Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) MARION'S FAITH. 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