Battle Butte campaign, and we hoped he'd run off with Mrs. Clancy; but he hadn't She was there when we got back, big as ever and growtng ugly." "What is it?' she inquired. "You come back here and hold baby. I know perfectly what it is. It is Kate Clancy, and she wants me. You can do nothing." (to be continued.) AN EARLY CROCUS. Too late, madame! The intervening doors were opened, and in marched cook, leading the poor little Irish girl, who was sobbing piteously. Mrs. Rayner came down the stairs with all speed, bringing her burly son and heir in her arms. She would have ordered Nell aloft, but what excuse could she give? And Miss Travels was already bending over the child ■ml striving to still her heartbreaking cries. IIU Cimflilnwo Waa Not Misplaced aa4 Humanity la All Right. "Can 1 speak with you?" queried a hatless, coatless man as he stopped a patrolman ou Adams avenue west at 10 o'clock The lieutenant and sergeant both shouted, "Never mindl Don't fire!" and with others of the guard rushed in pursuit But, old and feeble as he was, poor Clancy kept the lead, never swerving, never flagging, until he reached the doorway of his abandoned cot; this he burst in, threw himself upon his knees by the bedside, and dragged to light a little wooden chest that stood by an open trap in the floor. One look sufficed; the mere fact that the trap was open and the box exposed was enough. With a wild cry of rage, despair and baffled hatred, he clinched his hands above his head, rose to bis full height, and with a curse upon his white lips, with glaring eyes and gasping breath, turned upon his pursuers as they came running in, and hurled his fists at the foremost. "Letme follow her, I say! She's gone with it all—his money! Let me go!" he shrieked; and then his eyes turned stony, a gasp, a clutch at his throat, and, plunging headlong, he fell upon his face at their feet "Ryan," she called to the soldier servant who rose hastily from the table, "go and tell Mrs. Clancy I want her instantly. Do you understand? Instantly!" And Ryan seized his forage cap and vanished. Saturday night. "You can." "I have been shamefully abused, sah. I have had my confidence in humanity terribly shaken." "Well?" "Well, I was right over there when a man came along and said he would-fight me for blood. I am no fighter, sah." "No," "Do you mean that Mrs. Clancy had a lover when she was in the —th?' It was perhaps ten minutes before he returned. When he did so it was apparent tliat Mrs. Rayner had been crying jcopiously, and that Miss Travers, too, was much affected. The captain was pacing the room with nervous stride in mingled relief and agitation. All looked up expectant as the soldier re-entered. He had the air of a man who knew he bore tidings of vivid and mysterious interest, but he curbed the excitement of his manner until it shone only through his snapping eyes, saluted, and reported with professional gravity: "What is it? Where's your father?' demanded Mrs. Rayner. "Never Don't fire!" No woman could fail to read the story; no woman could see his face, his eyes, his whole attitude and expression, and not read therein that old, old story that grows sweeter with every century of its life. That he should be inspired with sudden, vehement love for her exquisite Nell was something she could readily understand; but what—what meant her downcast eyes, the flutter of color on her Boft and rounded cheek, the shy uplifting of the fringed lids from time to time as though in response to eager question or appeal? Heavens! would that train never come? The whistle was sounding in the distance, but it would takeagea to drag those heavy Pullmans "Certainly, Capt. Rayner. We supposed it was commonly known. He was a fine looking, black eyed, dark haired, dashing fellow, of good education, a great Bwell among the men the short time he was with us, and Mrs. Clancy made a dead set at him from the start. He never seemed to care for her very much." Ten minutes alter the usual time the adjutant darted in and plunged with his characteristic impetuosity into the pile of passes and other papers stackeu up by the sergeant major at his table. To all questions as to where he had been and what was the matter with the colonel he replied, with more than usual asperity of manner — the asperity engendered of some years of having to answer the host of questions propounded by vacant minds at his own busiest hour