Daily Wabash Express, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 10 March 1889 — Page 3

lL

em

#r.

QUEEN

STORY

4ulnar of OfjUmel*

Whatever sensation or suppressed mystery may have existed at the post prior to the receipt of the brief dispatch announcing that the soldier, Parsons, had "bolted," it was all as nothing compared with the excitement of the week that followed. Miller's firet impulse when Mr. Holmes placed the brown scrap of paper in his hands, was to inquire how it happened that a civilian should concern himself with the movements of his men, either in or out of garrison, but something in the expression of Mies Forrest's face as she walked calmly past him on her way to her room, and in the kindled eyes of this popular and respected gentleman gave him decided pause. "There is a matter behind all this which I ougbt to know, is there not?" waB therefore his quiet inquiry, and when Mr. Holmes assured him that there was, and the two went off together, arm in arm, leaving Mrs. Miller to wonder what it all could mean, and to go in and upbraid her pet lieutenant for venturing from his joom when atill so weak, it was soon evident to more eyes than those of Dr. liayard that something of unusual in terest was, indeed, brewing, and that the ordinarily genial and jovial major was powerfully moved. In ten minutes the two men were at the telegraph ofiiee and the operator was "calling" Chey enne. An hour later, after another brief and earnest talk with Miss Forrest, on the upper gallery of "Bedlam," Mr. Holmes' traveling wagon rolled into the garrison and away he went. At midnight he waB changing horses at "The Chug." The next day he was in Cheyenne, and wired the major from that point. Two days more and be was heard from at Denver and then there was silence.

At the end of the week Private Parsons, of Terry's "Grays," who had been carried for three or four successive mornings as "on detached service," then as "absent without leave," was formally accounted for as "deserted," and it began to be whispered about the garrison that grave and decidedly sensational reasons attended his sudden disappearance. Dr. Bayard had a long and private interview with the commanding officer, who showed him a letter received from Mr. Holmes, and went home to Nellie with a dazed look on his distinguished face. The sight of Randall McLean, seated on the front pin/,/To, ouJ versation with that young lady and her friend Miss Bruce, for an instant caused him to halt short at his own gate, but, mastering whatever emotion possessed him, the doctor marched straight up to that rapidly recuperating oflicer, who was trying to find his feet and show due respect to the roaster of the house, and .bidding him keep his seat, bent over and took his hand and confused him more than a little by the unexpected and really inexplicable warmth of his greeting.

McLean, who had been accustomed to constraint and coldness of manner on the part of the post surgeon, was at a loss to account for the sudden change. Nellie, whose sweet eyes had marked with no little uneasiness her fathers hurried coming, Hushed with relief and shy delight at this unlooked for welcome, and Jennie Bruce, to use her own expression when telling of it afterwards was 'all taken aback."

She

and Mrs. Miller had

between them planned that Mr. McLean should walk over with the latter early in the afternoon, just as though out for a little airing and to try his legs after their unaccustomed rest. Nellie and Miss Brace were to happen out on the piaz/.a at the moment (and the details ol this portion of the plan were left to the ingenuity of "Bonnie Jean" herself, who well knew that it must be accomplished without germ of suspicion on the part of her shy and sensitive little friend) and McLean was to be escorted in by Mrs. Miller, who.was presently to leave, prom isiug to come back for him in a few moments. Then, when the ice was broken and Nellie was beginning to feel more at ease after the mysterious estrangement and this sudden re appearance of her old friend, Jean, too, was to be called away and the pair be left alone. Arch plotters that these women are! I hey had chosen the hour when the doctor almost invariably took his siesta, and both ladies had warned their friends on no account to select that opportunity to rush over and congratulate the lieuten aut on his convalescence—a thing the (Jordan girls would have been sure do. Miss Bruce had gone so far

to

&B tO it

ask Mrs. Miller if she did not think might be well to "post" Miss Vorrest, who had been almost daily seen conversing with Mr. McLean since he began to sit out on the gallery again, but Mrs. Miller promptly replied that there was no need to tell Miss Forrest anything. "She has more sense than all the rest of us put together," were the surprising words of the reply, "fts 1 have excelleut reason to know."

