The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1906-05-26
Captains Double
BY LILL1As CAMPBELL DAVIDSON

~~VVVV|VV~VVV~1
mates had tried to gag him with? The
colonel's daughter, girl, had begged
him off out of her compassion. Never
in all his twenty-nine years of life had
so strange a thrill seized him. An
unknown girl, a girl he had never set
eyes on-a lady, one OF the creatures
all 1aces and silks that he saw at the
band, or had waited on at teas when he
was an officers servant-she had held
him in compassion. No woman's S infu.
ence of any kind that was for good had
reigned in the path of Private Baver-
stock since his mother died when he
was a *'rotted little kid as he would
have told you. 1t awoke in him a new
sensation, something so strange that
it was almost uncomfortable, to hear
that some woman in all the wide world
had pitied him.
Pity. too! From any man on earth
pity would have brought an answering
curse and q blow, probably. Private
.Bayerstocl1 was not man to think
himself in need of it, or to take lit
kindly He. had, a hand that was often
against the~hand OF other. men. He was
envied by some for disabilities; which
he wasted;- for his personal strength
and agility; "a little hated, too: from
the suspicion that he was somehow
connected with swells,. though nobody
could have told how, exactly. But pity,
he neither had nor desired at the hand
of any man. When he heard of this
girls intercession he swore under his
breath, then he grew thoughtful. In
the end, he casually. and carelessly
found out from a. native peon where
the Col. Sahib, Hamilton Sahib. resid-
ed. :~ . :: ...s
It was in the evening: OF the day
when the mess had entertained it's lady
guests and the spnni shtnentS os<: a:asdde=
faulteri' mad Hsen ;aboii hed. Was
the DaleshiTas s guest night: ind the
Colonel sahib was dining at mess. The
time was drawing: very close for Ur-
sula' departure, and she was. secretly,
perhaps not sorry to have an evening,
at home alone to do the first of her
packing. She and her. ayah had been
turning over drawers Of laces and rib
bons, and sorting out loot for the ulti-
mate share Of the ayah. Now Ursula
had sent her away and gone into the
drawing room to read a little before
daddy should be returning. She would
not have gone to bed on any account
until she had welcomed him back, and
sat with him while he smoked his last
cigarette. She took a book from the
table and sat down under the swinging
lamps on the veranda
Sitting there she could be seen from
the garden on this side of the com
pound. Some one, hidden stealthily
there, had been watching her for the
last quarter of an hour. He had just
told himself he was fool, and he had
better get back to barracks before
''last post sounded Then he saw a
white figure suddenly come out of the
door and seat herself where the bright
light fell on it.
That must be she, then. They said
that the colonel had only one daugh-
ter. Surely he had seen this girl be:
fore, riding with him in the early
morning. or sitting. by his side at the
band in the carriage? He had not TAX
en- the slightest notice, though; he
could not remember her
He came little nearer on stealthy
foot, and stood in the shaved, staring
When he had come near enough to see
her face. a sudden wonder, sudden
feeling to which he could not have Civ
en- name, had seized him.
That was she, the girl who had beg
ged him off, the girl who had pitied
him! Was it an answering pity, that
ran through his veins, making the
blood feel as if it were changed to
wine? What was there in mere girls
face to take him so aback, to make him
feel as If he we're dust before her?
Why did a loathing of his life, himself;
rush over him? Why, for the first
time in all his life did he curse. fate
under his breath that he was mot a
gentleman? He clenched the: hands
that hung by his sides in a sudden pas
sion.~ What did he want, what did he
uOp6, "udt AC iCOCE against, WHdL
did he hunger for? He could not have
told you. -,~s-
"And so that's her!'" It was his only
whisper. He said it to himself. uncon-
scious that hes had spoken. Did 'Ur-
sula's girlish innocence and beauty
suddenly open before him a:vista. Of
what woman may: be to man in the
land called Paradise? Did he feel the
faint stir of a thrill in the touch that
Is likest an angels in this fallen world
the touch OF the divinity: that is in
good woman?| Whatever it was; that
moved him, it: struck him as with a
spell Of stiffness. ut was only: when
she moved at last and stood listening
that he 2shrank back into the shadow,
fearing g.ahe might iscoYer him: =s s:s.s. .:st:
M But Twas q, her father ming II