of the day—that the colonel would tell them all about it himself; he had no time for a word. The evident manner of suppressed excitement, however, was something few failed to note, and "Oh ma'am, I don't know] I came here to tell the captain. Shure he's discharged, ma'am, an' his heart's broke entirely, an' mother says we're all to go with the captain to-morrow, and he swears he'll kill himself before he'll go, an' I can't find him, ma'am. It's almost dark now." "I sought to impress this fact on his mind, but he refused to impress. He called me a liah, sah." "Yes." "And he slapped my jaws, Bah." "Yes." "Go back and tell your mother I want her instantly. W«'U find your father. Go!" she repeated, as the child .shrank and hesitated. "Here—the front way!" And little Kate sped away into the shadows across the dim level of the parade. "Then I determined to fight him, sah —to wreck his physical system in about too minutes, sah." n "This is something I never heard of," said Rayner, with grave face, "and it will be a good deal of a shock to my wife, for she had arranged to take her east with Clancy and Kate, and they were to invest their money in some little business at their old home." "Mrs. Clancy's clean gone, sir." "I see. "I laid aside me hat and coat to pro oeed, Bah, when he grabbed them and rai away. Did you evah heah the likes of it, sab?' "Hardly ever. What's . this on the "Gone where?" m Then the sisters faced each other. There was a fire in the younger's eye that Mm, Rayner wmilri have paranad if "Nobody knows, sir. She's just lit out with her trunk and best clothes some time last night." _  Poor little Kate! The old man was indeed free at last. "Yes; it was mainly on the woman's account we wouldn't re-fir1 Vffi P'ftnrYifol "No, sir. Clancy's all right; ho was caught last evening, and hadn't time to get mor'n half drunk before they lodged him. Lootenant Hayne got him, sir. rou and your officers will say I should bakM reminder that of late ha^MW Lave giva him every mention between hare courted investigation; and I meant others, u in husband's face to do so, but first I wanted to hear from eyes sought her husband s face, those discharged men in Nebraska. The He saw it all, and shook his head. Then whole scheme would have been exploded the. j- finally two months ago had I not been a cow- jnto the station she saw him once more ard; but night after night something her sister's hand; then, with one kept whispering to me,'You have wreck- jong into the sweet face that was ed and ruined a friendless young soldier's hidden from her jealous eyes, he raised life. You shall bo brought as low.'" hia forage cap and stepped quickly back The colonel was, as he afterwards re to where his horse was held. Her husmarked, liardly equal to the occasion, band hastened to her side: He had as much contempt for moral "Kate, 1 must speak to him. I don't weakness in a soldier as he had for phy- how he may take it. I cannot go sical cowardice; but Rayner's almost ab- wjthout it" ject recital of his months of misery really They all watched the tall captain as left him nothing to say. Had the cap- across the platform. Every tain sought to. defend or justify any de- man in uniform seemed to know instincttail of his conduct, he would have that Rayner at last was seeking pounced on him like a panther. Twice make open reparation for the bitter the adjutant, sitting an absorbed and wrong be had done. One or two strove silent listener, thought the chief on the begin a general chat and affect an inverge of an outbreak; but it never came. tereat in something else for Mrs. Rayner's For some minutes after Rayner ceased benefit, but she, with trembling lips, etood the colonel sat steadily regarding him. after Iter husband and seemed to j At last he spoke: oeg tor silence, l'hen all abandoned "You have been bo frank in your state- other occupation, and every man stood ment, captain, that I feel you fully ap- and watched them. Hayne had preciate how such deplorable weak neat quickly swung into saddle, and had must be regarded in an officer. It is un- turned for one more look, when he saw necessary for me to speak of that. The bis captain with ashen face striding full particulars of Clancy's confession towards him, and heard him call his are not yet with me. Maj. Waldron hat name. it all in writing, and Mr. Billings has ••By Jove!" muttered Roes, "what merely told me the general