Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-08-06
MARY KENT.

Every one in Breesboro knew Mary
Kent. Indeed, she was oftentimes a SUBJ
ject of conversation in regions beyond the
metes and bounds of that little town.
That the conversations in which she fig
ured as the subject matter were not al
ways kindly goes without saying-or will
go in that manner when I record the fact
that Mary Kent was a very pretty girl, and
she was very well aware of it. She was q
girl that always had a man-sometimes
several men-at her beck and call, and
when she "sat out" a dance it was solely
because she wanted to ''sit it out" She
never posed in the decorative but trying
position of "wallfower." For the rest
she was a yivacious and sparkling young
lady, with more courage than prudence,
though l emphatically refuse to admit
that she was deficient in the latter. For
reasons best known to themselves there
are many Of the sex feminine who look
upon girls of Mary Kent's ilk with no
charitable eye. Breesboro had as many
women of this sort as the next place, maybe
more, and they frequently found Mary
Kent a most absorbing subject for flgur-
alive vivisection, which, when we remem-
Der that even in this enlightened age
imaginary faults are far more interesting
topics Of conversation than the most tangi-
BILE Of virtues, is in no wise remarkable.
But that's enough in the abstract; let's
get down to the concrete.
The thing that disturbed Breesboro and
It's environs, or, to speak more correctly,
the gossiping elements thereof, was Mary
Kent's ''carryings on with the Leicester
boys" l arrived in the town just about
the time when these particular ''carryings
on were causing Madam Rumor's Brees-
boro representatives to work overtime.
My arrival and subsequent residence there
are not important except as tending to
show that I was on the ground and ought
to know something about the matter.
The Leicester boys" owned and con-
Quoted a big and fertile farm not far from
Breesboro. They were both big, fine look
ing men; the sobriquet "boys" was a relic
of the days when they used to both come
to school riding one horse, who bore in
addition to his other burdens a dinner pail
Of surprising Observation-Disclosures than
either of the riders, said tradition, but
then tradition is notoriously unreliable.
Henry Leicester was a year older than his
brother Will; both were large, but Henry
was dark and Will was light. Strangers
considered them alike, often m%istaking one
for the other; Breesboro people said they
could see no resemblance.
As a stranger and afterward a Breesboro
man I an bound to say that both views
were perfectly oorrect-there is often an
apparent lack Of logic in facts. They
were certainly very different in disposition.
They were devoted to each other, but 1 al
ways thought, and Breesboro agreed with
me, that Henry often made way for Will
with unnecessary unselfishness and Will
never seemed loath to avail himself of ad-
vantages thus offered. Both were frank,
but Henry was quiet and cool, Will i'm
pulsive and hot tempered. All those traits
were emphasized after they began paying
court to Mary Kent. Just when they did
begin would be hard to say. The Kents
and the Leicesters had been intimate aud
friendly for generations, and it is probable
that this complex love affair stole a march
on the gossips and was well under way
long before it threw Breesboro %femininity
into throes Of agonized curiosity. 1t was
about SIX months before migrated thither
that the matter became town talk. Tn
Leicester boys were among my earliest
acquaintance and as acquaintance ripened
into friendship ! gradually became the re-
pository of the hopes and fears of both
brothers, though neither ever knew acted
az father confessor to the other. am
afraid was not an impartial spectator or
a judicially minded oonfidant, for often
inWardly ragged at the manner IN which
Henry set Wills hopes for happiness ahead
of his own and at the entire absence of a
reciprocal spirit IN VIII. But refrained
from arguing with either about that phase
Of the matter, as such argument might
easily have led to a betrayal of my dual
capacity. OF course, too, l soon got to
know Mary Kent, drst because she invari-
ably came to Breesboro every day In the
week with one or the other of the Leices-
tors. Monday II would 30 Henry, Tues
day IT would be VIII, and SO n And,
secondly. because both the boys insisted
I'M Nn