What could have happened to so radically change Mrs. Miller's estimate of and regard for "the Queen of Bedlam?" was Jean Bruce's natural question of her mother that night, and Mrs. Bruce was in a quandary how to answer ana not betray the secret that had been conllded to her. From having avoided and mistrusted Miss Fanny Forrest, it was now noticeable to the entire garrison that Mrs. Miller was exerting herself to be more than civil.

It was too late to change the plan of the afternoon campaign when the major's orderly came around to Dr. Bayard's with the compliments of the commanding oflicer, and a request that the doctor join him at his quarters as soon as possible. Although he was gone nearlyan hour, he returned before McLean had been with the girls more than a quarter of that time, and changed their apprehension into wonderment and secret joy bv the extreme—almost oppressive courtesy of manner to his unbidden guest. "It was just as though he was trji^g to make amends for something, said

aSSm

msm

BEDLAM

FRONTIER ARMY LIFE.

BY CAPTAIN CHARLES KING, UNITED STATES ARMY,

Daughter," "The Deserter,,'"From the Banks." "A War Time Wooing," Etc.

fCopjrlKhted 1889 by the Author.

CHAPTER XIX.

Miss Bruce in telling of it afterwards. Be that as it may, it is certain that after urging McLean to take a good rest where he was and to conn again and "sun himself" on their piazza, and being unaccountably cordial in his monologue (for the young officer hardly knew how to express himself under the circumstances), the doctor finally vanished Jennie Bruce was so utterly "taken aback" by it that, for some minutes, she totally forgot her part in the little drama. Then, suddenly recalling the role she was to play, despite the appeal and pro test and dismay in Elinor's pleading eyes. Miss Bruce, too, sped away and the two were left alone. From the south end of the gallery, at Bedlam, Miss Forrestflooked smilingly upon the scene and would fain have rewarded Bonnie Jean by blowing a kiss at her, but Jean nie's eyes were focused on a little party of horsemen just dismounting in front of the commanding officer's. They might bring news from the cantonment—per haps "a little note from her own particular hero, Mr. Hatton.

Nearing them she recognized the leader as a sergeant of Captain Terry's troop and knew well from the trim appearance of the men and their smooth shaven cheeks and chins that they were just setting forth, not just returning from the-viield. The adjutant came hurrying down the steps of the major's quarters just as she reached the gate and raised his forage cap at sight of her. "You can start at once, sergeant," she beard him say. "Now remember—tomorrow evening will be time enough for you to land your party at Fort Russell. Report on arrival to the commanding officer and permit none of your men to go into Cheyenne until he 6ends you. Then you are to return here—with whatever may be entrusted to your care."

She was not at all surprised on reaching home to find her mother and Mrs. Miller watching with eager eyes the departure of the cavalrymen. McLean and Nellie Bayard saw it, too, and it gave them something to talk about a whole hour that afternoon, and paved the way for another talk the next day— and the next.

That night, in quick succession, the telegraph brought four dispatches to Laramie. As in duty bound, the messenger went first to the commanding officer, who held out his hand for all four, and was surprised at being accorded only two. "These are for Miss Forrest, sir," said the messenger, and the major broke the envelope of his own, glanced at the first and snapped hiB fingers with delight and exultation. "They've got him, Lizzie!" he chuckled to his eager helpmate. Then he tore open the other. The glad look vanished in an instant the light of hope, relief and satisfaction fled from his eyes, and the color from his cheeks. "My God!" he muttered, as his hand feU by his side. "What is it, dear?" she queried anxiously. "Forrest is coming—post-haste. Will LO UT5 1/U1U. "Then—as it is all nay fault, I must be the one," was the reply.