features, command that fellow has over himself!" Of course you shall have a copy of it in forD scrupulously observant of military good time. As you go east today and etiquette, Mr. Hayne on being addressed have your wife rnd household to think by his superior officer had instantly disfor, it may be as well that you do not at- moanted, and now stood silently facing tempt to see Mr. Hayne before starting, him. Even at the distance, there weie And this matter will not be discussed." gome who thought they could see his And so it liappened that when the features twitching; but his blue eyes Rayners drove to the station that bright were calm and steady—far clearer than afternoon and a throng of ladies and they had been but a moment agone when officers gathered to see them off, some of gazing good-by into the sweet face they the vounsrsters going with them into worshiped. None could hear what town to await the coming or the tram, passed between them. The talk was Nellie Travers had been surrounded by VCTy brief; but Ross almost gasped with chattering friends of both sexes, con- ainaze, other officers looked at one anstantly occupied and yet constantly otberin utter astonishment, and Mrs. looking for the face of one who came gayner fairly sobbed with excitement not. For an hour before their depart- emotion, when Mr. Hayne was seen ure every tongue in garrison that to hold forth his hand, and Rayner, wagged at all—and few there were that grasping it eagerly in both of his own, wagged not—were discoursing on the shook It once, then strode hastily away exciting events of the morning—Hayne's towards the rear of the train. HiB eyes emancipation from the last vestige of were filled with tears he could not repress suspicion, Clancy's capture, confession and could not bear to show. and tragic death, Mrs. Clancy's flight That evening as the train wound steadiand probable future. At Rayner's peo- iy eastward into the shadows of the night, pie spoke of these things very guardedly, they looked out in farewell upon the because every one saw th&t the captain slopes they had last seen when a wintry was moved to the depths of his nature. swept fiercely over the frozen sur- He was solemnity itself, and Mrs. Ray- an(j the shallow ravines were streakner watched him with deep anxiety, wjti, snow, Kate Rayner, after a long fearful that he might be exposed to some talk with her husband, and abandoning thoughtless or malicious questioning, ber boy to the sole guardianship of hia Her surveillance was needless, however; nuraeD settled herself by Nellie's side, and even .Ross made no allusion to the events jjenie knew that she either sought conflof the morning, though he communi- fences or had them to impart. Somecated to his fellows in the subsequent thing of the old, quizzical look was playconfidences of the club room that Midas aboat the corner of her pretty mouth looked as though he'd been pulled as her elder sister, with feminine indithrough a series of knot holes. "Looks fatness, began her verbal skirmishing more's though he were going to his own wjtb the subject. It was some time befuneral than on leave," he added. fore the question was reached which led As for Hayne, he had been cloeeted to her objective: with the colonel and Maj. Waldron for "Did he—did Mr. Hayne tell you much some time after his return—a conference aljout Clancy?" that was broken in upon by the startling „Not much There wa8 n0 time." news of Clancy's death. Then he had »you had fully ten minutes, I'm sure, joined his friend, the doctor, at the hoe- R seemed even longer.» pital, and was still there, striving to ..Four by the clock, Kate." comfort little Kate, who could not be in- "Well, four, then. He must have had duced to leave her father's rapidly stiff- of greater interest." ening form, when Mrs. Waldron re-en- No answer. Cheeks reddening, though, tered the room. Drawing the child to D.Didn-t he?"-persistently.. her side and folding her motherly arms ,.j win tell what he told me of about her, she looked up in Hayne s pale Q jjate. Mrs. Clancy had utterly going I*.-. h8 ™WU:n-hi, root or In Mr,.K,,- iiuk „ ner s turn to color painfully. . "M*H.J"Ml. tt»tCtoyV^ It was not bo'much tk S * a in hia hlne uvea she captain's fault, after all." £e "So Mr. Hayne told him. You knew wSguffi'mum ror to—and for the other sergeant, too. He avoided her before we started on the campaign, I fancy. Odd! I can't think of his name—Billings, what was the name of that bowling swell of a sergeant who was in Hull's troop at Butte—time Hull was killed? 