o!"

"So would I," returned Frances, with more meaning in her manner of
speaking than in her words. "Does Major King's interdiction extend to
the commissary? Am I going to be allowed to eat?"

"Maggie's got it all ready; I ran up to call you." Nola slipped her
arm round Frances' waist and led her toward the kitchen, where Maggie
had the table spread. "You'll not mind the kitchen? The house is so
upset by those soldiers in it that we have no privacy left."

"Prisoners and pensioners should eat in the kitchen," Frances
returned, trying to make a better appearance of friendliness for Nola
than she carried in her heart.

Maggie was full of apologies for the poor service and humble
surroundings. "It is the doings of miss," she whispered, in her native
sibilant Mexican, when Nola found an excuse to leave Frances alone at
her meal.

"It doesn't matter, Maggie; you eat in the kitchen, both of us are
women."

"Yes, and some saints' images are made of lead, some of gold."

"But they are all saints' images, Maggie."

"The kitchen will be brighter from this day," Maggie declared, in the
extravagant way of her race, only meaning more than usually carries in
a Castilian compliment.

She backed away from the table, never having it in her delicate nature
to be so rude as to turn her back upon her guest, and admired Frances
from a distance. The sun was reaching through a low window, moving
slowly up the cloth as if stealing upon the guest to give her a
good-night kiss.

"Ah, miss!" sighed Maggie, her hands clasped as in adoration, "no
wonder that he lives with a well in his body. He has much to live for,
and that is the truth from a woman's lips."

"It is worth more because of its rarity, then, Maggie," Frances said,
warming over with blushes at this ingenuous praise. "Do they let you
go into his room?"

"The door is open to the servant," Maggie replied, with solemn nod.

"It is closed to me--did you know?"

"I know. Miss tells you it is orders from some captain, some general,
some soldier I do not know what"--a sweeping gesture to include all
soldiers, great and small and far away--"but that is a lie. It came
out of her own heart. She is a traitor to friendship, as well as a
thief."

"Yes, I believed that from the beginning, Maggie."

"This house of deceit is not a place for me, for even servant that I
am, I am a true servant. But I will not lie for a liar, nor be traitor
for one who deceives a friend. I shall go