The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1908-11-18
CHAPTER XXI.

IN time IN nurfylng away
III AM from Chicago with his
AOW wife and Jane. They
were whisked westward
In his private car on the second day aft
er the Bansemer exposure. Broken spir-
tied, Jane acquiesced in all their plans.
She seemed as one in stupor, COM
pretending yet unresponsive to the
pain that enveloped her.
81 can't see any one that 1 know
here" she said listlessly. ooh, the
thought of what they are sayingr
They did not tell her that GraydOn
had enlisted as a private soldier in the
United States army. Jane only knew
that she loved him and that the bar
sinister existed.
Cables devotion to her was beauti-
full. He could not have been more ten
der had she been his own daughter
instead of his wife's imposition.
Jane was i'll in Pasadena for many
weeks. Her depressed condition made
her recovery doubtful. 1t was plain to
two persons, at least, that she did not
care whether she lived or died. The
physicians were puzzled, but no expla-
nation was offered by the Gables. It
was not until certain Chicago sojourn-
ers generously spread the news that
the cause of her breakdown became
apparent to the good doctors. Before
many days the girl who sat wan and
distrait upon the flower shaded piazza
was an object of curiosity to fashion
able Pasadena. AS soon as she was
strong enough to endure the trip the
hunted trio forsoOk Pasadena and fed
northward.
San Francisco afforded relief in pri-
vacy. James spirits began to revive
There had not been nor was there
ever to be any mention of that terri
bic night and its revelations. What
she may have felt and suffered in Sc
cret could only be conjectured by those
who loved her. Bansemer's name was
never uttered His fate remained I'M
known to her. The faraway, unhappy
look in her eyes proved to them that
Graydon was never out of her
thoughts
ydN III 0aDiC was III NulCuEO Mutu
Mrs. Gable received word from her
sister, once Kate Coleman, that she
soon would reach San Francisco with
her husband, bound for the Philip
pines Kate was the wife of a West
Pointer who had achieved the rank of
colonel in the volunteers by virtue of
political necessity. His regiment had
been ordered to the islands, and she
was accompanying him with their
daughter, a girl of sixteen.
Colonel Hardin had seen pleasant
service at the eastern posts, where his
wife had attained a certain kind of
social distinction in the army fast set.
She was not especially enamored of
the prospect ahead of her in the Phil
ippines. But the new colonel was a
strict disciDlinarian on and off the
field. He expected to be a brigadier
general If fortune and favoritism sup
ported him long enough. Mrs. Hardin
could never be anything more than
private in the ranks, so far as his es-
timation Of distinction was concerned.
His daughter, Ethel, had, by means of
no uncertain favoritism, advanced a
few points ahead of her mother and
might have ranked as sergeant in the
family corps.
Mrs. Hardin played cards, drank
highballs, fiirted with the younger Off
GERS, got talked about with pleasing
emphasis ard was as happy as any
subordinate could be. They had not
even thought of such a thing as di-
vorce and the whole army wondered
and expressed disgust. The army's
appetite for scandal is surpassed only
by its bravery in war 1t is even
limited that The latter is welcomed as a
loophole for the former War brings
peace.
The arrival of the Harbins and n
staff of gay young cadets fresh from
the banks Of the Hudson put new life
into the refuses. The regiment was
70 remain at the Preside for several
weeks before sailing. One OF the lieu
tenants was a Chicago boy and an ac-
quaintance of Graydon Bansemer. 1t
was from him that Jane learned that
her sweetheart was a soldier in the
service, doubtless now in Luzon.
A week before the sailing Of Colonel
Harbin's transport Jane suddenly an
nounced that she had but one desire
on earth, and that was to go to Ma
Mia with her aunt. She did not pre-
sent her plea with the usual claim
that she wanted to be Of service to her
country. She was not asking 70 go
out as a heroine of the ordinary type.
Instead she simply announced that she
wanted to go as a temporary member
of Colonel Harbin's family, to endure
their hardships and to enjoy their en-
thusiasms. Mrs. Gable recognized the
true motive however.
Her pleadings were in vain. The
Harbins had lucklessIy urged Jane to
toIn them. kilograms few back and
forth across the continent and David
Gable came on to present his feeble
objections.
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