But even as they were discussing trie matter, irresolute, distressed, there was a ring at the bell and in another moment who should enter the parlor, holding in her hand those fateful telegrams, but Miss Forrest herself. She came straight towards them—smiling, and Mrs. Miller and her half-dazed major arose to greet

6"i

suppose I may be taken into official confidence to-night—may I not, major, she said gaily. "Mr. Holmes has probably wired us news which we can exchange. I congratulate you on the recovery of your deserter and you can rejoice with me in the recovery of my diaon "Your diamonds!" exclaimed the major and his good wife in a breath. hen —how were they taken? Why did you not tell us?" "They were taken from my room— from my locked trunk—the night of Dr.

Bayard's dinner. The same night that his porte-manteau and his beautiful amethyst set were stolen from Mr. Holmes. I did not tell anyone at hrst because of Mrs. Forrest's prostrated condition, and because at first I suspected her servant Celestine, and thought could force her into restoring them without letting poor lluth know anything about it.

Then,

0*"Tell

I couldn't speak

of it, for the next discovery I made simply stunned mo and made me ill. inen, finally I told Mr. Holmes, and he took the matter in charge. \ou have heard from my brother, too? she asked eagerly. "I am rejoiced at his coming, for it will do her a world of good and she is wild with excitement and happiness now. How was it all managed, major? He wrote to me a fortnight ago that with the prospect, of incessant fightiug before them, it was impossible for him to ask for jeav® absence, and begging me to help Kuth in every way in my power and save her from worry of any kind. ou see how I was placed. And now, all of a sudden, he is virtually ordered in, he wires me, and can attribute it to nothing but dan gerous illness on hei' part. Did you get it for him? 1 know you did."

Miller and his wife looked at her, then at one another, in dumb amaze. What could he say? How could he force himself to tell this brave and spirited and self-sacrificing girl of the cloud of BUS picion with which she had been envel

me about the diamonds," gasped

Mrs. Miller, to gain time. "Were they valuable? Though of course they must have been. Everything of yours is

beautiful

and—well, I must say

it

being

all

now—costly." "They were a present from my uncle, Mr. Courtlandt," she answered simply "I valued them more than anything had The trunk was entered by false keys, and the diamonds were taken out of their locked case and spirited away. Mv first suspicion attached to Celestine and her soldier friend. They had been aroused before at Robinson. Then came this stunning surprise in my discovery next day, and a week or so of great indecision and distress. Now, of oourse, the inspiration of the villainy is captured though more than ever do I suspect Celestine as

confederate or poesi

bly principal actor. She has been ut terly daft during the last four days and constantly haunting the postoffice for letter that never comes." "She will be wild enough when she knows the truth," said Miller, hoarsely. "The scoundrel had a wife Denver, where he was finally tracked and jailed It was she who offered the diamonds

pawn. They did not manage things well, and should have waited, for he had over two hundred dollars—must have had for you and Mr. Holmes were not the only losers here." "Who were the others?" she quickly asked "Hatton and McLean." "Mr. McLean! Oh! the shame of it!" Miss Forrest paced rapidly up and down the parlor tioor, her eyee flashing, her cheeks flushed, her hands nervously twisting the filmy handkerchief she car ried. Her excitement was something utterly foreign to her and neither Miller nor his wife could understand it. Suddenly, as though by uncontrollable impulse, she stopped before and faced them. "Major Miller!" she exclaimed, "I must tell you something. I had made up my mind to do it yesterday. It will not add to my faint popularity here, but I respect you and Mrs. Miller. I know you are his friends and I want your advice. How am I to make amends to Mr. McLean? What am I to say to him? Do you know that for a few days of idiocy I was made to believe that you suspected him of the thefts? and it was his handkerchief I found on the floor behind my trunk. What will the man think of me? And yet I must tell him! I cannot sit by him day after day, see him, speak with him, and have my heart hammering out the words, 'He thinks you are his friend and you thought him to be a thief.'"

