Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1889-06-15
CHAPTER XII.
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

In spite of the pains and trouble at which
Beautiful Jim had been in order to secure
q quiet half hour with Nancy Earle. they
were not long left undisturbed under the
shadow of the wide spreading tree be-
meath which they had taken refuge For
hardly had they settled themselves there
in, comfort before little Violet Leslie. fol
lowed by the incorrigible Tommy, pushed
aside the branches and invaded their re-
treat: and the incorrigible Tommy, it
must be understood. was quite too full
and overhowing with his own importance
to dream for moment of betaking him.
self out of the way for the convenience
and pleasure of his senior officer
And that happened to be the very last
chance he had of quiet quarter of an
hour with Nancy carlo before she left
Blankhampton. For 10 sooner did they
emerge from the shelter Of the branches
/ thanthey were seized upon by-two Of the
| Leslie girls. who demanded in their
friendlest tones what was the state of
business at Lady Margaret S stall
Now, in Beautiful Jim's opinion. as In
that of many another man. the Leslie
sisters were quite the most brilliant and
attractive girls in the town. but. as a
| truthful chroniclcr of BlanlshaEpton life,
| must own that. at that moment. he
found himself wondering what in the
wide world he could ever have seen ut
/ tractive about any one of them Poor
| Jim! From that moment until they were
summoned into the Deanery for supper,
he did not get rid of them. and by that
time his last chance of quiet talk with
| Nancy was gone.
The Lesles did not 60 into the Deanery.
having little festivity of their own that
night; but as they parted from Nancy at
the door some suspicion of the truth
dawned upon Sarah
"Norrie. she exclaimed, as soon as
they were out of ear shot. did you no,
tice anything unusual about Beautiful
Jim to-night!"
Il thought he seemed uncommonly
fat-for him. that is. returned Norah.
promptly.
''lt's that Miss Earle. exclaimed Sarah.
''and he is as gone on her as possible
What a 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.
1 said Norah. easily
| oh but lie is on duty tomorrow.
Sarah cried Young Towers told me so,
because Jim wanted him to do it. and he
wouldn't He said old Jim was in an
awful way about it"
Then think he might have taken it.
nasty little wretch. said Norah. who had
but little love for Towers Let us snub
him all we know to morrow.
But all the snubbing in the world didn't
alter the fact that Beautiful Jim had
found no one willing to do his duty. or
that he was eating his very heart out in
barracks on Nancy Earle's last day in
Blankhampton.
! AS for Nancy. all the sweetness and
! light of the place seemed to have gone
out. and out of her life too, SO far as that
went She sat long time beside the
open window of her bedroom that night
thinking - thinking - thinkingl First,
4 how savage he had been when Violet Les
lie and Stuart came under the tree-as 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 to him. and
bade him take it 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 at parting and looked at her-why.
positively. her cheeks were burning as
She thought of it, And then another
thought rose up in her mind. thought
of which, owing to her training and the
traditions of her house, she 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 erowd-ah! how
different all might have been"-and then
her eyes fell upon the child's little velvet
pelisse which Jim had won and left be-
hind him. .-
CHAPTER XIII