Marion's Faith.   By: Charles King (1844-1933)

BY THE AUTHOR OF

"THE COLONEL'S DAUGHTER."

CAPT. CHARLES KING, U.S.A.,

AUTHOR OF "KITTY'S CONQUEST," ETC.

PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 1890.

Copyright, 1886, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.

Copyright, 1887, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.

TO

The Memory

OF

EMMET CRAWFORD,

CAPTAIN THIRD REGIMENT OF CAVALRY,

ONE OF THE NOBLEST MEN, ONE OF THE KNIGHTLIEST SOLDIERS, AND ONE OF THE MOST INEXCUSABLE SACRIFICES IN THE HISTORY OF OUR ARMY,

THIS STORY

OF SCENES WHEREIN HE WAS LOVED AND HONORED,

IS DEDICATED.

PREFACE.

The kind reception accorded "The Colonel's Daughter" was a surprise and delight to the author, nevertheless it was a long time before he could be induced to write this sequel.

When Mr. Sam Slick, at the first essay, shot the cork out of a floating bottle some thirty yards away, he had the deep sagacity never to pull trigger again, well knowing he could not improve on the initial effort, and so Prudence whispered that with the Finis to the story of Jack Truscott and sweet Grace Pelham there had best come a full stop.

But many a plea has been received to "Tell us more about the th," and at last the motion prevailed. Thackeray has said, "It is an unfair advantage which the novelist takes of the hero and heroine to say good by to the two as soon as ever they are made husband and wife, and I have often wished that we should hear what occurs to the sober married man as well as to the ardent bachelor; to the matron as to the blushing spinster." And so, many of the characters of the old story reappear upon the scene. That they will be welcomed for the sake of auld lang syne has been promised, and that they and their associates may find new interest in the eyes of the indulgent reader is the prayer of

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. TWO TROOPERS 5

II. GARRISON TALK 20

III. HEROINES 43

IV. IMPENDING SHADOWS 59

V. MARION SANDFORD 72

VI. AT THE FRONT 84

VII. WAR RUMORS 100

VIII. AT RUSSELL 112

IX. RAY TO THE FRONT 125

X. A JUNE SUNDAY 147

XI. THE WOLF AND THE SHEEPFOLD 162

XII. A SERANADE 177

XIII. SURROUNDED 189

XIV. RAY'S RIDE FOR LIFE 207

XV. RESCUE AT DAWN 222

XVI. HOW WE HEARD THE NEWS 232

XVII. A COWARD'S DEED 246

XVIII. DESERTION 257

XIX. IN CLOSE ARREST 272

XX. A CORNERED RAT 286

XXI. RAY'S TROUBLES 296

XXII. A SHOT AT MIDNIGHT 309

XXIII. IN CLOSER TOILS 322

XXIV. THE GRASP OF THE LAW 334

XXV. WHOSE GAUNTLET? 345

XXVI. REVELATIONS 359

XXVII. VINDICATED 373

XXVIII. THE COLORS ENTWINE 396

XXIX. A CAVALRY WEDDING 419

MARION'S FAITH.

A SEQUEL TO THE COLONEL'S DAUGHTER.

CHAPTER I.

TWO TROOPERS.

"Ray, what would you do if some one were to leave you a fortune?"