Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-05-26

land, for the society of whom Miss MNra
ycarncd and schcmcd. When he thought
OF women which WAS seldom, dinner
table glittcring under the soft lights OF
candles which the cut glass and the pol
ished silver caught and reelected, and the
two lines of alternate spots of soft color
and black or blue with gold rose before
his mind. Even If he had seen the keen.
eager face looking out at him through the
lace curtains it would have left no i'm
precision on his memory
IT cannot be denied that MIS-, Myra was
not what she once was. She had de-
parted from the ways of her youth and
having leisure and means at her COM
mand and no family tics. had wandered
from the marrow path of her forcfathers,
and had tried. so far without success, to
he of the society she worshipcd from afar.
She had tried to he made a member of
the Omar khayyam Society which WAS
recruited from the very elect of the city
but had failed. SO she played whist and
went stunning. being an active visitor
at the Home for Married Females and an
Orphan Asylum, where she would sit on
one side of the room and gaze helplessly
at the children who were huddlcd together
opposite her. until one day she discovered
that tho loved stories. Tho next time
she went she carried book recommended
to her by an advanced librarian ana
thenccfnrth she and the children went
wonderinelY with Alice through Wonder
land.
a year before when Miss Myra had
been i'll with that delusiNc thing La
grippe, a friend with sound constitu-
ton and we'll balanced mind inherited
from generations of plain living anccs-
tors, had cured her ana initiated her
into the mysteries Of the only true way
of living. She thought she had risen a
step on her social ladder when she entered
l. e, rt.,, Il hot
ess The Society welcomed and then for
got her. but it gave an added impetus to
cure the proud, naughty Colonel, the hero
of the Scason.-----
Day after day. until weeks had passed,
Miss My"a intcrccdod for the unconscious
Colonel who certainly limped more and
more as time went ON. But Miss Myra
did not give up. 1t was "a stubborn case
and she grew more determined and inter-
csted until the khayyam Society with its
untold possibilities and its entire to the
homes Of the great people seemed within
her grasp. The Coloners cure was to be
the Omen Sesame to all that was now
securely barred to her.
Time passed, and each day the Colonel
was watched from behind the lace cur
tains with eager eyes from the moment
he came in sight up the street until he
turned the corner Miss Myra thought
more and more of her subject and re-
called all the stories of rheumatism that
had flled her younger years when she
ed in the village of Wayback. When
she visited the old women and children
thoughts of him We're in her mind her
kcompanions at whist We're aStonished by
her calling the Knave of Hearts the
Colonel" when she triumphantlY took a
trick with the right bower. Ahaz learned
a new sentence during those weeks, Pa
tiont walters are no losers with which
he constantly cOmforted his mistress.
one morning he croaked this out just
as the Colonel came in sight. Miss Myra
at her post behind the curtains was about
10 tell him to keep still when her heart
gave a leap and then stopped-the COL
oncl was coming down the street moro
stately and more naughty than ever
without even the suspicion Of limp.
"Ahaz. we have done il. Tho dear man
is cured" and Miss Myra flew to the
front door. threw it open and rushed
down the walk straight for the Colonel.
In her excitement she graspcd his hand
in both of hers and shook II again and
again as she exclaimed:
My dear Colonel. rim 50 glad. | am
so glad. 1t was such pity that iine
man like YOU should have had the rheu-
matism. 1t was a hard case but YOU are
cured at last and ! cured YOU on | am
so glad
The Colonel looked in astonishment at
the RULED figure before him then drew
himself up to his full height, saying as
he discnsaGed his hand:
Madam / do not understand YOU. My
wooden leg which WAS somewhat short,
has lust been replaced by the new one |
ordered some weeks ago. and the Col
oncl raised his hat and moved on down
the street.
(copyrightcd, 1908, by the Foreign story
Syndicate Co. burlington, VII