eeping up a semblance of talk, had
an eye and an ear on the bungalow--the "Old Man's" quarters not three
hundred feet away. The boom of his jovial laughter still rang out upon
the air, and presently the tinkle of guitar, the swish of feminine
garments, the rasp of chairs and the merry mingling of voices told that
the little dinner party, the first the camp had ever known--for what is
a dinner party without women--had quit the table and gathered on the
porch. By this time, too, an unclouded moon had sailed aloft from
behind the screen of eastward heights, and its beams were pouring
slantwise upon the group, that portion of it, at least, that now was
seated near the southern end. They who watched were not slow to see
that Lilian had taken a chair within a few feet of the edge, with
Willett still in close attendance. The red heart of the general's cigar
was visible midway between the window and the central doorway, but the
jovial host was wrapped in shade. The light from the doorway fell upon
the white gown of Mrs. Archer and the trim, slender, undersized figure
of Lieutenant Harris, standing before her. They heard the general's
voice, cordial and resonant, uplifted presently in protest: "No, don't
go yet, boy. Let 'Tonio take care of himself to-night. I want you both
to hear Lilian sing. Here, orderly, you go find 'Tonio and give him my
compliments--No! you just tell 'Tonio _I_ want to see him."

The orderly with Archer, as with many another post commander, was the
final resort, the cure-all, the infallible means of settlement of all
matters in dispute. The orderly went and stood not on the order of his
going. He knew not 'Tonio, nor where to find him, but he knew better
than to say so--to say anything. He went straightway to the sergeant of
the guard, than whom no man is supposed to know more what is going on
about the post. That Harris might have the pleasure of hearing the
promised song (he surely could not think of going now) the mess
devoutly hoped, and were in nowise too content when the sound of
moving, of people getting to their feet, and of Archer's jocund
welcome, told that callers had come to join the recent revellers, and
that meant, of course, the Stannards, for there was really no one else.
And then it was remembered that Stannard had said that Mrs. Archer had
asked that they should come over after dinner, since they could not
well attend it. Lilian's singing was something all save these two young
soldiers h