1 the man that Mrs. Clancy wassaid to have eloped with." "Sergt. Gower, sir," said the adjutant, without looking up from hia work. He did look up, however, when a moment after the captain hurriedly left the office, and he saw that Rayner's face was deathly white; it was ghastly. "What took Rayner off so suddenly?' «ni/l the colonel, wheeling around in his "Kate, it is to get Clancy away from the possibility of revealing what he knows that you have planned this sudden move, and I know it," said Miss Travels. "You need not answer." She seized a wrap from the hat rack and stepped to the doorway. Mrs. Rayner threw herself after her. a revelation. It was with something bordering on indignation, therefore, that the assemblage heard the words that tUCUi. ••No, Bah." "Humph! I guess you are off." "May be, sah—may be. I thank you, sah—thank you ever so much, and I will now go Confidence was not misplaced—huftsnHJril at! right. Good night, sah—good night."—Detroit intimated to them that all might retire. The colonel had come in very quietly, They had him afore a justice of the received the report of the officer of the peace early this morning"  "Yes, I know all»that. What I want is Mrs. Clancy." What has become of day, relieved him, and dismissed the new officer of the day with the brief "Nellie, where are you going? What will you do?' "To Mrs. Waldron's, Kate; if need be, to Mr. Hayne's." • • • # t » A bright fire was burning in Maj. Waldron's cozy parlor, where he and his good wife were seated in earnest talk. It was just after sunset when Mr. Hayne dropped in to pay his first visit after the few days in which he had been confined to his quarters. He was looking thin, paler than usual, and far more restless and eager in manner than of old. The Waldrons welcomed-him with more than formula, "Usual orders, sir," then glan- her?" ced quickly around the silent circle of grave, bearded or boyish faces. Ilis eyes rested for an instant with some- "faith, I don't know, sir, but the women in Sudsville they all say she's run Why He Couldn't Bo Found. away, sir—taken her money and gone. She's afraid of Clancy's peaching on Judge—You have been searching for this man for a long time, I believe? Detective—Yes, your honor. J.—And could find no trace of him till yesterday? D.—No, your honor. J.—Where did you find him? D.—He was working in a store that does not advertise.—Boston Courier. thing like shock and trouble upon one face, pale, haggard, with almost bloodless lips, and yet full of fierce determinatio—a face that haunted him long her." ■** yBy heavens! the thing is clearing Ytself!"' exclaimed Rayner to his gasping afterwards, it was so full of agony, of and wild eyed wife. "I must go to the colonel at once with his news." And suspense, almost of pleading—the face chair. "I don't know, sir, unless there was something to startle him in the name." "Why should there be?" "There are those who think that Gower got away with more than his horse and arms, colonel; he was not at Battle Butte, though, and that is what made it a mys- of Capt. Rayner away he went. And then again, as the orderly retired, and the sisters wero left alone, Nellie Then, dispensing with the customary talk, he quietly spoke the disappointing She saw Itayner grasping his hands. There had been a scene of somewhat dramatic nature at the colonel's office but words: Travers with trembling lips asked the HI* Mistake. A farmer and his wife, on their first visit to the Capitol at Montpelier, Vt», paused before the statue of Ethan Allen. They gazed long and thoughtfully at it, till finally the silence was broken by the husband. "Well, mother," he said, "I alius thought Ethan Allen was a hoes." —Youth's Companion. - ; "I am somewhat late this morning, gentlemen, and several matters will occupy my attention; so I will not detain question: "Have I done so much harm, after a", Kate?" a short time before, and one that had usual warmth, and the major speedily fewer witnesses. Agitated, nervous and eventually astonished as Capt.Rayner had been when the colonel had revealed  him the nature of Clancy's confession, he was far more excited and tremulous when ho returned a second time. The commanding officer had been sitting deep in thought. If was but natural that a