The Victim: A romance of the Real Jefferson Davis Part 12

"Of course, and for that reason my happiness will be his."

"G.o.d knows, I hope so," was the doleful response. "But if I must, I must. I'll see him."

A quick kiss in the friendly shadows and she was gone.

He walked alone an hour after supper, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up his courage to the point of bearding the Colonel in his den. He fumbled the door-bell at last, his heart in his throat.

Old Rough and Ready was not inclined to help him in his embarra.s.sment.

Never had he seen the lines of his strong jaw harder or more set than when he grunted:

"Sit down, sir. Don't stand there staring. I'm not on inspection."

The perspiration started on his forehead and he moistened his dry lips.

"I beg your pardon, Colonel. I was a little fl.u.s.tered.

I've--a--something--on--my mind--"

"Out with it!"

"I--I--I'm in love with Miss Sarah."

"You don't say?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"Well, it's no news to me. The whole family have been enjoying the affair for some time. I suppose you're asking--or think you're asking--for my daughter's hand in marriage?"

"That's it--yes, sir--exactly."

"I guessed as much. I'm glad to tell you, young man, that I've always had the kindliest feelings for you personally--"

"Thank you, sir--"

"And the warmest admiration for your talents as an officer. You're a good soldier. You have brains. You have executive ability. You're a leader of men. You'll go far in your profession--"

"Thank you, sir--"

"And that's why I don't like you as a son-in-law."

"W--Wha--"

"I love my daughter, and I want her to be happy in a real home with a real husband and children by her side. A soldier's life is a dog's life.

I've pitied the poor girl who gave up her home for me. Many a bitter tear has she shed over my absence, in torturing dread of the next letter from the frontier--"

He paused and sprang to his feet:

"A hundred times I've sworn no daughter of mine should ever marry a soldier! The better the soldier, the more reason she should not marry him--"

"But, sir--"

"There's no 'but' about it!" the Colonel thundered. "You're asking me to let you murder my girl, that's all--but it's life. I'll have to give my consent and wish you good luck, long life, and all the happiness you can get out of a soldier's lot."

The Colonel extended his hand and the Lieutenant grasped it with grateful eagerness.

The days that followed were red lettered in the calendar of life.

And then it came--a crash of thunder out of the clear sky--the thing he had somehow felt and dreaded.

A petty court-martial was called to adjust a question of army discipline. The court was composed of Z. Taylor, Colonel Commanding, Major Thomas F. Smith, a fiery-tempered gay officer of the old army, Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, and the new Second Lieutenant who had just arrived from the Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis.

The army regulations required that each officer sitting in court-martial should be in full uniform. The new arrival from St. Louis had come without his uniform. His trunk had miscarried and was returned to the Jefferson Barracks.

He rose with embarra.s.sment:

"I must beg the pardon of the Court, Colonel," he began cautiously, "for not appearing in my uniform. As it is in St. Louis I respectfully ask to be excused to-day from wearing it."

The old Colonel scowled. It was just like a young fool to wish to sit in solemn judgment on a fellow officer--in his shirt sleeves. If he had asked to be excused from serving on the Court--yes--he could accept his excuse and let him go. But this insolence was unbearable. The Colonel glanced over the Court before putting the question to a vote. Smith was his enemy. Whichever way he voted as President, the Major could be depended on to go against his decision. There was a feud between those two hot-tempered fire-eaters which had lasted for years. He glanced at his future son-in-law with a smile of a.s.sured victory. Tom Smith would vote against him, but the trembling youngster who had quailed before him that night asking for his daughter's hand was practically in the family.

He smiled at the certainty of downing Smith once more.

In a voice, whose tones left nothing to the imagination of the presumptuous Second Lieutenant, the Colonel growled:

"Gentlemen, we are asked to allow an officer to sit in the formal judgment of a court-martial without uniform--I put the question to a vote and cast mine. No!"

"I vote yes!" shouted the Major.

The Colonel did not condescend to look his way. He knew what that vote was before he heard it. He bent his piercing eyes on his future son-in-law:

"Lieutenant Davis?"

There was just a moment's hesitation. The Lieutenant smiled at his embarra.s.sed young fellow officer and mildly answered:

"I think, Colonel, in view of the distance to St. Louis, we may excuse the young man for the first offense--I vote--yes."

The old Colonel stared at him in speechless amazement. Smith grinned.

The Colonel's face grew purple with rage. He was just able to gasp his words during the progress of the trial. It was brief, and when it ended and the rest had gone, he faced the Lieutenant with blazing eyes:

"How dare you, sir, vote with that d.a.m.ned fool against me?"

"Why, I never thought to hurt you, Colonel--"

"No? And what _did_ you think?"

"I only thought of relieving the evident embarra.s.sment of a young officer--"

"You did, eh?--no thought of me or my feelings, of my wishes. You're a h.e.l.l of a son-in-law, you are--"

He paused for breath and choked with rage no words could express. When at last his tongue found speech, he swore in oaths more expressive and profound than modern man has ever dreamed. He d.a.m.ned the Court. He d.a.m.ned Tom Smith. He d.a.m.ned the Second Lieutenant. He d.a.m.ned the regiment. He d.a.m.ned the Government that created it. He d.a.m.ned the Indians that called it to the plains. He d.a.m.ned the world and all in it, and all things under it. But, particularly and specifically, he d.a.m.ned the young a.s.s who dared to flaunt his feelings and opinions after smiling in his face at his house, for days and weeks and months.