It was more than Miller could stand "Miss Forrest! Miss Forrest!" he exclaimed as his wife sank into an easy chair and hid her face with her hands. "You cbver me with shame and confusion. Never in my life have I heard of so extraordinary a complication as this has been! never have I been so worried or distressed! My dear young lady try and hear me patiently. You have been more

Binned

t,Uo look and make a secret entrance while Elinor was confined to her room and the doctor was known to be a quarter of a mile away at the hospital. At last, wearing of waiting for the thief to effect an entrance and permit of my seizing him or her in the hall, 1 sprang out upon the piazza and found—you. Then that night I strove to see Hatton and wring from him his knowledge of what had been going on in Bedlam. You implored him not to go. You, unwittingly, made him, and, through him, McLean believed it was your own trouble you sought to conceal, and, though I thank God I was utterly mistaken, utterly wrong in my belief, I crave your forgiveness, Miss I' orrest. It was I who urged that your brother be sent here at once, though the general believes it was on Mrs. orrest account, that he might put an end to these peculations and restore what property could be recovered from you—you have suffered a loss far greater than all the oteers put together, and never said word about it."

And poor Miller, who had never made long a speech in his life before, turned chokingly away. Then Mrs. Miller spoke, and Mies Forrest's dilated eyes were turned slowly from the major bulky shape .o the matronly shape upon the sofa and the woe begone face that appeared from behind the handkerchief.

Vliss Forrest's cheeks had paled and her lips had parted. She had seized and was leaning upon the back of a chair, but not one word had she spoken. As Mrs. Miller's voice was heard it seemed as though a slight contraction of the muscles brought about a decided frown upon her white forehead, but she listened in utter silence. "Indeed, Miss Forrest, you mustn blame the major too much. He wouldn have listened to a word against you if— if it hadn't been for me. I was all at fault. But I couldn't have believed a word against you had it not been tor those letters from Robinson. They— they"—

And here Mrs. Miller had recourse to her handkerchief and Miss Forrest stretched forth her hand as though to urge her say no more. There was intense silence in the parlor a moment. Then through the open windows came the sudden sound of a scuffl# a woman's shriek a sudden fall voluble curses and ravings in Celestine's familiar tones and the rush of many feet towards Bedlam.

Seizing his cap and hurrying thither the major pushed his way through an excited group on the lower gallery. The sergeant of the guard, lantern in hand, was wonderingly contemplating the Scotch "striker" Lachlan, who firmly clung to the wrist of the struggling, swearing girl, despite her adjurations to let her go. Other men from the quarters were clustered around them hardly knowing what to say, for Lachlan contented himself with the single word "Thief!" and never relaxed his grasp until the major bade him do so but instantly renewed it as his prisoner attempted to spring away. McLean came limping to the scene from the direction of the doctor's quarters just as Miss

Forrest, too, appeared, and him Lachlan addressed: "I found her rummaging in the bu reau, sir."

And then Miss Forrest's quiet voice was heard as soon as the major's orders to bring a gag had silenced the loud protestations and accusations of the negress. "It is as we supposed, major. That is the skirt of an old silk I gave her last winter."

An hour later Celestine was locked in a room at the laundress' quarters where stout "Mrs. Sergeant Flynn" or­

mrTfnp 'rrr»!T.ii .._ij w.n,

against than

Binning.

A few hours ago Dr. Bayard—he who led you in your suspicions, for he told me so—left here crushed and humbled to find that he had been so blind and unjust. But I would gladly exchange places with him, for I've been worse. I've been weak enough to be made to look with other's eyes and not my own. McLean was indeed involved in grave suspicion, but nothing as compared with that which surrounded another—a woman who was entitled to our utmost sympathy and protection because her natural protector was in the fi^ld far from her side—a woman who did find friends and protectors in my young officers McLean and Hatton—God bless 'em for it! for they stoutly refused to tell a thing until it was dragged from them by official inquiry, and then they had burned every tangible piece of evidence against her. She was at Robinson last winter, and money and valuables were constantly disappearing. Silken skirts were heard trailing in dark hallways at night her form was seen in the room of the plundered officers. The stories followed her to Laramie. The night McLean and Hatton were robbed her silken skirts were heard trailing up the north hall of Bedlam and her feet Bounding over the gallery. Her handkerchief was found at McLean's bureau, and, while they were all waiting for her at Mrs. Gordon's, McLean himself collided with a feminine shape in the darkness out on the parade, and it slipped away without a word as though fearing detection. The night of the robbery at Bayard's she was alone upstairs. Another night she was seen entering the hallway without ringing the bell or knocking at the door. Another evening I, who was in the BaygfflV 1 Un

