Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1897-07-10

WV $50
reel was ready at her side; she took it up for
a fresh supply, and innocently rested her
head against the leafy and flowery wall of
the arbor. Was it thought that gradually
closed her eyes again, OK was 1t sleepP In
either case Susan was lost TO all sense Of
passing events; and Susan's breathing be-
came unsteady regular, emulous of the mus.
zeal regularity OF the brook.
As a lesson In patience the art OF angling
pursued In a shallow brook has its moral
uses. Kitty ished and waited, and renewed
the bait, and tried again with a command of
temper which would have been a novelty in
Susan's experience, il Susan had been
awake. But the end which comes TO all
things came also to Kitty's patience. Leav-
ing her rod on the bank, she let the line and
hook take care of themselves, and wandered
away in search of some new amusement.
Lingering here and there to gather flowers
from the beds as she passed them, Kitty was
stopped by a %shrubbery, with a rustic seat
placed near it, which marked the limits of
the garden on that side. The path that she
had been following led her farther and far
ther away from the brook, but still left it
well In view. She could see on her right
hand the clumsy old wooden bridge which
Wv oAA'NiAl hlh 10 u llNNllN VI
communication for the servants and the
t~radespeople between the cottage and the
village, on the lower ground a mile away.
The child felt hot and tired. She rested
herself on the bench, and spreading the
flowers by her side, began to arrange them
in the form of a nosegay. Still true TO her
love for Sydney, she had planned to present
the n0Segay TO her mother, Offering the elf
~ on aN1tcn fan ,atu.p,inu ~ tla f,,l,lln,
subject of her %governess and for asking
when they might hope to see each other
again.
Choosing flowers and then rejecting them
trying other colOrs and wondering whether
she had accomplished a change for the BET.
ter, Kitty was startled by the sound of q
voice calling TO her from the direction OF the
brook.
She looked round and saw a gentleman
crossing the bridge. lie asked the way TO
Brightwater cottage.
There was something In his voice that at
tracted her-how or why, at her age, she
never thought of inquiring. Eager and ex.
cited, she ran across the lawn which lay be.
tween her and the brook before she answered
the question.
The gentleman approached her and sud
denly stood still. Kitty said: ''rhis is the
cottage, sir; do you want TO see mammaP'
The last WORDS fell family from her lips;
she hardly knew whether she was frightened
or surprised. There the stranger stood with
his eyes fixed on her, thinner and paler, and
not looking happy-and yet like, oh, so like
her lost fatherl
His sorrowful eyes rested kindly on her,
Inc child yentured to say: "DO you know
me sIr?'
He answered in the saddest voice that
Kitty ever heard: "My little girl, what
makes you think | know your
She was at Il loss how 90 reply, fearing to
distress him. She cSlld only say: "You are
so like my poor papa"
lie shook and %shuddercd, as if she had
said something TO brighten him. lie took
her hand. On that hot day his fingers felt
as cold as il it had been winter time. He
led her back to the seat she had left, "I'm
tired, my dear" he paid. "Shall we sit
downY' 1t was surely true that he was
tiredP lie seemed hardly able to lift one
foot after the other; Kitty pitied him. II
think you must be ILL.," she said, as they
took their places, side by side, on the bench.
"NO; not i'll, Only weary, and perhaps a
little afraid of frightening YOU" lie kept
her hand in his hand, and patted it from
timH to time. ''My dear, why did you say
POOR papa when you spoke of your father
just nOw?'
my father is dead, sir"
He turned his face away from her, and
pressed both hands on his breast, as if he felt
some dreadful pain there and was trying to
hide II. But he mastered the pain; and he
said q strange thing to her-yery gently. but
still ii was strange. He wished to know
who had told her hat her father was dead.
"Grandmamma told me-"
DO y remember what g%randm3mma
"Yes-she told me papa was drowned at
sea-"
lie said something to himself, and said it
twice over. Not her mOtherl Thank God,
not her mother!" What did he mean?
Kitty looked and looked at him, and won
dered and wondered. lie put his arm round
her. Come near to me-" he said, Don't
be afraid of me, my dear" She moved
nearer, and showed him that she was not
afraid. The poor man seemed hardly TO un-
derstand her, His eyes grew dim; he sigh
ed like a person in distress; he said: your
father would have kissed YOU, little one, il
he had been alive. You say J. am like your
father. May | kiss your
She put her hands on his shoulder, and
lifted her face to him. In the instant when
he kissed her the child knew him. Her
heart beat suddenly with an oyerpowering
delight; she started back from his embrace.
That's how papa used to kiss nj! p She
cried. "Oh! you are papa! Not drowned;
not drowned" She flung her arms round
his neck and held him as if she would never
let go again. Dear papal Poor, lost pa
pap His tears fell on her face; he sobbed
over her. "My sweet darling! My w lit
tie Kittyp'
The hysterical passion that had overcome
her father filled her with piteOus surprise.
How strange, how dreadful, that he should
cry-that he should be SO sorry when she
was 50 glad! She took her little handker-
chief out OF the pocket of her pinafore> and
dried his eyes. Are you thinking of the
cruel sea, papap No! the good sea, the kind,
bright, beautiful sea that has given you back
to me and to mamma-p'
They had forgotten her motherl and Kitty
only discovered 1t now, She caught at one
OF her fathers hands hanging helpless at his
oiuc' WIN sparkling eyes, WllH HuSneu
cheeks, she pulled at his hand as il her little
strength could force him to his feet. Come"
she cried, land make mamma as happy as
amp
lie hesitated. She sprang on his knee; she
pressed her cheek against his cheek with the
caressing tenderness familiar to him in the
first happy days when she was an infant
'Oh, papa, are you going TO be unkind to me
for the first time in your lifeq'
His momentary resistance was at an end
He was as weak in her hands now as II he
had been the child and she had been the
man,
Laughing and singing and dancing round
him, Kitty led the way to the window of the
room that opened on the garden. Some one
had closed 1t on the inner side. She tapped
impatlently on the glass. Her mother hearc
the tapping; her mother came to the win
dow.
! And they saw each other again! Since thu