Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-30

riss. the colonel went the way of all flesh.
preceded only a few months by the wife of
his bosom, the few thousands in life inSur-
ance he had managed to maintain went to
the two daughters Not penny was
ever laid out in payment of the debts of
either the father or husband. Nita was
sent to an extravagant finishing school in
Gotham,and along in May of the young gir.'s
graduating year blithe little Mrs Garrison
arrived, fresh from the far west, and after
a few weeks of sight seeing and shopping
the sisters appeared at the Point, even
half-mourning by this time discarded. Thir-
teen years difference there in the
ages of the fairy sisters" and not soul
save those who knew them in former DAYS
on the frontier would have suspected it,
Mrs. Frank in evening dress didn't look
over twenty.
One lovely evening early in August. just
about the time that Cadet Captain Latrobe
began to show well to the front in the run
for the prize, the two sisters had gone to
their room at the hotel to dress for the
hop. 1t their custom to disappear
from public gaze about O'Clock. and when
they came floating down the stairs in
fiImy, diaphanous clouds of white. the
halls We're well filed with impatient cava-
Hers in the natty cadet uniform and with
women waiting to see.'' Then the sisters
would go into the dining room and have
some light refreshment. with glass Of
iced tea-and no matter how torrid the heat
or how flushed and dragged other women
might look. they were inviting pictures of
ell that was ever fresh. cool and fragrant
The two fluffy blonde heads would be
huddled close together a minute as they
studied the bill of fare. and virtuous ma
irons at other tables. tanning vigorously.
would sniff and say: "AIl for effect. They
know that supper bill by heart 1t never
changes" All the same, at the bottom of
this public display of sisterly devotion and
harmony, and in spite Of occasional tiffs
and differences, there genuine affec-
ton on both sides. for a child Nita had
adored Margaret. and there could be no
doubling the elders love for the child
Some regimental observers said that every
bit of heart that elder Terriss girl had was
wrapped up in the little one. Neither girl
even after Margaret's marriage. would lis
ten to word in disparagement of the
other, but in the sanctity of>the sisterly re-
treat on the third floor of the old hotel
there occurred sometimes spirited verbal
Tits that were quite distinctly audible to
passersby in the corridor. provided they
cared to listen. which some of them did.
On this especial August evening Mrs Frank
was in an admonitory frame of mind. They
had known Mr. Latrobe barely three weeks,
and yet Mrs. Frank was sauntering
around a turn in Filtration Wark leaning
on the arm of the cadet adjutant. there in
the pathway right ahead stood Nita a
lovely little picture. with downcast eyes,
and Pat Latrobe bending over her, with
love ana passion glowing in his handsome
to both her tiny, whte-gloved hands. Mrs.
Garrison saw it all In the flash of second,
the adjutant not at all, for with merry
laughter she repeated some words he had
just spoken. as though they were about
the wittiest, funniest things in the world, and
looked frankly up into his eyes, az though
he were the best and brightest man she
had met In years-so his eyes were riveted,
and the ,tableau had time to dissolve. All
the same, that sight gave Mrs Garrison
rather more than a bad quarter of an hour
She was infinitely worried. Not because
rat Latrobe had fallen desperately in love