Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-04-18
UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
How Cyrus Winterbortom Won the Ohjece
Of His Affections.
The voice Of the young man had .
tremulous, vibrant quality. and glow
like that of a June sunset spread over
his face as he took the vacant seat by
the side of the young woman and
greeted her joyfully.
This is an unexpected pleasure.
Miss Beane," he said. Il did not
know you were on the train. l am
not presuming too much. l hope. in
rejoicing in the anticipation Of de-
lightful trip instead of the long. tire
some journey of half day that had
resigned myself to suffer when l came
aboard"
Certainly not. Mr.. Winterbottom."
she replied. and the observant young
man noted an increasing quickness in
the futtering movements of the
feathers and fummadiddles on the
travelling hat of his fair companion
not due altogether to the jar OF the
train.
"Her heart is beating faster" he
said to himself, but even in the rapture
that thrilled his frame and tingled to
the ends of his fingers at this discovery
he felt he had taken a sneaking adj
vantage of her and learned something
he had no right as yet to know.
For months Cyrus Winterbottom
had carried in his heart the image of
the lovely girl who now sat by his
side. For months he had hoped that
the time and the opportunity might
come when he-but let US not antici-
pate.
The train Numbered along over
rocky gorges, around the base OF pre-
cipitous cliffs, and down into spacious
valleys upon which the promise OF a
glorious spring was already showing
itself in a landscape that glowed and
smiled beneath the ardent rays of the
sun; but the young man, needed not
the panorama of SURPRISING loneliness
that was unfolding itself on either
hand. He had something better to
look at.
Miss Vanilla" he said. with beat
ing heart. as he braced himself with q
superhuman effort, ''this may seem an
inopportune moment for the coufes-
sion am about to make, but am inn
PEELED by feeling can no longer re.
sist Ny heart hungers for"
''Tickets!"
It was the conductor who spoke.
A shade of annoyance crossed the
brow of the young man at the inter-
ruptlon. He produced his ticket
handed it to the official, and in q few
moments resumed:
Il was about to say that have car
ried in my breast a burden l can bear
no longer. It is for you to say whether
/ must suffer still heavier one or
whether life shall have a new meaning
for me henceforth. Vanilla Beane, I
love"
''Caramels, peanuts, figs. gum?" in
quired the trainboy.
''No!' said Cyrus. shortly. ''Have
you ever felt that the time must come,
sooner or later, Vanilla. when
"'Life of Jesse James?'" suggested
the train-boy, returning to the attack;
magazines, latest railway guide,
Robert Els"
II tell you don't want any thing!'
exclaimed the exasperated young man.
"May tell you what is in my heart,
Vanilla? mo, sir; l don't know
what the next station is, sir, and l
don't care!-I have looked forward to
the time, my own Vanilla. when I
could summon the courage to tell you
how inexpressibly dear to me you are.
and to ask you if you will be my wife.
Will"
There was q sudden crash. A bro
ken rail had thrown the train from the
track. The car rolled down the en-
bankment At the first wild lunge Of
the coach Vanilla Beane had seized
the young man about the neck with q
convulsive clasp, and though the pas
sengers were cavorting and plunging
from floor to ceiling and ceiling to
floor in the careless. unstudied free
dom of motion and absence of all cere-
mony that may always be observed in
an affair of this kind, she did not lose
her self-p0ssession.
"Cyrus Winterbottom." she shouted
into his ear. with the res0lute. fear
less. let-no-guilty-man-escape voice OF
q young woman attending strictly to
business. "I-"
Bang!
will"
Thud!
''Be your"
Crash!
Little"