Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-11-06


Tlro niisstucs had reached him.
The rain was FLASHING dismally on the
grimy window sill and over the awning Of
the shops below The street cars went
iingling by with a dripping load Of outside
passengers on both platforms Wagons
and drays, cabs and closed carriages, that
ratified or rumbled along the ordinarily
busy thoroughfare, looked as though they
had been dipped :, she river before being
turned loose on the street and their Jehus,
bedraggled lot must needs have some
thing amphibious in their composition,
else they could not have borne up against
! the deluge that had been soaking the city
/ for two days past The policeman, wad-
ldling aimlessly about at the opposite cor
ner, enveloped in rubber cap and oyercoat,
cast occasional wistful glances into the
/ barroom across the way, wherein the gas
was burning in Difference TO the general
| gloom that overhung the neighborhood,
and such pedestrians rs had to be abroad
hurried along under their umbrellas as
though they half expected to have to swim
before they coGld reach their destination.
The dense cloud Of sooty smoke that had
overhung the metropolis for weeks past,
and that wind from any direction could
never entirely dissipate, for the simple rea.
son that smokestacks by the score shot up
in the cs,ckirts on every side, now seemed
to be hurled upon the roofs and walls, the
windows and the pavement, in a black
pasty, carboniferous deposit. and every OBJ
iect out Of doors that one could touch
would leave its inky response upon the
hand A more depressing spell of wealth
,.fr 4
every living being in sight seemed satura
ted with the general gloom-every living
being except one Capt. Fred Lane of the
Eleventh cavalry, was sitting nj the dingy
window of his Office in the recruiting rem
devious on Sycamore street and actually
whistling softly to himself in supreme con
tentment
Two missives had reached him that
CHASTITY morning that had served TO make
him imperyious to wind or weather One
large, formal, impressive and bearing the
stamp Of the war department in heavy
type across its upper corner-had borne to
him the notification of his promotion to
the rank Of captain Troop d. Eleventh
cavalry; vice Curran, retired. The other
tiny billet-had given him even greater
happiness It might be hard TO say how
hany times he had read and reread it since
he found il on the snowy cloth of his par
ticulur breakfast table in his particular
corner of the snug refectory Of The Queen
City, " on the books of which most respect
able If somewhat venerable club his name
had been borne among the list Of army or
navy members ever since his graduation
leave" fifteen years before.
All bis boyhood, up to the time OF his
winning his cadetship at West Point, had
been spent in the city where for the past
sixteen months he had considered himself
fortunate on being stationed on recruiting
service During the second year of his
term at the academy he was startled by
the receipt of a sad letter from his mother,
telling him briefly that his father. long
one OF the best known among the business
men Of the city, hSd been compelled to
make al assignment. What WAS worse,
he had utterly broken down under the
strain. aud would probably never be him
self again Proud, sensitive and honor
able, Mr. Lane had ms sted on paying to
the utmost farthing OF his means Even
the old homestead went, and the broken
hearted man retired with his faithful wife
to n humble roof in the suburbs There
a few months afterwar6, he breathed his
last. and there, during Fred's graduating
year. she followed him When the boy
entered on his career in the army be was
practically alone in the world Out Of the
wreck Of his fathers fortune there came to
him a little sum that started him in the
service free from debt and that served rs a
nest egg to attract future hccumulations
This he had promptly banked until some
good and safe Investment should present
itself. and, once with his regiment on the
frontier, Mr. Lane had found his pay
ample for all his needs.
Il is unnecessary to recount the history
" his fifteen years service as a subaltern
Suffice it to say that, steering clear Of most
Of the temptations 70 which young officers
were subjected, he had won a reputation as
a capital duty officer that was accented
here and there by some brilliant and dash
ing exploits in the numerous Indian cam
paigns through which the Eleventh had
passed with no small credit Lane was
never one Of the jovial souls Of the regi
ment. his mood was rather taciturn aud
eontemplative. He read good deal. and
spent many days in the saddle exploring
the country in the neighborhood Of his post
ana IN hunting ana fishing.
But. from the colonel down. there was
not man in the Eleventh who did not
thoroughly respect and like him. Among
the ladies. however, there was one or two
who never lost an opportunity Of giving
the lieutenant a feline and not ineffective
clawing wherever his name came up for
discussion in the feminine conclaves occa-
sionally held in the regiment. Sometimes,
too. when opportunity served, he was
made the victim Of some sharp or sarcastic
speech thar was not always easy TO bear in
Silence. Mrs Judson. wife Of the captain
Of b troop. was reputed TO be down on
Lane. aud the men had no difficulty what
ever in locating the time when her change
Of heart took place
The truth 81 the matter was that, thanks
to simple habits and 70 his sense Of econ
omy, lane hsd quite snug little balance
in the bank. aud the ladies Of the regiment
believed i 70 be bigger than il really was.