Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-09-22

'Cat and Compasses as usual; DorcaS
hustled about with a pleasant sense of
expectation and went and stood on the
towing path, her eyes fixed on the
distant bridge. Some boys went by to
battle beyond the second bend, with
laughter and shouting. Then the only
Sound was the hum of bees settled on
the purple scablous growing atop the
crumsIing cottrswold wall.
On Monday Dorcas could bear it no
longer. Il be that tewey and narvous,
/ don't know what 1 be about" she re-
marked, as she locked the door of the
Blue house and hid the key under the
mat. Should a barge come-well, it
must manage somehow. Barges were
never in hurry. She had come to a
momentous decision. She was going
to inquire after cher little gentleman"
Whether he was i'll or gone for a holi-
day, or was merely forgetful, she would
find out and end this dreadful suspense.
She was a very supplemented woman,
but in her heart of hearts she felt a
little sore with the grand vizier, for
she had a notion that he was by no
means ignorant of what these Sunday
visits meant to her.
81 believe ed ave come afore this
if ed "a been let. "A be that meek
'earted "a wouldn't 'urt vloi, let alone
a 'oman," she said herself with a
half sob. She was G d that her
sultan could not forget so utterly the
humblest Of his slaves. So she put
on her best clothes and tight elastic
sided boots, with lots of little white but
tons adjoining the fronts.
tho R111o hnt1Sa DOrQaS was never
either self-conscious or shy; but when
she reached her sultan's palace, having
timid1y pushed open the drive gate, she
became aware that the new boots
creaked horribly, and that perspiration
was dropping from her eyebrows into
her eyes. Having mopped her face,
and generally pulled herself together,
she managed to reach the front door,
though her knees trembled and her
heart futtered like "a Gagged bird.
Never was such a noisy bell! It
Changed and echoed in most alarming
fashion; she wished that the stone
steps would open and swallow her up.
What would they think of her for dar-
ing to make such clatter? Besides
and at the dreadful thought she nearly
cried out-of course she ought to have
gone to the back door.
For full five minutes she stood on the
steps, listening to any sound inside
the house, but all was perfectly quiet.
She turned and went into The drive,
meaning to go round to the back door,
when it occurred to her to look back at
the house; she had been far too nervous
to do so as she came in. The lower win
dows were suffered, and all the blinds
were down.
They had gone, then! and it was
empty. "And they never didn't bring
i'm to say good-by to me-"
LIES little tragedies generally hap
pen to the lonely. What in full and
happy life ranks but as an episode be-
comes an epoch in the sad-colored days
OF lean monotony. Dorcas wiped her
eyes more than once on her way home,
and wept heavily for many days. Eli
jah saw that she was fretting, and
tried to distract her by news from
town and occasional suggestions that
she go over land see sister law" in
an adjacent village; but beyond her
necessary journeys to town to buy such
stores as she could afford, Dorcas never
left home. She scrubbed the kitchen
table till she grudged to sully it's white
ness by so much as yellow bowl, and
she made herself a warm new winter
dress, but, for all her industry, the
time hung heavy on her hands, and she
never forgot her little gentleman"
The wet season was followed by an In
dian summer of exceptional beauty.
THE spirit of October, mild and BOOM"
was in the air; the lettering of Cottes-
void wall, which laid its hayward
length on the far side of the footway,
was covered by sprays of crimson
mingled with the fluffy
grayness of ''old mans beard" Dor
cas- no longer started hungrily down
the towing path on Sunday morning,
but she did not forget; and, in token
of her remembrance, the twenty-first
chapter of the Book of Revelation was
marked in her Bible by little wooden
glove with a large hole in the thumb.
Her sultan had dropped it during his
last visit.
The birds sang as though it were
spring, and Dorcas began to read aloud
to herself to keep her thoughts from
wandering. And God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes," whispered
the kind Gloucestershire voice, when
suddenly, above the triumphant voices
of birds, above the soft wash of the wa
ter among the following reeds, rang
that clear sound for which the soul of
Dorcas had hungered so cruelty.
II wonder if the lady at the Blue
house will know me again. dad?"
It seemed as though the grand vizier
had not been so greatly to blame after
all. He had been suddenly called away
to the north of Scotland. and although
he had left directions that before the
sultan and the household followed
him that pOtentate was to be taken to
4 l. Z. IL. ID