t eleven. The elders were absorbing
mild refreshments at the moment. The musicians were glad of a rest, a
sandwich and a cup of coffee, and a puff at a pipe before again
resuming their melodious, if monotonous, labor. The windows of the
assembly room were so near the ground that it was easy for these who
did not attend the dances to supervise from without, and it often
happened that a fringe of respectfully admiring spectators would
surround the building until the late roll-call summoned the soldier
circle away.

And yet this Thursday night there were two or three little parties
peering in at the southward windows, some of whom came down from the
general's quarters very late. To Mrs. Crook's laughing suggestion that
they should "toddle down after tea" Mrs. Archer had entered gentle
protest. It was too late. They were not dressed. She feared Lilian was
too tired. What mother would not oppose her precious daughter's making
her appearance at a dance in travelling garb, after a day of driving?
To her mother's protest Lilian had at first made no rejoinder. The
flush of the first few minutes of welcomed arrival soon left her
winsome face, and the resultant pallor emphasized her mother's
edict--that she was too tired. But it was not long before they noted,
all of them--father, mother and hostess--that her thoughts were only
there at the dance, that her ears were attentive only to the strains of
music that, once in a while, came wafting upward from the hall, and
when a little later, refreshed by tea and a bountiful supper, they
again returned to the parlor and the sound of the dance, Mrs. Crook
caught the longing in Lilian's eyes.

"Oh, come," she said, "let's just run down a few minutes and peep in;
Lilian wants to see, and I'll send word in, sidewise, that will bring
somebody out with a jump."

They seized their wraps and started, Archer gallantly tendering his arm
to the commander's wife, but she would none of it. "Nonsense! I've got
to pilot _you_! That walk is steep and crooked and pitch dark when you
get among the cedars. I want to chat with Mrs. Archer," and the old
soldier thanked her in his heart. More than ever before he wished to
have that arm about his own little girl this night. Was it possible she
too felt the premonition that had come to him? Had her mother, after
all, told her of the little hints they had received? Something had
come. He could swear it. Something to make her strangely silent, but
eager, flut