Page:Randall Parrish--My Lady of the South.djvu/89

NEWS FOR ROSECRANS horse's keeping the path, and pushed straight ahead through the gloom, trusting implicitly to his instinct. Nothing occurred of special import, either in the valley. or along the ridge. and the faint gray of coming daylight already streaked the lowering sky in our front as we trotted down the slope to the Landing. My own immediate duty was perfectly clear, and I pressed forward to its performance without great consideration, watchful for danger, determined to bear my message direct to headquarters, but otherwise giving my surroundings little heed. Somehow my entire thought, as we thus pounded on through the night, remained back yonder with that injured girl at Fairview. Her face was constantly before me, as I leaned forward. striving to peer into the shadows ahead,—what a happy, mocking, girlish face it would be under better conditions than those amid which I had known her. Those blue-gray eyes could be wells of mirth, and there was an irresistible charm of piquancy about her manner. I had never before met with lady a personality; even under stress, and in the midst of grave peril. she was unable to conceal entirely her real sunshiny nature. Frank, truthful, outspoken, warm-hearted, she had made an impression upon me not easily forgotten. And this young woman was legally my wife! Somehow the thought sent the hot blood of youth rioting through my veins. Of course the relationship was no more than a mere name. It was not to be dwelt upon even in thought, and would be promptly dissolved. It was, as I well knew, a condition achieved by fraud and despicable deceit, yet, nevertheless, the fact remained that there was now this tie [ 81 ]