Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-11-03
CHAPTER .III.-CoNTINUED


"You know he was engaged-to some
body-east, and it was broken off,
said Mrs. Tremaine, "ard I hadn't
thought of danger until just a day or
two ago. Now-if he's going next
week, as he says-and she has learned
to care for him, what can we do?"
''He is going next week." said IRE
maine. ''He told me yesterday he ought
to go now, and wished to go now. 1t
was Wells who forbade. But Grafton
always liked Merriam and Hayne be-
1ieves in him. Our Florence might do
worse, Dot
"But do you understand" she said,
"do 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?''
"You mean that-you think it all
Florence and not Merriam?' he asked,
starting back, and holding her from
him, and looking with amaze and in
credulity into her eyes-straight into
her anxious, fearful face. "Why, Dot,
it isn't possible! She-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 I wasn't
prepared"
Like many another father, to whom
a daughter is as the apple of the eye,
Tremaine 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,
lot ho- 70
"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 not visited since it was
bravely declked 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
possibility 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 at Santa Fe Junction. Then, after
one brief week at Sedgwick, they had
started for the cantonment, and there
had led their uneventful 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 errant, erring, invalid warrior,
with no word or sign of being himself
sorely heart-smitten, was determinedly
talking of going back forthwith to the
mountain trails. Tremaine would not
let his beloved helpmeet 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 O'Malley'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 It might be that the poor fellow
was really sore smitten himself, and
that the tender but unconquered heart
of his daughter was touched with pity
for his suffering.
Meantime the culprit officer himself
had been carefully lifted into the doc
tors buggy. and with that excellent
practitioner was enjoying drive. The
one thing Wells could not understand
was that, while his patientrapidly gained
in health, flesh and appetite, he seemed
so to droop in spirits. Not one word had
he been told of Merriam's broken en-
gagement. beyond what Mrs. Tremaine
had impaired, and she could give but
scanty information. Merriam was
gratefu. for all the care and attention