Pittston Gazette

              Oldest NewsDaDer in the Wvoming Valley. PITTSTON, LUZERNE CO., PA., FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 1890. A Weekly Local and l amilv Journal. temporary silence upon the subject uppermost in her thoughts. She had been forbidden to speak of it to her husband; yet she knew he had gone out again with every probability of needing some one to talk to about the matter. She could not well broach the topic in the parlor because she was not at all sure how Capt. and Mrs. Gregg of the cavalry would take it; and they were still there. She was a loyal wife; her husband's quarrel was hers and more, too; and she was a woman of intuition even keener than that which wo so readily accord the sex. She knew, and knew well, that a hideous doubt had been preying for a long time in her husband's heart of hearts, and she knew still better that it would crush him to believe it was even suspected by any one else. Right or wrong, the one thing for her to do, she doubted not, was to maintain the original guilt against all comers, and to lose no opportunity of feeding the flame that consumed Mr. Hayne's record and reputation. He was guilty—he must be guilty; and though she was a Christian according to her view of the case—a pillar of the church in matters of public charity and picturesque conformity to all the rubric called for in the services, and much that it did not—she was unrelenting in her condemnation of Mr. Hayne. THE DESERTER. case went not entirely unrepresented. In choosing to live there Mr. Hayne separated himself from companionship. That, said some of the commentatorsmen as well as women—he simply accepted as the virtue of necessity, and so there was nothing to commend tn his action. But Mr. Hayne was said to possess an eye for the picturesque and beautiful If so, he deliberately condemned himself to the daily contemplation of a treeless barren, streaked in occasional shallows with dingy patches of snow, ornamented only in spots by abandoned old hats, boots, or tin cans blown beyond the jurisdiction of the garrison police parties. A line of telegraph poles was all that intervened between his fence and the low lying hills of the eastern horizon. to the exact language employed, he alone of those within earshot had lived to testify for or against the accused; of the five soldiers who stood in that now celebrated group, three were shot to death within the hour. He was growing nervous, irritable, haggard; he was getting to hate the mere mention of the case. The promotion of Hayne to his own company thrilled him with an almost superstitious dismay. Were liis words coming true? Was it the judgment of an offended God that his hideous pride, obstinacy and old time hatred of this officer were now to be revenged by daily, hourly contact with the victim of his criminal persecution? He had grown morbidly sensitive to any remarks as to Hayne's having "lived down" the toils in which he had been encircled. Might he not "live down" the ensnarer? He dreaded to see him—though Ravner was no coward—and he feared day by day to hear of his restoration to fellowship in the regiment, and yet would have given half his wealth to bring it about, could it but have been accomplished without the dreadful admission, "I was wrong. I was utterly wrong." j "1 suppose you moan to intimate that Capt. Rayner's position and that of the regiment is bad—all wrong—that Mr. Hayne has been persecuted," said Mrs. Rayner, with trembling lips and cheeks aflame. Clancy's condition, had directed lnm to be taken at once to the hospital; and thither his little daughter insisted on following him, despite the efforts of some of the women to detain her and dress her properly. tion -), h'U her silence passed urmotea except by one. steward's wife. Tlie doctor had mentioned a name as lie wont ft way, and it was seen that Clancy was striving to ask a question. Sergt. Nolan bent downj "Lie quiet, Clancy, me 1 Doy; must be quiet, or you'll move the bandages." "Who did he say was burned? Who was he going to see?" gasped the sufferer.narcl, of the cavalry, too, came in witi liis gentle wife. She was loved through out the regiment for her kindliness and grace of mind, as well aa for her devotion to the sick and suffering in the old days of the Indian wars, and Stannard had made a similar proffer and been similarly refused, and he had gone away indignant. He thought Mr. Hayne too bumptious to live; but he bore no malice, and his wrath was soon over. Many of the cavalry officers called in person and tendered their services, and were very civilly recei ved, but all offers were positively declined. Just what the infantry officers should do was a momentous question. That they could no longer hold aloof was a matter that was quickly settled, and three of their number went through the chill gumming of the wintry eve and sent in their cards by Sam, who ushered them into the cheerless front room, while one of their number followed to the doorway which led o the room in rear, in which, still conined to his bed by the doctors advice, lie injured officer was ' ring. It was Ir. R* wen - the door and The moment they were inside the door and alone Miss Travers turned to liar sister: "Kat'.\ what was this man's By Oapt. CHARLES ma, U. S. A. "Mrs. Rayner, you are unjust," Baid poor Foster. "I ought not to have undertaken to explain or defend the colonel's act, perhaps, but I am not disloyal to my regiment or my colors. What I want is to prevent further trouble; and I know that anything like a concerted resentment of the colonel's invitation will lead to infinite harm." "You may cringe and bow and bear it if you choose; you may humble yourself to such a piece of insolence, but rest assured there are plenty of men and women in the Rifiers who won't bear it, Mr. Foster, and for one I won't." She had risen to her full height now, and her eyes were blazing. "For his own sake I trust the colonel will omit our names from the next entertainment he gives. Nellie sha'n't"  "Oh, think, Mrs. Rayner," interrupted one of the ladies, "they must give her a dinner or a reception.'" "Indeed they shall not! I refuse to enter the door of people who have insulted my husband as they have." "Hush! Listen!" Baid Mr. Graham, springing toward the door. There was wondering silence an instant.Before returning to hU quarters the colonel desired to know something of the origin of the fire. There was testimony enough and to spare. Every woman in Sudsville hud a theory to express and wa3 eager t» be heard at once and to the exclusion oi all others. It was not until crime?" Author of "Dunraven Ranch," "The Colonel's Daughter," "Marion's Faith,"Etc., Etc. CHAPTER VI. m "The new lieutenant, Clancy—him that pulled ye out. He's a good one, and it's Mrs. Clancy that'll tell ye the same." vi5s (Copyright, by J. B. Llppi»cott Company, Philadelphia, and published by special arrangement he hail summarily ordered them to go to their homes and not come near him that the colonel managed to get a clear statement from some of the men. "Tell him what?" said she. turning about in sudden interest "About the lieutenant's pulling him out of the fire and saving your money." "Indeed yesl The blessing of all the saints be upon his beautiful head, and"  "It is fullf fifteen minutes ehce she left, Nellie. You might have written two or three pages already; and you know that all manner of visitors will be coming in by noon." Clancy had been