The Van Buren press., 1895-08-10
A KISS In THE DARK.


The arst error was . distinctly hu-
man one. feminine, particulsrly-that
u not being satisfied with . good thing
nd leaving well enough alone. well
enough" being In this case Arst lieu
kenaut Of more than ordinary attrac-
Hons T1ere are very few women who
~ sstisded when only one man is the
psptivs Of tAeir charms; they prefer .
dcaca soa{frants to ons. even II they
Ne thenzo1ses enamored Of the one
Tie name Of The gallant colder
whcse good fortune il WAS TO have OBJ
lained for his promised own the win
100 daushter Of Capt Foster waa
His fortune was his own
rod sshsr and his pay Of one
hundred and twenty-five dollars
his character the full ideal Of
N o6icer and . eentlemsn; - for his
appearance, II was all that even Miss
Foster, who might have had the pick
pf seven or eight others, could desire.
The only excuse to be found for the
arst error 10 thst Miss Foster was very
young, rather spoiled, and not In the
habit Of being denied anything upon
which she set her rather uncertain
little heart.
Therefore. when very stubborn sec
oud lieutenant by the name Of SAKE
let her distinctly see that he was not
TO be captivated by charms that had
allured every one else, she determined
that his pride should be humbled in
the dust, even In the allsali dust of the
plains. That was the said 6rst error.
What she should have done, rs seen In
the light Of sfuture events, was to have
been happy in the complete possession
Of such . man as Appleton, and to have
let al others drift with their own par
ticular current Of life. But then, she
wAs just eighteen, and the regiment
bad made much Of her.
Now Appleton was not . jealous
man; even II he had been, It Is doubt
ful II he would have suspectei what
Was going on ia the mind of his pretty
sweetheart, for she was mething Of
) nirt sud quite able to have two
strings toher bow. She certainly gave
I'll the time that he had any right Ia
claim TO Appleton, even more, per
heps, snd impressed him with the idea
that he was the sun Of her universe,
which. indeed, was the case, only there
were also . large number Of more OF
less bright moons and small stars
which competed with his glory. For
Kittie was not untruthful in the least.
She was in love with Appleton, and
II she had not been, would never have
made him think so; the trouble was
that she was just little in love, q
we'll, with . goodly number. Of others.
And how could she have helped iii
They were all SO awfully nice to her,
and seemed SO fond Of her. All except
SAKE. He did not appear to care in
the least, and was devoted to no one
and nothing except his commanding
officer and his troop. Miss Foster was
piqued and meant to get even. =
Which was quite right, according "a
her lights.
The second error was UNCONSCIOUS,
The commanding officer committed Il
when be sent appleton of on q
special duty, and thereby
left Kittie like kite without string,
very likely to plunge out Of its proper
course and land on some unexpected
Kittie cried little and
was drcadfully sorry when Appleton
left; she watched the ambulance, with
fearful eyes, until 1t was almost out
Of sight; but as soon as it began to
grow smaller. she turned about, as II
would be bad lnck to look until the
last Her eyes were very dewy and
were exactly the kind that look well
In that state
When she wheeled around. she came
nimo6t face 70 face with SAKE, and only
raised her iashes long enough 70 give
him a gIauce Of snch delightfully."- be-
sorrow, that any other man
would have tried to console her then
and shere, and ran as fast as she could
into the mouse. SAKE went on his way
with . new admiration for Kittic.
whom he had always considered very
heartless child. Ie was glad to see
that she was capable of loving some
one 70 the extent of crying over his de-
parturc. He did not wish he were the
lucky man, however; that stage was
yet to come.
The third error was very serious, aud
II was the usually unerring SAKE who
IL. lie deluded himself
With the fallacy that fire will not burn
II you put on the asbestos gloves OF In
difference when you handle It, He
felt sorry for poor, bereaved little
Kittie and conceived 1t his duty to 70
over and console her. II it had been a
duty he would not have
Dhunned 1t, but 1t was not disagreeable
duty. In the moonlight before tattoo,
be went to sympathize with Miss Fos-
~. That was the error. When he
LETT he was glad that he listened to the
promptinRs Of conscience, it had seemed
70 do the girl 20 much good.
She was really far more earnest and
womanly little person than he had sup
pdsed. not as shallow rs one would i'm
agine. She was bearing up against her
troubles bravely, and he admired her
for it. After he had left, Kittie went
up to her room and sat in her window
out upon the parade-ground,
and smiled and counted one point,
very much as II she had been playing
whist. She did not forget Appleton;
Ihe cried again when she went TO bed,
Ind took his picture TO put under her
pillow and lay awake for half hour
thinking about him, but when she
Ir6pped OF to sleep It was with dis
iuct under-consciousness of triumph,
nstead Of loss-
She went at her part In perfect cold
'lood and played u we'll Seeing that