The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-04-15

: j
girl, for she was singularly pretty. with
pale, refined face. which seemed to tell OF
I higher origin tnau that which her SUI
roundings would suggest; and, according
to her own account of herself, she was quit
| without friends in the place, and her only
relations were distant in every sense of tn
| word. So BrabaZOn took her under hi
| wing, made up his mind to a considerable
! outlay on her behalf. tod the doctor Z
| order what he liked and send the bill in Il
| him. and made a sensible and generous ar
rangement with the landlady. You see, h
was young and he was in love. and who Il
not inclined 20 generosity under such cir
| c;imstances!
Naturally, Miss Medlarwas bound to heal
| of what BrabazOn had dOne-and hear of i
she did, and, of course, she put the wOrS
| construction possible on his conduct
| Shocked Is she was, at the awful thought
of a Young officer taking a charitable in
tereSt in poor girl who was 10 all intent.
| and purposes friendless but for him, | an
afraid that her heart gave private bOun
! of intense satisfaction, for here she had 8
weapon which she could use against that
contemptuOus prOfigate and with effect
So letter after letter was written to Lean
ington, describing in no measured language
the extraordinary conduct of Captain
BrabaZOn, at which the whole town was
represented as standing aghast. and making
inSlnuatiOnS of the very worst character,
suggesting falsehOOdS, and then accepting
her own suggestions as facts, until Mrs.
Bracebridge wrote to BrabaZon herself 10
ask him what was the origin of all these
stories. TEEN he, uuwillingly and in few
words, for be was singuiarly averSe to
blowing his own trumpet gave the history
of his meeting with the girl, Lucinda Cut
Ter, and of his interpOSitiOn in her behalf;
and we may be sure that Gwendolen at
least exalted him higher than ever in her
heart, and looked upon him as indeed a
very king among men. But her mother
was not in love with BrabaZOn, though she
liked him very much and, being u some
what weak woman, she allowed Miss Med
lars inSinuatiOns to take certain amount
Of root in her heart, and did not utterly
weed them out. That worthy woman had
promised in her last letter that she would
collect further evidence" and she fully
intended to keep her promise.
Meantime spring was coming on, and
Brab1ZOn's preparations for the expected
visit of his tiancee was already progressing.
de was dressing one afternoon. prepare
tory 10 a canter in the country, when young
Redfern. of the 999th, then stationed at
Portland, burst into the room.
Il say. Brabazon." he said, $50 glad to
have caught You in You promised the
other day to give me the name of the man
VINO looks after your boat for you; in fact,
believe you did give it me, but | never
can remember names; just write it down
for me, and his address, like good fellow.
want him to fit out my little craft, and |
think you said you could recommend him."
Gas far as ] know, he is a good man to go
to-" said BrabaZOn. He is very civil, and
his prices are not high. You can look for
yourself You viii find full particulars as
TO his name and address on that bill lying
there. | don't know if you are an expert
in matters nautical"
ssNnf I - lamobaI no fallOpu
don't know bowsprit from bolster; but
I'll take your word for it. Here, give me a
sheet of paper, and I'll copy OF his address,
or I'm sure TO forget it"
Tear off She heading Of the bill. old fell
low said BrabaZOn. Sorry | can't ask
You t,tStay, but I'm going out riding. and
| daren't keep my horse standing III this
east wind"
Don't mention it, said the other I'm
in hurry mySelf-many thankS-ta tai
and OF he went.
Returning an hour or so later BrabaZon
was surprised to see the wellknown figure
OF Miss Medlar disappearing down the lit
tie lane which leads as a short cut and from
the barracks. Can she have been to see
me g he thought, and he seemed to remsm
Der that this was one Of her seasons for levy
ing her blacl;mail. Sure enough, on arriv-
ing at his rooms, he Learned from his Serv-
ant that Miss Medlar had called, that she
had been evidently annoyed at mis- absence,
that she had proposed to write him note,
but that, unable to find sheet of paper
she had left withOutdOing so, apparently in
a great rage. 80 much the better" said
Brabazon to himself. Il should not wonder
but what that old mischief-maker is at the
bottom Of these yarns that they've got hold
of at DeamingtOn.N But, at the same time,
he little imagined how terrific mine Miss
Medlar was preparing to explode beneath
him.
Only n few days elapsed, when he found
on his table letter in Mrs. Bracebridge'S
She did not usually write,
but, no doubt, she had something to say as
to his getting them lodgings, in view of
their promised visit. He opened it, glanced
down the first sheet got very red, turned
over to the next, and with an exclamation
that was not blessing, flung the letter on
tae floor. "COnfOund medGling old harri-
dam he exclaimed, and then he picked up
the letter and read it once more. Mrs.
wrote 10 say that Miss Medlar
had Informed her that she was in possession
Of perfectly irrefutabie evidence proving
that Captain BrabazOn was utterly false to
GwendOlen that he had become entangled
with the miserable young woman whom he
pretended to he Charitably assisting, but
who was simply a designing adventures,
and that his infatuatiOn was so great as to
prompt him to secret marriage with
taken place. These were serious charges:
she was unwilling to believe them: could
Captain BrabaZOn diSprOve them! OF
cOurSeS when his first anger was over, he sat
down and wrote an indignant denial,
couched in eager and somewhat contempt
uouS terms, and then, having written his
letter, he hurried off to demand full and
explicit statement from Miss Medlar, but,
alas for him! that crafty lady had fed, and
had not even left her address. He could
only wait and hope In due course Mrs.
reply arrived, but its Ian
guage was stiff and unSympathetic.
No one" she said, ''would rejoice more
than herself if Captain BrabaZon could
make good his assertions; but she must re-
mind him that assertion was not proof,
while Miss Medlar'S information was, she
must own, supported by evidence of such
strong order that she must beg of him to
discontinue all correspondence with Gwen
dOlen until such time as he could Satisfact-
Only clear himself of the charges laid
against him" And she added this. to him.
remark, You must be
aware, even if given with the most innO-
cent intention, the unSUal and expensive
presents which have passed between you
and that unhappy young woman must COM
promise you seriously in the mind of every
unpTeJudiced person. And thus he felt
the matter must rest until he could get
leave for day or two, to run up to Lea
mington and meet the enemy face to face
for he gathered that Miss Medlar and her
precious evidence had found an asylum in
his fiancee'S home. Turning over the en-
velope in his perpiexity, his heart gave a
great bound on noticing that the motto of
the Bracebridges had been neatly erased,
and tiny ''semper eadem' inserted ind ar-
meath in the daintiest penmanShip. There
was no need to ask whose work this was
He might have known it-Sha was as true
as steel. and he felt load removed from
his mind.
Now, then; he could be more content to
wait until his turn came. One more letter.
however, he wrote, denying with still great
er Indignation the whole charge, and espe-
cially that part which referred so mySteri-
ously to his presents to the girl, the exist
ence of which in any form he utterly re-
pudiated, adding that when the work of