Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1904-12-02


could ride any horse within miles of
Charlottesville, and preferred walking
stills, flying kites or running races to
the customary alIur sments of girihood.
She had one envy. one champion, one
idol-her brother, barely two years
her senior-and apparently but one
sorrow-that she could not do every
thing that Jack could. and not for lack
OF trying.
Then as they grew older. and other
girls brothers began showing hither-
to unsupported fondness for Jacks So
ciety, and coming to see him at all
hours of the day, and other girls them
selves began making eyes at Jack. her
indifference to the first and her fury
at the second were comical to see. And
then, when the war came on and Vir-
ginia sprang to- arms and Jack to sad
die and his first commission in Jeb
Stuart's famous First cavalry, she was
all afire with fervor and patriotism on
the one hand and of mad jealousy OF
Maud Pelham on the other, for on
Maud had Jack cast favoring eyes.
And So when she brought her brother
home to nurse and pet and coddle to
her hearts content, while she was all
soothing sweetness on the side that
showed to him, she fairly bristled on
the other-that which all well-favored
feminine callers, inquirers and friends
must needs encounter when they asked
to see him. She established a regular
roster book and told off the list OF
the sacred band-her bench women, in
to four ''reliefs" of two girls each-one
, relief only to be on duty each day and
|
to say Maud Pelham was not of the
elect, and Jack speedily showed he
wished it were otherwise.
And so this sweet April morning,
with a soft. languorous air playing
about the wooded, sun-kissed heights,
she had two such awfully nice
young girls to cheer him. while she
herself turned dutifully to another
wounded officer, youth in dark blue
and gold who had been for over an
, hour a silent watcher of the merri-
ment about Chilton's cot, while he.
Fred Benton, sat lonely and longing
/ to get far away.
It was not that they were Geld, con-
strained or inconsiderate when speak
ing to him, but, the doctor had to be
much away now; Lieut.. Jack was al
ways surrounded by his fair body
! guard; the one man Benton loved, his
/ boon companion Paul, had gone to re-
! join his regiment, and the one woman
| who could have made Benton's stay q
world Of strange, sweet, watching de-
light was beginning day after day to
show less inclination to approach him
at all. A fortnight Of watching that
beautiful dark face had done it's work.
! Fred Benton was mending in body,
but not in mind, for doubly now was
he a prisoner.
And this April morning the news he
heard had made him all the more rest
less and troubled. The federals were
landing in force and marching on
Yorktown, and Longstreet's whole
! command had been sent away. with
others, to meet them. He doubted not
that his old comrades of McDoweIl's
corps would be in action ere ever he
could reach them, and the thought
| drove his pulses up to fever heat again.
Rosalie Chiffon, without seeming to
look, saw it in the flush of his anx-
ious face.
"You will be having fever again, Mr..
Benton" said she, and the cool, white
hand that at first had arranged the
bandages of his head and arm with
out a sign of hesitancy, seemed now
| to falter and shrink as though it had
| to be forced to an unwilling task. 1t
| stung Benton sore, for, man-like, he
could read only one Interpretation.
| How different had she been with Ladue
when, for three days, he was feverish
! and headachy.
For several days after his capture it
| had been Benton's belief that Paul
| was concealed in the room Resale de-
clared hers at the Henry house-the
| room sacred to her stricken brother
and not until after their coming to
| Charlottesville was he undeceived.
! There. one afternoon, the week be-
| fore he went away, the young con-
| tolerate was moved to refer to the
matter mainly by seeing that it was a
| subject of which Benton fought shy.
Il had been with Miss Chiffon and
poor Jack some hours that morning"
said he, "for the guard never came in
the front part of the house, but she
had ordered me to go and get some
! sleep in the afternoon, it having been
| fully determined that 1 should make
| the attempt to escape that night. Ly-
| ing there in a sort Of cat nap toward
| five O'Clock, 1 heard the soldiers speak
| your name and could not resist the
longing to see you. Then when you
turned back I knew you had come to
search and had plenty OF time to fiat
| ten out between the joists and pull
my section Of the floor over me. You
stamped on my nose with your spurred
boot-heel, Fred, and never WINGED"
So that ghost was laid, at least as
far as Rosalie was concerned! But
how about the other-the far more
signifcAnt and nov mYsterfoua freak