away all the evening, drinking as usual, and Mrs. Clancy was searching about Sudsville as much for sympathy and listeners as for him. Little Kate, who knew her father's haunts, had guided him home and was striving to get him to his little sleeping corner before her mother's return, when in his drunken helplessness lie fell against the tab! \ overturning the kerosene lamp, and the curtains were ail aflame in an instant. It wa3 just after tups—or 10 o'clock—when Kate's shrieks aroused the inmates of Sudsville and started the cry of "Fire." The flimsy structure of pine boards burned like so much tinder, and the child and her stupefied father had been dragged forth only in time to save their lives. The little one, after giving the alarm, had rushed again into the house and was tugging at his senseless form when rescue came for both— none too soon. "But who was it? What was his name, I say?" vehemently interrupted Clancy, half raising himself upon his elbow, and groaning with the effort. "What was his name? I didn't see him." "I was just thinking over something she told me. I'll write presently." Southeastward lay the distant roofs and the low, squat buildings of the frontier town; southward the shallow valley of the winding creek in which lay the long line of stables for the cavalry and the great stacks of hay; while the row on which he chose to live—"Prairie avenue," as it was termed—was far worse at his end of it than at the other. It covered the whole eastern front. The big, brown hospital building stood at the northern end. Then came the quarters of the surgeon and his assistants, then the snug home of the post trader, then the "store" and its scattering appendages, then the entrance gateway, then a broad vacant space, through which the wind swept like a hurricane, then the little shanty of the trader's fur house and one or two hovel like structures used by the tailors and cobbler of the adjacent infantry companies. Then came the cottage itself; south of it stood the quartermaster's storeroom, back of which lay an extension filled with ordnance stores, then other and similar sheds devoted to commissary supplies, the post butcher shop, the saddler's shop, then big coal sheds, and then the brow of the bluff, down which at a steep grade plunged the road to the stables. It was as unprepossessing a place for a home as ever was chosen by a man of education or position; and Mr Hayne was possessed of both. "Mrs. Waldron is a woman who talks about everything and everybody. I advise you to listen to her no more than you can help. What was it 6he told you?" "Lieut. Hayne, man.' 'Oh, my God!" gasped Clancy, and fell back as though struck a sudden blow. Stosgrapg to liia sjda "It's faint he 4k." &***•D' '''3 questions, eei geaiiW Vf(5\i-beside himself;- Oh-, wilFyo. never stop talking to him and lave him in pace? Go away, all of ye's—go away, I say, or ye'll dhrive him crazy wid yer— Be quiet, Mike! don't ye spake agin." And she laid a broad, red hand upon his face. He only groaned again and threw his one unbandaged arm across his darkened eyes, as though to hide from sight of all. Miss Travers smiled roguishly: "Why should you want to know, Kate, if you "Un,' with visible annoyance, "it is to —I wanted to know so as to let you see that it was something unfounded, as usual." ire of her revelations?" He had grown lavish in hospitality; he had become almost aggressively open handed to his comrades, and had sought to press money upon men who in no wise needed it. He was as eager to lend as some are to borrow, and his brother officers dubbed him "Midas," not because everything he touched would turn to gold, but because he would intrude his gold upon them at every turn. There were some who borrowed; and these ho struggled not to let repay. He seemed to have an insane idea that if he could but get his regimental friends bound to him pecuniarily he could control their opinions and actions. It was making him sick at heart, and it made him in secret doubly vindictive and bitter against the man he had doomed to years of suffering. This showed out that very morning. Mrs. Rayner had begun to talk, and he turned fiercely upon her: "2 mean the injuries at the fire.'" five years befSPef hand. The others :ned An unusual state of affairs existed at the big hospital for several days. Mrs. Clancy had refused to leave the bedside of her beloved Mike, and was permitted to remain. For a woman who was notorious a3 a virago and bully, who had beaten little Kate from her babyhood and abused and hammered her Michael until, between her and drink, he was but the wreck of a stalwart manhood, Mrs. Clancy had developed a degree of devotion that was utterly unexpected. In all the dozen years of their marital relations no such trait could be recalled; and yet there had been many an occasion within the pa3t few years when Clancy's condition demanded gentle nursing and close attention—and never would have got it but for faithful little Kite. The child idolized the broken down man, and loved him with a tenderness that his weakness seemed but to augment a thousandfold, while it but served to infuriate her mother. In former years, when he was Sergt. Clancy and a fine soldier, many was the time ho had intervened to save her from an undeserved thrashing; many a time had he seized her in his strong arms and* confronted the furious woman with stern reproof. Between him and the child there had been the tenderest love, for she was all that was left to him of four. In the old days Mrs. Clancy had been the belle of the soldiers' balls, a fine looking woman, with indomitable powers as a dancer and conversationalist and an envied reputation for outshining all her rivals in dro33 and adornment. "Mr. Hayne, this is Rosa. I come with Foster and Graham to say how deeply we regret your in juries, and to tender our sympathy and our services." There was dead silence for a moment. Foster and Graham stood with hearts that beat unaccountably hard, looking at each other in perplexity. Would he J i  "She said she had just been told that the colonel was going to give a dinner party this evening to Mr. Hayna'" To those who pointed out that he liad made every atonement man could make she responded with the severity of conscious virtue that there could be no atonement without repentance and no repentance without humility. Mr. Hayne's whole attitude was that of stubborn pride and resentment. His atonement was that enforced by the unanimous verdict of his comrades, and even if it were so that he had more than made amends for his crime the rules that held good for ordinary sinners were not applicable to an omcer or tne army, lie must be a man above suspicion, incapable of wrong or fraud, and once stained he was forever ineligible as a gentleman. It was a subject she waxed declamatory rather too often, and the youngsters of her own regiment wearied of it. As Mr. Foster once expressed it in speaking of this very case, "Mrs. Rayner can talk more charity and show less than' any woman I know." So long as her talk was aimed against any lurking tendency of their own to look upon Hayne as a possible martyr, it fell at times on unappreciative ears, and she was quick to see it and to choosc her hearers; but here was a new phase—one tliat might rouse the latent esprit de corps of the Rifiers—and she was bent on striking while the iron was hot. If anything would provoke unanimity of action and sentiment in the regiment, this public