Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-08-31

rePenting having so easily hung him.
self.
Knowing all this it was with consider
able trep!dation that l took the sea. in
Dictated TO me on Mrs. Stanley's sofa.
Dinner was over, and the Young peo-
pie had strolled out on to the lawn,
leaving me to the confidential chat
had SO much reason To dread. Poor,
pretty Kitty! was bent on doing her
rs little harm as possible.
1t is Franks wife L want YOU TO tell
me OF. Pray be quite frank with me,
and tell me all about her.
Dear Mrs. Stanley. she never dreamed
the carte blanche she was giving me to
I'LL in. Of course l said Kitty was
transportingly pretty. and sweet-tem-
pered, and everything else girls always
are until life trials come and prove
the STUFF they are made of. The facts
OF her surroundings repressed. Mrs.
% Brien might be an excellent mother,
even If she did understand the mvste-
ries of the laundry; and fair End $
faded silk was no better than q we'll
done-up calico. II was quite wonder
full how we'll filled up my blank card,
and how little really told of pretty
Kitty.
If the dear boy is happy OF course
that is the main thing. And, from what
you tell me, do not see why he should
not be. Ii he had only brought his
pretty Kitty to us, so that we could have
known her before their marriage! But
Frank was always impetuous. And
Wei, | am afraid | was frightfully in.
Il 4
marry his cousin, and from his letters
thought he fancied her"
And / saw Mrs. Stanley had been
playing that dangerous game of match.
making; and poor little Kitty was such
a poor show for n disappointment 10
hang on. l began to fear that / had
sung the girls praises too vehemently,
for not week after the family dinner
Mr. Stanley told me they thought OF
urging Franks wife to visit them.
III re was every chance Of the regiment
going into winter-quarters where it was,
and, If so, it would be impossible foI
the officers wives to join them. That
being the case, Kitty might rs well
come East and spend the winter with
them. wondered if Kitty could be pre-
vailed upon to consent, or whether
Frank wished her 10.
+ III she did, perhaps il would have
been better if | hal limited. ever so
family, something that would in n
measure have prepared the Stanleys for
kitty's uniqueness-this Kitty so un-
like all other Kitty's Mrs. Stanley had
ever seen. Frank. I knew. would not
say word, and Yet would resent To the
Tttermost any hasty action or even en-
preston this first meeting might sur
prise his family into. decided two or
three times To drive over to the Stan
lcys, and tell Franks mother the unvar-
nished facts of her sons marriage, but
| never had the nerve to doit. First, a
certain esprit de corps prevented me-:
and, besides, | have Il decided shrink
ing from mixing myself UP in family
histories: and, whilst / debated. some,
thing happened that put everything else
out of my head.
The papers brought tidings slim and
meager indeed, for our hungry hearts
OF one OF those almost annual mas
sacreS OF the army by the Indians. For
tunately for me, my husbands name
was not on the list; but Frank Stanley
was wounded, and on the d ath-list wa.
MAJOR Bliss and other well-known
friends, many of whom had eaten theil
last formal dinner with me.
How slowly the news came from the
far-of frontier, so far removed from
railroads and telegraphs! Mr.. Stanley
rode over every day to- tell me what
news he had managed to get. He was
fearfully anxious for poor Frank.
how severely wounded and how suffer
fering he could only guess. As for Mrs.
Stanley, she was i'll from anxiety and
sclf-torture in imagining her poor boy ;
condition. | rcproached myself Tor
having put so many miles between me
and my husband; and though | was
constantly told if had remained West
| could not have gotten to the regiment,
| was by no means sure that could not
have done so. To prove that ! was cor
rect In my misgivings. Mr.. Stanley came
over one morning with atender, culver
ing smile on his mouth, and ring of
eXultatiOn i'm his voice.
why did you not hint what n per.
feet little trump Franks wife is?'' he
asked. She no sooner heard that he
was wounded than she went to him.
The brave young thing! She never
stopped to pack her Saratoga trunks :
not she; but went like a true little hero
Inc To nurse her husband. And she will
cure him, YOU may make sure. His
mother would coddle him to death: but
this pretty Kitty of his, she viii bring
me home my dear son.
And so she did. A few weeks after
Mr.. Stanley had told me Kitty had zone
to Frank he came over with n note from
her. They were on their way home.
and would arrive early the next week.
MT. STANLEY was very much excited
over the good news, and waved Kitty's
poor little note over his head with a
huzza of exultation. think he thought
an in mule was quite proper. and that
he had been misspelliDg that useful ami
mails name all these wears. The lives
OF the women in the Stanley family has
always moved through smooth grooves.
and kitty's energy aud independence
were wonderful in their ewes, though il
their idol Frank had not been h-r Hprc
they might have come to a different
Judgment - I
We were standing on the piazza. wait.
Ing for the carriage. Mr.. Stanley had
ridden to the station, and came as avant,
cOureur.
she is n Franks wife. ]
mcan,' he cried out. ''You will all
have to take of your caps to pretty
Kitty, my ladies'
I've will lie down and let her wall,
over us If she brings my boy safely
home" replied Mrs. Stanley.
And that was just what Kitty had
done. l watched her rs she stood aside
to let Franks mother arrange his cush.
ions, and saw her fingers ached TO do
the simple office; and Frank. clad.
thankful to reach home. and pale as 4
ghost. though laughingat the numerous
attentions he was receiving from his
womenkind. looked round for Kitty. rs
II she better knew his needs than he did
himself. Pretty Kitty was even prettier
than of old, though more disheveled.
owing TO her long journey; and / was