Betty at Fort Blizzard

Betty at Fort Blizzard

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Betty at Fort Blizzard, by Molly Elliot Seawell, Illustrated by Edmund Frederick
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Title: Betty at Fort Blizzard
Author: Molly Elliot Seawell

Release Date: March 20, 2006 [eBook #18022]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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BETTY AT FORT BLIZZARD
by
MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL
Author of "Betty's Virginia Christmas," "Papa Bouchard," "The Jugglers," "Little Jarvis," Etc.
With Illustrations in Color and from Pen Drawings by Edmund Frederick

[Frontispiece: Anita walked down the stairs and came face to face with Broussard and Mrs. Lawrence. (missing from book)]

Philadelphia & London J. B. Lippincott Company 1916 Copyright, 1916, by John Wanamaker Book News Monthly Under title "Colonel Fortescue's Betty" Copyright, 1916, by J. B. Lippincott Company Published September, 1916 Reprinted October 20, 1916

TO
ELEANOR T. WOOD
THE GENTLE LADY
WHOSE PATH THROUGH LIFE IS RADIANT
WITH GOOD DEEDS
THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED
BY
THE AUTHOR

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.
"MISS BETTY" IN A NEW R?LE II. A PRETTY MAID AND A GAMECHICK III. THE HEART OF A MAID IV. "GOOD-BYE, SWEETHEART, GOOD-BYE" V. UNFORGETTING VI. SOME LETTERS AND KETTLE'S ENLISTMENT VII. THE PLEADING EYES OF WOMEN VIII. LOVE, THE CONQUEROR IX. THE REVEILLE

ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOR
Anita Walked Down the Stairs and Came Face to Face with Broussard and Mrs. Lawrence . . . . . . Frontispiece
Broussard Lifted Gamechick by the Bridle and the Next Moment Cleared Both Mare and Girl
The Last Glimpse Broussard Had of Anita Was, As She Stood, Her Arm About Gamechick's Neck
"This Was Enclosed in a Letter to Me From Mr. Broussard," said the Colonel
FROM PEN DRAWINGS
The Black Mare Suddenly Threw Her Head Down and Her Heels Up
"Miss Anita is in there with Mr. Broussard, an' He got on His Courtin' Breeches, an' They's Just as Quiet as a Couple of Sleepin' Babies"
"Never Mind, Dear, Darling Daddy, I Love You Just the Same"
Mrs. McGillicuddy Sat Majestically Upright in the Buggy, While the Sergeant Bestrode the Peaceful and Amiable Dot
"Neither You nor Your Child Shall Suffer for the Present"
Kettle Dropped the Reins, and Grasping Corporal Around the Neck Hung on Desperately
"Don't Call Your Father 'the Poor old Chap,'" Said Mrs. Fortescue Positively

BETTY AT FORT BLIZZARD
CHAPTER I
"MISS BETTY" IN A NEW R?LE
Colonel John Hope Fortescue, commanding the fine new cavalry post of Fort Blizzard, in the far Northwest, sat in his comfortable office and gazed through the big window at the plaza with its tall flagstaff, from which the splendid regimental flag floated in the crystal cold air of December. Afar off was a broad plateau for drills, an aviation field, and beyond all, a still, snow-bound world, walled in by jagged peaks of ice. It seemed to Colonel Fortescue, who was an idealist and at the same time a crack cavalry officer, that the great flag on the giant flagstaff dominated the frozen world around it, and its stars were a part of the firmament. When the sun rose and the flag was run up, then indeed it was sunrise. And when the sun descended in majesty, so the flag descended in glory.
As the last pale gleam of splendor touched the flag, the sunset gun cracked out suddenly. Colonel Fortescue and his right-hand man for twenty years, Sergeant Patrick McGillicuddy, rose to their feet and stood at "attention," as the flag fell slowly. Then it was reverently furled, and the color sergeant, with the guard, started toward the Colonel's quarters, all whom they passed making way for them and saluting the furled colors.
Colonel Fortescue continued to look out of the window, while Sergeant McGillicuddy, getting some belated mail together, passed out of the office entrance of the fine new commandant's quarters. Two horsewomen--Mrs. Fortescue, she who had been Betty Beverley, and her seventeen-year-old Anita--followed by a trooper as escort, were coming through the main entrance. Colonel Fortescue's eyes softened as he watched his wife and daughter, Mrs. Fortescue as slim as when she was Betty Beverley of old in Virginia, and riding as lightly and gracefully as a bird on the wing.
There were two other watchers besides the Colonel. These two stood at the drawing-room window. One was tall and black and kind-eyed, with the unquenchable kindness of the colored race. His official name was Solomon Ezekiel Pickup, but ever since Mrs. Fortescue, as Betty Beverley, had taken him, a little waif, forlorn and homeless and friendless, he had been simply Kettle, being as black as a kettle. He had watched and adored the baby days of "Marse Beverley," the straight young