The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-05-24
HIS LAST CHANCE.
lChicago Herald

Vi u ucdQdCnC. LII COnlIhOh WIN lAOob VA
the officers of the fort he was given to
.tarrying rather longer at the wine than
the good of the service really demanded,
and last night, as was the custom, cards
had formed part of the entertainment.
He was not loser in cash, but he was In
self respect. He had kept himself rea-
sonably clean from the baser things in
life till he came here; but the velvet Of
West Point suffered abrasion when it
met the wolf skin of the frontier. Things
were more primitive. Men spoke and
thought farther away from that social
hangman's whip which keeps us all in
order. The lieutenant felt abased, and
wondered, as he slowly dressed himself,
how he could thread the way out of this
labyrinth; how he could stand up clean
among-not apart from-the comrades
Of his new life. And there was even
something more than that. He did not
care to transform the army into a draw
ing room, but he cherished lively hope
that time might come when he could
prove that other heights were better
than this round of cynicism, revel and
routine.
The mail coach had driven from Deep
Springs this morning, arriving before he
arose, thus avoiding the heat Of the day,
and when the lieutenant returned from
breakfast he found letter on his table.
1t was only one Of many missives, but it
was the one letter of them all to him.
Maud Coventry was good correspond
ent. She wrote such delightfully."- long
letters. There wasn't much of news or
philosophy in them, but one rose from
the reading with consciousness of hav-
ing been for nearly an hour in her pres
ence. A perfect reserve pervaded every
line, and yet one felt the soft, warm in
Huence Of languid, blonde woman; the
incense of Difference paid by rare crea-
ture, weak and willing to be led, rose to
the brain of a man not given to under
estimating himself. She-was rich, too.
AL these things revolved themselves,
rather than were revolved, in his mind
as he sat on the cool porch in the rising
day and studied the familiar pictures in
fort and valley.
But his heart would come back from
all these wanderings after lofty things
and fix itself right here in the smoke of
the Sierras. He had met Kate Bent
ley. He had walked with her and talked
with her, had danced with her and
had sounded the welcome depths of
strong goodfellowship. She was the
antithesis of Maud Coventry. She was
dark, with checks of wine and lips of
red; she was strong, resourceful, COM
posed. He felt drawn to her like iron to
q magnet. She complemented where
he was deficient She was equipped
labundantly with those qualities that had
been denied him.
Marriage to a good woman was I'M
Idoubtedly the one sure way to quit the
bad and invite to the good without get
ting out of step with the forces at the
fort-and before he knew it the ieuten-
ant had said almost inaudibly:
Eyes, marriage; but to which one Of
them" Then he recovered his poise
with a laugh at the arrogance, and did
had no reason to know that either one
would have him.
And here came Kate Bentley right at
a time when she should stay away. No
doubt the lieutenant would have come
from his reverie just as he had from
many a one before. These early morn
ing reformations following night of
excess are ropes of sand, and few men
are bound long by their folds. Here
came Kate Bentley with an Indian boy
attendant, sitting her pony like queen
and refining up SO gracefully that the
cavalry officer paid mental honors to her
Workmanship.
She sat there in the saddle as he came
down to the road and stood talking to
her. The girl seemed very bundle of
electricity this morning. Her look, her
words, her actions that caressed him
Through three yards of space, and then
her witching departmental blent in an
influence that cleared his brain and
thrilled along his nerves to the very tips
of his fingers.
"Going to wedding, is she?' he unused
as he walked back to the porch. "Gad,
4 would like to go to a wedding with
her, think" He was erect and full of
force. The brief meeting had shocked
him into clearer vision and deeper breath.
The Bentleys were the one family
where ladies Of the fort could visit on
terms of equality. Judge Bentley, the
father, had come there ten years before,
almost as soon as the fort gave protection
from the ravages of Indians, and had
established stock ranch, which was
making him very wealthy man. His
wife, while mourning the loss of many
things she had appreciated in her former
home, still kept the social atmosphere
about her quite at its best. Kate con-
hnued her studies in an eastern school,
and when she came at length to her Cali
fornia home she fell at once into the
graces of the ladies of the garrison. She
had admirers without number of all de-
grees, from the vaquero who conquered
her fathers widest horses to the very
pink of dilettanti at the fort. But she
seemed the model of all heart whole
young women, and, while the farthest
possible remove from a coquette, was
able to win allegiance from all and to In
spire each with respectful regard.
"Going to wedding" unused the lieu
tenant again, and he fell to thinking Of
the kind Of home she would keep. Was
she not better, after all, for an army Off
Ger than that passive luxuriance in Co.
ventry's mansion? Surely he felt for her
q much stronger attraction. The very
air about her seemed tingling with an
infuepce he enjoyed. His eyes were
brighter, his heart was lighter, he was
more instinct with life when noar her
than when anywhere else in the world.
1t was puzzle. He would go up in
the redwoods. Maybe the balsam Of
their branches might prove balm for
him. So he took fowling piece, donned
the hghtest hat military regulations
would let him wear, and walked up the
steep path back Of the fort. Into the
fringing thickets Of Mauzanita, beyond
them and across the bald ridge Of the
mountain, which showed white like a
bank of snow sixty miles away, and then
across the threshold Of the redwoods.
Here the shade was deep and grateful.
He found a giant redwood that had
stood for centuries, perhaps, before it
yielded to the shoulder Of the Titan
blast" but which now lay prone upon
the ground, half buried with the drift
ing needles of successive years. Its
messy bole offered a sumptuous couch,
and there the lieutenant stretched him
self for an hours rest-for an hours
study.
He lay there looking at that dark
shadow which crept from the farther