Dodge City times., 1889-01-10

greatly interested in her, and she VA
rather pleased and greatly amused BY
the knowledge.
Days flew by and he still had MOI
been able TO obtain q formal introduc-
ton to the lady that he now began to
admit to himself he was IN love with,
and he began to feel quite unhappy
over It, but his mind was somewhat re-
keved by the discovery that it Wa
the other Miss Allen who wrote for the
newspapers. He saw the grand society
women coax and wheedle her, and per
suade her to give an adequate descrip.
ton of their toilets and jewels, and she
received all their civilities with smirk-
ing denials of being the writer in ques-
ton, though her denials were intended
to prove the contrary. He despised
writer's more than ever.
When there was . hop or garden
party, or any other special gaiety, the
young Miss Allen was there, under the
wing of an elderly friend, and she always
looked lovely and thoroughly feminine
and charming, and he longed to have
the privilege Of dancing with her, but
an invisible barrier which he could not
surmount.
She adored children, and they in
turn idolized her, and she was often to
be seen with crowd Of them around
her, listening to the wonderful stories
she told them. Il know she tells them
out of her own head" said one little
girl. tive never found them in any
book. They are just splendid.
One day Harry Stratton mounted his
horse and went off for . ride, and he
rode until he was tired of himself, the
horse, and the road, and was returning
towards the hotel, when he saw Miss
Allen walking slowly along the path
which bordered the carriage-way.
Just at that moment little girl from
the walk on the other side Of the car
riage-way sprang forward to join her be-
loved friend, and in the same instant O
gush of wind blew bit of white paper
directly across his horses eyes.
The animal reared and plunged, and
in his wild fright struck the little girl
with his hoofs, and being perfectly un-
manageable he would probably have
killed her, had not Miss Allen sprang
forward at the risk of her own life and
snatched the child from under his feet.
In anothsr instant she was back to
the path with the insensible child in her
arms, and sank to the grass under her
burden, for she turned strangely weak
as she saw the furious beast resisting all
restraint, bound off towards the lake
through the road where there were
hundreds Of other horses and carriages
full of women and children. She
thought that surely Mr.. Stratton would
ic killed, and Q new kind of pain fell on
her heart at the thought.
But the mad beasts strength gave ont
and he succumbed to his rider, but be-
fore he rode back both Miss Allen and
the child were gone. He did not know
what to do. He did not dare force his
evidently undesired company upon her,
and he did not feel easy at all.
Dinner time came, and mechanically
he prepared himself and went down,
stepping for moment into one of the
great parlors. As he did so he saw
Miss Allen near him. Immediately
without ceremony, and as if they had
known each other forever, she stepped
forward and addressed him:
Il suppose, Mr.. Stratton, you feel
very uneasy about little Mabel, but I am
very glad to be able to say she was not
hurt seriously, and to say that you we're
not in the least to blame for the acci-
dent"
II thank you very much for the kind
ness which prompted you to relieve my
mind and my conscience. I have, in
deed, felt very much distressed, and I
did not know where to begin my inqui-
ries. hope you suffered no injury in
your brave rescue of the little one"
@Not at all; and as to bravery, it was
not that, but simple impulse such as
any one would have felt.
He wished to demur, but with look
she silenced him on that subject, and
then said:
Have you heard from your sister
Clara lately? We were schoolmates
for many y years, and were very good
And you are the Bella Allen she
used to rave abont? Well, I ought to
have known it! We ought to be friends,
he managed to say in breath. Il
mean, Clara is quite well, and wrote me
yesterday that my namesake is max
ing great progress"
Il am glad to hear it. Shall we go
to dinner, or have you dined?"
Il have not, and shall be very glad. "
For what, he did not say, but that he
was glad there was no mistake. Miss
Allen quietly ignored that there was
anything peculiar in her having kept
him SO far away before, and treating
him, if not like az old friend, at least
in a very pleasant manner, which
though cordial was yet full of reserve.
"She is one of those women who
know Just where to draw the line, and
admire her all the more for it, !"
thought Stratton.
After that day there was no restraint.
In the afternoons Bella Allen and Harry
Ssratton could be seen together, walk
ing or riding, or listening to the music,
or dancing at the hops in the evening,
and he was hopelessly in love with the
girl he had seen there for the first time,
but yet whose pure, noble life, had been
ike an open book to him through his
sisters letters, and he now remembered
many noble and womanly actions that
had rendered her girlhood remarkable.
And she? Long ago his portrait had
been in her eyes the type of true man,
and his brotherly letters, so full of q
nobler and higher manhood than is
often seen, had done much, and his
presence and timid manner turned the
scale altogether in his favor, and it
needed but . triAe to clear the way for
an avowal
One day she was down at the post
Office, snd had just received her mail