River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-09-17


name. 1t fairly rang of aristocracy and
militarism. Betty knew that he was a
simon-pure Englishman all right
enough, because Of his name, his accent
and his clothes-which didn't fit.
For the next week Col Reginald
southcose was Betty Rawlins' shadow.
Capt. Roy Lanyard looked on and was
miserable. Betty gave him two dances
and about three words during the entire
week.
mo show for one of Uncle Sans
moor artillerymen when there's one of
King Edwards men with a drawl and
monocle about" sighed poor Capt.
Roy.
Col. Reginald Southcote was not long
in finding out that Betty Rawlins had
a pot of money, and that she adored
the military Betty asked him one day
what his regiment was, and he replied
promptly: II am the colonel of the
royal Yorkshire regiment" he said.
Betty had heard tales about English
men pretending to be what they were
not, but the colonel looked honest
of herself when she went to library in
the city and took down British military
gazette from the shelf and looked for
Royal Yorickshire regiment. She found
it all right, and with the name of Reg
inald Southcote set down as colonel
thereof
From that time Betty was very cor
dioI m ba ha f.Irr cd q NJ
versation occasionally on the Boer war.
expecting to hear some deeds of daring
modestly told, but the colonel was
strangely silent on the subject of field
service, and Betty put it down to
brave mans reticence when it came to
speaking of his own acts on the field OF
battle. Betty might not have liked it
had she known that when she was look
ing up the colonePs regiment he was
making inquiries in certain financial cir
cles about the extent of her bank ac-
count The report seemed to please
him, and he proceeded to make hay
while the sun shone, and it was a particu-
larly cloudless month at Lowland Glen.
Betty knew with girls intuition that
an offer was not far away. She felt a
pang, however, every time she saw Capt.
Lanyard, and saw how miserable he
looked, though he tried to put brave
face on the matter If the truth be
told, Betty cried little in the privacy
of her room when she looked at the
glorious old flag floating in the sunshine
at the Flagstaff peak in the fort beyond,
and sighed, and sighed, again.
One day Lawyer Coke, who looked
after Betty Rawlins' estate, heard from
a close friend that certain English
man had been inquiring about Betty's
financial standing. Fortune hunter ii
not fraud" said old Coke to himself,
and then, as luck would have it, he
happened to pick up copy of the
Broad Arrow, the journal of the united
services of Great Britain. Lawyer Coke
looked at it. His eye fell on para
graph and he chuckled. He folded the
paper up, put it in his pocket and took
the first train for Lowland Glen. He
marked the paragraph in the paper and
put 1t where he knew Betty would be
sure to pick it up, and from the nature
of the publication he knew that she
would be sure to read it from start to
finish.
Betty Rawlins felt that the hour was
coming when she would have to an
swer question put to her by Col. Reg
inald Southcote. She was thinking of
this when she picked up the Broad Ar
row. She knew what the paper was,
hn hod hao rH of
eagerly. The date of the paper was
three months back The marked para
graph caught her eye. She read this:
Gen. Powell-Baden inspected the
Royal Yorickshire regimnt last Thurs
day. 1t was the first training day OF
this militia organization for a year.
The men were in poor trim, and Col.
Reginald Southcote, who has seen no
foreign service and very little at home,
had hard work to give commands and
to sit his horse properly The regiment
will need overhauling to bring it up to
even militia Standards
The paper dropped from Betty's fin
gers. s'Millitiaman! never saw days
real service; couldn't sit on his horse"
and then Betty gasped. Her thoughts
turned to another paragraph that she
had read in an American journal. 1t
told how one Capt. Roy Lanyard had
received the congressional medal Of
honor for personal gallantry in the say
ing of the life of comrade under fierc.
fire in the Philippine islands.
Betty knew that night at the ball at
the hotel that Col. Reginald Southcote
was seeking her out, but she avoided
him. Capt. Roy Lanyard met her and
she smiled on him, and there was look
in her eyes that made the young SOL
dier's heart leap. Wont you go for q
walk with me?" he said.
YES" she answered, softly.
AS they passed down the hotel steps
the moonlight fell full upon them, and
Lawyer Coke, who was standing on the
veranda, smiled, and, being a bit of a
wag, he turned to friend who had
been watching the course of events for
a month past and said:
Alas! Poor Yorickshire. Chicago
Record-Herald.