Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-06

| around her shapely form wa
taking a constitutional up and dowl
the upper gallery. She came to the rail
ing and bent down, beaming smiling ano
kissing her hand to them-and a win
| some smile she had-then as they passed
out along the walk by the old ordnane,
storehouse she stood for a time looking
/ after them
That night, just after dusk, when Mr.
Mclean came bounding up the front
steps, intent on getting an album from
DIS quarters, and then returning to Mrs
Miller's, where he was spending the
evening, he was surprised to find the
lamp extinguished All was darkness;
as he opened the front door So, too on
the second floor there was no light in the
hall and yet he could have sworn both
lamps were burning when he went out al
o clock, half an hour before. IN his
own room, the front one, however, the
very opposite was the case. He had
turned the lamp very low the last thing
before starting and closed the front of
his standing desk, turning the KEY in the
lock- He always did these things when
leaving his quarters at night. Now the
hanging lamp was throwing a light all
over the simple, soldier room and the
desk was wide open.
The rear room, his bedchamber, was
dark as usual, and his first thought was
for his papers. These were in the pigeon
holes, undisturbed. Two drawers had
been pulled open, one was now half
closed, while the other remained with al
most its full length, lying, tipped out =
upon the shelving desk. 1t was filer,
with Lynchburg tobacco, brigI3sIled
ored, fragrant brand much affeEt col
pipe smokers at that time AFFECTED by
occurred to him. He step -hd an idea
the hall and shouted up tspped out into
here?'' rattonl You been
No answer. 4
Mr.. Mclean, q
ity He g u shook his head in perplex-
Hatton " Ind his comrade, Lieutenant
a pipg,"eoFere intimates who smoked many
he together out of that same drawer
10y had many time hidden the latter TO
come in and help himself whenever he
wanted to. Bachelor doors are always
open in the army, and the desk key was
generally in the lock. Still it was not
like Hatton to leave things in disorder
behind him even if he were to take
Mclean at his word Mo- 1t
wasn't Hatton-unless something very
Stepping quickly back into the room he
felt draught Of cool air and saw that
the portiere that hung between the two
was bulglng slightly towards
him. Instantly he stepped in
to his bedroom, where all was
dark, struck a match and saw the mo-
ment its flash illumined surrounding OBJ
jects that the one door he generally kept
locked was now ajar. 1t led into the
hall and thither strobe Mclean. Up to
this instant not q sound had he heard
Now, fairly flying up the old, creaky
stars light as kitten IS, quick as terriers =,
yet stealthy, noiseless, he distinctly
heard slippered footballs. They whirled
at the head of the stairs and flashed
through the hallway overhead and out on
the front varanda, and he, instead of
pursuing stood stone still, rooted to the
floor, his heart beating hard, his hands
in amaze. What stunned him
was the fact that with the foofall went
the swish of dainty silken skirts
II.
1t was full ten minutes before Mr. Nc
Lean reissued from his quarters on his re-
turn to the majors house. In the mean
time he had searched his desk and
summed up. his losses. They amounted
to mere trifles-a few postage stamps and
perhaps So in currency which happened
to be lying in the drawer above his to-
bacco receptacle. Lucky | hadn t got
my April pay yet!'' thought he. There
were some handsome sleeve buttons and
a scarf pin or two in another drawer,
but these had not been touched-the pill
ferer had been interrupted too soon. Some
letters and notes that were lying in the
hnlo Io1
objects of scrutiny, but were still there
so far as ne had time to count He had
had left jolly little gathering at the
Millers' and was eager to return;
he had left them only at Mrs. Miller's
urgent request that he should
bring over his ''scrap book
in which he had a miscellaneous assort-
lnefit OF photographs of army friends and
army scenes, of autographs, doggerel
rhymes and newspaper clippings, such as
8 spelling tests, - and ''feats in prCnun-
and quantity of others con-
tanning varied and useful information.
It was great standby and resource of
his, and had helped to while away many
an evening on the frontier Now, Mrs.
Miller had been telling Nellie Bayard
about it, and was eager she should see ii.
The major, too, and several ladies pres
emit, all united in the request and en-
joined upon him to hurry back. As
Bedlam' lay but a hundred yards
away there was no reason why he should
not have returned in five minutes, but it
was fifteen when he reappeared and was,
as became the only young man in the
room, the immediate center of combined
question and inYective.
"What could have kept you so long?''
" Where on earth have you been?'
Were it anybody but Mr. Mclean, [
would say he had gone down to the club
room for drink - etc. Nellie Bayard
alone was silent. The question: that oc-
cured to her was finally asked by Mrs.
Miller:
"'Why, Mr.. Mclean, how white you
oOk Have you seen a ghost?'
NO. he answered, laughing ner-
7ously, 81 We seen nothing 1t is dark
Is Erebus outside, and 1 ran into some
hing couldn t see at all-something too
angible for ghost. -
who was it or what was it?''
'fThat Is what I'm dying to know. 1 |
vas out in the very middle of the parade, |
Ind thsi something was sctIrrying over |
owards Gordon s quarters as I was COM
ng here. We ran slap into each other |
sang out, Hulloa! Beg pardon, and |
began hunting for the book that was |
knocked out from under my arm, and /
his figure inst whiZZed right nn-neyer /