The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-08-11

wonder if you are afraid?"
Il don't know what you mean"
Afraid of the dark or of danger, o
anything like that-for instance, I'm
afraid of the dark
NO." answered Dick; Il don't thinl
I'm afraid of the dark. don't know
about anything else, for 1 don't believ,
l ever had anything to be afraid Of"
Millicent sighed again very softly t.
herself. 1t was rather hard state O.
affairs. Here was the man she wanted
to marry; just the kind of man she
with her imperious ways, could gel
along with beautifully; boy whom
she had known all her life; whose
father had been her fathers friend
whose mother had been her dead
mothers friend; and man, too, whom
she loved-and always had-since she
was little girl in short dresses and he
| boy in knee trousers, and they could
not get married because, in the eyes OF
| her father, he didn't amount to any.
thing. Would he ever amount to any
thing? What did she care? Was he
brave and manly? What did she care?
Was he brave and manly? The ques-
| ton gave her an inspiration. 1t
wouldn't be much of a trial, but it
would at least be little bit of fun;
and all they had done in all their court
ship was to sit on opposite sides of the
parlor and talk to each other. She rose
and went out into the hall. Dick eyed
her as she went out, but he never
questioned anything she did. so he said
nothing. She walked back to the stairs
leading to the basement and looked
down Everything was satisfactorily
dark. The light in the lower hall had
been turned out, and from this she
knew that the servants had gone to
bed. 1t was nearly midnight she no.
ticed by the dining-room clock. With
satisfied smile she walked on tiptoe
and with great pretense of fright
back to the parlor.
Dick" she said, in a whisper that
seemed quite terrified, 81 heard some
one downstairs, and Pm afraid it's
burglar. Would you just as lief go and
see?"
"With pleasure" he said, in that
calmly polite way he never forgot
She smiled as she noticed that he car
ried his gloves in his hands just as he
would on the street, and felt uncon-
sciously of his necktie to see if it were
adjusted correctly, Dick walked to the
head of the back stairs, while she re-
manned in the parlor peering out, half
hidden by the portiere. He leaned far
over and listened intently.
''Do you hear anything?" she asked,
in whisper.
YES" he answered
She smiled. "What does it sound
hke?" she continued.
Like a man saving" he answered.
She had hard work to prevent herself
from laughing outright She had been
in the identical spot where Dick now
stood but a moment before, and she
knew that the basement was as still as
the grave. 1t was his frightened i'm
agination; that was all. She would see
the thing out. Perhaps Dick was afraid,
after all She whispered again:
''Do you want a revolver" she asked
NO" he answered. 81 wouldn't
know what to do with it if ! had one"
Then she saw him disappear down the
stairs.
She went back into the parlor and
picked up his hat, She smiled as she
noticed how new it looked, Just like
everything else he had. Then she tried
it on, and stood before the glass won
dering if it wouldn't make a pretty
riding hat. She remembered that if
any other man were to come back into
the parlor and find her with his hat on
her head, he would promptly demand a
kiss, after the good old custom. But
Dick-no. Dick would never think of
such thing, or dare do it if he did.
Presently she wondered why he was
gone so long. He wasn't afraid of the
dark, after all. He must have decided
on very thorough search. She wished
her father would come downstairs and
discover that Dick had at least done
that much in the world. But no; she
could hear her father walking up and
down the room Immediately above her,
of all sorts of things that he
called important, but which did not in
terest her at all. She was just begin
ming to feel lonely, and to wish that
Dick would get through and come back,
when she heard dull sound as though
heavy had fallen in the
There was silence for mo-
ment after that, and then she heard a
great crashing of glass, and she heard /
Dick calling Justify for the police. Her
heart leaped up into her throat. She |
wanted to call him to come back to her,
as he loved her, but she could not utter |
a word. She ran to the front window |
in her fear, and threw it open. A |
built fellow, who looked gigan-
tic in the half light of the street lamps, |
was just making his escape through the |
gate and down the street, while right |
her, bareheaded, but still |
with his immaculate gloves in his hand, |
ran Dick after him, still calling at the |
top of his voice for a policeman. She |
saw them go, forty feet apart, down the |
street at the best speed they could /
make. She saw them disappear from
the light of one street lamp and come
out into the light of another twice, and
then she saw the stockily built fellow
wheel quickly around; she saw little
sharp line of fame; she feard
a loud report; and then-she tainted.
1t was but half an hour later that a
Fab drove up to the colonels door, and
Dick alighted-not the Immediately
,lad Dick that he usually was, but Dick
with bloody handkerchief tied around
his head, and with much dirt on his
trousers. and his neclztie all awrv. and