The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-06-27
"A KISS In THE DARK.
Being Tragedy OF Errors at a
Western Array Post.

human one, feminine, particularly
that OF not being satisfied with good
thing and letting well enough alone,
"Well enough" being in this case a first
lieutenant Of more than ordinary at
fractions There are very few women
who are satisfied when only one man
is the captive Of their charms; they
prefer dozen sollpirants to one. even
If they are themselves enamored of
the one. The name Of the gallant sol
der whose good fortune it was to
have obtained for his promised own
the Wlnsome daughter of CAPTAIN Eos
ter, was Appleton, his fortune was
his own good sabre, and his pay Of
one hundred and twenty dollars a
month; his character the full ideal Of
an ottlcer and gentleman; as Tor his
appearance, it was all that even i]iss
Foster, who might have had the pick
of some seven or eight others, could
desire. The only excuse to be found
for the first error is that Miss Foster
was very young, rather spoiled, and
not in the habit Of being denied any
thing, upon which she set her rather
uncertain little heart. Theref re,
when very stubborn second llauten-
ant by the name Of Sake let her dis
tinctly see that he was not to he :apti-
waited by charms that had :lllured ev-
cry one else, she determined that his
pride should be humbled in the dust,
even in the alkali dust Of the plains.
That was the first sad error. What
she should have done, as seen in the
light OF future events, was to have
been happy in the complete possessi IN
of such a man as Appleton, and have
let all others drift with their own lar
ticular current of life. But 'hen-she
was just eighteen, and the regiment
had made much of her.
Now Appleton was not jealous
man; even if he had been, it is doubt
full If he would have suspected what
was going on in the mind Of his pref
ty sweetheart, for she was something
Of a t1irt and quite able to have two
strings to her bow. She certainly gave
all the time, that he had any right to
claim to Appleton. even more, per
haps, and impressed him with the idea
e.
which, indeed was the case, only there
were also a large number of more or
less bright moons and small stars
which competed with his glory. For
Kitty was not untruthful in the least.
She was in love with Appleton, and if
she had not been. would never have
made him think so; the trouble was
that she was just little in love, as
we'll, with goodly number IF others.
And how could she have helped it?
They were all SO awfully nice to her,
and seemed so fond of her. Ali ex-
cept Sake: He did not appear to care
in the least, and was devoted to no
one and nothing except his command
ing officer and his troop. Miss Foster
was piqued and meant to "get even"
Which was quite right, according to
her lights.
The second error was unconscious.
The. commanding officer conIrlitt Ill it
when he sent Appleton off on a
months special duty, and thereby left
Kitty like kite without string,
very likely to plunge out of it's proper
course and land on some unexpected
obstruction. Kitty cried q little and
was dreadfully sorry when Appleton
left: she watched the ambulance, with
fearful eyes. until it was almost out
OF sight; but as soon as it began to
grow smaller, she turned about as it
would be bad luck to look until the last.
Her eyes were very dewy and were
exactly tl:e kind that look vel! in tha t
state. When she wheeled art ind, she
came almost face to face with Sake,
and only raised her lashes long enough
to give him a glance of such delight
fully beWitching sor1ow, that any 9th
er man would have tried to console
her then and there, and ran as fast as
she could into the house. SAKE went
on his way with a new admira ton for
Kitty, whom he had always consider
ed very heartless child. He was
glad to see that she was capable of
loving some one to the extent of cry
ing over his departure. He did not
wish he were the lucky man, how
ever; that stage was yet to come
The third error was very serious,
and 1t was the usually uncrring Sake
who committed it. He del1lded himself
with the fallacy that fire will not burn
1t you put on the asbestos gloves OF in
difference when you handle it. He felt
sorry for poor, bercaved Kitty and
conceived it to be his duty to go over
and console her. If it had been a dis
agreeable duty he would not have
Stunned it, but it was not disa gree
able duty. In the moonlight before
tattoo. he went to sympathize with
Miss Foster. That was the error.
When he left he was glad that he had
listened to the promptings Of con-
science, it had seemed to do the girl
SO much good. She was really 4 far
more earnest and womanly little per-
son than he had supposed, not as shall
low as one would imagine. She was
bearing up against her troubles brave
ly, and he admired her for it. After
he had left, Kitty went up to her room
and sat in her. window looking out
upon the parade ground, and smiled
and counted one point, very much as
if she had been playing whist. She
did not forget Appleton; she cried
again when she went to bed, and took
his picture to put under her pillow and
lay awake for q half-hour thinking
about him, but when she dropped off
to sleep it was with a distinct under
consciousness Of triumph instead of
loss. -.s
She went at her part in perfect cold