Show f M IL wig 0 r N X i tfx j JL JL jbf A romance of the american army VICTOR fighting on the battlefields of france DY 4 copyright by W 0 chapman CHAPTER continued 12 ibo he wit silent t sir 1 gentlemen lie ho continued cont addre whig mark arid and tile colo net nel you tire interested in knowing what happened to this man II ampton ile ho could not rid himself of the he belief that just justice lep though blow la Is pretty sure lie ile had faith in god oil nat natele ehe ile had less anith in himself am I 1 wronging you tou Hampto nl ho he eon con untied addressing hartley 1 4 no mr muttered mutt erda the man on the at stretcher feebly ho wishes mo me to tell ille ilie whole story lie ile went to cuba and flung filing in ills hie lot with the rebels lie ile became disgusted with their means meana and methods obtained a pardon from general weyler and to took 9 k up lila ills residence in santiago the th 0 outbreak of the war surprised him there lie ile kne knew v that Sari santiago tIngo would fall and lie ho had been warne I 1 that ho he would receive short shrift n at the hands of our people lie longed for death but lie lint biad two t we things that kept alive the desire for life inq was his child the other the desire for vin vindication afi which itch had become a monomania no ile tried til cd into tile tho jungle lie ho it was lopol lo cas 1 no wal hiding in rt little hut when lip lie heard footsteps an american soldier who had strayed from ilia his com colli anity was coming In into tho clearing at 11 that moi crit it stray bullet caught hun blin in ili the loyad him blin II fl ampton saw aw ills his chance cl ianco took of on the lend dead mans and put it on lie ho dressed tho the body in his own lie knew that by thin mear means ij he ha could pass through 11 tile tho lines alnea in ul alto m aulse of a bounel wounded man linan until lie he had a chance to get rid of his uniform in ili the cabin of some some cuban 1 would be 10 only too well pleased to give hlin him some some rags raga lit in exchange fo foe it and ana leaving ills his money and papers osithe on the dinu man iman ho he know knew that lie he left ills his identity behind for the bullet iliad destroyed doi troyed the features there is as tho the child but II ll ampton know that lie he could bakon i ter no further with the americans slip would receive food which ho he had not and shelter and pro protection lection afterward he would regain her lie ile lurked in the bushes until li lie e saw captain wallace appear watched d him trusted bilm lift u and wept went away no ile learned of tho the childs adoption and lie he home tier her school all places that were her residence over ever craving her ever restrained by the realization that till his name was cleared lie he lini had no right to her ills idea of vindication had bl become asi as I 1 said a monomania now isnow gentlemen I 1 have little time to spare but I 1 must carry this story to the end I 1 said that lio lie had find less faith in himself than lie ho had in god once for three years hampton ampton ll lost ills fits child slie she had gone to san frandisco francisco in ills his despair lie went to wash M I 1 I 1 you are under arrest ington lie ho sought out hilda coribel Mora helm m who iho was still plying her trade and as lid ho had never begged anyone that sho she would vindicate his nume 11 there was a stillness ns as of utter i death inside the lit little tle cave she saw in him one of those useful spies such its as tier organization used broken men with inside knowledge of conditions sho she used him held out promises broke them in his despair lie he made himself a slave to tier her and and tier her confederate forgetting his manhood and what ho he had been time and again they broke faith with him lie ile had lust realized that he be had nothing to hope tor for from them when captain wallace appeared on tho the scone scene yos yf lie he was a rotten dog sir 11 sald said K lucinan with he ghost of 0 a smile I 1 16 Is s evidence that you iou pre no sir air it Is not I 1 thundered tile lie general ni it Is on the evidence tit tile tho woman hilda Mors holth alias xenon secured by under circumstances 1 which a 1 1 1 1 not kallerman I 1 erman uttered a lowary low cry liowns trembling t rein 11 lug now and nil all his bravado seemed to have tills this woman strangely enough loved her confederate went on tile tho general remorselessly fixing ha eyes full on kellermann Keller mans now nov while man b blinked bileti li leti bat id daylight and turned ills his head beau weakly from side eldo to side ns as it if mulct the lu tolerAble glare of a searchlight iier her claims on hani were st strong rong enough god knowal site sho wanted him to marry hor bers fo her away from the old scenes that tha they might haye have a chance chanc q to redeem their wr wretched etched lives live a together lie ile had promised rom Is edher her that so ao many muffy times s ao and nil the worst of women islas Is us waln the hands band of the ann she loves f k Buth but eliad become infatuated with mother with a girl as much above him blin ns with a cry eliat seemed hardly hu i i i ninn colonel howard