Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1903 — ANOTHER INTERNATIONAL EPISODE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ANOTHER INTERNATIONAL EPISODE

®ETTY RAWLINS had a bank account, and a huge one at that But Betty bad a greater fortune to her face, for ahe was ns pretty as a spring beauty, and though •he was perverse und pouty when she wanted to be she was ordinarily as •west as a violet Betty lived In the summer time at Lowland Glen, not many miles removed from Fort Sherman, a big garrison with enough young officers on duty to fill the ranks of a company had they been forced to drop the sword and shoulder the K rag- Jorgenson. Batty loved the miltary— what girl doesn’t? —and If the truth be told Betty’s heart was set on marrying Into the soldiery, but she had made up her mind secretly that he couldn't think of looking at anything less than a colonel, and when she thought of It she sighed, for the colonels In Undo Sam’s regulars were nil so dreadfully old, and Betty was only 19, mind you. There was young Roy Lanyard stationed at Fort Sherman. lie was mighty good looking, Betty admitted this to herself, and It wouldn’t be a bit hard to love him, but Roy was only a captain, and nothing but a Colonel would do. Captain Lanyard, to get Into the middle of things at once, was Just as deeperately in love with Betty as a young soldier just old enough to know his own mind can be. He didn’t care a rap about Betty’s

bank account; in fact, he never gave It a thought. It was Just Betty hcfsclf that ho wanted, hut he didn’t dare say MX Now Betty had another failing, not Uncommon among American ghls not old enough thoroughly to understand that Yankee husbands are the best in the world, and Unit was a linn belief that the ideal cond.t on in married life Would be that which would come from • husband who was a combination of Englishman ai d English army officer. “The colonels are younger over there," Mid Betty to herself, "and they are All of aristocratic family, and, oh Well, Englishmen are just too lovely for anything.” The summer colony at Lowland Glen Was unusually large that season. There were bunch* s of swell doings, as the slangy Yale c hingin' of Betty would put It. The army officers from Fort Sherman were much in evidence, and one young captain in particular was very much in evidence In the vicinity of Miss Brtty Rawlins. Betty saw the evidence clearly, and how she did wish that the president would retire some few hundreds of superior officers so that Itoy Ijmynrd could tack the abbreviation “Col." to the front part of his name. One day there was excitement at Lowland (ilea. Mrs. Calumet had Invited two EugUuhinen, one of them an army officer, to spend the month with them at their summer home. The news reached Betty the morning after the arrival o* the Calumet's two guests. Twenty young women had told her about It Let the girls alone for spreading news of this kind. “And Betty," said one of her Informants, “one of the Englishmen is a colonel In bis majesty's service, and young and good looking at that." Betty’s heart gave a thump. “At last,” she murmured to herself. The next afternoon Betty met the Englishmen at the Defter Country Glub. Her heart fluttered a little as (be younger of the two men—the other Was old and out of the running—was Introduced to her. Colonel Reginald Bouthcote was bis name. It fah-ly rang of aristocracy ai d militarism. Betty knsw that he was a simon-pure Englishman all light enough because of bis name, his accent and his clotbes — which didn't fit. For the next week Colonel Reginald Bouthcote was Betty Rawlin’s shadow. Captain Roy Lanyard looked on and was miserable. Betty gave him two dances and about three words during the entire week. “No show for one of Uncle Ban’s poor artfllerynn n when there’s one of King ICd ward's men with a draWf'gnd a monocle about," sighed p»or Captain Boy. Colonel Reginald Southcote was not long in finding out that Betty Rawlins had a pot of money and that she adored the military. Betty asked him cm day what bis regiment was, and rapUed promptly: “I am the colonel a t the Royal Yorlckshlre Regiment,”

Betty had beard tales about Englishmen pretending to be what they were not, but the colonel looked honest enough, and the girl was half ashamed of herself when she went to a library in the city and took down a British military gazette from the shelf and looked for Royal Yorlckshlre Regiment She found It all right, nnd with the name of Reginald Southeote set down as colonel thereof. From that time Betty was very cordial to the colonel. She turned the conversation occasionally on the Boor war, expecting to hear some deeds of daring modestly told, but the colonel was strangely silent on the subject of held service, and Betty put It down to a brave man’s reticence when It came to speaking of his own acts on the field of battle. Betty might not have liked it had she known that when she was looking tip the colonel’s regiment he was making Inquiries in certain financial circles about the extent of her bank account. The report seemed to please him, and he proceeded to make hay while the sun shone, and it was a particularly cloudless month at Lowland Gleu. Betty knew with n girl's intuition that an offer was not far away. She felt a pang, however, every time she saw Captain Lanyard and saw how miserable he looked, though he tiled to put a brave face on the matter. If the truth be told, Betty cried a little In the privney of her room when she looked at the glorious old flag floating In the sunshine at the flagstaff peak In the fort beyond, and sighed and sighed again. One day Lawyer Coke, who looked after Betty Bowlin's estate, heard from a close friend that a certain Englishman had been inquiring about Betty’s financial standing. "Fortune hunter If not a fraud,” said old Coke to himself, and then, ns luck would have It, he happened to pick up a copy of the Broad Arrow, the journal of the united services of Great Britain. Lawyer Coke looked at it. His eyes fell on a paragraph and lie chuckled. He folded the paper up. put It la his pocket nnd took the first train for Lowland Glen. lie marked the paragraph In the paper and put it where he knew Betty would be sure to pick it up, nnd from the nature of the publication he knew she would b? sure to read it from start to finish.

Betty Rawlins felt that the hour was coming when she would have to answer a question put to her by Colonel Reginald Bouthcote. She was thinking of this when she picked up the Broad Arrow. She knew what the paper was, for she had heard of It. She read it eagerly. The date of the paper was three months back. The marked paragraph caught her eye. She read this: “General Powell-Baden inspected the Royal Yorlckshlre Regiment last Thursday. It was the first training day of this militia organization for a year. The new men were in poor trim, and Colonel Reginald Southcote, who has seen no foreign service and very little at home, had hard work to give commands and to sit liis horse properly. The regiment will need overhauling to bring It up to even militia standards.” • The paper dropped from Betty’s fingers. “Militiaman: never saw a day’s real service; couldn’t sit on his horse;" and then Betty gasped. Her thoughts turned to another paragraph that she had read in an American journal. It told how one Captain Boy Landyard had received the Congressional medal of honor for personal gallantry In the saving of the life of a comrade under fierce fire in the Philippine Islands. Betty knew that night at the ball st the hotel that Colonel Reginald Southcote was seeking her out, but she avoided him. Captain Roy Lanynrd met her and she smiled on him, and there was a look In her eyes that made the young soldier’s heart leap. “Won't you go for a walk with me? 1 ’ he said. “Yes,” she answered softly. As they passed down the hotel steps the moonlight fell full upon them, and Lawyer Coke, who was standing on the veranda, smiled, and, being a bit of a wag, he turned to a friend who had been watching the course of events for a month past and said: ■“Alas! Poor Yorlckshlre."—Chicago Record-Herald.

CAPT. ROY LANYARD LOOKED ON AND WAS MISERABLE.