The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1902-05-16


AS I gave him the date 1 saw him
turn white to the lips. Suddenly he
rose and seized his hat.
I'VE are losing time," he said,
hoarsely. Lead on. l will follow"
On our way he told me that about
that very time his eldest girl-his only
child then-had been lost In very
mysterious way. He was stationed
at the Gold Coast then, and the climate
being unhealthy he had sent home his
wife and child, baby Of four months
old.
Mrs. Cartwright had established her
self in small house in Craven Hill,
but shortly afterward accepted an in
vitation to stay month with friend
in Scotland. She thought it too cold
for the infant to travel, and, having
implicit confidence in her nurse, left
it in her charge.
For a fortnight the woman wrote
regularly. Then her letters ceased.
and the mother became uneasy. Re
ceiving no answer to her kilograms,
she returned to London. Arrived at
her own house she found both nurse
and child were absent. The nurse had
taken it away some days before, the
other servants said-with her mistress
permission, she had assured them, and
they had believed her
Half frantic with grief, Mrs. Cart
wright wrote to her husband begging
him to come to her Immediately, and
meanwhile she sought the baby in ev-
cry possible place. But being only
young girl herself she had no idea how
to go to work, and by the time DR..
Cartwright reached England, every
trace of the nurse had been lost, and
the anxiety had deprived the mother
Of her reason. She never recovered
from the shock, and died within the
year.
This was in 1885," the doctor con-
tinued sadly. 'My little Jenny-the
same name, you see-would be about
twelve years old now. Morton, you
will think me mad, but L cannot help
thinking this claimants adopted child
must be my lost daughter"
made no reioinder. What could |
say? Even were his surmise correct.
there was no room for rejoicing. Poor
little Jenny's earthly course was near
ly run. Nothing that the most skilled
physician, the most tender father.
could do could prolong her life more
than a few hours.
, We soon reached Ashton's lodgings.
, He was seated by Jenny's couch as |
had left him. She was asleep, though
breathing heavily. Her golden hair
r poor Bills pride-lay in a shower over
t her pillow DR.. Cartwright gazed at
cloudy. Then he put his finger to her
2 wrist and knelt down to listen to the
4, beating of her heart. Before he rose
5 to his feet saw him press lingering
e kiss on the child's wasted cheek.
/ at is she," he said in answer to my
5 look Of inquiry. There can be no
/ possible doubt She is the very i'm
/ age of my first wife as she lay in her
coffin"
Poor Bill asked no question. He
:. saw there was no hope. Nor when we
J., went into the adjoining room did he
= follow us.
Y There, almost in a whisper, for the
t door was ajar, related all l knew of
= the claimants devotion to the child of
4 his adoption. Tears trembled on the
/ fathers lashes as he listened, and l
. will not say my own eyes were dry.
D Don't tell him now" he said husk-
/ lily, glancing at the dropping figure be-
b side the bed. LET him have his child
s to-night-he has better right to her
r than /. l could never have done so
much for a baby not my own"
e DR.. Cartwright sat up with Jenny
d that night, piece of kindness Bill
= was grateful for, though he would
e have preferred my companionship. All
q was over when in the early morning
: my wife and l went round again.
e Something of our colloquy Bill had
: overheard, careful as we had been,
: and finding this was so, DR.. Cartwright
: had told him the whole story.
: "She is to be taken to a country
r churchyard," Ashton said to my wife
e as we stood gazing at the dead child
d 81 said nothing against it. Anyhow
e must have given her up to him and
| may be this is the easiest way. And
d like to think she will lie with flowers
n about her, and the birds singing over
her head-she loved them so much
e dear child. But my little Jenny
= And here the poor man broke down.
I When last saw Bill Ashton he was
# driving DR.. Cartwright's carriage. II
a was from him l learned that the
# woman who had abandoned little Jen-
ny had been discovered, friend of the
d doctors had come across her in Mel
bourne.
t She had no evil designs against the
l. child, it seemed. During Mrs. Cart
g wright's absence her lover had unex
n pectedly returned from Australia
g and she was on her way to his moth
| er's house to see him when she unex
/ pectedly encountered him at the rail
k way station. In her excitement she