The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1894-10-13

! off? I'll meet him at the ante-roo,n.
Wait minute; just give me your arm
down the steps" And, leaning on the
ue-shirted, muscular shoulder, Nor
| gan stumped away out through the
little gate, out across the grassy pa
! rade where the infantry companies
were busy at drill; and there was a
| cloud on both faces now, as, saluting at
| the gate, Schramm fell respectfully to
the rear.
And yet, an hour later, when Morgan
returned to his quarters and Lot and
Billy came tumbling unanimously to
greet him, and he, moody and troubled,
| sent them off in supreme contempt to
buy nickel's worth of gum-drops at
! the store, then came slowly to his door,
| a vague sense of new trouble was tug
! giny at his heart. doubt as to what
he ought to do or say numbing his fac
ulties. Pausing at the threshold, he
heard Comics voice, low, rich, tremu-
lous with happiness, singing one of her
mothers old dear songs, thing she
had not done since the bitter day they
followed the mother to her grave, and
the instant he entered she came to
throw her arms about his neck and
/ raise her glowing face to his lips. He
took it between his hands and looked
down gravely, fondly, yet with such a
world of trouble in his eyes. The song
was hushed. Once more the color
mounted to her temples, but the big,
soft eyes never finched nor faltered.
''Read that letter now. papa DEAR"
she simply said. II want you to read
it," And then when he would not, but
sank YEARLY in his chair, she went
and fetched the letter she had placed
upon his desk, and perched herself
upon the arm of the chair and nestled
her soft cheek against his weather.
beaten jowl, and opened the note be-
fore his eyes, which in turn he prompt
ly shut. Then she strove to pull them
open by means of the lashes, and then
he turned his head away.
II don't want to read the letter,
Con-" he said, remorsefully. II never
meant to let our Little Mother think
L"
'Then I'll read it, papa" she began,
interrupting him, whereat he clapped
his hands to his ears. well, at least
you must see the picture she cried,
and, jumping up, she ran to the man
tel with tintype, likeness of tall
young fellow with downy mustache
arrayed in cavalry scouting garb with
prairie belt and holster, a very pre-
sentable young dragoon, too, the sec-
: ond lieutenant Of Mannings troop; but
the eyes of the first lieutenant thereof
looked less kindly on this counterfeit
presentiment than ever they had upon
the face of the original.
"Where was it taken?'' he asked,
rather abruptly, feeling that he must
say something.
.'Mr. Thornton says an itinerant
artist drove out from town and met
them at the first camp and took quite
number and some groups. He had
two of them taken just like this, to
send home, and dropped the odd one in
here, saying it was a philopoena and a
bribe.''
''Bribe? For what?" demanded Nor
! gan. why should he bride my little
girl?"
"Oh, there was no need she laughed,
blithely. ''He-they all, he said,
wanted something your Connie was
only too glad to get and give. Now
YOU must read it and see for yourself,
papa"
But he would not. He was ashamed of
the fear that for moment had possessed
, him, that she had consented to a corre-
spondence with Thornton without ask
ing her fathers counsel-she, his little
Connie, his first-born. True, she was
older at fifteen than many town-bred
girls at twenty, for her childhood had
been nipped in the bud, and since those
slender shoulders had borne the care
and burden of woman for two long
years, was it to be forbidden her to
know aught of woman's glory? Only.
had he been blind all the time? Day
after day had Thornton been their Wis
itor, yet never in all that time had the
father seen or suspected in the young
officer any more interest in Constance
, than he displayed in Lot or Billy.
True, she was almost always silent
, attendant at their daily game, or an
absorbed listener to their talk, rarely
leaving them except to go into the
other room to moderate the clanor of
the youngsters, who, being burly and
aggressive, were too often involved in
q gsme of give and take in which they
were fairly matched. But Thornton's
manner to her, which was at first sim
ply kindly and jovial, as it was to the
other children, had certainly changed
to greater Difference as the winter wore
on. Little by little he saw how her IA
| ther leaned upon the girl, how thought
full, how devoted she was. He had
been reared gentleman. He had
mother and sister whom he dearly
loved, and from earliest boyhood
he had been taught by his sol
der father the lesson of gentleness,
courtesy, and consideration. From
the other officers in the regiment, most
| Of whom had known her in pinafores,
her greeting was simply Hello, Conf"
or Morning, Connie; how's dad to-
| day??'' Thornton impulse from the
| first when he met this tall slip Of g
girl in solemn black was to call her
miss Morgan" which made her blush
| 5>fS 5AN 49, vHNs b. u n Il