Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-09-18

There qCds no one to TCcctre him but No
bel, and he 1UGntcd no one more.
August was close at hand. Queen
City society" had scattered in every di-
rection. The mountains and the seashore
were levying tribute on the plethoric
pockets of the ''big men" on Change and
on business of every conceivable kind.
Blinds and shutters were closed at scores
of hospitable mansions in the narrow
streets of the old city, and event! tie
elegant villas that crowned the surround
ing heights. The sun glare at midday
was so intense that no man was safe in
venturing forth without a huge sunshade
of some kind, and even within the ST.
cred precincts of the club, where broad
awnings hung on every side and palm
leaf fans were in constant motion, the
men strolled into luncheon III shirts Of
ightest flannel or pongee, with rolling
collars and infnitesimal neckties. Every
one who could leave town had long since
gone; and vet the Vincents fingered.
Each day seemed to add to the anxiety
in the mothers eyes as she watched her
husbands aging face. He had returned
from a business trip of ten days or so
looking hopeful and buOyant, and had
gone TO the office the following morning
with light step and CHEEKY deneanor,
but came home long after the dinner
hour istless and dispirited-a severe
headache, he said, but the wife knew
that it was far more than head or heart
ache. The family physician took occa-
sion to warn Mr.. Vincent that he W.;
doing himself grievous wrong-that his
health imperatively demanded rest and
change of scene. Vincent looked III t,ae
good old doctors face with a world CT
dumb misery in his eyes, AMI only al
swered, Il will within a week or So.
| cannot quit my post just now. Clark
is taking his vacation. Whom he returns
I'll CO." And until he cou!l accompany
them Mrs. Vincent refused to budge;
and yet she began to urge that lIabal
should start now. What was to rreyei.t
her going at once and joining the Wool
rows at Deer park? Ciariaaa and Flea
nor Woodrow were always such friends
of hers. But Mabel begged that she
might stay until 10th papa ard mamma
could go too; she could not be content
there without them, or at least without
mother: and Mrs. Vincent could rot find
the words in which to frame the cause
IF her greatest apprehension.
The Jle man whom the heat was pow
erless to subdue was Gordon Noel. In
the most immaculate and becoming cos
tnmes of white or straw color that gen.
ial officer would saunter into the club
at noontide, looking provokingly cool
and comfortable, and, as he expressed it,
without having turned hair"
"Hotr' he would say. "Call this hot?
Why. bless your hearts, fellows, you
ought to live in Arizona awhile! Cad!
I've come in sometimes from a scout
through the ella desert and rushed for
cold cream to plaster on my nose and
cheeks: it would all be melted, of course;
but when clapped it on it would sizzle
like so much lard in a frying pan. And
down at Fort Yuma our hens laid hard
boiled eggs from June to October" And
then his eyes would twinkle with fun,
and he would bury his dark mustache in
the cracked ice of his julep with infinite
relish.
81 say" queried Mr.. Morris of his
chum, Terry, Jr., one languid afternoon
after Noel had jauntily strolled away,
"don't you envy,a teller who can enjoy
life like that"
"Never saw anything like it," quoth
the younger. zone would suppose that
after being a slave all mawning in those
beastly works 1 ought to enjoy little
recreation; but can't, you know"
"Queer ducks, those army fellers!
Gad this love making by proxy is what
gets me-this sort of Miles Standish
courtship business. She's prettier, though,
than the original Priscilla"
"How do you mean" queried young
Terry, vaguely. He had been brought
up under the thumb of his elder brother,
and from the outset had been given to
understand that if he expected to share
in the profits he must learn the business.
There had been no college for him, and
New England legends were sealed books.
"Why, mean that 'twouldn' t surprise
me bit if we had a modern version of
the old why don't you speak for your
self, John? He's with her necessarily"
"OhI Miss Vincent you're speaking Of.
Her names Mabel, 1 thought, not
what d'you call herr"
Never mind, Jimmy" said Morris,
rising. "Come and have cigarette"
And it was not only in the club, over
their cigars, that men spoke significantly
of Noel's attentions to the lovely daugh-
ter of the house of Vincent. 1t was not
the men, indeed, who did the greater
part of the talk. If they noticed and
spoke of it what must not the women
have been saying! Noel, quitting the
hospitable roof of Cousin Amos, had
taken rooms down in town, midway
between the club and the Vincent home
stead, and those two points became the
limits of his field of action. The With
ers household had gone to the Maryland
mountains, and the massive master of
the establishment was treating himself
to months vacation.
Almost all the pretty girls were gone.
What more natural than that Mr.. Noel
should so frequently seek the society OF
the prettiest of all, even if she were en-
gagged to Frederick Lane, as people said
she was before he went away? There
was no monitorial Amos to call him OF,
no one to bid him turn his devotions
elsewhere; and she herself could see no
g.. IL, Ill Ill u