The day of the Great Deed was one never to be forgotten by Cook\'s littlebride. They had been married six months. Each hour had bound the girl\'sheart in closer and sweeter bonds. The love that kindled for thehandsome blond the day of their first meeting had grown into thedeathless passion of the woman for her mate.
He was restless Saturday night. Through the long hours she held herbreath to catch his regular breathing. He did not sleep.
At last the terror of it gripped her. Her hand touched his brow andbrushed the hair back from his forehead.
"What\'s the matter, John dear?""Restless.""What is it?""Oh, nothing much. Just got to thinking about something and can\'t sleep.
That\'s all. Go to sleep now, like a good girl. I\'m all right."The little fingers sought his hand and gripped it.
"I\'ll try."She rose at dawn. He had asked an early breakfast to make a long tripinto the country.
At the table she watched him furtively. She had asked to go with him andhe told her he couldn\'t take her. She wondered why. A great fear beganto steal into her soul. It was the first time she had dared to look intothe gulf. She would never ask his secret. He must tell her of his ownfree will. Her eyes searched his. And he turned away without an answer.
He fought for self-control when he kissed her goodbye. A mad desireswept his heart to take her in his arms, perhaps for the last time.
It would be a confession at the moment the blow was about to fall. Hewould betray the lives of his associates. He gripped himself and lefther with a careless smile.
All day she brooded over the odd parting, the constraint, the silence,the sleepless night.
She went to the services of the revival and sought solace in the songsand prayers of the people. At night the minister preached a sermonthat soothed her. A warm glow filled her heart. If God is love as thepreacher said, he must know the secrets of his heart and life. He mustwatch over and bring her lover safely back to her arms.
She reached home at a quarter to ten and went to bed humming an old songCook had taught her. The tired body was ready for sleep. She didnot expect her husband to return that night. He had gone as far asChambersburg. He promised to come on Monday afternoon.
Through the early hours of the fatal night she slept as soundly as achild.
The firing at the Arsenal between three and four o\'clock waked her. Shesprang to her feet and looked out the window. The street lamps flickeredfitfully in the drizzling rain. No one was passing. There were noshouts, no disturbances.
She wondered about the shots. A crowd of drunken fools were stillhanging around the Galt House bar perhaps. She went back to bed andslept again.
It was eight o\'clock before the crash of a volley from the Arsenalenclosure roused her. She leaped to her feet, rushed to the window andstood trembling as volley followed volley in a long rattle of rifle andshotgun and pistol.
A neighbor hurried past with a gun in his hand. She asked him what thefighting meant.
"Armed Abolitionists have invaded Virginia," he shouted.
Still it meant nothing to her personally. Her husband was not anAbolitionist. She had known him for more than a year. She had been withhim day and night for six months in the sweet intimacy of home and love.
And then the hideous truth came crashing on her terror-stricken soul.
Cook had been recognized by a neighbor as he drove Colonel Washington\'swagon across the Maryland bridge at dawn. A committee of citizens cameto cross-examine her.
She faced them with blanched cheeks.
"My husband, an Abolitionist!" she gasped.
"He\'s with those murderers and robbers."She turned on the men like a young tigress.
"You\'re lying--I tell you!"For an hour they tried to drag from her a confession of his plans. Theyleft at last convinced that she knew nothing, that she suspected nothingof his real life. She had fought them bravely to the last. In her soulof souls she knew the hideous truth. She recalled the strange yearningwith which he had looked at her as he left Sunday morning. She saw thebottom of the gulf at last.
With a cry of anguish and despair she sank to the floor in a faint.
She stirred with one thought tearing at her heart. Had they killed orcaptured him? She rose, dressed and joined the crowd that surged throughthe streets. The Rifle Works had been captured, Kagi was dead, the othertwo wounded, one fatally, the other a prisoner. No trace of her husbandhad been found. He had not reentered the town from the Maryland side.
She walked to the bridge and found it guarded by armed citizens. Tearsof joy filled her eyes.
"He can\'t get back now!" she breathed.
She hurried to her room, fell on her knees and prayed:
"Oh, dear Lord Jesus, I\'ve tried to be a good and faithful wife. My manhas loved me tenderly and truly. Save him, oh, Lord! Don\'t let him comeback now into this den of howling beasts. They\'ll tear him to pieces.
And I can\'t endure it. I can\'t. I can\'t. Have pity, Lord. I\'m just apoor, heart-broken wife!"Through six days of terror and excitement, of surging crowds andmarching soldiers, the shivering figure watched through her window--andsilently prayed. A guard had been set at her house to catch her husbandif he dared to return. She laughed softly.
He would not return! She had asked God not to let him. She was askinghim now with every breath she breathed. God would not forget her. Hewould answer her prayers. She knew it. God is love.
She had begun to sleep again at night. Her man was safe in the mountainsof Pennsylvania. The Governor of Virginia had set a price on his head.
Men were scouring the hills hunting, as they hunt wild beasts, but Godwould save him. She had seen His shining face in prayer and He hadpromised.
And then the blow fell.
Far down the street she caught the roar of a mob. Its cries came faintlyat first and then they grew to fierce oaths and brutal shouts.
A man stopped in front of her house and spoke to the guard.
"They\'ve got him!""Who?""Cook!""The damned beast, the spy, the traitor!""Where are they takin\' him?""To the jail at Charlestown."She had no time to lose. She must see him. Bareheaded she rushed intothe street and fought her way to his side. His hands were manacled buthis fair head was held erect until he saw the white face of his bride.
And then his eyes fell.
Would she, too, turn and curse him?
He asked himself the hideous question once and dared not lift his head.
He felt her coming nearer. The guard halted. His eyes were blurred. Hecould see nothing.
He only felt two soft arms slip round his neck. His own movedinstinctively to clasp her but the manacles held them. She kissed hislips before the staring crowd and murmured inarticulate sounds of loveand tenderness. She smoothed his blond hair back from his forehead andcrooned over him as a mother over a babe.
"My little wife--my poor little girlie--my baby!" he murmured. "Forgiveme--I tried t............