The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-12-09
BEAUTIFUL jim.
By JOHN STRANGE WINTER
CHAPTER XII.

i
,.s..of,hc pains mud trouble at Whl'h
p..r.iful lin Lad been IN order TO sec"i'
.',es half hour with Nancy Earle they
'ot long left undisturbed under INC
100 of the wide spreading tree DC
s~''. which they had taken refuge Tor
,'eas t,o1 they settled themselves there
'"'c ,,o fcrt before li;le Violet Leslie. FOL.
,",soi by the incorrigiblc Tommy. pushed
- tbc branches and invaded their re-
u.s.. and The inc0rrigible Tommy, u
''s". ~ understood. was quite too fun
Hiio s - f,r q moment Of betakiag him
selT ont Of the way FOR tho convenience
80 Measure Of bis senior officer.
And that happened 20 be the very 'aS'
o. he had Of a quiet quarter Of an
sm,r with Nancy Earle before she ieu
Rlsnkhsnipton. For no sooner did they
sn, 's from the shelter Of the branches
shsn tbey were seized upon by two Of the
iaslio Girls. who demanded In their
friendliesf tones what was the state OF
business at Lady Margaret 5 stall.
Now in Beautiful Jim's opinion, rs IL
that Of many another man, the Leslie
sisters we've quite the most brilliant and
attractive girls in the town, but, as Il
truthful chroniclcr Of Blankhamp;on life,
| must own that. 81 TIA. moment, he
found himself wondering what IN the
wide world he conld ever have seen at
tractivc about any one Of them. Poor
Jimi From that momeat untll they were
summoned into the Desnery Tor supper.
he did not get rid Of them, ana by that
time bis last chance o. quiet talk with
Nancy was gone
The Leslies did no, 90 into the Deanery.
having little festivity Of their own that
night; bat as they parted from Nancy at
the door some suspicion Of The truth
dswned upon Sarah
"Norrie," she exclaimed. IS soon as
they were out Of ear shot. did you 10.
tioe anything unusual about Beautiful
Jim tonight
Il Thought he seemed uncommonly
fst--for him, that is. returned Norsh.
promptly.
Its that Miss Earle. exclaimed Sarah
and lie is as gone on her ss possible
What q joke-and OH poor old fellow,
what shame we couldn't leave them TO-
gether; she's going away on Monday"
oh. there's the parish tomorrow,
said Norah, easily.
''0h, but he is on duty tomorrow,
Sarah cried. Young Towers told me so,
because Jim wanted him 10 do It, and be
wouldn't He said old Jim was ia an
awful way about 1t.
Then think he might have taken il,
nasty little wretch said Norah, who had
but little love for Towers. Let us snub
him all we know tomorrow.
But all the snubbing in the worl2 didn I
alter the fact that Beautiful Jim had
found no one willing TO do his duty, OF
that he was eating his very heart out in
barracks on Nancy Earles last day in
Blankhampton.
AS for Nancy, all the sweetness and
light Of the place seemed to have gone
out. and ont OF her life too so far rs that
went She sat long time beside the
open window OF her bedroom that night
thinking - thinking - thinking, First,
how savage he had been when Violet Les
lie and Stuart came under the treas if
poor dear Stuart would ever dream that
they had gone there for more than five
minutes rest from the noise and turmoil
Of the fair And how, when he had es.
pied his servant in the crowd, he had
given that hideOus cushion 10 him, and
babe him take il back TO barracks with
great care. Then how he had sat beside
her at supper, and how tender and gentle
he had been. and how he had held her
hand ut parting and looked at her--why
positively. her checks were burning as
she thought Of 1t. And then. another
thought rose up in her mind. thought
of which, owing to her training and the
traditions of her house. sue felt more than
half ashamed.
If only Stuart had not chosen just that
spot and just that moment to take little
Violet Leslie out Of the crowd-ah how
different all might have been"-and then
her eyes fell upon the child's little velvet
pelisse which Jim had won aud left be.
hind him