Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-08-31
A Tale OF Horror.
Burlington Hawkeye
1t was wild midnight.

The tame midnight was Oft watch and
had gone to bed three hours before
A storm brooded over the eastern
heavens 1t was a thoroughbred brood
storm. H6p-brewed for it was coming
from the yeast.
Hawkeye creek was rolling tumultu-
ously in it's sandy bed Bugs, probably.
Or it might have been nervousness
A 1.-THE form covered at the garden
gate. Many manly form has been
coward at just such gates, ever since
summer nights and knats and beauty
and love and June bugs were invented
He does not come" she murmured,
softly, as she peered into the darkness.
Il cannot see him. | will call him"
She was wrong. If she couldn't see
him. she certainly couldn't call him with
the same hand. A manly step came
scraping down the sidewalk. 1t was
Desmond.
She threw open the gate and the next
instant he clasped in his great, strong
arms twenty-seven yards of foulard,
three yards Of ruching, seven dozen Bre-
ton buttons and a pompadour panier as
big as dog 1t was all his own.
All is lost" he exclaimed Con
stance de Belvidere, the Russians have
crossed the Balkans. We must fly"
Constance was noble girl. She only
said:
Whittier shall we fe-ly?'
He wanted to fly to some lone desert
isle, but she submitted an amendment,
providing tha, they should fly to some
ice-cream saloon.
They flew
In the crowded saloon, where the soft
light fell upon fair women and brave
men, and the insects of a summer nj ght
fell in the ice cream freezer, they spoke
no word.
When two sentient human beings are
engulfng spoonfuls of corn-starch and
eggs, and skim milk, language is a mock
cry.
At length Desmond broke the tender
silence He said
More, dearest?"
She smiled and bowed her lovely head,
but did not speak. She was too full for
utterancc.
Desmond gloomily ordered more.
And more when that was gone. And a
supplement to that. And an addenda
to that And an exhibit to that.
Gloom safe enthroncd upon his brow.
Constance saw it. She said:
What is it, dearest?'
He spake not, bat sighed
A dreadful suspicion stabbed her
heart like knife.
Desmond" she said, you are not
tired of me?'
by heaven no, he said, and then he
looked (and thoughD unutterable things.
Her brow lighted up with ray of
celestial intelligence,
Il see,'' she said, tapping the empty
plate with her spoon TOO cold. Sign
ed, c. Morbus."
He denied it bitterly, and badc her re-
main where she was while he settled
with the man.
She, guided by the unerring instinct
of her sex, peeped through the curtains
of the saloon. She saw the man shake
his head resolutely in answer to Des-
mond's pleading looks and appealing
gestures. She saw him lock the door,
take out the key, put it in his pocket,
and lean up against the door. She saw
her own Desmond draw from his own
pocket and pile upon the counter one
pearl handle pocket-knife, six nickles,
four green postage stamps, watch key,
two lead pencils, memorandum book,
a theatre ticket, (of the Variety denom-
ination), pocket comb, an ivory tooth
pick, a shirt-stud, one slcevebutton, a
photograph of herself, a package Of
trix, two street car checks, a card with
funny (wickeO story ON it, a silk
handkerchief and pair of gloves. And
then she knew that Desmond was a
bankrupt, and when a man swept the
assets of the concern into a drawer and
opened the door, she sobbed convulsive
ly:
And it vast mine extravaganza
which hath did this thiug!'
They did not talk much on their way
home Once she asked him if he was
rich. and he only said:
Enormously
Such is ljfo