Mower County transcript., 1906-01-10
CHAPTER III.
THE ADVENTURE BEGINS.

= CHAPTER III. =
THE ADVENTURE BEGINS. a..
1t was only when the ship was less
than a days journey Off Sandy Hook
that the colonel came on deck, once
more to resume his interest in human
affairs. How the girl lowered about
him! She tucked the shawl more snug
ly around his feet; she arranged and
rearranged the pillows back of his
head she fed him from a bowl of
SOUP. she read from some favorite
book; she smoothed the furrowed
brow; she stilled the long, white, ner-
vous fingers with her own small, firm,
brown ones; she was mother and
daughter in one. Wherever she moved,
the parent eye followed her, and there
1ay in it's deeps strange mixture of
love. All the while he drummed cease
lessly on the arms of his chair.
And Mr. Robert, watching all these
dolorously. The residue air in his
lungs was renewed more frequently
than nature originally intended it
should be. Love has it's beneficAnces
as we'll as it's pangs, only they are
not wholly appreciable by the recipi-
ent..~ For what is better than good
pair of lungs constantly filled and re-
filled with pure air? Mr.. Robert even
felt a twinge of remorse besides. He
was brother to girl almost as beau
tiful: as yonder one Ito my mind far
more beautifully and he recalled that
in two years he had not seen her nor
made strenuous efforts to keep up the
correspondence. Another good point
added to the score of love! And, alas!
he might never see this charming girl
again, this daughter so full of fllial
love and care. He had sought the cap
tain, but that hale and hearty old
sea-dog had politely rebuffed him.
7 my dear young man. he said,
'tI do all l possibly can for the enter
tainment and comfort of my passen-
gers, but in this case I must refuse
your request"
And pray, why, SIR" demanded MT.
Robert, with dignity. -.
"For the one and simple reason
that Col. Annesley expressed the desire
to be the recipient of no ship introduce
tions"
f, "What the deuce is he, a billion
aire?'
"You have me there, sir. I confess
that know nothing whatever about
him. This is the first time he has
ever sailed on my deck"
All of which perfectly accounts for
Mr.. Roberts sighs in what musicians
call the doloroso. If only he knew
the colonel! How simple it would be!
Certainly, West Point graduate
would find some consideration. But
the colonel spoke to no one save his
daughter, and his daughter to no one
save her parent, her maid, and the
stewardess. = Would they remain in
New York, or would they seek their
far-off southern home? Oh, the thous-
ands of questions which surged through
his brain! From time to time he
glanced sympathetically at the col
onel, whose fingers drummed and
drummed and drummed. :
"Poor wretch! his stomach must be
In bad shape. Or maybe he has the
palsy." Warburton mused upon the
curious incertitude of the human anat-
omy. ..>
But Col. Annesley did not have the
nalsy. What he had is at once the
greatest blessing and the greatest curse
of God od-remembrance, or conscience,
II you will. r.
What beautiful color her hair was,
dappled with sunshine and shadow! -.
Pshaw! Mr.. Robert threw aside his
shawl and book ut is of no real i'm
portance, but y may as>well add that
he never completed the reading Of that
summers most popular hoveD and
sought the smoking-room, where:
with the aid of fat perfecto and a
liberal stack of blues, he proceeded to
divert himself till the boat reached
quarantine. I shall not say that he
left any Of his patrimony at the ma
hogany table with its green-baize
covering and its little: brass disks for
cigar ashes, but u am certain that he
did not make one Of those stupendous
winnings we often read about and
never witness. This much however:
he made the acquaintance of a very
l.fmportant parsonage, who was pres
entity to add no Insignificant weight on
$the scales of Mr.: Roberts destiny.
EHe was Russian, young, handsome,
Ss,,aye, of what the newspapers insist
On calling @disting ngllished bearing. He
smoke English pleasantly but imper.
fectly. He possessed = capital fund tol
lsanecdote, and Warb burton, being an
army man, loved good droll story. Il