serving with the battery, I could not get away. It was then I wrote to you. Afterwards came the railroad riots, and I, with a number of others, was ordered North for duty. I thought myself the luckiest man in the world, but I found presently that coming North did not by any means signify an immediate sight of you. We had a good deal of work to do at first, but now the trouble is virtually over, and it was possible for me to ask a couple of days' leave without appearing as though I wanted to shirk duty. I got the leave without much difficulty, and you know the rest; so now, if I have proved my assertion (which surely could not have needed proof to you), give me the assurance that I ask for."

"You asked, but I did not promise to give it. I should not dare," the girl answered, “and I think you remember why. There is the same difficulty in the way that there was before, only it is no secret any more. Disgrace was the word I used long ago, when you reproved me, but that is what Mrs. Revere said it would mean for any one, especially an officer in the army, to be connected with one who—"

"Stop, I beg of you," he interrupted. "Don't say another word of that. I know what you mean, of course, but you are wholly mistaken in thinking as you do. If it were needed, I could cite to you a hundred instances to prove that Mrs. Revere was wrong, but I would rather not do it. I would like you now to believe it just because I tell you so. Won't you trust me enough to believe that, and believe also, when I ask you to be my wife, that it is as the humblest of subjects suing to a queen, and entreating her to raise him to an honor and happiness immeasurably beyond his due?"

Bonny rose, half pushing him from her. "I might have believed it, never doubting, only a few months ago," she said. "We Duanes have none too low an opinion of our own deserts. But my pride and my vanity alike have suffered a crushing fall. We were beyond reproach, we thought, but reproach has come upon us through one of ourselves. Don't try to deceive me. I know how it would be if I did what you ask; how your army friends would act, how they would slight you, and me also. Oh, you think now you could bear it, but when the novelty of gaining what you desired had worn away it would be hard and galling, and you could not conceal it from me. I am still too proud for that. If a shadow has been cast over me and my name, I shall allow no one else to share it. The more I cared for anybody the more firmly I should decide upon that."

"But there is no such shadow outside of your own poor, deluded fancy," he exclaimed, impatiently. "I am not deceiving you. Do the other members of your family feel as you do, that this idea has gained such an obstinate footing in your mind?"

"I have never found the courage to speak on the subject to them.

After what Mrs. Revere had told me, on the very day I—I learned of our family shame, I resolved my father and mother should never know, if I could help it, how their name had been degraded by one they had once loved. I hoped, by making every sacrifice, that I could spare them such a sorrow; but the sacrifices were made in vain, and Fate seemed wholly against me. Oh! if you had only dreamed what I suffered every day those last few weeks at Barrancas, you would have been sorry for me, I know, but I didn't wish you to know, and I didn't wish you to be sorry!" And she raised her head with an odd little gesture of pride.

"Perhaps I could have helped you, if you had but let me; yet if you would only trust me, you need not suffer for that old cause any more. Summon courage some day, and speak to your father, since perhaps his opinion will carry more weight with it than mine. But first listen to me, while I tell you something which may show you that Mrs. Revere spoke out of ignorance, or bigotry, or both. It is not an ignoble thing to be an enlisted soldier, even in time of peace, nor is it in any degree a disgrace to be connected with one. Many of our most gallant officers have served as privates, and been promoted from the ranks. Why, what a stigma it must be upon a free country such as ours, if the men who have pledged themselves to serve her, fight for and protect her if need be, were so degraded as to make it a disgrace to form a connection with them! Did you ever think of it in that light? I thought not! I myself have a distant relative in the service, who rose to a lieutenancy and then a captaincy from the ranks, and he is proud to speak of his promotion. I'm certainly not ashamed of him; nor would I be if he were my own father or brother. He is a very good fellow,—a gentleman as well as a soldier, and I know a dozen others who have risen as he has-and more who are yet bound to rise. Now, you would not trust me at first,-but will you refuse to believe me in the face of so many proofs ?"

As he went on, rapidly and excitedly, Bonny's face had changed first with a surprised bewilderment, and then to a new, half-startled happiness. Impulsively she held out both her hands. "It seems too blessed to be true, that I have so deceived myself!" she cried. "After all my humiliation and pain! Oh, how much I should have been saved if I could have known this long ago! I feel as though you were right, and I do—I do believe you. You can hardly understand how much it means to me when I tell you that!"

His face was bright with the knowledge of the triumph he had won at last. "I understand what you might make it mean for me," he said.

"It shall mean everything for us both," she murmured. And then Sidney took his reward for all the months of his self-abnegation, of waiting, and of pain.

CHAPTER XX.

It was late in October before the Reveres had returned to Barrancas, at the expiration of the captain's leave. All four batteries had come in from camp, and were re-established in their former quarters. Out of the old circle the only missing faces were Sidney's and McFarland's.

The Ladies' Reading and Mutual Improvement Association still feebly lived, and moved, and had its being, though rumors were rife to the effect that it was in the sere and yellow leaf, and would shortly perish from sheer old age (it had lived half a year) and inanition.

