The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1893-09-22

best and kindest man in the world.
Before he had been with the company
two;weeks, she had given him her full
faith and love; and, in turn, she had
| crept into his heart and filled it SO
thoroughly that all the combined
charms of the ladies of the company
could not have usurped corner of it
"a fact they soon became aware of.
The calm. self-pos sessed Markham
loved little Katherine as if she were
his own daughter.
''She reminds him of some one. -
said the advance, one evening during
the performance, when he had re-
turned from a trip with tue road
company which Mr.. Phillips sent out
the first of the season, land it is
either that his lady-love married
some other fellow and this is the
child, or else his sister ran away and
went on the stage and deserted her
youngster. That is my opinion, I'M
derstand; l never could have got any,
thing out of him. Never saw such a
close-mouthed man in my life; but,
lordy, amt he fond of the kid! Why,
it's fact that when he plays earl to
her little lord, and she puts her arms
around his neck, I've seen him trem-
BILE. from here-gimme a match,
jim"
Then, as the aashy young man
lighted his cigar, he continued, be-
tween puffs:
"rll bet he's way up in G, too,
when he's home. Saw some of his
clothes t'other day; and, by thunder!
they had one of these here-what-
you-call-'em?-crests or coat-of-arms
on 'em-old family, you know. He's
been blood. you hear me whisper
ing. And Katie's as good as gold
cure for him; id if he'll take a
drink of ginger-ale, now!" Whereat
the speaker laughed delightedly, and
nudged his friend between the ribs
as Markham passed them on his wav
to the stage.
A month passed, and closer and
dearer to each other grew the
strangely matched pair; they took
long walks about the city; they went
to the ''Zoo" together; they even had
drive in beautiful carriage with
two horses, and the driver clad in
some ones cast-off livery, now and
then; and they were very, very happy.
The tall, handsome young man and
the smiling, sweet-faced little girl
were very fond of each other, and
the company wondered why-and
took it out in wondering.
Matters came to crisis one AFTER
noon soon after Dorothy took her
peremptory departure. The manager
was in anything but a good temper,
owing partly to that affair and part
ly to the new play now being gone
over, and which seemed determined
to go wrong from the first The
cast had started out being slow, and
when he stormed. as he always did
when angry, they became sullen and
Indifferent. Markham was late-off
on one of his Summing tours, said
the leading man-and when, to cap
the climax, Katherine forgot her
lines completely, and could not re-
member them when angrily prompted
by the manager, Mr.. Phillips lost
control of himself entirely. and,
plunging at her. he struck the
troubled, patient little face a cruel
blow with his open hand.
'.Take that, you little fool'' he
cried, with a curse, while the others
stood staring at him in incredulous
establishment; 'you haven't brains
enough to live! Get off the stage,
tell you, and don't you come back
till you can say those lines from first
to last, do y understand? And if
catch you-'
He stopped suddenly, and his I'M
pleasant face grew fairly livid; stand
ing in the wing was the towering
form of Barry Markham looking at
the manager in such a way as to
make him SILVER.
With little cry of love and trust,
between her sobs of pain, Katherine
ran to him with outstretched hands,
and, STOPPING, he gathered her into
his strong arms and held her closely
to him. She laid one soft cheek,
still red with the mark of the mana
gers heavy hand. upon his breast.
and began kissing the hand she loved
so much and which held her tightly
now. One of the women pressed her
handkerchief to her eyes quickly
and looked away. For a minute
Markham held the loving baby to
him, and then he put her gently
down upon pile of grass-mats in the
wing. Then he shook of the big
top-coat he always wore, stripped his
gloves quietly from his hands, and,
laying them all down beside Kath-
crime, crossed the stage to where the
manager stood. For the first time
he spoke, and his voice, though low
and calm, fell upon Mr.. Phillips ears
like the ring of cold steel.
''Put up your handsr'
The manager turned shade paler
and started to speak.
'.Put up your hands" said Markham
a little louder, doing so himself. The
manager, hardly knowing what he
was doing, doubled his fists and held
them in front of him. The next mo-
ment he was staggering across the
green stage-carpet as if he had been
shot. He was a powerful man and
with a roar of rage he recovered him