recognition by the cavalry, in their very presence, of the man they cut as a criminal was the thing of all others to do it, and she meant to head the revolt. "WhatTtt "She—said—she—had — just — been— told—that*—the — colonel—was—going— to give—a dinner party—this evening— to Mr. Hayne." "Who told her?" "Kate, I didn't ask." "It is nothing but the trumpet sounding taps," said Mrs. Ravner, hurriedly. But even as she spoke they rose to their feet. Muffled cries were heard, borne in on the night wind—a shot, then another, down in the valley—the quicV peal of the cavalry trumpet. "It isn't taps. It'8 flrel" shouted GTaliam from the doorway. "Come ont" From that time on she made no mention of the name that so strangely excited her stricken husband, but the watchers in the hospital the next night declared that in his ravings Clancy kept calling for Lieut. Hayne. As for Mrs. Clancy, at the first note of danger she had rushed screaming to the 8pot, but only in time to see the whole interior ablaze and to howl frantically for some man to save her money—it was all in the green box under the bed. For husband and child she had for the moment no thought. They were safely out of the fire by the time she got there, and she screamed and fought like a fury against the men who held her back when she would have plunged into the midst of it. It took but a minute for one or two men to burst through the flimsy wall with axes, to rescue the burning box and knock off the lid. It was a sight to see when the contents were handed to her. She knelt, wept, prayed, counted over bill after bill of smoking, steaming greenbacks, until suddenly recalled to her senses by the eager curiosity and the remarks of some of her fellow women. That she kept money, and a good deal of it, in her quarters had long been suspected and as fiercely denied: but no one had dreamed of such a sum as was revealed. A « The answer came at last—a question: "To what injuries do you allude, Mr. Ross?" Even in the twilight they could see the sudden (lush of the Scotchman's cheek. He was a blunt fellow, but, as the senior, had been chosen spokesman for the three. The abrupt question staggered him. It was a second or two before he could collect himself. "I mean the injuries at the fire," he replied. This time no answer whatever. It was growing too painful. Ross looked in bewilderment at the bandaged face and and again broke the silence: "We hope you won't deny us the right to be of service. Mr. Havne. If there is anything we can do that you need or would like"— hesitatingly. . "You have nothing further to say?" asked the calm voice from the pillow. "I—don't know what else we can say," faltered Ros3, after an instant's pause. The answer came, firm and prompt, but icily cool: "Then there i3 nothing that you'eaff "* do." And the three took their departure, sore at heart. There were others of thC3 infantry who had purposed going to see Hayue that evening, but the story of Ross's experience put an end to it all. It was plain that even now Mr. Hayne marie the condition of the faintest advance from his regimental comrades a full confession of error. He would have no less. That evening the colonel sat by his bedside and had an earnest talk. He ventured to expostulate with the invalid on his refusal to go to the major's or to Stannard's. He could have so many comforts and delicacies there that would be impossible here. He did not refer to edibles and drinkables said, with a smile; but Hayne's patient face gave no sign of relenting. He heard the colonel through, and then said slowly and firmly: never rei "Who are invited? None of ours?" "Kate, 1 don't know." "Where did she say she had heard it?* "She didn't say." CHAITER V. Stannard's battalion of the cavalry came marching into the post two days after the fire, and created a diversion in the garrison talk, which for one long day had beAi all of that dramatic incident and its attendant circumstances. In social .circles, among the officers and ladies, the main topic was the conduct of Mr. Hayne and the injuries he had sustained as a consequence of his gallant rescue. Among the enlisted men and the denizens of Sudaville the talk was principally of the revelation of Mrs. Clanev's hoard of greenbacks. But in both circles a singular story was just beginning to creep around, and it was to the effect that Clancy had cricd aloud and fainted dead away and that Mrs. Clancy had gone into hysterics when they were told that Lieut. Hayne was the man to whom the one owed his life and the other her money. Some one met Capt. Rayner on the sidewalk the morning Stannard came marching home and asked him if he had heard the queer etory about Clancy. He had not. and it was told ltim then and there. Mrs. Rayner paused one moment, irresolute: "Didn't she tell you anything more about it?' A little girl knelt fobbing and terrified. "Nothing, sister inina Why should you feel such an interest in what Mrs. Waldron says, if she's such a gossip?" And Miss Travers was evidently having hard work to keep front laughing out- "Not a word on that subject, Kate, if you love me!—not even the mention of his name! I must have peace in my own house. It is enough to have to talk of it elsewhere." right "You had better write your letter," said her big sister, and flounced suddenly out of the room and up the stairs. In garrison, despite the flat parade, there was a grand expanse of country to be seen Btretching away towards the snow covered Rockies. There was life and the 6ense of neighborlinesa to one's kind Out on Prairie avenue all was wintry desolation, except when twico each day the cavalry officers went plodding by on their way to and from the 8tables, muffled up in their fur caps and coats, and hardly distinguishable from so many bears, much less from one another Talk of it he had to. The major early that morning asked him, as they were going to the matinee: A moment later she was at the parlor door with a wrap thrown over her shoulders. "If Capt. Rayner comes in, tell him I want particularly to see him before he goes out again." "Have you seen Hayne yet?" "Not since he reported on the parade yesterday," was the curt reply. "Well, I suppose you will send men to help him get those quarters into habitable shape?'* "Where are you going, Kate?" "Oh, just over to Mrs. Waldron's a moment" "I will, of course, major, if he ask it. I don't propose sending men to do such work for an officer unless the request come." CHAPTER IV. And yet Mr. Hayne smiled not unhappily as he glanced from his eastern window at this group of burly warriors the afternoon succeeding his dinner at the colonel's. lie had been busy all day long unpacking books, book shelves, some few pictures which he loved, and his simple, soldierly outfit of household goods, and getting them into shape. His sole-assistant was a Chinese servant, who forked rapidly and well, and who Seemed in no wise dismayed by the bleakness of their surroundings. If anything, he was disposed to grin and indulge in high pitched commentaries in "pidgin English" upon the unaccustomed amount of room. His master had been restricted to two rooms and a kitchen during the two years he had served him. Now they had a house to themselves, and more rooms than they knew what to do with. The quartermaster had sent a detail of men to put up the stoves and move out the rubbish left by the tailors; "Sam" had worked vigorously with soft soap, hot water and a big mop in sprucing up the rooms; the