man Bhould show great emotion on learning that the evidence he had given, which had condemned a brother officer to years of solitary punishment, was now disproved. It was to be expected that Rayner should be tremulous and excited. He had ijeen looking worse and worse for a long timo past; and now that it was established that he must have been mistaken in "what he thought he saw and heard at Battle Butte, it was to bo expected that he should show the utmost consternation and an immediate desire to make amends. He had shown great emotion; ho was white and rigid as the colonel told him Clancv had made a full confession; but the expression on his face when informed that tho man had admitted that ho and Sergt. Gower were the only ones guilty of the crime—that Clancy and Gower divided the guilt a3 they had the money—was a puzzle to the colonel. Capt. Rayner seemed daft; it was a look of wild relief, half unbelief, half delight, that shot across his hagged features. It was evident that he had not heard at all what he expected. This was what puzzled the colonel. He had been pondering over it ever since the captain's hurried de- led the conversation upto the topic which you further." The crowd seemed to find their feet very slowly. There was visible disincli- i "Oh, Nellie! Nellie! forgive me, for I ihavo been nearly mad with misery!" jwas Mrs. Rayner's answer, as she burst into a fresh paroxysm of tears. "That —that woman has—has told me,fearful lies." There was a strange scene that day at Warrener when, towards noon, two carriages drove out from town and, entering the east gate, rolled over towards the guard house. The soldiers clustered about the barrack porches and stared at the occupants. In tho first—a livery hack from town—were two sheriff"s officers, while cowering on tho back seat, tery." "Where was he, then?" was so near to his heart. "You and I must see the doctor and have a triangular council over this thing, Hayne. Three heads are better than none; and if, as he suspects, old Clancy really knows anything when he's drunk that he cannot tell when he's sober, I "Back with the wagon train, sir, and be never got in sight of the Buttes or Eayner's battalion. You know Bayner bad four companies there." "I don't see how Gower could have the money, if that's what you mean, if he never came up to the Buttes; Rayner swore It was there in Hull's original package. Then, too, how could Oower'a name affect him if lie had never •een him?" nation to go. Every man in some inexplicable way appeared to know that I hero was a new mystery hanging over tiie garrison, and that tho colonel held the key. Every man felt that Billings had given him the right to expect la be told all about it when tho colonel cama. Koine looked reproachfully at Billings, as though to remind him of their expectations. Stannard, his old stand bv, passed him with a gruff "Thought ycu said the colonel had something to tell us," and went out with an air of injured and defrauded dignity. Rayner arose, and seemed to bo making preparations to depart with tho others, and some of tho number, connecting him unerringly with the prevailing sensation, appeared to hold back and wait for him to precede theni and 60 secure to themselves the satisfaction of knowing that, if it was a matter connected with Rayner, they "had him along" and nothing could take place without their hearing it. These men were very few, however; but Buxton was one of them. Rayner's e3"cs were fixed upon the colonel and searching for a sign, and it came—a little motion of the hand and a nod of tho head that signified "Stay." Then, as Buxton and one or two of his stamp still dallied irresolute, the colonel turned somewhat sharply to them: "Was there any matter 0:1 which you wished to see me, gentlemenV" and, as there was none, they had to go. Then Rayner was alone with the colonel; for Mr. Billings quickly arose, and, with a significant glance at his commander, left the room and closed the door. Mrs. Rayner, gazing from her parldt windows, saw that all the officers had come out except one—her husband—and with a moan of misery she covered her face with her hands and sank upon the sofa. "With cheeks as white as her sister's, with eyes full of trouble and perplexity, but tearless, Nellie Travers stepped quickly into the room and put a trembling white hand upon the other's shoulder: Something He Could Beeommead. Hw wig blew off and was captured and returned by a handsome young lady, to whom the old gentleman wittily and graciously acknowledged his obligation with "A thousand thanks, my dear. You are by far the most satisfactory hair restorer I ever tried. "---Texas Sift- shall depart from Mrs. Waldron's principles and join the doctor in his pet scheme of getting him drunk again. 