The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-02-19
him q big. airy room under his own

Not for six weeks was Randy able to
ride again, and states have been lost
and won in less. There is little need of
dwelling on the progressive stages Of
the unprecedented siege. Billy Whit
taker got there comparatively early in
the game, when convalescence had just
begun to be assurcd-when Florence,
shy and soft of voice, was just begin
ming the daily readings aloud to her pa
tient-readings which, as such, began
soon to shorten, though reader and au-
dience remained long and longer in
each others presence. By and by tho
book was but superHuity. 1t lay un-
opened in her lap, Us she sat, with
downcast eyes and flushing cheeks, be-
side the hammock wherein her hero pa
tient lay, and the anxious mother noted
how, little by little, the girls soft, sill
very tones would become hushed-how
his voice, deep and strong again, yet
tender and subdued, would take up the
thread of some old, old story; and one
day in alarm she fled to her husbands
study, for Florence was weeping in her
room.
do not interfere by look or word"
said that wise man. "Ile will be we'll
enough to rejoin his fellows in the field
next week, and they'll soon get over it.
If they don't-thcy can get married.
That will put an end to it."
"But think" persisted his better half,
cts Florence I'm troubled about. It's
she WHO may not soon get it. Hers
is deep"
But here the captain arose and
amazed his wife by taking her In his
arms and speaking with choking sob
in his voice:
Don't talk of it, Dot!" he said. I'm
the one to blame. 1 lever thought Of
brownie as anything but child until
three days ago. I've been praying you
wouldn't see it-that thcre'd be nothing
more to see, but" and here the gray
stubble about the captains mouth be-
gan to twitch and work convulsively,
and he had to stop.
"You know he was engagedt-to some
body-cast, and it was broken off"
paid Mrs. Tremaine, "ard L hadn't
thought Of danger until just a day or
two ago. Now-if he's going next
week, as he saNS-and she has learned
to care for him, what can we do?"
"IIc is going next week." said Ire
maine. Gle told me yesterday he ought
to go now, and wished to go now. 1t
was Wells who forbade. But Grafton
always liked Merriam and IIayne be-
lieves in him. Our Florence might do
worse, Dot"
"But do you underestimate" she said,
edo you realize that, just from proximi-
ty perhaps, Florence may have learned
to care for him, while he is still thinking
of his lost love?"
Florence and not Merriam?" he asked,
starting back, and holding her from
him, and looking with amaze and in
cre1ulity into her eycs-straight into
her anxious, fearful face. "Why, Dot,
it isn't possible! Shc-he-he must
have learned to care for her. 1t couldn't
be otherwise. Only | hadn't thought of
Floy except as a child. and l wasn't
prepared"
Like many another father, to whom
q daughter is as the apple Of the eye,
Trcmainc could see no fault, no failing
in his child. To him she was the fair
est, as she was the best, fondest, most
dutiful girl in the whole army. One Of
his favorite plans had been to take her
to West Point the previous summer,
and let her, as he said to himself,
'paralyze the corps" One of the sweet
dreams he had often dreamed was of
the evening when, with Florence on his
arm, he should reenter the old mess
hall, which he had notvisited since it was
bravely deckcd for the 2Sth Of August
hop, the year Of his marriage. He had
promised to take her thither for the
graduating ball, and had pictured her
as the belle Of the occasion, sought
eagerly by the cadets as their partner
for waltz or "two-step;" and, as In his
eyes she was the most perfect creature
that ever lived or moved, his one anx-
iety was lest the boys in gray, always
susceptible, should forget that Floy was
only child and fall in love with her
forthwith. 1t never occurred to him as
accessibility that Floy in her turn might
fall in love. But there was no delicious
visit for Florence to the Point that year.
The moment examinations were over
at school her mother started with her
for the far west, and Tremaine met
them mt Santa Fc Junction. Then, after
one brief week at Sedgwicls, they had
started for the cantonnncnt, and there
had led their uncventful life until the
coming Of Randy Merriam, PROSTATE,
with the days of another june. And
now, while Florence was in tears and
hiding in her pretty room above stairs,
this GRANT, crring, invalid warrior,
with no word or sign of being himself
sorely hca1t-smitten, was dctc1mincdly
talking of going back forthwith to the
mountain trails. Trcmnne would not
let his beloved helpmect speak, either
to Florence or to Merriam, but he fully
meant to say more words than one to
Merriam himself, and then he be-
thought him Of Dalrymple. and the
famous frock that doughty major
donned whenever he sailed forth to ask
the intentions Of OMallcy's dashing
light Dragons, and this reflection gave
him pause. If, either by accident or de-
sign, the heart of his precious child had
become wrapped up in Merriam, then
Merriam should not leave the post with
out an explanation. But there was yet
time. 1t might be that the poor fellow
was really sore smitten himself, and
that the tender but unconguered heart
of his DAUGHTER was touched with pitv