Under Fire: A Tale of the Shenandoah Valley — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

26 TWO IS COMPANY, BUT THREE IS A CROWD. and proper. You'll take her to Doctor Meigg’s, of course, on the old stone turnpike | re “That is my intention.’ “Shure they’ll be no trouble at all, at all.’’ “IT should hope not.’? “Rest your mind easy, my boy; the matter is as good as settled. Faith, I’ve always been told that I was the divil among the girls, but I take amy hat off in your presence, the more power to you.’ It is to-be presuined that the captain felt flattered at the compliment; what man does not when congrat- ulated upon his conquests among the sex? Major de Banyan produced a bottle of choice whisky, and a box of cigars, and the delectable pair completed the details of their little scheme much to their own satisfaction. Perhaps they would not have been so evhitarated had they known that every word of their unguarded plot had been overheard by the occupant of the next room, whose window being also open, enabled him to hear what was not intended for a third pair of ears. The fact of the matter was, that nearly everybody ~ seemed to-be so occupied with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, that the pair of plotters quite over- looked the most ordinary precautions; indeed, it was by the merest accident that the adjoining apartment was occupied; as the guest, none other than our hero, Royal Chetwood, had through the perversity of the hotel clerk missed the train by which he had in- tended to go North. But such is life. It is the little things cropping up most unexpect- edly that sometimes decide the fate of nations, as well as rule the destiny of man, and bring his best oe plans to naught, <S) ((0) comicboo