adjutant had sent a little note during the morning, saying that the colonel would be glad to order him any men he needed to put the quarters in proper shape, and that Capt Rayner had expressed his readiness to send a detail from the company to unload and unpack his boxes, etc., to which Mr. Hayne replied in person that he thanked the commanding officer for his thoughtfulness, but that he had very little to unpack, and needed no assistance beyond that already afforded by the quartermaster's men. Mr. Billings could not help noting that he made no allusion to that part of the letter which spoke of Capt Rayner's offer. It increased his respect for Mr. Hayne's perceptive powers. While every officer of the infantry battalion was ready to admit that Mr. Hayne had rendered valuable service to the men of the cavalry regiment, they were not so unanimous in their opinion as to how it should be acknowledged and requited by its officers. No one was prepared for the announcement tfiat the colonel had asked him to dinner and that Blake and Billings were to meet him Some few of their number thought it going too far, but no one quite coincided with the vehement declaration of Mrs. Rayner that it was an outrage and an affront aimed at the regiment in general and at Capt. Rayner in particular. She was an energetic woman when aroused, and there was no doubt of her being very much aroused as she sped from house to house to see what the other ladies thought of it. Rayner's wealth and Mrs. Rayner's qualities had made her an undoubted though not always popular leader in all social matters in the Rifiera She was an authority, so to speak, and one who knew it Already there had been some points on which she; had differed with the colonel's wife, and it was plain to all ihat it was a difficult thing for her to come down from being the authority— the leader of the social element of a gar- In her frenzy she bad shrieked that the savings of her lifetime were burning —that there was over three thousand dollars in the box; but she hid her treasure and gasped and stammered and swore she was talking "wild like." "They was nothing but twos and wans," she vowed; yet there were women there who declared that they had seen tens and twenties as she hurried them through her trembling fingers, and Sudsville gossiped and talked for two hours after she was led away, still moaning and shivering, to the bedside of poor Clancy, who was the miserable cause of it all. The colonel listened to the stories with such patience as could be accorded to witnesses who desired to give prominence to their personal exploits in subduing the flames and rescuing life and property. It was not until he and the group of officers with him had been engaged some moments in taking testimony that something was elicited which caused a new senation. "He is entitled to that consideration, Rayner, and I think the men should be sent to him. He is hardly likely to ask." " "She would ruin ClaQcy, that she would," was the unanimous opinion of the soldiers' wives, but beseemed to minister to her extravagance with unfailing good nature for two or three years. He had been prudent, careful of his money, was a war soldier with big arrears of bounty and, tradition had it, a consummate skill in poker. He was the moneyed man among the sergeants when the dashing relict of a brother non-commissioned officer set her widow's cap for him and won. It did not take many years for her to wheedle most of his money away, but there was no cessation to the demand, no apparent limit to the supply. Both were growing older, and now it became evident that Mrs. Clancy was the elder of the two, and that the artificiality of her charms coul.l i.-.i Ktand the test of frontier life. N.C i . . ;•!• sought as the belle of the soldiDv- 'D.«•;? rooms, she aspired to leadership their wives and families, and was accorded that preeminence rather than the fierce battle which was sure to follow any revolt. She became avaricious—some said miserly— and Clancy miserable. Then began the downward course. He took to drink soon after his return from a long, hard summer's cam Daitm with the Indians. He lost his sergeant's stripes and went into the ranks. Down in the valley south of the post a broad glare was already shooting upward and illuminating the sky. One among a dozen little shanties and log houses, the homes of the laundresses of the garrison and collectively known as Sudsville, was a mass of flames. There was a rush of officers across the parade, and the men, answering the alarum of the trumpet and the shots and shouts of the sentries, came tearing from their quarters and plunging down the hilL Among the first on the spot came the young men who were of the party at Capt. Rayner's, and Mr. Graham was ahead of them alL It was plain to the most inexperienced eye that there was hardly anything left to save in or about the burning shanty. All efforts must be directed towards preventing the spread of the flames to those adjoining. Half clad women and children were rushing about, shrieking with fright and excitement, and a few men were engaged in dragging household goods and furniture from those tenements not yet reached by the flames. Fire apparatus there seemed to be none, though squads of men speedily appeared with ladders, axes and buckets, brought from the different company quarters, and the arriving officers quickly formed the bucket lines, and water dipped from the icy creek began to fly from hand to hand. Before anything like this was fairly under way, a scene of semi-tragic, semi-comic intensity had been enacted in the presence of a rapidly gathering audience. "It was worth more than the price of admission to hear Blake tell it afterwards," said the officers, later. Possibly Gregg and liis modest helpmeet discovered that there was something she desired to "spring" upon the meeting. The others present were all of the infantry; and when Capt. Rayner simply glanccd in, spoke hurried good evenings, and went as hurriedly out again, Gregg was sure of it, and marched his wife away. Then came Mrs. Rayner's opportunity: Rayner did not even attempt to laugh at it or turn it off in any way. Ho looked dazed, stunned, for a moment, turned "very white and old looking, and, hardly saying good day to his informant, faced about and went straight to his quarters. He was not among the crowd that gathered to welcome the incoming cavalrvmen that bright, crisp, winter day, ana ithat evening Mrs. Rayner went to the hospital to ask what she could do for Clancy and his wife. Capt. Rayner always expected her to see that every care and attention was paid to the sick and needy of his company, 6he explained to the doctor, who could not recall having seen her on a similar errand before, although sick and needy of Company B were not unknown in garrisons where he had served with them. She spent a good while with Mrs. Clancy, whom she had never noticed hitherto, much to the laundress' indignation, and concerning whose conduct she had been known to express herself in terms of extreme disapprobation. But in times of suffering such things are forgotten; Mrs. Rayner was full of sympathy and interest; there was nothing she was not eager to send them, and no thanks were necessary. She could never do too much for the men of her husband's company. "Then he is less likely to get them," said the captain, shortly, for, except the post commander, he well knew that no officer could order it to be