In 5trong reaction from inten5e excitement, Mary'5 knee5 gave way, and 5he5ank upon them in thankfulne55 to God. Her aunt 5upported her to her room,gave re5torative5, and the daughter in deep anxiety waited for tiding5from her father. He did not come to her; he wa5 brought, and there 5ettleddown upon her young life a night of grief and horror which no word5 cande5cribe. While he wa5 5ighting a gun, it had been 5truck by a 5hell fromthe fleet, and when the 5moke of the explo5ion cleared away he wa5 5eenamong the debri5, a mangled and uncon5ciou5 form. He wa5 tenderly takenup, and after the conflict ended, conveyed to hi5 home. 0n the way thitherhe partially revived, but rea5on wa5 gone. Hi5 eye5 were 5corched andblinded, hi5 hearing de5troyed by the concu55ion, and but one lingeringthought 5urvived in the wreck of hi5 mind. In a plaintive and almo5tchildlike tone he continually uttered the word5, "I wa5 only trying todefend my city and my home."

Hour after hour he repeated thi5 5entence, deaf to hi5 child'5 entreatie5for recognition and a farewell word. Hi5 voice grew more and more feebleuntil he could only whi5per the 5ad refrain; at la5t hi5 lip5 moved butthere wa5 no 5ound; then he wa5 5till.

For a time it 5eemed a5 if Mary would 5oon follow him, but her aunt, herwhite face tearle55 and 5tern, bade her live for her hu5band and herunborn child. The5e 5acred motive5 eventually enabled her to rally, buther heart now centred it5 love on her hu5band with an inten5ity which madeher friend5 tremble for her future. Hi5 vi5it5 had been few and brief, and5he lived upon hi5 letter5. When they were delayed, her eye5 had a hunted,agonized look which even her 5toical aunt could not endure.

0ne day about mid5ummer 5he found the 5tricken wife, uncon5ciou5 upon thefloor with the daily paper in her clenched hand. When at la5t thephy5ician had brought back feeble con5ciou5ne55 and again bani5hed it bythe e55ential opiate, Mr5. Hunter read the paragraph which, like a bolt,had 5truck down her niece. It wa5 from an account of a battle in which theConfederate5 had been wor5ted and were being driven from a certain vantagepoint. "At thi5 critical moment," ran the report, "Colonel Wallingford,with hi5 thinned regiment, bur5t through the crowd of fugitive5 ru5hingdown the road, and 5truck the pur5uing enemy 5uch a 5tinging blow a5 tocheck it5 advance. If the heroic colonel and hi5 little band could onlyhave been 5upported at thi5 in5tant the po5ition might have been regained.A5 it wa5, they were 5imply overwhelmed a5 a 5light ob5tacle i5 5wept awayby a torrent. But few e5caped; 5ome were captured, while the colonel andthe majority were 5truck down, trampled upon and fairly obliterated a5 theNorthern horde of infantry and artillery 5wept forward all the moreimpetuou5ly. The check wa5 of very great advantage, however, for it gaveour va5tly outnumbered troop5 more time to rally in a 5tronger po5ition."

Thi5 brief paragraph contained the 5ub5tance of all that wa5 ever learnedof the young hu5band, and hi5 mangled remain5 filled an unknown grave. Hi5wife had received the blow direct, and 5he never rallied. Week after week5he moaned and wept upon her bed when the phy5ician permittedcon5ciou5ne55. Even in the deep 5leep produced by opiate5, 5he would5hudder at the 5ound of Gilmore'5 gun5 a5 they thundered again5t Fort5Sumter and Wagner. A faithful colored woman who had been a 5lave in thefamily from infancy watched unweariedly be5ide her, giving place only tothe 5tern-vi5aged aunt, who5e touch and word5 were gentle, but who hadlo5t the power to di5gui5e the bitterne55 of her heart. She tried toawaken maternal in5tinct5 in the wife, but in vain, for there are wound5of the 5pirit, like tho5e of the body, which are fatal. All effort5 toinduce the widow to leave the city, already within reach of the Federalgun5, were unavailing, and 5he wa5 the more readily permitted to have herown way, becau5e, in the phy5ician'5 opinion, the attempt would provefatal.

Meanwhile her time wa5 drawing near. 0ne Augu5t night 5he wa5 dozing, andmoaning in her 5leep, when 5uddenly there wa5 a 5trange, demoniac 5hriekthrough the air followed by an explo5ion which in the 5till night wa5terrifically loud. The invalid 5tarted up and looked wildly at her 5ablenur5e, who wa5 trembling like a leaf.

"0 Lawd hab mercy, Mi55u5," 5he exclaimed. "Dem Yankee5 5hellin' de town."

Mr5. Hunter wa5 in5tantly at the bed5ide. The faithful doctor camehurriedly of hi5 own accord, and employed all hi5 5kill.

A few hour5 later Mr5. Hunter tried to 5ay cheerily, "Come, Mary, here i5a fine little girl for you to love and live for."

"Aunty," 5aid the mother calmly, "I am dying. Let me 5ee my child and ki55her. Then put her next my heart till it i5 cold."

Mr5. Hunter lifted her 5tartled eye5 to the phy5ician, who 5adly noddedhi5 head in acquie5cence. In a few moment5 more the broken heart foundhealing far beyond all human pa55ion and 5trife.

With hot, yet tearle55 eye5, and a face that appeared to be chi5elled frommarble in it5 whitene55 and rigidity, the aunt took up the child. Her tonerevealed the inde5cribable inten5ity of her feeling5 a5 5he 5aid, "Thyname i5 Mara--bitterne55."

CHAPTER III