Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1890-11-15
COLONELQUARITCH,V.C.
BY b. RIDER HAGGARp.


wants at Moleshil, with the help Of gar
dener and simple village maid, her niece.
who smashed all the crockery, and nearly
drove the colonel mad by banging tine doors,
shifting his papers, and even busting
his trays or Roman coins, actually con
fided to some friends in the village
that she thought tho poor dear gentleman
was going mad When questioned ON what
she based this belief she replied that he
would walk up and down the oak paneled
dining room by the hour together, that then,
when be got tired of that exercise. whereby,
said Mrs Jobson, he had already worn q
groove in the new Turkey carpet, he would
take out a ''rokey' doggy1 looking bit Of a
picture, and set il upon chair and stare at
it through his fingers, shaking bis head and
muttering all the while Then--further aud
conclusive proof of yielding intollect--be
would get half sheet Of paper with some
writing on IL, and put IL on the mantepiecs
and stare at that Next he would turn 10 up
SIDE down and stare at It 90, then sideways,
then all ways, then be would hold II before
looking glass, and stare at the looking glass,
and 50 on When asked how she knew all
this, she confessed that Jane had seen II
through the key hole. not once. but often
OF course. as the practiced and discerning
reader will clearly understand. this meant
only that when walking and wearing out the
carpet the colonel was thinking OF ida. whan
contemplating the painting abe had given
him, he was admiring her work and trying
TO reconcile his admiration with his own con.
science and his somewhat peculiar views Of
art, and that when garing at the paper he
was vainly endeavorng 20 make head or tail
OF the message written to his son on the night
before his execution by Sir James de Ia Noble
In tho reign Of Charles l. and confidently be-
lieved by Ida to contain a KEY TO tho where
abouts Of the treasure he was supposed to
have secreted
or course the tale Of this worthy soul, Mira
Jobson, did not loss In the telling, and WHOM
it reached Ida's ears. which IL did at last
through the medium Of George-for in addi
ton 70 his numberless other functions, George
was the sole authorized purveyor OF village
and country news-it read that Col Quaritch
had gone raving mad.
Ten minutes afterward this raving lunatic
arrived at the castle In his dress clothes and
his right mind, whareupon Ida promptly re-
peated her thrilling history, somewhat TO the
subsequent discomfort Of Mira Jobson and
Jane
No one, a. somebody once said, with equal
truth and prcfundity, knows what minute
may bring forth, much less, therefore, does
anybody know what an evening OF say two
hundred and forty minutes may PRODUCE
For instance, Harold Quaritch-though by
this time no had gone so far rs 70 freely ad-
init TO himself that he was utterly and hope
isssiy IN love win iaa' IN love WITH her with
ehA1 settieu anu aeeermihed passion which
sometimes strikes man or woman In middle
ago-certainiy did not know that before the
evening was OUT ne womb nave declared MS
devotion with results that shall be made clear
In their decent order When ho INIT On bis
oreHs clothes 70 come up 70 dinner ne had no
more Intehtiop OF proposing 70 Ida than no
had OF not taking them of when he went to
bed. His love was deep enough and steady
enough, but perhaps IL did not possess that
wild impetuosity which carries people 50 far
in their youth, sometimes, indeed, a great
deal further than their reason approves Il
was essentially a middle aged devotion, and
bore tho same resemblance TO the picturesque
passion OF 1--WE and-twenty that a snow fed
torrent does to a navigabls river The one
PUSHES and roars and sweeps away the bridges
and devastates happy homes, while the other
bears upon its placid breast the Argosies Of
peace and plenty. and is generally service
able to tho necessities OF man. But for all
that. there is something attractive about
torrents There Is a grandeur in that first
rush OF passion which results from the sud
den melting OF the SHOWS Of the hearts purity
and faith and high unstansd devotion.
But both torrents and nayigabe rivers are
liable TO one common fate, they may fall over
precpices, and when that happens even the
latter cease To be navigable for a space. And
that was what was about to happen to our
friend the colonel
To begin with, he had dined well, and what
ever ardent twenty-three may think of so
gross and material a fact, IT. is certainly true
that II a man is In love before dinner, he Is
five-and-twenty per cent more In love
at..~- It.
ven, naA "a dineo. ana no
mao han pleasant as wei as good dinner.
Inc squire VINO OF late mad been cheerful rs
cricket, was In nls best form, and told long
stories with an innnitesinal point In any
body elses mouth these stories would have
been wearisome TO a degree, but there was q
gusto, an originality, and a kind OF Tudor
period havor about the old gentleman which
made his worst and longest story acceptable
In any society, Tho colonel himself, too, had
come out IN q most unusual way. He had q
produced, but when be did produce It IL was
OF most satisfactory order. On this par
tcalar u.ght IL was all on view, greatly to
the satisfaction OF Ida, who was a witty IA
well as a clever woman And so IL came to
pass that the dinner was very pleasant one
Harold aud the squire were still sitting
over their wine, and the latter was for ths
fifth time giving 70 the former full and
particular account Of bow bis deceased aunt,
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