done. He was angry at the major for interfering. They were old associates and had entered service almost at the same time, but his friend had the better luck in promotion and was now his battalion commander. Rayner made an excuse of stopping to speak with the officer of the day, and the major went on without him. He was a quiet old soldier; he wanted no disturbance with his troubled friend, and, like a sensible man, he turned the matter over to their common superior, in a very few words, before the arrival of the general audience. It was this that had caused the colonel to turn quietly to Rayner and Bay, in the most matter of fact way: "If it were not Capt Rayner's house, I could not have been even civil to Capt Gregg. You beard what he said at the club this morning, I suppose?" In one form or another, indeed, almost everybody had heard. The officers present maintained an embarrassed silence. Miss Travers looked reproachfully at her flushed sister, but to no purpose. At last one of the ladies remarked: D * "I have not acted hastily, sir; I apDreciate their kindness, and am not un;rateful. Fire years ago my whole life ivas changed. From that time to this I nave done without a host of that used to be indispensable, and have abjured them one and all for a single luxury that I cannot live without—the luxury of utter independence—the joy of knowing that I owe no man anything— the blessing of being beholden to no one on earth for a single service I cannot pay for. It is the one luxury left me," "Well, of course I heard of it, but— I've heard so many different versions. It seems to have grown somewhat since morning." It was uot by the united efforts of Sudsville that Clancy and Kate had been dragged from the flames, but by the individual dash and determination of a single man; there was no discrepancy here, for the ten or a dozen who were wildly rushing about' the house made 110 effort to burst into it until a young soldier leaped tbrough their midst into the blazing doorway, was seen to throw a blanket over some object within, and the next minute appeared again, dragging a body through the flames. Then they had sprung to his aid, and between them Kate and "theould man" were lifted into the open air. A moment later he had handed Mrs. Clancy her packet of money, and—they hadn't seen hiui since. He was an officer, said they—a new one. They thought it must be tho new lieutenant of Company G; and the colonel looked quickly around and said a few words to his adjutant, who started up tho hill forthwith. A group of officers and ladies were standing at the brow of the plateau east of the guard house, gazing down upon tho sceno below, and other ladies, with their escorts, had gathered on a little knoll close by the road that led to Prairie avenue. It was past these that the adjutant walked rapidly away, swinging hi. hurricane lamp in his band. J "Oh, Capt. Rayner, I presume Mr. Hayne will need three or four men to help him get his quarters in shape. I suppose you have already thought to send them?" Facing the broad, bleak prairie, separated from it only by a rough, unpainted picket fence, and flanked by uncouth structures of pine, one of which was used as a storehouse for quartermaster's property, the other as the post trader's depository for skins and furs, there stood the frame cottage which Mr. Hayne had chosen as his home. As has been said, it was precisely like those built for the subaltern officers, so far as material, plan and dimensions were concerned. The locality made the vast difference which really existed. Theirs stood all in a row, fronting the grassy level of the parade, sur•ounded by verandas, bordering on a rell kept gravel path and an equally veil graded drive. Clear, sparkling rater rippled in tiny acequias through he front yards of each, and so furnished he moisture needed for the life of the 'arious little shrube and flowering plants. "sociap and to keep officers, as a irthest •est those bacho■ire old ranV" in lieu of Their hostess led him to her piano. "It sounds just like him, however," said Mrs. Rayner, "and I made inquiry before speaking of it. He said he meant to invite Mr. Hayne to his house to-morrow evening, and if the infantry didn't like it they could stay away." / And Rayner flushed, and stammered, "They have not gone yet, sir; but I had 1—thought of it." i Later, when the sergeant sent the required detail he reported to the captain in the company office in five minutes: "The lieutenant's mpliments and thanks, but he does noi need the men." K The dinner at the colonel's, quiet as it was and with only eight at table, was an affair of almost momentous importance .0 Mr. Hnyne. it was tne nrst tmng or The kind he had attended in five years, and though he well knew that it was intended by the cavalry commander more especially as a recognition of the services rendered their suffering men, he could not but rejoice in the courtesy and tact with which he was received and entertained. The colonel's wife, the adjutant's, and those of two captains away with the field battalion were the four ladies who wete there to greet him when, escorted by Mr. Blake, he made his appearance. How long—how very long—it Beeraed to him since he had sat in the presence of refined and attractive women and listened to their gay and animated :hat! They seemed all such good friends, they made him so thoroughly at home, and they showed so much tact and ease that never once did it seem apparent that they knew of his trouble in his own regiment; and yet there was no actual avoidance of matters in which the Riflers were generally interested. There came a time when the new colonel forbade his re-enlistment in the cavalry regiment in which he had served so many a long year. He had been a brave and devoted soldier. He had a good friend in the infantry, he said, who wouldn't go back on a poor fellow who took a drop too much at times, and, to tho surprise of many soldiers—officers and men—lie was brought to the recruiting officer one day, sober, soldierly, and trimly dressed, and Capt. Rayner aspressed his desire to have him enlisted for his company; and it was done. Mrs. Clancy was accorded the quarters and rations of a laundress, as was then the custom, and for a time—a very short time—Clancy seemed on the road to promotion to his old grade. The enemy tripped him, aided by the scoldings and abuse of hi3 wife, and he never rallied. Some work was found for him around tho quartermaster's shops which saved him from guard duty or the guard house. The infantry—officers and men —seemed to feel for the poor, broken down old fellow, and to lay much of his woe to tho door of his wife. There was charity for his faults and sympathy for his sorrows, but at last it had come to this. He was lying, sorely injured, in the hospital, and there were times when ho was apparently delirious. "Well, now, Mrs. Rayner," protested Mr. Foster, "of course none of us heard what he said exactly, but it is my experience that no conversation was ever repeated without being exaggerated, and I've known old Gregg for ever so long, and never heard him say a sharp thing yet. Why, he's the mildest mannered fellow in the whole —th cavalry. He would never get into such a snarl as that would bring about him in five minutes." Yet there was a member of her husband's company on whom in his suffering neither she nor the captain saw fit to call. Mr. Hayne's eyes were seriously injured by the flames and heat, and he