Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-09-03


{ tendril of wisteria sporting above it
chimneys. Kitty never knew precisely
: when he was coming, but she was al
|, ways conscious of his arrival. She saw
J him through the back of her head, heard
him whistling about the Spoford garden
even when all the doors and windows
were closed and curtains closely drawn
while she stifed herself in the sewing
! rooms on the wrong side of the breeze
The cat mewed "Mark has come" the
birds sang mark has come" She felt
as if his eyes were following her in the
darkest corner of the house. There was
a suppressed excitement about Kitty on
such occasions that made her eyes bright
and her pulse uncertain, and she was
always starting and looking behind her
at the least noise.
Mark, however, did look upon it as
very malicious in Kitty that she seldom
frequented the drawing room on the
Spofford side of the house unless Rigsby
called-Rigsby, Marks hated rival, the
young dude favored by old Childers be-
cause of his neutral temperament and
large bank account. Rigsby, according
to Marks estimate, was fellow who ran
all to clothes and manners, who would
have thought it a capital sin to wear a
shirt collar of any but the most modish
cut, who held his elbows at particular
angle and grasped his cane in the middle
with serious acrimony, and was the ex-
IRENE swell and anglomaniac of Little
/ field. Whereas Mark Spoford, whose
/ thoughts were always wool gathering,
never knew whether his trousers bagged
! at the knee, or his coat wrinkled in the
back, or his necktie was screwed under
/ his ear. If he went alone to the tailor
to buy a suit it was generally too short
in the sleeves, leaving his big hands and
wrists exposed in a somewhat ridiculous
fashion. But people never laughed at
Mark. The fellows at college had tried
it once or twice in a practical way, but
after that they grew sad and meditative
when Spofford was mentioned, and when
they met him it was noticed they treated
him with marked respect. He was like
some big dog that has not a particularly
beautiful coat, but you would not care TO
monkey with him more than once. There
was something lordly, too, in his great
shapely head, looming above all the men
about, that made him observed in all
companies. There was nothing malicious
in Marks feeling toward Rigsby. He
contemplated him as a good natured,
shaggy big dog looks at stylish little
one-with the amused desire of taking
him gently by the scruff of the neck and
rolling him over in the mud. The idea
that Kitty, his Kitty, elected and fore
ordained from the foundations to be his
own, should care for tailor made Rigsby
was too preposterous.
Now, as Mark paced round the garden
bareheaded and in his slippers he was
mildly melancholy. 1t was beautiful /,
June morning, and every rose and lily /
on its stem spoke to him of Kitty. He |
chafed at the thought of the obstacles /
that pigheaded, obstinate old Childers
had put between him and his true love. |
Every fiber Of his large person seemed to /
be enamored of Kitty a different way,
so that his heart was only the seat and
center of this confederation of loves. AS
he stood looking vaguely up at Kitty's
window above the spikes of the brick
wall it occurred to him that it would be
an easy thing to rig up telephone be-
tween the two houses. He, who was so
expert in telegraphy and allied sciences,
could do it in a few hours, but what
would be the good if Kitty refused to
speak to him along the wire? Mark had
never studied these things as related to
the art of love making. He had never
heard that they had been of the least use
in melting the hearts of obdurate fathers
or winning over lovely girls to disobey
their parents.
Now, as Mark strolled disconsolately
about the garden, kicking an occasional
pebble out of the path or STOPPING to
pluck ripe strawberry, he spied lad
der near the dollhouse. 1t was only the
work of moment to place it against the
wall in a secluded spot under a low
branching apple tree, which gave him
the opportunity to spy upon the Chill
ders' domain without being seen. Mark
mounted the ladder and peeped
over into the other garden. Grip, the
great mastiff, lay just below, with his
paws extended out of the straw of his
hutch, and his great, moist, black muz-
zle resting upon them, his inhaned eye, 4
however, active, and the tip of his tail q
Iashing rehectively the ground, while he I
snapped now and then at an unwary fly. a
Tom Childers was in the stable giving t
orders to the coachman in a loud, dicta- I
5orial tone. Tom was thick set and ath- c
etic, with the elements of a young c
bravo in him, combined with consider c
able swagger and brag, and it was gen 1
orally conceded that Tom would know [
less when he knew little ].
more. Tom and Mark had grown up as I
boys together, and Mark, much against p
his will, for he was naturally peaceable
md easy going, had been forced to pun +
sh the truculent Tom on more than one
fccaSlOn. Now that the families were 81 o
laggers drawn-next door MOntagucs and 6
had become the dream Of t
Tom Childers' life to get even with Mark S
Spoford. He had taken fencing lessons L
md had practiced for some time at pis- '
ol shooting at a mark. When there is
fellow like young Spoford proving 2
'oand a dovecote one never knows what I
nay happen.
Now, from his hiding place under the
Ipple tree Mark saw his old friend Tom
,ome out with his pistol, prepared to
practice in little alley at the side of 9
he stables some distance from the house.
t gave Mark a queerish feeling in his
egs, the nearest sensation akin to re- =
81 l. Il N