The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-18

ing 10 De a boy; hoTT could she, poor
quaklng little girl, ever hope to find Brel
Nicholas unaided and alonsf
In despair and self contempt she begar
to climb down with perilous haste; the
driver cracked his whip, the coach gave
a lurch, Missy lost her hold and fell, with
a wild scream, between the wheels.
The horses were checked instantly, anC
there was rush to the spot whence thai
frantic cry proceeded. Paul Henry, who
had started to walk home accompanied
by his young friends. turned back to joir
the little crowd assem- bled around Missy
lying unconscious in the sand.
No one recognized the child, and &
locker on had just hazarded the conject
ure that the outlandish little creature
must have arrived on the stage, unknown
to the driver, when Larkin came upor
the scene.
"Lemme seer he shrieked. Eur dc
love o heben, mawsters, dat chile i;
Mawse Jasper Thorne's darter, little Miss
Winifred Thorne."
There was murmur Of incredulity
but Larkin insisted, apologetically
''Tubbe sho. hit doan look lax hit, but
hits so. Hukkom she's in SIGH a rig; she
been playin' sQccuss. Lawd! Lawd! Is
she killed, mawsters?"
They lifted Missy from the ground
and carried her into a neighboring drug
store, where she recovered consciousness.
Tim Wmifred Thorne," she said, and
esSayed to move, but tainted again.
''Any bones bruk?' Larkin asked anx-
iously of the doctor bending over her.
The doctor thought not; but there was
probably serious injury somewhere; and
Larkin was ordered to return and inform
| Mrs. Henry.
Paul Henry had hardly told his grand
mother what he knew of the accident
when Missy was brought in on a litter,
where she lay, deadly pale, with her eye.
closed, and moaning piteously.
! Miss Elvira came and looked at her
| "Oh, Winifred," she lamented, "what
will your father say?'
"Hush!' Mrs. Henry warned her; but
| Missy heard and opened her eyes.
q was-tryin' TO find-R-er Nicholas, -
she painted.
Poor child" Mrs. Henry sighed, with
tears falling over her cheeks like rain.
Miss Elvira staggered back to the sofa
in the parlor and wept and wrung her
hands.
"Some one must go for the colonel, ?
Mrs. Henry said.
One of Pauls young friends, who had
fn ha off 70, IL
to Thorne Hill, and some time past mid
| night Col. Thorne aGghted at Mrs. Her
rvs gate.
He had ridden hard and he had ridden
alone, for he would not allow the breath
less messenger who brought the tidings
of Missy's fall to return with him; nor
was it SO much the instinct of hospitality
that made him insist upon the young
fellow remaining the night at Thorne as
the desire to escape all witness of the
anguish he could not hide. He had or
dered Griffen Jim to make ready the
double buggy and follow Immediately
with GlOry-Ann, but he himself rode out
in the night as furiously as his son had
ridden away lust one year before. The
colonel remembered this and groaned
aloud: he remembered, too, with a shud-
der his declaration that he would never
again cross Mrs. Herry's threshold save
in case Of some calamity; and the calam-
ity had come, but not to Mrs. Henry.
The lights were still burning in the
parlor and in the hall, and there was
light also in one of the rooms upstairs.
81 L. IL i
the windows of that room with a fevered
effort to read there some sign of his
child's condition, before he strobe up the
path.
His violent ride had not subdued his
excitement, though TO the physician who
met him at the door he presented the
impeneirable, distant demeanor that had
always characterized him; the only sign
of feeling he showed was his utter in
ability TO frame in words the questions
that burned in his eyes,
Il am of the opinion that the injuries
will not necessarily prove fatal" the
doctor said, and paused.
The colonel bowed.
''But lameness may be the result"
An angry nuSn Qdrkeneu the COlOnel
face, but he heard all the doctor said in
silence, and then, turning abruptly away,
went upstairs.
At the door of the room where Missy
lay Mrs. Henry met him.
"What is the natter" he demanded.
"Has not DR.. Lane told your" Mrs.
Henry said, CHANGING at the child on the
bed.
cone doctor" exclaimed the colonel,
wrathfully. 81 will have all the doctors
in the state! | don't believe the injury
will result in lameness; l won't believe
anything Of the kind"
my dear cousin" said Mrs. Henry.
''we must hope for the best. Let me
give you some coffee after your long
night ride? Or glass of winey'
The colonel refused: ne wanted moth
ing, he said; but be would see the child
now.
He stood by the bedside and looked
long at Missy. The doctor had given an
anodyne, and she lay asleep, with her
hands crossed on her breast; and her
father, overpowered by the sight, turned
away and left the room.