'In vino Veritas,' you know. And we ought to be about it. too. for it won't be loos: Detore ms aiscnarge comes, ana once away we should be in the lurch." "There seems so little hope there, major. Even the colonel has called him up and questioned him." "Ay, very true, but always when the old sergeant was sober. It is when drunk that Clancy's conscience pricks him to tell what he either knows or bus- "I shall be so glad when you have i wife, Mr. Hayner tai ber quiet com °"8o I, Mrs. Waldron," was thC it lxieh time we were begin ning to hear of a choice? Forgive my incmsiveness, but that was Um very matter of which the major and I were tallying as be brought me over." "There is something to be done first, Mrs. Waldron," be answered. "I cannot offer any woman a clouded name. It is not enough that people should begin to believe that I was innocent and my per_ 4 eucutors utterly in error, if not perjured. I must be able to show who was the real culprit, and that is not easy. The doctor and I thought we saw a way not long ago; but it proved delusive." And he sighed deeply. "I had expected to see the major about it the very day he got 1/ back from the court; but we have had no chance to talk." "Mr. Hayne," she said, impulsively, "a woman's intuition is not always at fault. Tell me if you believe that' any one on the post has any inkling of the truth. I have a reason for asking." "I did think it possible, Mrs. Waldron. I cannot be certain now; and it's uxD late, anyway." _ "How, too late? What's too late?" He paused a moment, a deeper shadow • than usual on his face; then he lifted his head and looked fairly *t her. "I should not have said that, Mrs. "Waldron. It can never be too late. But - what 1 mean is that—just now I spoke of •offering no woman a clouded name. Even if it were unclouded, I could not Offer it where I would." "Because you have beard of the en- "Possibly he baa heard something. Clancy has been talking." "I have looked into that," said the ooloneL "Clancy denies knowing anything—says he was drunk and didn't know what he was talking about." All the same it was queer, thought the adjutant, and he greatly wanted to see the doctor and talk with him; but by the time his office work was done the doctor had gone to town, and when he came back he was sent for to the laundress' quarters, where Mrs. Clancy was in hys| terics and Michael had again been very bad. his hat pulled down over his eyes, was poor old Clancy, to whom clung faithful little Kate. In the rear carriage—Maj. Waldron's—were Mr. Hayne, the major, jand a civilian whom som6 of the men had no difficulty in recognizing as the bfficial charged with tho administration of justico towards offenders against tho peace. Many of the soldiers strolled slowly up the road, in hopes of hearing all about the arrest, and what it meant, from straggling members of the guard. All know it meant something more than a mero "break" on the part of Clancy; all felt that it had some connection with the long continued mystery that hung about tho namo of Lieut. Hayne. Then, too, it was being noised abroad that Mrs. Clancy had "skipped," and between two suns had fled for parts unknown. Sha coul.l U overhauled by telegraph if she had left on either of the night freights or gone down towards Penver by the early morning passenger train; it would bo easy enough to capture her if she wero "wanted," said the garrison; but what did it mean that Clancy was pursued by officers cf the poit and Orouglit back tinder charge of officers of the law? He had had trouble enough, poor fellow! The officer of tho guard looked won- In Chaneory. pects." A light, quick footstep was heard on the piazza, the hall door opened, and without knock or ring, bursting impetuously in upon them, there suddenly appeared Miss Travers, her eyes dilated with excitement. At sight of the group she stopped short, and colored to the very roots of her shining hair. ■ "How glad I am to see yon, Nellie!" exclaimed Mrs. Waldron, as all rose to greet her. An embarrassed, half distraught reply