The Somerset reporter., 1898-01-13
TRIAL BY FIRE.

There are colonies and ms jors and
generals and some old captains who
hold that Isabel Hampden was the most
attractive woman who ever graced the
frontier, and in their time most women
seemed attractive because of their search
! ty. She was handsome and accomplish
ed and clever and something more than
all these which was .inexplicable, but
very potent. She had been brought up
in garrisons and large cities, and by the
time she was two and twenty she knew
the world rather we'll. Moreover, she
knew men-not girls and women, but
men.
Because she had been allowed to live
in posts during most of what should
have been her boarding school days and
because she was pleasant to look upon
and to converse with at an age when
most girls are impossible, men had fall
en- in love with. her pretty much ever
since she could remember. 1t was said
that she had refused all the bachelors
in all the frontier regiments. This was
not far from the truth. A woman who
had married one of the rejected ones
said that refusing was a habit Miss
Hampden had formed, and that it began
to look as if she might never break
herself of it. In the nature of things
this was repeated to the girl. Her good
temper was one of her charms. at is
SO much better habit than accepting
them all, she argued sweetly. Never
theless, she wondered if there were not
some truth mingled with the malice.
But Lieutenant Loring was the last
victim of her practice He proposed to
her, unfortunately for himself, just after
she had met young Ardsley.
81 thought this morning that maybe
I would marry you," said Miss Hamp-
den. But I've changed my mind some
way
Loring was accustomed to a great deal
of frankness from her, but it clashed
with his notions of feminine modesty
for woman to have entertained
thoughts of marriage before the offer
thereof.
Weren't you just trif1e prompt in
determining my intentions;' he asked
HAS the event proved me wrong?"
she returned.
He lost his temper. "You are
spoiled, - he said.
If you knew how often l have heard
that Yet do not think | am. am
simply sincere, and you are little too
vain, all of you, to grasp the difference
l like you awfully well-no now, don t
misunderstood me. l don't love you
and you are too nice "a fellow to be
married to Il girl who only likes you.
No." she repeated, Il do not think I'm
spoiled. | am not agitated and fearful
as l ought to be, perhaps, under the
circumstances. l used to be, but I've
passed that. | have been so placed that
men were making love to me at an age
when OthergiA ere plaj ing with dolls
It's partly because | am pretty and
partly, largely, because there are so few
women out here. " hen | have been in
the east, l haven made much Of SEN
sation. I've grown bit hardened, per-
haps. Custom has dulled the edge
which was fearfully keen and cutting at
AlSl-o4 DOlllS btIN lLil L all DItuhlllS
a heart. But though l am only ~ I've
lived to see dozens of you marry and be
happy. You'll do the same.
"Oh, no, / shall not moaned Lor
ing.
"Oh, yes, you will, Jack, and
shan't mind! Now I've promised to
dance this with the new Mr. Ardsley,
and if we stay out here any longer every
one will guess what has happened"
"They ii know when they see me. "
Don t be goose, Jack. It's only the
heart that is trying to take itself seri-
ously that exhibits the pain. -
Don t discuss subject you know
nothing about. You have no heart.
He left her with an exaggerated bow
as young Ardsley came up.
AS Miss Hampden waltzed off with
Ardsley she knew that Loring was
wrong; that this tall boy, fresh from
West Point, as new i'll experience of the
world as the brass buttons on his blouse,
was the man she was going to love. He
would love her, of course. 1t is to be
feared that it did not enter her head
that he might not She liked his strong,
rough cut face and his jolly stone
gray eyes, and his drawing, heavy
voice, and his waltzing, and the way
he held her. After the dance she deter
mined that she liked his hands, and
when she looked at them she saw ring
SIS that your class ring?' she said.
"Yes, he told her.
MAY / see it,"
He gave it to her, and while she ex
amined it he sat aud admired her On
his part he liked the women who car
ried themselves haughtily; he liked tall
women; he liked straight black hair
and olive skin and dark eyes and large
features and IA neck of statuesque pro-
portions In short, he liked exactly the
things he had ntyer tancied up to thon.
Miss Ham, den raised her eyes and met
his. She smiled but it was like no
smile she b;d ever bestowed on man
before lr looked at her very grayely,
and her E:nd closed tightly over the
ring In a. Ihulntnt she was studying it
again.
II like this. It's unusual, y She said.
Il am glad you think so, as | con
ceived the design" He expected to be
told that he was clever,
"Indeed :" was all she said, and that
indifferently.
Glow COOL / rather thought You d