THE TERRK HAUTE EXPRESS, SUNDAY MORNING. MARCH 10, 1889

ganized an Anszon guard of heroines who, like herself, had followed the drum for many a year, who assured the major the prisoner wtuld never escape from their clutches and whose motto appeared to be "Pjt none but Irishwomen on guard to-niglt."

CHAPTER XX.

Confessions, cf various sorts, were the order of the day at Laramie during the week that followed this important arrest, and then tie fortnight of sensation was at an end. Parsons, the deserter, led off the day after his return to the poet under escort of the little squad sent down from Terry's troop to meet him at Oheyenie. He was stubborn and silent at firet, but when told by the corporal of the guard that Celestine had "gone back on him the moment she heajd he had a wife at Denver, and had mon than given him away," he concluded that it was time to deny BO me of the accusations heaped upon his head by the furious victim of his wiles. The girl had indeed obeyed his beck and will, and shielded him in the days of suspense that followed his desertion but no word cat describe the rage of her jealousy, ths fury of her hate, the recklessness of her tongue when she found that he hfcl used her only as a tool to enrich andther woman—his lawful wife. Parsons tqld his story to an interested audience a$ though he had rather enjoyed the celebrity he had acquired, and Major Millet Dr. Bayard, Captain For rest and. Mr. Ipe'vell Holmes were his most attentive iisteders. He had been a corporal in the marine corps at the Washington navy yard, and had seen Dr. Bayard many a time. Reduced to the ranks for some offense he had become an officer's servant, and was employed at the mess-room, where Bayard must have seen him frequently, as the doctor rarely missed their festivities at the barracks. Here his peculations began and were discovered. He deserted and got to St. Louis, where he became barber on a boat got married and into more trouble fled to Denv«r and found people's wits too sharp for him so, leaving his wife to support herself as best she could, he ran up to Cheyenne and enlisted in the cavalry. Doors and windows, desks and trunks were foubd lying open everywhere at Robinson Celestine was speedily induced to learn the business, and proved an adept. He warned here she would be suspected, but

Bhe

laughed and said she

knew how to hoodwink folks. They kept up their partnership at Laramie, he receiving and hiding the valuables she brought him but he was sure the doctor had recognized him hs knew there was danger and he had determined to slip away the first chance that came, especially after securing the diamonds. The Fetter man dispatch gave him the longed for opportunity. Celestine was quieted by the promise that as soon as the thing had blown over and he was safe, he would get word to her where to join him, send her plenty of money and then they would be married and live happily ever after. On the way back from Fetterman he stopped at an abandoned hut near Bull Bend where he had hidden his plunder on the way up, stowed the money and jewels in his saddle bags, then pushed for Hunton's on the Chug got safely by in the night, rode his horse hard to Lodge Pole Creek, where he left him at a ranch and secured the loan of another. Then keeping well to the west of Fort Russell and never going near Cheyenne. he crc "Rocky Mountain" detective officials were on the watch for him and every precaution had been vain. He was cap-, tured Miss Forrest's diamonds, Mr. Holmes' amethysts and Mr. Hatton's pins were found secreted in his possession, though most of the money was gone—gambling—and that was all. He never knew that Mr. Holmes had tracked him all the way and rolled up a volume of evidence against him.

