The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1902-08-12

Lieut.. Ewing had a secret service to
perform near his station. The job
would require two weeks of his time;
but inasmuch as the town was some
thing Of watering place and, as he
knew, fairly filled with guests, he had
10 fear of dying from ennui Girls
were sure to be there and with the
gentler sex Ewing generally held his
own and sometimes a part belonging
to someone else.
He was a dashing fellow. He had
the true military bearing, the soldiers
walk, the athletes carriage, eyes as
blue as the emerald sky face that
denied he was of plebeian birth, and
forehead that denoted intelligence. He
needed no one to tell him that he was
good looking. At Attica, his point of
destination, he registered as Giovan
Colbert. There wasn't much of pur-
pose in concealing his identity. Still
MS home village was not so very far
away and at certain times in his life
he had said things to young women of
his community that lead them to be-
Ieve he was very much in love with
them and really wanted to marry
when such thing was not true at
all. Perhaps some of his escapades
were still fresh in the minds of those
about him. News travels fast and
bad reports linger painfully long. Per-
haps some of his flirtations were
known to the guests of this resort.
Therefore to be on the safe side, he
would conceal his identity for the
time being.
He had not been in the village
more than two days before he saw a
dream of woman. She possessed all
the graces which belong to her sex.
Certainly she was beautiful of face
and figure. She dressed differently
from the other women; her laugh had
mirth to it, her eyes had the light of
a June morning. Try as he might,
Ewing could not get an introduction
to her. She seemed to have few ac-
quaintances Her walks were made
alone, and when she rowed on the
little lake that fronted the hotel there
was no one else in the boat with her.
Her greatest delight seemed to be in
the practice with bow and arrow and
in this she was quite an expert.
Five days after Ewing's arrival one
of her arrows pierced his coat, as he
lay hidden behind a foliage of honey
suckles. Instantly he was on his feet
and she, seeing what had happened,
seemed for the moment quite dis
mayed.
But the accident gave the soldier
the chance he had been looking, long
ing for. She FASTENED an apology
and he in turn made little of the in
cident. Indeed, the arrow had done
no further harm than to make hole
in his coat. Ewing would have been
willing for it to have penetrated his
skin-aye, to have taken off a piece
of flesh. From that morning their
courses took shape rapidly enough.
He lost no time in placing his devo-
lions at her feet He sang for her
in glorious tenor; he played the
guitar for her at the window in the
evenings when the other boarders
wished him sick or dead, or something
of that sort; he sent her costly flow
ers and he forgot his business entire
~ WhlSh 10 SOLuSIluQ6S Tie way OF |
men in love.
But Miss Agnes Dickinson, which |
was the name of the young lady,
seemed unresponsive to his appeals.
Indeed, she did not hesitate to inform
the dashing young lieutenant that she |
had precious little confidence in what |
unmarried army officers, who had |
been educated at West Point, had to
say about love. She had known too |
many of them. She had seen a half |
dozen Of her young female friends |
heartbroken because they had listened
to what some of them had had to say |
when the moon was soft and the
chickens had been to roost a very long
time.
One day she went into more specific
details. She asked him if he had ever
known Lieut.. Ewing. Did he know
Ewing? The question fairly took his
breath away. Was it possible that she