was her only answer. She bad extended both hands to the elder lady; but now, startled, almost stunned, at finding herself in the presence of the very man she most wanted to see, she stood with downcast eyes, irresolute. He, too, had not stepped forward—had not offered his hand. She raised her blue eyes for one quick glance, and saw his pale, pain thinned face, read anew the story of his patience, his suffering, his heroism, and realized how she too had wronged him and that her very awkwardness and silence might tell him that shameful fact. It was more than die could stand. "I came—purposely. I had hoped to find you. Mr. Hayne. You—you remember that I had something to tell you. It was about Clancy. You ought to see him. I'm sure you ought, for he must know—he or Mrs. Clancy—something about your—your trouble; and I've just this minute heard that they—that he's going away to-morrow, and you must find him to-night, Mr. Hayne; indeed you must." Who can paint her as she stood there, Mushing, pleading, eager, frightened, yet determined? Who can picture the wild emotion in his heart, reflected in his face? He stepped quickly to her side with the light leaping to his eyes, his hands extended as though to grasp hers; but it was Waldron that spoke first: "Where is he going? How?" "Oh, with us, major. We go to-morrow, and they go with us. My sister has some reason—I cannot fathom it. She wants their away from here, and Clancy's discharge came today. He must see him first," she said, indicating Mr. Hayne by a nod of her pretty heard. "They say Clancy has run off and got awav from bis wife. He doesn't want Soon after the captain's return to his quarters, it seems, a messenger was sent fecm Mrs. Rayner requesting Mrs. Clancy to come and see her at once. She wm usnerea up -stairs to maaame s own apartment, much to Miss Travers' surprise, and thkt young lady was further astonished, when Mrs. Clancy reappeared, nearly an hour later, to see that she had been weeping violently. The house was in some disorder, most of the trunks being packed and in readiness for the start, and Miss Travers was entertaining two or three young officers and waiting for her sister to come down to luncheon. "The boys" were lachrymose over her prospective departure—at least they affected to be—and were variously sprawled about the parlor when Mrs. Clancy descended, and the inflamed condition of her eyes and nose became apparent to all. There was much chaff and fun, therefore, when Mrs. Rayner finally appeared, over the supposed affliction of the big Irish woman at the prospect of parting with her patroness. Miss Travers saw singular sensations that both the captain and her usually self reliant sister were annoyed and embarrassed by the topic and strove to change it; but Foster's propensity for mimicry and his ability to imitate Mrs. Clancy's combined brogue and sniffle proved too much for their efforts. Kate was in a royally bad temper by the time the youngsters left the house, and when Nellie would have made some laughing allusion to the fun the young fellows had ban having over her morning caller, she was suddenly and tartly checked with: '•we've had too much of that already. Just understand now that you have no time to waste, if your packing is unfinished. We start to-morrow afternoon." "Why, Kate! I had no idea we were to go for two days yet! Of course I can [ be ready; but why did you not tell me before?" parture "to tell his wife." »We—we had expected—made all preparations to take this afternoon's train for the east," he stammered. "We are all torn up, all ready to start, and the ladies ought to go; but I cannot feel like going in the face of this." "There is no reason why you should not go, captain. I am told Mrs. Rayner should leave at once. If need be, you can return from Chicago. Everything will be attended to properly. Of course you will know what to do towards Mr. Hayne. Indeed, I think it might be best for you to RO." But Rayner seemed hardly listening; and the colonel was not a man to throw his words away. "You might see Mrs. Rayner at once, and return by and by," he said; and Rayner gladly escaped, and went home with the wonderful news he had to tell his wife. And now a second time he wa3 back, and was urging upon the commanding officer the necessity of telegraphing and capturing Mrs. Clancy. In plain words he told the colonel lie believed that she had escaped with the greater part of the monev. Tho colonel smiled: "That was attended to early this morning, cHj'i-Hin. Hayne and the major asked thai she be secured, and the moment we found her fled it confirmed their suspicions, and Billings sent dispatches in every direction. She can't get away! She was his temptress, and I mean to make her share all the punish- Officer—Stop your yellin'J You ain't killed, are yer? Bidley (who has gone through a coal hole)—N-no; but a servant girl or a janitor or something is spanking me tewwibly!