At the second October meeting Mrs. Revere proved a dangerous rival for Hume, who was marked now at the ninth chapter of his first volume. She had very lately arrived from the North, and the fragrance of Gotham (that Mecca of all good Americans) still lingered in her garments. She was, besides, fresh from a wedding, the particulars concerning which the Association was unitedly dying to hear.

"I move," suggested Mrs. Collingwood, playfully, "that Mrs. Revere enlighten us this afternoon, in the place of Hume." The motion was seconded, carried by an amazingly large majority, and Mrs. Revere was immediately beset by such reachings after "mutual improvement" as "Tell us all about the wedding! What did the bride wear? Was it at church or at home? Was there a grand recep

tion ?"

"It was in church, and was very quiet indeed," Mrs. Revere made answer, reluctantly, mortified that a strict adherence to facts would not permit her to dazzle and electrify her hearers. "The wedding was celebrated in the English style, in the morning, of course. The bride was in white satin, very elegant, and looked lovely, though excessively pale and fragile. Sidney was in uniform, and an engineer officer stationed in New York was his best man. There was no reception or breakfast, except for the members of the family and near relatives, and people felt quite defrauded that it should have been made so quiet an affair. There were circumstances which, of course, you know-well, which would have caused anything different to seem rather in poor taste. But, really, I thought they were the happiest, most completely satisfied looking couple I had ever seen."

"I should say they might have sent us cards," observed Mrs. Collingwood. "I believe not one of us has received that attention."

"Oh, yes," announced Mrs. Crawford, with a quietly mischievous little smile, "we received them, and large slices of the wedding-cake, too."

"Indeed!" Ominous silence for a moment, finally broken by Mrs.

Partridge, with the energy of indignation. "Well, it is exceedingly lucky for Mr. Sidney that he has contrived to get himself put on a special detail just now. He would have known better, though, than to act as he has if he had been going to rejoin his regiment."

"Nice men do grow so disagreeable sometimes when they are going to marry rich wives," said Miss Kate Collingwood. "If it had not been for the money attraction, Lola Levara would have now been Mrs. Sidney, instead of Miss Duane."

"One word for her friend and two for herself," murmured Mrs. Voorhees, sotto voce.

"My son could have had that college detail of Mr. Sidney's long ago," asseverated Mrs. Partridge, "if he had not scorned to employ outside influence. He says it is his opinion that influence is the most crying evil existing in the army to-day."

"Especially when one hasn't got it," gently murmured Mrs. Voorhees again.

"I heard an odd thing to-day," inserted Mrs. Collingwood, "which is that Mr. Sidney has sent here for that ridiculous little imp of his, Sammy Minnicks, and that Francisca Suarez has also been asked to go North, in the capacity of Mrs. Sidney's maid. Surely that cannot be true?"

"It is, I believe," replied Mrs. Revere. "Perhaps they thought it would be pleasant to bring some old associations about them."

"Old associations' are exactly what I should advise them to get rid of if they desired a reasonable chance of future happiness," said Mrs. Collingwood. "For two people of their tastes and bringing up, I should think their prospects would be poor enough in that little, obscure college town in New York, which, by the way, I suppose Judge Duane's influence procured for his son-in-law."

"Oh, as to that, I fancy they will live up to the favorite motto of the Duanes," answered Mrs. Revere, "and be sufficient unto themselves.""

ALICE KING HAMILTON.

JACK HAULTAUT, MIDSHIPMAN UNITED STATES NAVY; OR, LIFE AT THE NAVAL ACADEMY.

(Concluded from page 369.)

CHAPTER XVII.

THE END OF THE TERM AND GRADUATION.

WITH the beginning of this last term there came even more of ease than before in the course of study. The copying of manuscript ceased, for the necessities of the time had forced the authorities to put it into print, and there was much work in the recitation-room which required no preparation beforehand.

Among the new studies was that of law; by no means an extended course, but just enough to give an idea of the first principles of the rules governing intercourse between nations. The head of the department gave the benefit of his wisdom in the section-room as instructor, and the kindly-hearted gentleman was occasionally greatly overcome at the answers which his questions received. One day the entire first section appeared at formation for recitation with standing collars and hair parted in the middle, on their way to the section-room completing their legal appearance by placing a quill over the right ear, in which guise they entered, to find no answering smile, nor even a look of annoyance, upon the grave face of their preceptor: and thus they had taken their trouble in vain. In the midst of the recitation, however, were heard faint musical sounds, which were continuous, and finally resolved themselves into "Hear me, Norma!" Of course no one knew the source of the noise, which continued despite the warning looks and words of the professor. Presently even his patience was at an end, and he demanded the culprit's name, and with it the instrument. Drawing a small music-box from his pocket, the unhappy wight laid it upon the desk, whereupon its notes naturally became louder, and to the demand for stoppage came the reply that it couldn't be stopped until it had played the tune out. This was too much for the risibles of