was now living in darkness. It might be a month, said the doctor, before he could use his eyes again. "Only think of that poor fellow all alone out there on that ghastly prairie and unable to read!" was the exclamation of one of the cavalry ladies in Mrs. Rayner's presence; and, as there was an awkward silence and somebody had to break it, Mrs. Iliyner responded: CHAPTER VIL ;gf /y//* A tall, angular woman, frantic with excitement and terror, was dancing about in the broad glare of the burning hut, tearing her hair, making wild rushes at the flames froin time to time as though intent on dragging out somo prized object that was being consumed before her eyes, and all the time keeping up a volley of maledictions and abuse in lavish Hibernian, apparently directed at a cowering object who sat in limp helplessness upon a little heap of firewood, swaying from side to side and moaning stupidly through the scorched and grimy hands in which his face was hidden. His clothing was still smoking in places; his hair and beard were singed to the roots; be was evidently seriously injured, and the sympathizing soldiers who had gathered around him after deluging him with snow and water were striving to get him to arise and go with them to the hospital. A little girl, not ten years old, knelt sobbing and terrified by his side. She, too, was scorched and singed, and the soldiers had thrown rough blankets about her; but it was for her father, not herself, she seemed worried to distraction. Some of the women were striving to reassure and comfort her in their homely fashion, bidding her cheer up—the father was only stupid from drink, and would be all right as soon as "the liquor was off of him." But the little one was beyond consolation so long as he could not or would not speak in answer to her entreaties."Well, he said he would do just as the colonel did, anyway—we have that straight from cavalry authority—and we all know what the colonel has done. He has chosen to honor Mr. Hayne in the presence of the officers who denounce him, and practically defies the opinion of the Riflers." The surroundings were at least ble," and there was companions! jollity, with an occasional tiff lively The married their quarters f from the and ner of the colonel commbwiing. Tht lore, except the two or three who w In the service and had " "If I lived on Prairie avenue I should consider blindness a blessing." "But, Mrs. Rayner, I did not understand Gregg's remarks to be what you say, exactly. Blake told me that when asked by somebody whether he was going to call on Mr. Hayne, Gregg simply replied he didn't know—he would ask the colonel." It was an unfortunate remark. There was strong sympathy developing for Hayne all through the garrison. Mrs. Rayner never meant that it should have anv such significance, but inside of twenty-four hours, in course of which her language had been repeated some dozens of times and distorted quite as many, the generally accepted version of the story was that Mrs. Rayner, so far from expressing the faintest sympathy or sorrow for Mr. Hayne's misfortune, so far from expressing the natural gratification which a lady should feel that it was an officer of her regiment who had reached the scene of danger ahead of the cavalry officer of the guard, had said in so many words that Mr. Hayne ought to be thankful that blindness was the worst thing that had come to him. "Which way now. Billings?" called one of the cavalry officers in the group. encumbrances, were all herded together along the eastern end, a situation that had disadvantages as connected with duties which required the frequent presence of the occupants at the court martial rooms or at headquarters, and that was correspondingly far distant from the barracks of the soldiers. It had its recommendations in being convenient to the card room and billiard tables at "the store," and In embracing within its limits one house which possessed mysterious interest in the eyes of •very woman and most of the men in "Over to Mr. Havne's quarters," he shouted back, never stopping at all. " You shall not go!" "Very well. That means he proposes to be guided by the colonel, or nothing at all; and Capt. Gregg is simply doing what the others will do. They say to us in so many words: 'We prefer the society of your bete noire to your own.' That's the way I look at it," said Mrs. Rayner, in deep excitement. It was a clear winter's evening, sharply cold, about a week after the fire, when, as Mrs. Rayner came down the stairway, equipped for a walk, and was passing the parlor door without stopping, Miss Travers caught sight tDf and called to her: A silence fell upon the group at mention of the name. They were the ladies from CaDt. Ravner's and a faw nf their immediate friends. All eyes followed the twinkling light as it danced away eastward towards the gloomy coal sheds. Then there was Budden and intense interest. The lamp had come to a stand still, was deposited on the ground, and by its dim ray the adjutant could be seen bending over a dark object that was half sitting, half reclining at the platform of the shed. Then came a shout, "Come here, some of you." And most of the men ran to the spot. It was mainly of his brief visit to the east, however, that they made him talk— of the operas and theatres he had attended, the pictures he had seen, the music that was most popular; and when dinner was over their hostess led him to her piano, and he played and sang for them again and again. His voice was soft and sweet, and, though it was uncultivated, he sang with expression and grace, playing with more skill but less feeling and effect than he sang. Music and books had been the solace of lonely years, and he could easily see that he had pleased them with his songs. He went home to the dreary rookery out ou Prairie avenue and laughed at the howling wind. The bare grimy walls and the dim kerosene lamp, even Sam's unmelodious snore in the back room, sent no gloom to his soul. It had been a happy evening. It had cost him a hard struggle to restrain the emotion which he had felt at times; and when ho withdrew, soon after the trumpets sounded tattoo, and the ladies fell to discussing him, as women will, there was but one verdict—his manners were perfect. At such times, said Mrs. Clancy, she alone could manage him; and she urged that no other nurse could do more than excite or irritate him. To the unspeakable grief of little Kate she, too, was •1 riven from the sufferer's bedside and forbidden to come into the room except when her mother gave permission. Clancy had originally been carried into the general ward with the other patients, but the hospital steward two days afterwards told the surgeon that the patient moaned and cried so at night that the other sick men could not sleep, and offered to give up a little room in his own part of the building. The burly doctor looked surprised at this concession on the part of the steward, who was a man tenacious of etery perquisite and ont who had made much complaint about the crowded condition of the hospital wards and small rooms ever since the frozen soldiers had come in. All the same the doctor asked for no explanation, but gladly availed himself of the steward's offer. Clancy was mos*d to this little room adjoining the steward's quarters forthwith, and Mrs. Clancy was satisfied. "Are you going walking, Kate? Do wait a moment, and I'll go with you." It was evident that, though none were prepared to indorse