The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-07-24

the family acres to one who, he thought,
was certain only to bring disgrace upon
his family. She thought it only natural
that he should wish to volunteer and take
the chance of showing that there was some
thing in him When the Diamond Field
| horse left the camp she went out to see
them off, and felt proud of her lover, as
| she saw him ride of in his troop. ssHe
won't come back a trooper" she said to
herself, ''if there is much fighting to be
| done.n
She was right about his not coming back
| a trooper. When there was any work to
be done he was in the thick of it, and he had
some opportunities of showing that soldier
ing was trade he was fit for. Promotion,
such as it is comes quickly in a colonial
corps, and when he came back he had a
commission. He came back a new man,
proud of and confident in himself For
| years his life had been all down the hill.
and until Kitty had stretched out her kind
| littls hand to help him every one had been
\ content to speculate as to how long it would
take him to get to the bottom. Perhaps he
would have hardly cared to think how
much she had done sSr him. She was SO
| fond Of him and proud Df him; it was only
natural, he thought, bat still it was graft
| flying. He was very pleased to see her
| again, and her bright little face and CHEEKY
manner were very cit aiming to him He,
| of course, was CONSCIOUS that he was going
| to marry beneath him still he got on with
| her better than he did with the few ladies
he had ever met; for though he was a
gentleman of excellent family he was not a
very refined person They were to have
been married in a few weeks when the Zulu
war broke out, and Jack was offered com
mission in an irregular cavalry regiment
and he accepted it and went or again to
the war, leaving Kitty to wait for his re-
turn and look after the Frozen Barr She
prospered fairly well, though she began to
al # III,
very remunerative. The warriors who had
served with Jack and had plenty ofsstories'
to tell about him and themselves took to
| frequenting the bar, and Kitty woulHisten
| to these stories, somewhat to the neglect of
gentlemen of the diamond market who if
their lives were less romantic, paid with
greater regularity for what they had to
drink.
There was good deal to do in Zululand
for the irregular horse and when there was
any thing to be done Jack Hope was in his
right place He was present at zlobani
Hill on that fatal day on which so many of
the light horse were killed. There were q
good many brave deeds done that day
comrade risking life TO save comrade in
that wild rush from the Kafirs who had
again outmaneuvered their white foes
Hope was cool and collected on that day,
aG he usually was i'll danger As he rode
down the hill for his life he heard a shout
come out on special service, had come to
grief; his horse had been killed and the
Kafirs were almost upon him. How Jack
got through the Kafirs and managed to get
away with the man he saved he hardly
knows, but he did and he brought him back
to safety on his horse. A good deal was
made of this and perhaps all the mora be-
cause the man he saved was the son of a
great man. SO Jack was much written
about by special correspondents and talked
about by society at home, and in time the
news came out to South Africa that he was
to be rewarded with the " G.
One day Kitty heard this news at KIM
berley, and was lent a packet of English
papers which were full of accounts of
Jacks deeds. She had taken the papers
and one of Jacks letters which she had re-
ceived some time before and had walked up
to the Gardens, las waste of land was
called on which a few trees had been plant
ed and feeble attempt at gardening had
been made:) she wanted to be by herself to
think it all over She read about Jack in
the papers that he was the nephew of the
General Hope who was so distinguished in
the Crimea, that he had been educated at
Harrow and had afterward gone to South
Africa. Every one at home seemed TO be
proud of him, she thought, as she read
gushing leader about him in one of the En-
glish papers. OF course she thought it a
very beautiful piece of writing and Won
dered what all the classical quotations
meant, and who the long named persons to
whom Jack was compared were. And this
was the man who loved her-this hero, this
brave soldier How she wished she was
different from what she was. A lady who
would be fit for him. not poor half taught
woman, who had lived a hard life among
rough, course people, and got the little ed
ucation she had from the bits of plays she
had learned and the novels she had read,
md tba ci1 IF ryhi ch CHI cd
seen. Well if she was the finest lady in
the world, she thought, she would not be
worthy of him. Cynical little Kitty, who
was SO well able to sum any one up at
their right value, and whose esti-
mates were seldom too favorable, had
at last set up an idol which she
bowed down before and worshiped
none the less reverently because her ex-
perience ought to have taught her that it
was made of rather poor clay. She had
been sitting some time thinking over her
past and wondering what her future would
be- torturing herself by doubling whether
ne really did care for her or could care for
her, and reading over his letter again and
again when she heard Jack Hopes name
spoken by some one. She was sitting on
bench by cactus hedge: there were two
men on the other side who were talking
about him as good many, people in
Kimberley were: 81 know all about him,
one man said, ''he comes from the same
part of the country that | do. He would
have had his uncle's General HOpe's)
property, only he got into some row at
SandhurSt, and his uncle said he had dis
graced himself and turned him adrift. Ny
people tell me that the General intends to
lave him back again and forgive him, he
is so pleased at his getting the V. G. So
he'd be all right, only he has been fool
enough to have got engaged to some
woman out here. WHAT'S her name! That
woman who keeps the Frozen Bar"
BY Jove what a pity. She is not bad
little woman in her way, but one wouldn't
care to introduce her TO ones people as
ones wife" said the other.
Yes; spoke to him about it when he
was here last, but he didn't take what |
said cver-well. | fancy he knew he was
making fool of himself and was sick of
it, though it didn't matter then, as there
wasn't much chance OF his uncle ever max
ing it up with him.
Kitty did not hear any more, as the two
men walked on, little knowing who had
overheard them and what a cruel wound
their words had given. Yes, he could not
get out of 1.-THE was making a fool of him
self That is what people would say, and
it would be true
He had always talked of his English life
as something that was past and gone which
could never return to him; but now she
understood that was all different She
could remember something in his manner
when she last saw him which she did not
quite understand then; now she knew what
it raeant-he knew he was making a fool Of
himself. Now, when he had distinguished
himself he would feel this all the more
She alone was keeping him from the life he