CHAPTER III.THE DEPARTURE OF THE REGIMENT.
FortsDonalson and Henry had been taken by our brave soldiers and seamen, and the nation was in a fever of excitement and joy. But recruits were wanted to fill up the wasted armies in the various departments, and the work of enlistment went rapidly on among the young men of our neighborhood, while mothers, wives, and daughters worked day and night to fit out the beloved ones who were so soon to leave us for the seat of war.
Lilian Grey was one of the foremost in this noble work, and four of the soldiers in company A of the 26th were selected and sent out by her, with a bounty of three hundred dollars each, to fight forthe cause she loved so well. The shadow on Elinor’s fair brow deepened day by day, as news came of terrible battles in which soldiers on both sides fell by thousands; and even Mrs. Fenton’s faith was sorely tried by the continued absence of her husband, from whom no word had ever reached her.
Those were sad, sad days, and every heart felt the oppression as the hour of parting drew near. True, “the battle of the warrior, with confused noise and garments rolled in blood,” came to us softened by distance, but many that we loved were there in the thickest of the fight, and others were going whom we might see no more on earth. But it was no time for outward expressions of sorrow, so we resolutely forced back our tears, and smiled on our brave boys and encouraged them with words of comfort and cheer, when our hearts were dyingwithin us as we thought of the dangers to which they were to be exposed.
It was expected by all, that on this occasion Robert Lester would be one of the first to offer himself to his country, and a commission as lieutenant-colonel was actually made out and sent him by the governor, with the flattering request that he would not refuse it. But his answer was the same as before.
“If I could go at all,” he said to his friends, “it would be as a private soldier; but it avails not to speak of it; my duty lies at home.”
Lilian shunned him more resolutely than ever, and once said in his hearing, “If I were a man, and refused to go when my country called for my services, I should expect to be driven from society, as unworthy the love of woman or the esteem of my fellow-men.”
“You are too severe, Lilian,” said thegentle Elinor; “there are many other ways of serving one’s country besides fighting for it, and every one can judge best for himself what his duty may be.”
There was a look of intense pain in the face of the young man as Lilian spoke, but he drew himself up to his full height, and the fire in his eye told all who looked upon him that whatever the cause might be, it was not lack of courage which kept him at home.
“A thousand blessings on you, Miss Fenton,” he said in a low voice to Elinor soon afterwards. “Your kind heart hesitates to condemn even where it dares not approve. You can never know how much good your words have done me, suffering as I have from misunderstanding on every side.”
“You must pardon dear Lilian,” she answered in the same tone; “she feelsvery strongly, and your decision has been a severe disappointment to her.”
“Miss Grey can never need any one to plead her cause with me,” he said as he turned to leave the room.
A few days before the departure of the regiment Miss Letty came to my house, her face beaming with smiles, and to my inquiry what had happened, she answered,
“So much has happened, I don’t know where to begin to tell you. In the first place, Mr. Fenton has got home with the rest of his money; but such a time as he has had to get it. Why, the adventures of Sinbad the sailor were nothing to the escapes he has had and the troubles he has been in. I don’t think he is much to speak of, compared with the rest; but that isn’t what I am thinking about. The best of all is, that it has come out why Robert Lester couldn’t enlist before, and now he has joined the companyas a private soldier; but, my word for it, he wont be one long.”
“Are you at liberty to state the reason?” I inquired.
“Oh, certainly. It seems that the rich old uncle who left him his fortune, made a condition in his will, that if Robert died without heirs, the property was to go to another cousin, one Dick Satterlee, who is a flaming rebel. Our Mr. Lester knew that if he was killed, all that mint of money would go right into the hands of the Confederate government, to help on the rebellion. So he thought he could do more for the Union cause with the money, than by carrying a musket and getting shot himself. Besides, his poor little sister would be left without any friends, and poor to boot; so he just made up his mind to stand it out, and let everybody misjudge him if they would.
“Last week he saw in the list of killed in some battle, the name of his cousin Richard Satterlee; so he went right on to find out all about it. The body hadn’t been discovered, but everybody said he was dead. When Mr. Lester came back, he waited long enough to make his will, and then enlisted; and a happy looking man he was, I can tell you.
“But that isn’t all. He was once engaged to Miss Lilian Grey; but she was so angry with him because he didn’t go into the army, that every thing was broken off between them, though she loves him as she does her life, and he thinks full as much of her. But of course it will all be made up now, and I’m glad of it, for they are just exactly suited to each other.”
When I had expressed my surprise and pleasure at the good news brought by Miss Letty, I inquired what she intendedto do about little Willie, the son of a deceased sister, to whom she had been a second mother from his infancy.
