Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-06-10


sit down, sir, and think it over?''
Rounds actually didn't know what to
think, and still less what to say. Had
he believed for an instant that the
young gentleman was insincere, he
would have had him in close arrest in
the twink1ing of an eye; but Warnings
tone and words and manner were those
of contrition itself. 1t was not posi-
BILE that one of the boys should dare to
be guying him, the implacable Rounds,
"Old Grand Rounds" of the Sixth corps,
old Double Rounds of the horse artil.
lery of the Peninsula days. Mrs.
Rounds had her suspicious when told
of the affair, but was silent, for of all
the officers stationed in and around the
old southern city Sam Warning was by
long odds the most graceful and accom-
plished dancer and german leader. the
best informed on all manner of inter
esting matters - social, musical, dra-
matte, fashionable-the prime mover
in garrison hops and parties, the con-
Meeting link between the families of
the general and staff officers in town
and the inesmen at the surrounding
posts, the man whose dictum as to
dinner or luncheon and whose judg-
ment as to a woman's toilet were most
quoted and least questioned, the man
whose word could almost make or mar
an army girls success; and good old
Lady Rounds had two such encum-
brances the first winter of their soiourn
in the south, and two army girls among
SO many are subjects of not little
thought and care. If Mr.. Warning had
not led the second german with Mar
garet Rounds the mothers heart would
have been well-nigh crushed. 1t was
fear of some such catastrophe that kept
her silent on the score of Warnings re-
ply to her irate lord, for if Sam did
mean to be impertinent, as he unques-
tionably could be, the colonel she knew
would be merciless in his discipline
and social amenities would be at in
slant end. Warning had covered her
with maternal triumph and Margaret
with bliss unutterable by leading the
ante-Lenten german with the elder
daughter and making her brief stay a
month of infinite joy. The Rounds
were ordered on to Texas, and Mar
garet's brief romance was speed
lily and properly forgotten in the
devotions of a more solid if less
fascinating fellow. To do Warning
justice, he had paid the girl no more
marked attention than he showed
to anyone else. He would have led
the next german with Genevieve had
there been another to lead, just as he
had led previous affairs with other
DANES and damsels. 1t was one of the
ninety-nine articles of his social faith
that girl should have good time her
first season, just as it was another that
bride should have a lovely wedding,
a belle at least one offer month, a
married woman as much attention at
an army ball as could be lavished on a
bud. He prided himself on the fact
that no woman at the army parties
given that winter had remained wall
flower. Among such host of officers
as was there assembled during the
years that followed on the heels of the
war it was no difficult matter, to be
sure, to find partners for the thirty or
forty ladies who honored those occa-
sions with their presence. OF local
bellies there were none. 1t was far too
soon after the bitter strife to hope for
bliss SO great as that. There were
hardly any but army women to provide
for, and even the bulkiest and least at
tractive of the lot was led out for the
dance. Warning would go to any length
to see them on the floor but that of
being himself the partner. There the
line was drawn irrevocably. The best
dancer among the men, he simply
would not dance except with the best
dancers among the women. AS to per-
sona1 appearance and traits, it may be
said first that Warning was man of
slender, graceful physique, with singu-
larly well-shaped hands and feet and a
| head and face that were almost too
good-looking to be manly. Dark hazel
| eyes, dark brown hair, eyebrows,
lashes, and a very heavy, dropping
mustache, straight nose, soft, SEN
| sitive mouth with even white teeth
| that were, however, rarely visible, a
clear-cut chin, and with it all soft,
| almost 1anguid southern intonation,
musical, even ultra-refned, and he
shrank like q woman from a coarse
| word or the utterance of an impure
| thought. He was a man whom many
women admired, of whom some were
afraid, whom many liked and trusted,
for he could not be bribed to
say mean thing about one of their
number, though he would sometimes be
| SdGh1Cd1 W AcI very AdCC' IL was
among the men that Sam Warning was
hated or loved-loved, laughed over,
INDUCED, even spoiled, perhaps, to any
| and every extent, by the chosen few
who were his chums and intimates-
and absolutely hated by a very consid-
cradle element that was prominent in
the army in those queer old days-the
array of officers, who, by reason Of
birth, antecedents, lack of education
or of social opportunities, were want
ing in those graces of manner and Ian
guage to which Warning had been &C
customed from earliest boyhood. His
| people were southerners, yet, not being
slave owners, had stood firm for the
union, and were exiled from the ole
home as a natural consequence in 6
war in which the south held all against
who were not for her. Appointed 6
cadet and sent to the military academy
in recognition of the loyalty of his i'm
mediate relatives, he was not grad
uated until the war was practically
over, and then, gazetted to an infan