The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-21

love, had one of Rorke's lapses occurred,
and the lieutenant had been Masther
Willed and had redeemed to the roots OF
his hair, seeing which Kitty Ormsby, as
determined tease as ever lived, had
taken to calling him "Masther WIZ on
her own account, and thunderstorms were
imminent There were other fellows, pre-
sentable fellows, in the garrison who were
quick to feel the fascination OF this charm
ing little niece OF Fenton's, and Just the
moment Will sh owed disposition TO sulk
she showered smiles and sunshine on the
first subaltern to appear, and thereby drove
Will nearly rabid. Had his comrades ven
tured to dub him "Masther viii" there
would have been row. Had any or the
other bellies of the garrison so transgressed
he would have turned his back upon her
then and there, and so elegant dancer
and reputedly wealthy young officer was
not to be offended, even though he was
believed to be in love before Kitty came
and known to be the instant she appeared.
But Kit could and did torment him with
out mercy, and without fear OF conse-
quences, and, before she had been at
Frayne's week, was making life burden
for the fellow who had prayed Tor her
coming as sweet blessing.
And so, like the big outside world, the
little community of Fort Frayne was llv,,
ing its life of hopes and fears, smiles ana
tears, love and jealousy and hate, while
Kitty had speedily made herself complete
ly at home, and was tyrannizing over every
body at the colonel's, as well as over VIII,
and tormenting Aunt Lucretla by making
eyes at Major Wayne, who never saw
them, while WAYNE had got to drifting over
to the new colonel's almost every even
ing, just as twenty years ago he infested the
quarters of his old friend at Leavenworth,
arousing once more all the fiutterlng OF
that maidenly heart, and, while Mrs Far
rar, rejoicing in the evidences OF love ana
reverence in which her husband 8 name was
held on every side, and in the honors VIII
was winning in his chosen profession, ana
even while she found comfort In the tact
that one faithful old friend could recall
her hayward boy as he was before dis
honor and disgrace had swamped him, she
would have been less than woman had
she been insensible of Fenton's repressed
but unvarying devotion. Never 1ntrudlng,
rarely calling, he was gentleness, tender
ness personified in every look ana WORD:
1t was evident that all these years had
never served to Danish her image from
his heart. Mourner though she may be-
can woman live and notareJolce In know
ing herself the object of so much love on
every side. Widower though even by a
few brief months, does she resent 1t that
the man lives who would be glad to teach
her to forget? Life was not wltnout TO
nance then. even to one who had lost her
best beloved not three years gone by, and
for whose first born she still shed bitter
tears.
And to another sorrowing heart, to an
other gentle and stricken soul this wintry
sojourn on the far frontier was bringing
strange emotion. Day after day had Nal
colin Leale been visitor at the Farrars.
Time after time had he found himself
seated in conversation with the woman
whose beauty of face had thrilled him on
the day of her coming and whose sweet,
subdued but gracious manner had charmed
him more and more. First to notice his
marked preference for Helen Daunton's so
ciety was Ellis Farrar, who noted it with
mixed emotions, with an interest OF which
she felt ashamed and which she strove to
repress. For months she had been strug-
Cling against herself, or rather against
some strange distemper that was not her
self, for the pang of jealousy with which
the girl had marked her mothers depend
ence upon Mrs. Daunton when Ellis re,
turned from school had deepened and
taken forceful root early that graduation
summer. Her jealousy had been doubled
by an event that occurred shortly after her