Just for the record. I followed through on this and the above idea (using the comparator) works great on a 16f877A with a 20Mhz crystal.
I just tied the output of the HPWM pin to the Comparator input. I struggled with setting the registers properly because that part is still a bit greek to me (read - I had to experiment until I got what I wanted and then look at the data sheet to figure out WHY it did what it did.)
The wave form is very sturdy and quite square all the way up to 15Khz. I even managed to figure out how to use one of the two ADC inputs the comparator shares on PortA.

I'm learning. As an old dog, SLOWLY, but I'm learning....

Thanks everyone,

Chris Helvey