Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1900-02-21

chatter when ne was we'll enough TO
care to talk. But, after all, her most
serious trouble seemed to consist in
keeping Billy Gray at respectful dis
lance. He sought her side day after
day, to Armstrong; mild amaze, as
has been said; and when he could not
be with her was moody, even fierce and
ugly tempered-he whose disposition
had been the sunniest in all that gray,
shivery, dripping nojourn at the San
Francisco camp.
But once fairly settled in Manila, the
White Sisters seemed to regain all the
old ascendency. Col. Frost had taken
big, cool, roomy house, surrounded
by spacious grounds, down in Malate
and close to the FLASHING waters Of the
bay. Duties kept him early and late
at his Office in the walled city; but
every evening, after the drive and din
ner, callers came thronging in, and al
Witches witcheri>s were called into
play to charm them into blindness and
to cover Nita's fitful and nervous
moods, ROW almost painfully apparent.
Trost's face was at tmss thunder
cloud, and army circles within the outer
circle Of Manila saw plainly that all
was not harmony bstwixt that veteran
Benedict and that fragile, fluttering,
baby wife. The bloom of Nita'k beauty
was gone. She looked wan, white, even
haggard. She had refused to leave
Hong-Kong or come to Manila until Mar
garet's arrival, then Asw to the shelter
Of that sisterly wing. Frank Garrison
had been occupying a room under the
same roof with his general, but both
general and aide-de-csmp were now
much aield, and Frank spent far more
days and nights along the line of block
houses than he did At home. The COM
ing of his wife was unannounced and
utterly unlocked for. Ibid / consult
my husband" she exclaimed in sur
prise, when asked the question one day
by the wife of veteran field officer.
"Merciful heaven, Mrs. Lenox, there
was no time for that except by cable,
and At four dollars = word. No! If
any doubt Of what Frank Garrison will
say or do exists in my mind go and
do the thing ut once, then the doubt is
settled. If he approve, we'll and good;
il he doesn't-well, then I've had my
fun anyway"
But it made little difference what
Frank Garrison might think, say or do
when Nita's need came in question. 1t
was for Mia that Margaret Garrison so
suddenly quilted the Preside and has
tened to Hawaii. 1t was for her sake,
to be her counsel and protection, the
elder sister had braved refusal, difficult
ties. criticism, even Armstrong; open
suspicion and dislike, to take that long
voyage to a hostile cline. That she
braved, too, her husbands displeasure
was not matter of sufficient weight to
merit consideration. She was there to
help Nita; and until that hapless child
were freed from q peril that, ever
threatening, seemed sapping her very
life, Margaret Garrison meant to stay
For the letter that came by way OF
Honolulu had told the elder sister OF
increasing jealousy and suspicion on
the coloners part, of his dreadful rage
at Yokohama on learning that even
there-the very hour of their arrival
when the consul came aboard with 8
batch of letters in his hand, he had one
for Mrs. Frost. She had barely glanced
at its contents before she was stricken
with fit of trembling, tore it in half
and tossed the fragments on the swift
ebbing tide, then rushed to her state.
room. There she added postscript tc
the long letter penned to Margaret or
the voyage; and the purser, not he,
husband, saw it safely started on the
Gaelic, leaving for San Francisco via
Honolulu that very day. That letter
beat the ordinary mail, for the Queer
was heading seward, even as the Gae.
lilo came steaming in the coral-guarded
harbor, and little packet was tossed
aboard the new troop ship as she sped
away, one missive in it telling Witchie
Garrison that the man whose life hac
been wrecked by her sisters enforced
desertion was already in Manila await
ing her coming, aud telling her, more
over, that the packet placed in Gen
Drayton's hands contained only her
earlier letters. In his reckless wrath
Latrobe had told her that those which
bound her to him by the most solemn
pledges, those that vowed undying love
and devotion, were still in his hands,
and that she should see him and them
when at last she reached Manila.
Three mortal weeks had the sisters
been there together, and never once il
that time did Nita venture forth except
when under the escort of her black
browed husband or the protection OF
her smiling, witching, yet vigilant Mar
garet. Never once had their house been
approached by anyone who bore resem-
blance to the dreaded lover. All along
the Gale Real, where were the quarters
of many officers, little guards of regu-
lars were stationed; for black rumors
of Filipino uprising came with every
few days, and some mems hearts were
failing them for fear when they
thought of the paucity of their mum
beers as compared with the thousands
OF fanatical natives to whom the taking
of human life was of less account than
the loss of game chicken, and in
whose sight assassination was u
virtue when it rid one of foe. Already
many officers who had weakly yielded
| W VIC AhlPoil uulty O1 y devoted WIG
was cursing the folly that led him to let
her join him. The outbreak was inn
minent. Anyone could see the war was
sure to come-even those who strove to
Danish alarm and reassure an anxious
nation. And when the call to arms
should sound, duty, honor and law
would demand each soldiers instant
answer on the battle line; then who was
to care for the women? The very sery-
ants in each household, it was known,
were in most cases regularly enrolled
in the insurgent army. The crowded
districts in the city, the nipa huts sur
rounding the wealthy homes in the
suburbs swarmed with Filipino soldiery
in the garb of peace. Arms and ammu-
milton, both, were stored in the great
stone churches. Knives, bolos and pis-
tolls were hidden in every house.
Through the clergy, in some instances,
and foreign residents in others, the
statement was set afoat that every
American officers residence was mapped