Celestine, tiger cat that she was, had at first filled the air with shrieks of rage and loud accusations, first against Lachlan and then Miss Forrest, but the Irish laundresses only jeered at her and, when the deserter was fairly back in the garrison and the circumstances of his capture were made known, taunted her with having been victimized by a man who had a wife to share the profits of her plundering. Once made to realize that this

was

truth, she no longer sought

to conceal anything. She seemed bent only on heaping up vengeance him. 'Twas he who corrupted her he who taught her to steal he who showed her how to pick locks he whs told her to wear Miss Forrest's silk skirts and steal her handkerchief's and leave them where they would be found, he who let her in to the doctor's the night of the dinner and stole the portemonnaie from the fur coat while she went up stairs and took the amethysts from Mr. Holmes' room. She wasn't afraid. If anyone came all she had to do was to say she had come for something she had lost when accompanying Miss Forrest. Twas he who told her to take some of McLean handkerchiefs and drop one in Mr, Holmes' room where he would be sure to get it 'cause Doctor Bayard wanted to get rid of Mr. McL9an and would believe nothing against Miss Forrest 'twas he who tried to pick that latch again and get in and steal the doctors silver, but was interrupted by Miss

Forrest's coming, and he had juat time to slink away on tip toe around the corner of the house: 'twas he who gave her keys to open Miss Forrest's trunk and showed her how to pick the lock of the little box that held her diamonds, and he who bade her lose one of Mc Lean's handkerchiefs behind the trunk Ob, yes! She was ready to swear fire, murder and treason against him—her scoundrelly dec9iver. In one short day this precious pair had succeded in saddling each other with the iniquities of the garrison for a month back and all other suspicions were at au end.

But there was still another feather in Mr. Holme's cap. He had known th6se Denver detectives for four years and had placed much valuable business in their hands. He had munificently rewarded every man who had been efficient in the present chase and capture had had the pleasure of restoring to Miss Forrest in anew case and well repaired setting the diamonds of which she had been despoiled, and then he sought McLean. "Did you ever get a little card leit in your drawer one night while I was here with Mr. Hatton?" he asked.

McLean looked up in eager interest. "A card?—yes, but never dreamed it was from you. Indeed I thought-— I was told—it came from an entirely different source, and it has puzzled me more than words can tell you." "It was perhaps apiece of officiousnees on my part, but we were in a peculiar state just then, with all these thefts going on. I stowed it one of your band" kercniefs while Hatton was out What did you do with it?" "Burned it—long ago—I couldn understand, at all. It said that one who had been as hard pressed as I waa—pe­

cuniarily, I suppose—wanted to be my friend, and—" "Yes—That's about it! I suppose you couldn't see your way clear to accepting help from me "1 .didn't know it was your card or your writing. No initials appeared. The card was otherwise blank, and Hatton and I—well—there's no sense in telling the absurdity of our beliefs at that time. We were all at sea." "Let all that pass," said Holmes, with a grave smile on his face. "The man that hasn't been a fool in one way or another in this garrison during the last month or so is not on my list of acquaintances and I think I know myself. What I want now is a description of Sergeant Marsland. One of my Denver friends thinks he has spotted him as a swell gambler down at El Paso."

And

BO,

that night, a full pen-picture

of the lamented commissary sergeant was wired to Denver. Two days later a special detective was speeding southward, and though Roswell Holmes had left Fort Laramie and gone about his other affairs, long before the result was known, and long before the slow-moving whells of Wyoming and military justice had rolled the two latter culprits before the courts, it was his name that came up for renewed applause and enthusiastic praise when the telegraph brought to the commanding officer the news that a "rich haul" had been made on the far away Texan frontier. Marsland and over one thousand dollars had been gathered at "one fell swoop."

