The Southern herald., 1900-11-09

which said things about her in every
other issue, called her the 'Blue
Belle" Sometimes the things they
said were not altogether kind. but she
was very nice girl, for all that; and
it was nobody's business, except his
and hers, if it took most of her ia
theirs moderate salary to keep her in
fine linen and pale-blue. For his
part, Patmore, as he sat and watched
her while she made the tea, thought
that the greatest happiness life could
hold for any man would be to have the
right to do just that very thing. She
was all but an angel descended
straight from the heavenly vault and
clothed in its own hue.
That, at least, was his idea of her;
but she was an entirely human young
woman, quite human enough to put a
spoke in Miss Barrett's wheel if she
were to get the chance,
"Who was that sweet little girl you
we're with on the Tiburon ferry, the
other day?" she wanted to know.
She cuddled down among the cush-
ions again and raised a daintier hand
than Miss Barrett's to smooth heI
soft brown hair.
You can call another girl sweet and
little in a way that makes the praise
very faint and damning.
Patmore looked uncomfortable al
he told her.
But Miss Tyndall was all interest
"lIiss Barrett" she exclaimed-"wai
it really? And you are engaged tC
her, are you not?"
81 was" said Patmore, "but l an
overwhelmingly" The 'unfor
tunately" was nothing short of heroic
under the circumstances. He fell
that himself, and also that it wiped
out several little conscience debts.
Miss Tyndall said: "Ohl indeed
and asked if his tea were all right
Patmore thought she had a great dea
of tact. She supposed that he did
and she supposed, moreover, that sh'
had scored a triumph. But she wa
not content with that-not until al
! his world and hers should know tha
it was so.
Patmore was not student Of tn
sex. So he thought it was all his owl
doing and idea when he asked her t.
20 with him to the post the next aft
ernoon and listen to the band play
For the same reason he did not thin,
how trying it naturally must be 70
Miss Barrett, who was wheeling tn
Youngest brother in his perambula
tor, to meet them face to face, and t
have to smile when he presented Mi'
Tyndall. Miss Tyndall was wearin
a bunch of forget-me-nots at her be
-Patmore had sent them to her
and she gave a spray to the BABY
brother. Presently the baby-brotf
er, to whom a beautiful girl in pail
blue shirt-wai:t did not matter near
so much as his own sister in any sol
of clothes, threw it into the road. Mi
Barrett glanced at it and let it Ii
though there must have been tenn
tation to step on it. But Patmor
coming that way again several hou
later, saw it upon the gravel, and toe
it up.
1t was just a month after this tn
somebody in power, who did not kDc
, what to be at, saw fit to send him ava
somewhere into the wilderness arouf
. Shasta, to do sketches and make pla
that nobody had any special use ft
anyway. He was gone for the emit
summer, and he only managed to Ii
through it by reading over and ovt
> until he could have repeated the
backward or any other way, the t1
+ letters Miss Tyndall wrote to hi
during that time.
q When, one foggy evening just ait
: retreat, he returned to the post,
> was met with the news that his tro
was ordered on foreign service, a.
: was going to leave within six da.
IT seemed to him that he was tne 1o'
:. |. ball of the gods, their jest and spo
. But Capt. Barrett did not cO1ce
!. himself about that. He had thu
" 10 do and to talk about, and ne {
! i not even remember that there v
" s,ob hAinc on earth as Miss Tyndi
Or so he kept PatmOrs occupied VI
10 tattoo.
9 What Patmore should have DC
n after that was to 60 to his quart
n and straight to bed, because ne ,, Wo' ,
in be very busy the next day. What
er did do, however, was to shave