Betty at Fort Blizzard

Betty at Fort Blizzard

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Betty at Fort Blizzard, by Molly Elliot
Seawell, Illustrated by Edmund Frederick
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Betty at Fort Blizzard
Author: Molly Elliot Seawell

Release Date: March 20, 2006 [eBook #18022]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BETTY AT
FORT BLIZZARD***
E-text prepared by Al Haines

Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which
includes the original illustrations. See 18022-h.htm or 18022-h.zip:
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/8/0/2/18022/18022-h/18022-h.htm) or

(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/8/0/2/18022/18022-h.zip)

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 RÔLE 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 RÔLE
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