Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-04-14
THE ADJUTANT CAPITULATES.

At a SeaSOnable hour the adJutant
reached the Zenith drawing room. He
saw no signs of family discord. That
Miss Stella made his call as agreeable
to him as it was gratifying to her,
will be understood without the assur-
ance OF an extended paragraph. When
he departed he carried away as a sweet
treasure, her sweetly uttered permis-
sion to call again.
He did call again, without any un-
reasonable delay. He called repeated
ly; called so often that invitations to
call elsewhere when not wholly dis
regarded were declined upon the plea
of prior engagements.
He devoted his hours to Miss Stella
and she always responded to his ap-
-proach. They walked, rode, drove,
dallied together. until their intimacy
became the chief subject of the pratt
lers. Envious old maids, jealous young
maids, wise gossips and black-voiced
croakers joined in a chorus OF depre-
cation and with serious faces, in pro-
phetic tones deplored those national
complications and calamities that had
seat to Minersvale one SO powerful, and
so ready, to work evil in society, as
was that subaltern who delighted to
declared to be such a pity that he was
not down south getting his whisker-
less head shot of.
Look at him, It's awful to see the
way he is trying to dazzle that dear
Stella Zenith! 1t is terrible to think
that one of our very brightest and
most lovable young ladies should per-
nit herself to be cajoled by himi One
would never have thought it of her.
What can make her mother so blind as
TO allow such goings on? 1t is pity
that her father don't horsewhip him,
or that some young gentleman of hon.
or does not make a hero of himself by
calling the shoulderstrapped scamp
out and sticking his own sword among
his ribs in search of his wicked hearti
He don't intend to marry her and he
will only break her hearti"
Those who knew the family best did
not wonder at the apparent non-inter-
ference Of Mrs. Zenith, for they knew
that no opposition could deter Miss
Stella unless she could see for herself
that she was wrong. What she desired
to accomplish she was sure to compass
in defiance of hindrances if she was
satisfied that it was right; and she did
her own reasoning as to what was
right and what was wrong.
AS for the adjutant, he was at first
attracted to Miss Stella by desire to
fathom her eccentricities. He had no
suspicion of the fact that in his pres
ence she carefully conformed herself
to that course that would be sure to
captivate him.
| do not wish to be misapprehended
to Miss Stella's detriment. She was
without hypocrisy. Nothing could
have induced her to that She was
simply a wise observer of people; an
accurate reader of character; and
she saw that by indulging herself in
her oddities unrestrained by doing
whatever she felt prompted to; by
being her most natural self always,
regardless of conventiOnalities, she
would be most successful in attracting
his admiration, and as she admired
him she sought to secure his highest
approval. She was shrewd enough to
be herself, natural and uncurbed.
Serious love making was as foreign
to the adjutant's intent as was suicide.
He contemplated the one quite as lit
tie as the other. If, when he left his
quarters to make that first call on Miss
Stella, one had suggested matrimony
to him, he would have responded that
a matrimonial engagement was an in
tangible possibility of the indefinite
future and a question that could not
arise for him until the war was over
and he settled prosperously in busi
ness.
How very little we know of our own
future, How very little we know OF
our own minds! 1t was not fort
night till the adjutant asked Miss Stel-
la to become his wife and embraced
her as his plighted bride This result
was but one more evidence of Miss
Stella's power to mould others to her
own wish.
The adjutant proposed to remain in
the army till the war was over; possi-
bly, afterward. He told his affianced
that as they were both so very young
he thought they should defer their
marriage till peace was established and
he settled to the business of his life,
whether that should be in the army or
in some civil pursuit.
To this Miss Stella verbally assent
ed, but with a mental reservation,
that if the war ended before their mar
riage, the country was at that moment
much nearer peace than the authori-
ties on either side suspected.