so extreme a view, there was a strong feeling that the colonel had put an affront upon the Riflers by his open welcome to Mr, Hayne. He had been exacting before, and had caused a good deal of growling among the officers and comment among the women. They were ready to find fault, and here was strong provocation. Mr. Foster was a youth of unfortunate and unpopular propensities. He should have held his tongue instead of striving to stem the tide. Any one in the hall could have shared the author's privilege and seen the expression of annoyance and confusion that, appeared on Mrs. Rayner's face. "I thought you were nut, rn.i Graham take you walking^1 "He did; but we wandered into Mrs. VValdron's, and she and the major begged us to stay, and we had some music, and then the first call sounded for retreat and Mr. Graham had to go, so he brought me home. I've had no walk and need exercise."There was little chance for harmony after that. Many men and some women, of course, refused to believe it, and said they felt confident t-iat she had been misrepresented. Still, all knew by this time that Mrs. Rayner was bitter against Hayne, and had heard of her denunciation of the colonel's action. So, too, had the colonel heard that she openly declared that she would refuse any invitation extended .to her or to her sister which might involve her accepting hospitality at his house. These things do get around in most astonishing ways. the garrison; it was said to be haunted. A sorely perplexed man was the post quartermaster when (he rumor came out from thfi railway station that Mr. Hayne had arrived and was coming to report for duty. As a first lieutenant he would have choice of quarters over every second lieutenant in the garrison. There were ten of these young gentlemen, and four of the ten were married. Every set of quarters had its occupants, and Hayne could, move in nowhere, unless as occupant of room or two in the house of some coriirade, without first compelling others to move out This proceeding would lead to vast discomfort, occurring as it would in the dead of winter, and the youngsters were naturally perturbed in spirit—their wives especially so. What made the prospects infinitely worse was the fact that the cavalry bachelors were already living three in a house; the only spare rooms were in the quarters of the second lieutenants of the infantry, and they were not on speaking terms with Mr. Hayne. Everything, therefore, pointed to the probability of his "displacing" a junior, who would in turn displace somebody else, and so they would go tumbling like a row of bricks until the lowest and last was reached. AU thii would involve no end of worry for the quartermaster, who even under rison—and from the position of second or third importance which she had been accorded when first assigned to the staticFor a moment not one word was spoken in the watching group; then Miss Travers' voice was heard: There were many, indeed, who asserted that it was because she found her new position unbearable that she decided on her long visit to the east, and departed thither before the Riflers had been at Warretoer a month. The colonel's wife had greeted her and her lovely sister with charming grace on their arrival two days previous to the stirring event of the dinner, and every one was looking forward to a probable series of pleasant entertainmente by the two households, even while wondering how long the entente cordiale would last—when the colonel's invitation to Mr. Hayne brought on an immediate crisis. It is safe to say that Mrs. Rayner was madder than the captain her husband, who hardly knew how to take it. He was by no means the best liked officer in his regiment, nor the "deepest" and best informed, but he had a native shrewdness which helped him. He noted even before his wife would speak of it to him the gradual dying out of the bitter feeling that had once existed at Hayne's expense. He felt, though it hurt him seriously to make inquiries, that the man whom lie had practically crushed and ruined in the long ago was slowly but surely gaining strength, even where he would not make friends. All this time, never pausing for breath, shrieking anathemas on her drunken spouse, reproaches on her frightened child, and invocations lfD all tlio Mosmv) saints in heaven to reward the gintleman who had saved her hoarded money—a smoking packet that she hugged to her breast—Mrs. Clancy, "the saynior laundress of Company B," as she had long styled herself, was prancing up and down through the gathering crowd, her shrill voice overmastering all other clamor. The vigorous efforts of the men, directed by cool headed officers, soon beat back the flames that were threatening the neighboring Bhanties, and leveled to the ground what remained of Private Clancy's home. The fire was extinguished almost as rapidly as it began, but the torrent of Mrs. Clancy's eloquence was still unstemmed. The adjurations of sympathetic sisters to "Howld yer whist," the authoritative admonition of some old sergeant to "Stop your infernal noise," and the half maudlin yet appealing glances of her suffering lord were all insufficient to check her. "What can it be? Why do thev Rtop there?" She felt a sudden hand upon her wrist, and her sister's lips at her ear: "Come away, Nellie. I want to go home. Come!" "But I don't like you to be out after 6unset. That cough of yours"  "I don't uphold Hayne any more than you do, Mrs. Rayner, but it seems to me this is a case where the colonel has to make some acknowledgment of Mr. Hayne's conduct"  "Disappeared the day after I got here, Kate, and there hasn't been a vestige of it since. This high, dry climate put an end to it. No, I'll be ready in one minute more. Do wait." "Byt, Kate, I must see what it means." "No; come! It's—it's only somo other drunken man probably. Come!" And she strove to lead her. Then another complication arose: Havne, too, was mixing matters. The major commanding the battalion, a man in no wise connected with his misfortunes, had gone to him and urged, with the doctor's full consent, that he should be moved over into and become an inmate of his household in garrison. He had a big, roomy house. His wife earnestly added her entreaties to the major's, but all to no purpose: Mr. Havne firmly declined. He thanked the major; he rose and bent over the lady's hand and thanked her with a voice that was full of gentleness and gratitude; but he said that he had learned to live in solitude. Sam was accustomed to all his ways, and he had every comfort he needed. His wants were few and simple. She would not be content, and urged him further. He loved reading: surely he would miss his books and would need some one to read aloud to him, and there were so many ladies in the garrison who would be glad to meet at her house and read to him by turns. He loved music, she heard, and there was her piano, and she kntnv several who would be delighted to come and play for him by the hour. He shook his head, and the bandages hid the tears that came to his smarting eyes. He had made arrangements to be read aloud to, he said; and as for music, that must wait awhile. "Very good/ Let him write him a letter, then, thanking him in the name of the regiment, but don't pick him up like this in the face of ours," interrupted one of the juniors, who was seated near Miss Travers (a wise stroke of policy; Mrs. Raynor invited him to breakfast), and there was a chorus of approbation. "Well, hold