Under Fire: A Tale of the Shenandoah Valley — page 214: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

NED BRIGHT AGAIN APPEARS. 207 “Bertha, he said, softly, ‘‘did you ever really : love Catonel Trafton: o ‘‘No,’? she said, with averted face. ‘‘I am sure I never did. It was to please the Senator, my father, that I accepted his advances. Once engaged, I admit I tried to like him—lI don’t think I succeeded in the least. He repelled me—yet I would have married ~ him in the end, I suppose, had he not met his death and his true character remained unexposed.’’ you had a narrow escape from an uncongenial union. Pe which I fall never cease to thank our oe Heavenly Father.’ ‘“Twice he attempted to murder me. Once Bluff saved my life, but the last time it was a boy, Ned Bright, by name, who came between me and the hand — of Colonel Trafton.’? ‘Indeed! Ned and I are great friends.”? ‘‘Is it possible ?”? ‘It is; and I will call him, if you wish to see and thank him for saving your life.’ ‘‘Nothing would please me better.”’ Bertha arose and passed from the room, leaving the captain to his own reflections. Captain Chetwood had relapsed into a dreamy state when the door -again opened, and some one crossed the floor and confronted the wounded Federal. -Chetwood turned his head and saw Ned Bright standing there, gazing at him with a smile on hisface. ~ ‘‘Ned Bright! I am glad to see you. I——”’ A low, musical laugh filled the ears of the captain. And then a sudden revelation burst on the brain of the invalid. “My soul! Itis Bertha McVane!”’ > ‘comic 900 ‘S.€O al