—Judge.Census Taker—How many male members are there in the family? Kentucky Housewife—Wall, there was six this mornin'; but pap and th' boys went out arter break fas' fer a scrap with th' Muggineses, and I don't know how many there is now.—New York Weekly. Difficult Figurine- deringly at the carriages and their occupants. He saluted Maj. \\ aldron as the latter stepped briskly down. "You will take charge of Clancy, Mr. Graham," said the major. -'Ilis discharge will be recalled; at least it will not take effect today. You will bo interested in knowing that his voluntary confession fully establishes Mr. Hayne s innocence of the c harges on which he Flensed with tba Suggestion. gagementf" was the quick, eager quea- tion. There was no instant of doubt in the woman as to where the offering would be made, if it only could. "Kate, it is no time for 60 bitter an estrangement as this. Iliavc done simply what our soldier father would have done had he been here. I am fully aware of what it must cost mo. I knew when I did it that you would never again welcome me to your home. Once east again, you and I can go our ways; I won't burden you longer: but is it not better that vou should tell mo in what way vour husband or you can have been injured by what I have done?'' Mrs. Rayner impatiently sliook away the hand. "I don't want to talk to you," was the blunt answer. "You have carried out your threat and—ruined us; that's all." "What can you mean? Do you want me to think that because Mr. Havne'a innocence may be established your husband was the guilty man? Certainly jour ™°"T1Ar leads to that inference, though his does not, by any means." "I don't want to talk. I tell vou. Littleshort—I'll call around Wednesday and fix up that account, Mr. Cutaway.Tailor (severely)—Very well, sir; I'll make a note of it. "I knew of the engagement only a day ago," he answered, with stern effort at self control. "Blake was speaking of ' ■wher, and it came out all of a sudden." He turned his head away again. It was more than Mrs. Waldron could stand. She leaned impetuously towards him, and put her hand on his: "Mr. Hayne, that is bo engagement of heart to heart It is entirely a thing cf" ~ - - - - - Vnow it was tried." Mr. Graham's face turned all manner of colors. He glanced at Hayne, who, still seated in the carriage, was as calmly indifferent to him as ever; he was gazing across the wide parade at tho windows in officers' row. Little Kate's sobs as the soldiers were helping her father from the carriage suddenly recalled his wandering thoughts. He sprang to the ground, stepped quickly to the child and put his arms about her. "Clancy, tell her to come with us. Mrs. Waldron will take loving care of her, and she shall come to see you every day. The guard house is no place for her to follow you. Tell her so, man, and she will go with us. Come, Katie, child!" And he bent tenderly over the sobbing little waif. Littleshort—Good! Make it at ninety days, and I'll sign it.—Puck. A Critical Opinion. Jinks—That young lady may be a fine pianist, as you say, but there is no warmth to her touch. Blinks—I guess you didn't hear lu-r play the Moonlight Symphony? Jinks—No; but I squeezed her hand.— New York Weekly. 4 Mrs. Riper1! doing; and 1 She is poor—dependent—-and baa beer •imply sold into bondage." "And yon think she carae nothing for the position, the wealth and social advantages this would give her? Ah, Mis. Waldron, consider." "I have considered. Mr. Hayne, if I were a man, like you, that rf»iid should never go back to hia. And they are goD |ac next week. Ton most ret well." The Wittjr InltU. "How many matriTr""'*1 knots can you go an hour, Dr. Choker?" "That depends on the tied," returned the D. D.—New York Sun. rnent." "Colonel," exclaimed Rayner, while beads of sweat stood out on his forehead, is worse—a thousand tinuM wnmal "I did not know it—at least it was not