“Well, there’s no help for it, I suppose,” she answered, while a cloud flitted over her bright face; “he is bound to go as a drummer-boy with the regiment, and I can’t persuade him to stay at home willingly, though he says he wont go without my consent. It’s well his poor mother isn’t living, for her heart would break to have him go, such a baby as he is, only twelve years old. But I must say for him, he’s the best boy I ever saw, and the men all love him so, he’ll be well taken care of, if he doesn’t get killed. It’s hard for me; but I’ve got nothing else to give, and though it’s like taking the heart out of my body, I’ll try to do it cheerfully.”
Miss Letty was sewing at the TyrrellHouse when she learned from Mr. Ryder the facts in relation to Robert Lester, and no time was lost by her in communicating them to the family. Mrs. Fenton and Elinor heard with thankfulness that his fame was publicly cleared, though they had never doubted that it would be so in the end.
But to the ardent and enthusiastic Lilian, by whom he had been so bitterly condemned, the news was like a reprieve from death. She threw her arms round Miss Letty’s neck, exclaiming,
“Oh, you are the best and dearest Miss Letty in the whole world. I didn’t think any thing could have made me so happy.”
“Lilian, dear, you forget,” said her aunt in her gentle tone.
“No, aunt, I forget nothing,” Lilian replied, while her eyes shone through tears like stars. “I know we are separatedby my own rash act, and I shall honor him only the more if he refuse again to see me; but I am glad and proud to know that he is worthy of my love, or that of any other woman.”
The days fled rapidly, and still Mr. Lester did not call on his former friends the Fentons, and as Lilian went out much less than usual, they seldom met. He was unwilling to try to exonerate himself from a suspicion which he felt to be unreasonable and degrading, or to sue for a return of the love he had never forfeited; and Lilian, though she would gladly have humbled herself at his feet for having doubted his honor and loyalty, would not take the first step, lest her motives should be misconstrued.
Things were in this state when, on the evening before the departure of the regiment, a note from Elinor Fenton was received by the young soldier, whichbrought him quickly to her side. A few words of explanation passed between them, and then he was ushered into the library, where Lilian was busy in preparing packages of stationery for the knapsacks that were scattered about.
That interview was one never to be forgotten by either of the parties. There were confessions to be made on both sides, and mutual forgiveness to be exchanged; for while Lester felt that he should have intrusted to the woman he loved the true reasons for his conduct, Lilian insisted that, knowing him as she did, she ought never to have doubted his loyalty under any circumstances. They parted, pledged to each other, and Lilian accepted as a sacred legacy the charge of Fanny Lester, in case of a contingency which her heart refused to contemplate.
The dreaded morning came at last,when our brave boys were to exchange the comforts and endearments of home, for the hardships of the camp and the horrors of the battle-field. But a solemn ceremony remained to be performed before they went, and with one accord the steps of all were turned towards the parsonage. There, in the pleasant front yard, under the shadow of the tall elms that had sheltered her childhood, Mabel Ryder gave her hand to one whom she had loved ever since she could remember any thing. Thomas Wiley, first lieutenant of company A, was a young merchant, and had been a pupil of Mr. Ryder, who saw with pleasure the attachment existing between the young man and his darling child, for he knew him to be one calculated in every way to make her happy. When he joined the regiment, Mabel gave a tearful but willing consent, but with his urgent solicitationthat she should become his wife before they went, she would not at first comply, the time was so short and the proposition so unexpected; but when he brought forward the plea, that as his wife she could with more propriety come to him if wounded or sick, she yielded. The privilege of attending him in sickness or suffering was so precious, that she could not lightly relinquish it; so it was fixed that the marriage should take place on the morning of their departure.
It was a beautiful picture, that wedding party under the trees, and one not soon to be forgotten by those who witnessed it. The fair young bride, dressed in simple white, with smiles and tears contending for the mastery on her cheek, with her bridesmaids, Elinor and Lilian; the happy groom in his becoming uniform, supported by Robert Lester and the second lieutenant of his company;the groups of friends scattered about, and outside of all the boys of the Twenty-sixth looking on with the deepest interest, as the pastor and father pronounced with trembling voice the words that gave his child to the keeping of another—all this is engraven on my memory, and can never be erased.
The ceremony was over, and as the regiment wheeled into line, the bridegroom with one long, silent embrace consigned Mabel to the care of her friends and took his place in the ranks. All the stores were closed and business suspended, as the Twenty-sixth marched for the last time, with unbroken columns, through our streets. The regiment was raised in the immediate vicinity, and many of its members were personally known to us; but at such a moment all seemed like sons and brothers. We were proud of their soldierly bearing, of their firm andmeasured tread, of the precision with which their evolutions were performed, and the intelligence that lighted up every face. What eager eyes looked out from the ranks, to catch the last glimpse of mother, sister, wife, or sweetheart, as, amid the waving of handkerchiefs, half-uttered blessings, and stifled sobs, we bade them perhaps a final good-by. They left us full of hope and energy, with all the courage and strength of young manhood nerving each arm and animating each heart. How would they come back?