Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1899-01-19

not nelp leeIlng sorry 4oL Aini' eHN'
although l disapproved of the whole
proceeding, l came away at the same
time he did, and We journeyed togeth-
er as far as Edinburgh.
At Inverness an old lady got into
our carriage, apologizing for the in
trusion, and explaining that there
wasn't corner anywhere in the train.
Of course we both protested that there
was no necessity for the old girls
apologies, although l, for one, felt IN
tensely aggrieved at her presence.
l must say that this sort Of adven-
ture showed Algy at his best. He was
charming to our travelling companion,
stuffng his own things out Of the way
and disposing Of her multltudinous
hand luggage in the places best suited
to their varied and wonderful shapes
By the time we got to Perth the two
were as thick as thieves, and l ceased
grumbhng at the presence Of the old
girl, for she broke the sOmbre black
ness of Algy's gloom.
At the Perth station, where we
lunched, he looked after our fellow
traveller with such tender care that,
although there was now plenty OF
room in the train, she utterly declined
to remove herself and her luggage
from our carriage. l noticed that he
was very much flushed and excited
when he returned to our carriage.
He began giving our travelling com
panion details of his career, borrowed
largely from the pages of Rudyard
Kipling, the most blood-curdling ad-
ventures followed each other in rapid
succession, while l sat furious in my
corner, cursing him for fool. The
old lady was completely fascinated,
and kept on saying it sounded like a
romance-which, indeed, it did !
There really was nothing Algy hadn t
done; he had been in Jameson s rad,
he had fought at Suakim, he had
held a fort with a handful of men
against thousands of Afghans, he was
one of the three survivors Of the wreck
of the Drummond Castle. wondered
how much the old girl would stand,
but she swallowed it all down like,
milk, and when we got to Edinburgh,
where we parted, she begged Algy to
tell her his name. To my disgust, l
saw him hand her his card, and she
warmly entreated us both, if we were
ever in Edinburgh again, to come and
see her in Edinburgh Gardens.
thought Algy was going altogether
too far, giving his name, with the reg
iment and all, to be discredited like
this for the sake of a silly joke, and l
pitched into him well as the train
numbered out of Waverly station.
Algy laughed boisterously, 81
didn't give her my name, you old
duffer" he said, Il gave her Percival's.
I happened to have card Of my i'm
maculate cousins in my pocket, and l
handed it over to the old girl. Per-
cival will be rather surprised if he
meets her some day to hear that he Is
the hero Of a hundred fights that he
has only read Of in the newspapers.
saw that it was no use saying any
more, so buried myself in my railway
rug. After a bit, the effect Of the e1-
citement began to wear off, Algy grew
more morose again and raved against
fate and Percival and old Lafone un-
til he finally dropped off to sleep, to
my great relief, and l was at last al
lowed to do the same.
A day or two after we had rsjolned
Algy came into my room in the bar
racks with a face as white as sheet,
and letter in his hand. 1t seemed
he had thought better of his conduct
to old Lafone, and had written and
telegraphed, imploring Maude to for
give him. And now she had written
to say that the separation must be
final, that on knowing him better she
felt she couldn't trust him, and that
"a marriage would not be for their
happiness. Algy must take this as
final
read the letter over, and told him
I thought sh. meant it. And 50 it
turned out, for no humbling in the
dust on the part of Algy had any ef-
feet. 1t was all at an end. The
poor chap was frightfully cut up tue
whole thing was his own fault, which,
of course, wasn't soothing reflection.
There was nothing to be done, howev-
er, but to try and bear it. Soon after
he applied to exchange into the White
Lancers, and for some time l saw
nothing of him They didn't care for
him in the White Lancers, and chris