Then came July, its blazing sunshine tempered by the snow cooled breezes from the mountain peaks, and ite starry nights made drowsy and soothing by the softer melody of the Bwift rushing Laramie. The roar and fury of the May torrents were gone and with them the clouds and storms of human jealousies and suspicions. The crowded garrison had undergone a valuable experience. The social circle of the poet had learned a lesson as to the fallibility of feminine and masculine judgment. Bruce was slyly ridiculing Miller because of his surrender to the views and theories of his better half and even while resenting verballyjthe fact that he had been excluded from all participation in the momentous affairs of the early summer, was known to be devoutly thankful in his innermost heart that he had not b*en drawn into the snarl. Bruce was hand in glovevwith Captain Forest now, who, having Bet his house in order and silenced the querulous complaints of his wife at the loss of Celestine, was eager to get back to his troop. Between Forrest and McLean, too, there had •pi*ung up a feeling of cordial friendship. Forrest had heard from

hiB

sister's lips the story of how he and Hatton had burned her handkerchief and striven in every way to shield her in his absence, and the cavalryman's heart warmed to them more than he could express. To Miller and McLean he told the story of his Bister's differ ences with her uncle, pretty much in effect as Mrs. Forrest told the doctor. It was Courtland's son she would not marry because of his repeated lapses into inebriety and Courtland's bounty she would no longer accept Bince she could not take the son. The registered letters she had mailed contained the remittances the sorrowful old man persisted in sending her and she persisted in returning. Doctor Bayard, too, had shown vast cordiality to the stalwart cavalry brother, but Forrest seemed to share his sister's views and only moderately responded.

Rftvnrd! Again nnrl

enslble community. Again did he bemoan the blunders he had made. In the eclaircisBement that followed the arrest of Celestine and Parsons he had striven to pose as the champion of Miss Forrest and to redouble lis devotion the grandiose old beau was completely fascinated by the brilliancy, daring and self-control of that indomitable Queen of Bedlam. After the first shock and a few hours of solitude in which she refused to see or taik with anybody, Miss Forrest had einerged from her room in readiness to welcome her brother on his arrival, and no one in all that garrison could detect the faintest sign of resentment or discomposure in her manner. If anything, she was rather mere approachable to peeple she could not fancy than at anytime before, and now the Bruces and Gordons and Johnsons and everybody seemed in mad competition to see who could be moat cordial and friendly with her, it speedily became apparent that it was their offishness. not hers, that had kept them asunder earlier in her visit. Mrs. Post had found her out, she proudly asserted, just as soon as she came to live under the same roof with her, and it was now her privilege to claim precedence over the others of the large sisterhood. But all this sudden popularity of the young lady in question waa no great comfort to

Bayard, who found it almost impossible to see her alone. She would gladly have gone to spend hours with Elinor, wno was still far from strong, for "Her Majesty," as Bhe was often playfully referred to, was disposed to be very fond of that sweet faced child but

Lean

Elinor

seemed to

shrink from her a little. She feared that her father had really fallen deeply in love again, and if so—who could resist him She admired Miss Forrest, and could be very fond of her—but not as a second mother. Another matter that stood in the way of of ten going thither was the fact that Bayard seemed to track her every where and the situation was becoming unindurable. One night, at last, he dropped in at the Millers' when she was there and promptly, when she retired offered to escort her home. She thanked him took his arm walked slowly with him to the south hall of Bedlam, and there bid him adieu. No one knowB just what was talked of on that eventful walk, but it was the last he ever sought with her and for weeks Bayard was a moody, miserable man. All Laramie swore he had proposed and had been re iected—but no one could positively tell

Elinor redoubled her loving ways from that time and strove to cheer and gladden him, but he was almost repellant, There was only one thing, he declared to her, that made him wretched and that was her attachment to Mr. McLean. she would only be sensible and see how absurd that was he could smile again but this was a matter in which his little girl had decided as her mother had de cided before her. Poor Bayard! To re venge himself on his father and mother in-law he had wrested this sweet child from their arms and brought her hither only to see her won away in turn, and, by all that was horrible, by an army lieutenant. He had to admit t^at Mc­

was a gentleman, a splendid onicer, without a vice or a meanness and— now that the stolen stores were replaced by their money value, without a debt in the world but he was poor-he was nothing, in fact, but what he himself had been when he won Elinor mother, McLean had spoken to him manfully and asked his consent, but he rebuffed him, saying she was a mere child. Mcan declared he would wait any reasonable time, but claimed the privilege of visiting her as a suitor, and this he would have refused and for a few dayB