cpr sprang n n ig to toward iva rd kellerman ilia his aln ers iw itching as 1 it lie he sought ia fasten them about his throat mark cainglit him and held hit abtin 11 while alio old nian man swayed to and fro ills outstretched arm extended toward kellerman Koll as if in ili imprecation eleanor at hartless Hart leys side did not oven even look toward them tills this woman Mors helm kenyoti whatever you call her anine to france upon receipt of h a message alln had cut lier to the heart shown her the hopelessness of her dr dreams eanis and taught tier cef that theone the one man in whom she had bet believed to veil was worthless clay to do tier justice let us suppose that even in her worst acts she had been sus talkea by a sense of duty to her boun country she met lier confederate in nn an inn ini tit at n village not far distant frantic at her appearance he induced her to let him drive tier her back bachl through tile lines land on the way renewed his lying promises tills this time alio doubted him two men had overheard their conversation vers atlon one awas ana captain wallace whom the pair had and broken as they broke poor hampton ampton II him the traitor had seen and ho he devised a to send blin tollie to the tren trenches clibEr and to lieve him sent on n false and fatal errand with that point am now deal the was il camp za ton who had enlisted under nn an alias in tho the relief that he would obtain a clue that would unmask the traitor ho contrived 10 lo io go back through the lines found the ibm woman nn and and somehow eho w perhaps by gods wonderful mercy ob wined her signed confession which I 1 have here in full 1 lie ile wheeled upon kellerman ma ala jor Kelle lie baidin a deep that vibrated almost wath ath pity so BO charged with A that its meruil ng gould could not esc escape ape elther either howard or mark you aro are under arrest you will go toward yo your ur quarters cirit removing remo ing your belt and firms anus kellerman Kell ecman saluted weakly and stumbled out of tho the cave the general looked at mark tho the soldier weston receives a arop mid and full pardon for his valor in ili the field this day he said lie ile Is also discharged honorably from tho the sen ice of tile the united stated state 9 government mark looked at the general an fn n ni as ent this was the last thing that lie ha desired the general approached rind and clapped him on the shoulder Capt captain itin wallace he said your written resignation from froin the united states army cannot be accepted owing to th the hatate estate of war Aft after erthe the war it will receive consideration in the meantime you will hestime your duties on the headquarters staff kcira denra rushed to marks eyes eyed ho he tried to speak lie he was conscious that general and howard were shak shaking I 1 aig him by the handland handi and then a quick glanco glance from eleanor drew him to where ilia she kneeled by hartley I 1 A single look showed him that tile the tina man was dying mark kneeled on ono one side of h him I 1 M with ii cleanor facing him over t tho lie stretcher the bearers bearc bc arera rs who had fallen lack back stood still as aa images behind aria and behind them mark had bad the dim consciousness ness in the background of ills his mind of kellerman broken as lie lind had broken so many and lind tumbling fumbling always fumbling now with his tunic now with tho the belt chrit lie ho was trying to detach with shaking fingers Hart hartley leyl 1 whispered mark holding t the fie dying mans nand hand in ills his that was you today I 1 missed you iut hut I 1 believed in you you saved me there was a flu fluttering biering pressure of marks hand in turn hampton was shaking lie he was asking for thu the colonel 1 I nn ani hero here hampton said colonel howard in a choked voice as he leaned over him you believe in me now sir air mut cred tho the dying man r rolling his head uneasily in the effort to see may god forgive me ma Hampto nl hay slie bhe your wife forgive forgive vac me tell her that and tell her her words camo true I 1 betrayed my best bast friend and ayr arvo suffered for it on and L I 1 shall sutter suffer to ahe last day ot of ray my life sho she forgives you howard said hampton ampton II speaking now with such solemnity that his bis words seemed to ills his listeners to be inspired theres only one thing I 1 want howard old man yes my dear boy yes hampton nam put tny ray name back on the mess liness list whispered hampton bampton through his tears mark was conscious that the fumbling outside tho the cave had doit ceased sed As II ampton fell back there cathe came thesus the sudden crack ofa of a revolver shot tho generals leue rals forni form blocked the entrance as they them raised their heads mark placed his hands across eleanors eyes ayles and drew w her awa anway CHAPTER berh perhaps ope 1 it was bi because they lind had I 1 seen so many horrors during tho the pas enst ti four and twenty afy hours bours that these seemed nil all fo have fallen away that night at staff headquarters there vas a brief hour of rest litter after inter labors the lines linch had been held and tho the great asnault repelled in confusion for