on a moment," said Foster. "Hasn't the colonel had every one of us to dinner more or less frequently?" Mrs. Rayner's hand was fuming the knob while her sister was hurrying to the front door and drawing on her heavy jacket as she did so. The former faced her impatiently. But the other ladies were curious too, and all, insensible, were edging over to the east as though eager to get in sight of the group. The recumbent object had been raised, and was seen to be the dark figure of a man whom the others began slowly to lead away. One of the group caine running back to them; it was Mr. Foster. "I don't think you are at all courteous to your visitors. You know just as well as I do that Mr. Foster or Mr. Royce or some other of those young officers are sure to be in just at this hour. You really are very thoughtless, Nellie." But the colonel said more than that. He had found him far better read than any other officer of his age he had ever met; and one and all they expressed tho hope that they might see him frequently. No wonder it was of momentous importance to him. It was the opening to a new life. It meant that here at least he had met soldiers and gentlemen and their fair and gracious wives who had welcomed him to their homes, and, though they must have known that a pall of suspicion and crime had overshadowed his past, they believed either that he was innocent of the grievous charge or that his years of exile ana suffering had amply atoned. It was a happy evening indeed to him; but there was gloom at Capt. Rayner's. Another thing had happened to excite remark and a good deal of it Nothing short of eternal damnation was Mrs. Clancy's frantic sentence on the head of her unlucky spouse the night of the fire, when she was the central figure of the picture, and when hundreds of witnesses to her words were grouped around. Correspondingly had she called down the blessings of the Holy Virgin and all the saints upon the man who rescued and returned to her that precious packet of money. Everybody heard her, and it was out of the question for her to retract. Nevertheless, from within an hour after Clancy's admission to the hospital not another word of the kind escaped her lips She was all patience and pity with the injured man, and she shunned all allusion to his preserver and her benefactor. The surgeon had been called away, after doing all in his power to make Clancy comfortable—he was needed elsewhere—and only two or three soldiers and a hospital nurse still remained by his bedside, where Mrs. Clancy and little Kate were drying their &•!» and receiving consolation from the "Come, ladies; I will escort you home, as the others are busy." "Admitted. But what's to do with it?" "Hasn't he invariably invited each officer to dine with him in every case where an officer has arrived?" "What is the matter, Mr. Foster?"' was asked by half a dozen voices. Miss Travers stopped short in her preparations."KateRavner." she beean. imDresailve!y,,"it was only night before last that you rebuked mo for sitting here with Mr. Blake at this very hour, and asked me how I supposed Mr. Van Antwerp would like it. Now you"  "Granted. But what then?" "It was Mr. Hayne—badly burned, I fear. lie was trying to get home after having saved poor Clancy. "If he broke the rule or precedent in Mr. Hayne's case would he not practically be saying that he indorsed the views of the court martial as opposed to those of the department commander, Gen. Sherman, the secretary of war, the president of the United"  the most favorable circumstances is sura to be the least appreciated and mocx abused officer under the commandant himself, and that worthy was simnlv agasp wim relief ana joy wuen ne neara Mr. ilayne's astonishing announcement that he would take the quarters out on "Prairie avenue." It was the talk of the garrison all that day. The ladies, especially, had a good deal to say, because many of the men seemed averse to expressing their views. "Quite the proper thing for Mr. Hayne to do," was the apparent opinion of the majority of the young wives and mothers. As a particularly kind and con- "You don't say so! Oh, isn't there something we can do? Can't we go that way and be of some heljj?" was the eager petition of more than one of the ladies. It was not until the quiet tones of the colonel were heard that she began to cool down: "We've had enough of this, Mrs. Clancy; be still, nowror we'll have to send you to the hospital in the coal cart." -Mrs. Clancy knew that the colonel was a man of few words, and believed him to be one of less sentiment. She was afraid of him, and concluded it time to cease threats and abuse and come down to the more effective role of wronged and suffering womanhood—a feat which she accomplished with the consummate ease of long practice, for the rows in the Clancy household were matters of garrison notoriety. The Burgeon, too, had command, af .ttf, jUrifik jptamination of "Fudge! I cannot stay and listen to such talk. If you must go, wait a few minutes until I get back. I—I want to make a short call. Then I'll take you." Worse than all, ho was beginning to doubt the evidence of his own senses as the years receded, and unknown to any sou on earth, even his wife, there was growing up deep down in his heart a gnawing, insidious, ever festering fear that after all, after all, he might have been mistaken. And yet on the sacred oath of a soldier and a gentleman, against the most searching  again and a«un had he most confidently and positively declared that he-had both seen and heard the fatal interview on which the whole case hinged. And as "Not now. They will have the doctor in a minute. He has not inhaled flame; it is all external; but he was partly blinded and could not find his way. He called to Billings when he heard him coming. I will get you all home and then go back to him. Comel" And, offering his arm to Mrs. Rayner, who was foremost in the direction he wanted to go—the pathway across the parade—Mr. Foster led them on. Of course, there was eager talk and voluble sympathy, but Mrs. Rayner spoke not a word. The others crowded around him with auea- "Oh, make out your transfer papers, Foster. You ought to be in the cavalry or some other disputatious branch of the service," burst in Mr. Graham. "So do I want to make a short call— over at the doctor's; and you are going right to the hospital, are you not?' "How do you know I am?" asked Mrs. Bayner, reddening. "You do go there every evening, it seems to me." The captain himself had gone out soon after tattoo. He found that the parlor was filled with young visitors of both Bexes, and he was in no mood for merriment. Miss Travers was being welcomed to the poet in genuine army style, and was evidently enjoying it. Mrs. Rayner was flitting nervously in and out of the parlor with a cloud upon her brow, and for once in her life compelled to preserve "I declare, Mr. Foster, I never thought you would abandon your colors," said . Mrs. Rayner. "I haven't, madam, and you've no right to say so," said Foster, indignantly. "I simply hold that any attempt to work up a regimental row out of this thing will make bad infinitely worse, and I deprecate the whole  "I don't. Who told you I did?" "Several people mentioned your kindness and attention to the Clancys, Kate. I have heard it from many sources." The kind woman retired dismayed— she could not understand such obduracy, and her husband felt rebuffed. Stan- Oliu' (TO BB CONTINUED.) - me-