did refuse, until her pallor and tearful eyes so upbraided him that he gave up in despair. Meantime Bhe had poured out her heart to the loving grandparents at home, and they took her part and, almost to her surprise, actually welcomed the newBthat she had a lover. The judge wrote to Bayard (the first time he had so honored him since their difference the previous winter) saying he knew "the stock" well and expressing his hearty approval of Nellie's choice. As to her future, he said, that was his business. It made to difference no him whether Mr. McLean was rich or poor. The mat ter was one he could settle to suit himself. It was a comfort to know she "had given her heart to a steadfast, loyal ana honest man," and so, having stirred up hiB son-in-law and made him wince to his heart's content the old statesman bade him stand no longer in the way, but tell the young gentleman that he, too, would be glad to knew him and this letter, that evening, "old Chesterfield" placed in his daughter's hand and then magnanimously gave her his blessing. It was not to be shown to McLean, said the doctor, but he did not tell her why. He was afraid the young fellow would read between the lines and see what the judge was driving at when he spoke of the loyalty and honesty of Nellie's lover.

Heavens! What billing and cooing there was at Laramie all that late summer and autumn! How Jennie Bruce blushed and bloomed when the ambu lance finally landed Mr. Hatton at her side and he took his limping but blissful daily walk in her society! How Nellie Bayard's soft checks grew rounder and rosier as the autumn wore away, and how her sweet eyes softened and glowed as they gazed up into the manly face of the j-oung soldier whom she was just begnning to learn (very shyly and hesitatingly yet, and only when none but he could hear) to call "Randall." Rapturous confidences were those in which she and Jeannie Bruce daily engaged. Blissful were the glances with which they rewarded Miss Forrest for her warm and cordial congratulations. Delightful were the hours they presently began to spend with her—and dismal, dismal was the old frontier post when October came, and those three young women, with appropriate escort, were spirited away together. Elinor to spend the winter with her grandparents and make, who knows, what elaborate preparations for the military wedding, which was to come off in the following May Jeannie Bruce to pay her a long visit and indulge in similar, though far less lavish, shopping on her own account, and Miss Forrest to return to the roof of old Mr. Courtland, who begged it as a solace to his declining years and fast failing health. The doctor, McLean and Hatton went with the party as far as Cheyenne and Baw them with their friends, Major and Mrs. Stannard of the cavalry, safely aboard the train for Omaha and then with solemn visages returned to the desolation of their poet to worry through the winter as beet they could. Telegrams from Omaha and Chicago told of the safe and happy flight of the eastward travelers and soon the letters began to come. "What do you think?" wrote both the younger girls,

Who do you suppose was at Chicago to meet us but Mr. Holmes?" "All's well that ends well!" quoth [Mr. Hatton one evening soon after as he blew a cloud of "Lynchburg sun-cured" tobacco

Bmoke

across the top of the old

Argand and tossed McLean a Cheyenne paper. "Celestine has gone to the penitentiary and here's the sentence of the

ygppnfuMfW1'KBJ

ma'igliw,"

long winter wore away and another May day came around and the sunshine danced on the snow crests of the grand old peak and the foaming Laramie again tossed high its brawling surges, and the south wind swept away the few remaining drifts, searching them out in the depths of the bare ravine and bringing to light tender little tufts of green—the baby buffalo grass—and one day there came a wild surprise, and the ladies swarmed tc Mrs. Miller's for confirmation of the news that went from lip to lip—the news that "her majesty" had indeed at last surrended and that Rowell Holmes had wooed and won "The Queen of Bedlam."

THE END.

He Diilu't Suit.

"Weil, did you get that situation as office boy?" Little Son—"Nope." "What was the matter?" "Don't know. The gent is a lawyer, and he asked me if I was a good whistler, and I told him I was the best whistler on our streets, and he said I wouldn do. Guess he must want a reg'lar professional."—[New ork Weekly.

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