r every man bent upon fo forgetting ilie incidents of stir and something like gaiety ruled in tile the room all the thelast past seemed very far away to mark wallace na as lie ho stood with ath eleanor in tho the litt little e cottage garden when the auto comes to take you ou buck back to the hospital vital I 1 shall feel that my new life has lost the best part of its promise said mark it was as a long and extraordinarily imaginative speech for hini him and lie he stood shamefaced dafter lie had baldit bild sal dit it like a boy who has delivered a grown neung aphorism captain mark said eleanor you knew who I 1 was and you could not you iou could not have believed my father innocent and yet you had faith in me lile you must have suffered when I 1 used to talk about my dreams of him and you hid fild your suffering and your knowl knowledge edge because of me that was nothing eleanor captain mark she whispered bonding bending toward him 1 I 1 I kissed adu you today that was nothing elennor eleanor 1 captain marki mark I 1 what do you mean how daro dare you I 1 mark looked utterly I 1 line mean 11 n 1 I mean El eleanor taner im just your gu gun a 0 you knows know and you were glad I 1 had bad come come back safe cafe 0 mark Is I 1 said eleanor slinking shaking with helpless laughter which disconcerted him still more and y yet 0 t lie ho thought her lills fies were wet wit with ll 11 tears captain mark are you really going to bakenie ma make kenie me say it say what my dear that it ought to have been you but you let that worry you yet L eleanor Zi canor its often I 1 done clone in such cases bases 1 I just thought you nahe were too old to kiss Youk you know wow I 1 fantod to 0 thank you thank you said eleanor wearily captain mark alark you dear dheur absurd guardian of mine I 1 see you arent going to spare me so listen I 1 lovo love you nna and have loved you only and apody but you all through my life from the time I 1 got your first letters to the time you came to see me at the misses Ilar harpers pers school und and from then to now 11 mark looked tit at tier in incredulous joy he was no longer capable of feeling astonishment ment but it nil all seel seemed lied like a happy dream unreliable but while it lasted dear beyond nil all imagining tho the colonel know knew it and others everybody did but you and do you know why I 1 have told you what ive often pinched myself to keep from telling you because you loved me without exactly knowing I 1 it but I 1 lid did know it my dear without exactly knowing it and when you admitted a little bit of it to yourself you were prompted to commit those foolish acts to be so rude to mo me nud and hurt me ine so much but la is never ever deceived she always knows I 1 know knew my dear sal said mark dMark solemnly you jince been everything fn an the world to me since that very first day outside I 1 santiago of course I 1 have As aa you anve been to roe me and that la Is rhyd why I 1 told you so that we two should not be unhappy all our lives you see dear captain mark it as it if you care for me if I 1 had cared and you aan I 1 should have hidden my feelings and never let you dream of them and you never would have so its really you who have told me all this and ive just jus t been been interpreting your thoughts because nil all I 1 did just now was to tell you what you wanted to tell me without knowing that you wanted to tell me what that you lid did want all the time that so captain mark yes answered mark feeling completely at sea but incapable of contradicting Ilc ting anything that eleanor chose to say I 1 that so mark dear of course it Is 10 sat said mark acarl so you have actually y told me that you care for me and you want me to fo give you my answer Is that what you wont went me ro to understand barkr 0 yes roy my dear of course it Is answered mark eleanor looked locked down thoughtfully well im not sure she said in a meditative manner you know you have been terribly abominably rude to hi me so often mark had a great horror of losing her and youve broken your solemn promise and you cant In imagine ingIne whit an a shock that gave me because I 1 idealized you in a chil childish digh way und and I 1 never dreamed that you were capable of not keeping your vord captein mark 1 I eleanor asked mark in beall derment eleanor surely I 1 never promised anything that I 1 do do apu remember that evening in washington the evening when you came to see us and we get on well together at all at first and suddenly you became the little girl that I 1 had adopted eleanor and suddenly you became iny dear uncle mark again 1 Iye belldo Well llido do you re 00 1 10 1 I 1 love you and have loved you only member promising me that you would never rive give me up any more no matter who might seem to havo hakoo a better claim on me do you remember that captain mark mark of course I 1 do dear but you were speaking of bf guardians guard lans 11 1 I mark guardians she asked 1 11 I was speaking of P I 1 0 of f colonel howard and me of you dear just of you yon answered ele eleanor annor so wont you please please not make mo me humble myself again and take me into your arms and and 1 kiss ass me THE END |