Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1897-05-29

Even Capt. ~BennydeckY" her mother ask
ed"
mo; l like my nice captain. And | like
the walters. They would take me to the
Crystal palace-only they're always busy. l
wish II was bedtime; l don't know what 10
do with myself"
Take q little walk with Susan"
"Where shall | go?'
Catherine looked toward the gate which
opened OH the road, and proposed n visit to
the old man who kept the lodge.
Kitty shook her head. There was an OBJ
lection to the old man. "He asks questions;
he wants to know how | get on with my
sums. He's proud of his summing, and he
finds me out when Pm wrong. don't like
the lodge-keeper."
Catherine looked the other way toward the
house. The pleasant fall of water in the
basin of the distant fountain was Just audi.
BILE. go and feed the goldhshes," she Sug.
gested.
This was a prospect of amusement which
at once raised Kitty's spirits. That's the
thingp she cried, and ran of TO the fountain
with the nursemaid after her.
Catherine seated herself under the trees,
and watched I'm solitude the decline of the
sun In a cloudless sky. The memory of the
happy years OF her marriage had never been
so sadly and perSlstently present to her mind
as at this time, when the choice of another
married life waited her decision to become
an accomplished fact. Remembrances of
the past, which she had such bitter reason to
regret, and forebodings of the future, in
which she was more than half inclined to be.
lieve, oppressed her at one and the same mo.
ment. She thought of the different circum-
stances, 50 widely separated by time, under
which Herbert years ago. and Bennydeck
uwenty-four hours since) had each owned
his.loye and pleaded for an MISUNDERSTANDING.
Her mind contrasted the dissimilar results.
Pressed by the faithless man who had 80
cruelty wronged her in after years, she only
wondered why he had waited SO long before
he asked her TO marry him. Addressed with
equal ardOr by that other man, whose age,
whose character, whose modest devotion OF.
fered her every assurance Of happiness that
q woman could desire, she had struggled
against herself, and had begged him TO give
her a day to consider. That day was now
drawing to an end. AS she watched the set.
ting sun the phantom of her guilty husband
darkened the heavenly light; embittered the
distrust of herself which made her afraid to
say yes, and left her helpless before the hesi-
tatl0n which prevented her from saying no.
The figure of a man appeared on the lone
ly path that led to the lodge gate.
lmpulslvely she rose from her seat as he
advanced. lmpulsiyely she sat down again.
After that first act of indecisiOn the fiutter
OF her spirits abated; she was able to think.
To avoid him, after he had spared her at
her w request, would have been an act of
ingratitude; to receive him was to place her
self once more IN the false position of a wo-
man too undecided TO know her own mind.
Forced to choose between these alternatives,
her true regard for Bennydeck forbade her
to think OF herself, and encouraged her to
wait for him. AS he came nearer she saw
anxiety In his face, and observed an open
letter In his hand. He smiled as he APP
preached her, and asked leave to take a chair
at her side. At the same time, when he per-
ceiyed that she had noticed his letter, he put
1t away hurriedly in his pocket.
II hope nothing has happened to annoy
YOU" she said.
He smiled again, and asked IL she was
thinking Of his letter. ut is only a report"
he added; from my second in command,
whom / have left in charge OF my home. lie
10 th Awful iiib " l. Nhi utIulN no ttlI-
per is not proof against the ingratitude which
we sometimes meet with. He doesn't yet
make allowances for what even the best nat.
ures suffer under the deteriorating influence
OF self-distrust and despair. No; l am not
anxious about the result of this case. l for
get all my anxieties Except one) when / an
with you"
His eyes told her that he was about TO re,
turn to the one subject that she dreaded. She
tried-as women will try, in the little emer
gencles OF their lives-to gain time.
IL am interested about your home" she
said; IL want to know what sort OF place i
is. Is the discipline very severe?"
There is no discipline" he answered
warmly. "My one object is to be a friend
TO my friendless fellow-creatures; and my
one way OF governing them is to follow thu
teaching of the sermon on the mount. What
ever else l may remind them of when the,
come to me, l am determined not to remint
them of a prison. For this reason, though
pity the hardened wanderers OF the streets
l don't open my d0u!i to them. Many a ref
uge, In which discipline Is inevitable, Is opei
to these poor sinners already. MY welcome
Is offered TO pentients and sufferers of an
other kind-whOh have fallen from position
In life In which the sense OF honor has beef
cultivated; whose despair Is associated witt
remembrances which | ma. so encourage
with the new testament to help me, as +
lead them back to the religious influences iii
der which their purer and happier lives ma,
have been passed. Here and there l nee
with disappointments, but l persist in IN,
system of trusting them as freely as If the
were my own children, and, for the mos
part, they justify my confidence in then
On the day-if 1t ever comes-when l fin
discipline necessary ! shall suffer my disaI
pointment and close my doors"
us your house open," Catherine asked
ITO men and women alike?"
He was eager to speak with her on O sui
ject more interesting to him ever than III
home. Answering her question in this fran
of mind his thoughts wandered; he dre'
lines absently with his walking-stick on tn
soft earth under the trees.
1.-THE means at my disposal" he said, ''ai