he would go with Frank to see whether
possibly there might not be a job for him too; and as soon as they had
gone, very properly went to sleep again on the bed in the sitting-room.

Gertie had a strenuous time of it, in spite of the Major's frequently
expressed opinion that women had no idea what work was. For, first,
there was the almost unending labor of providing food and cooking it as
well as possible; there was almost a standing engagement of mending and
washing clothes; there were numerous arguments to be conducted, on terms
of comparative equality, if possible, with landladies or farmers'
wives--Gertie always wore a brass wedding-ring and showed it sometimes a
little ostentatiously; and, finally, when the company was on the march,
it was only fair that she should carry the heavier half of the luggage,
in order to compensate for her life of luxury and ease at other times.
Gertie, then, was usually dog-tired, and slept whenever she could get a
chance.

It was nearly eight o'clock before she was awakened again by sharp
knocking on her door; and on opening it, found the landlady' standing
there, examining a letter with great attention. (It had already been
held up to the light against the kitchen window.)

"For one of your folks, isn't it, Mrs.--er--" Gertie took it. It was
written on excellent paper, and directed in a man's handwriting to Mr.
Gregory:

"Thank you, Mrs.--er--" said Gertie.

Then she went back into her room, put the letter carefully away in the
drawer of the table and set about her household business.

About eleven o'clock she stepped out for a little refreshment. She had,
of course, a small private exchequer of her own, amounting usually to
only a few pence, of which the Major knew nothing. This did not strike
her as at all unfair; she only wondered gently sometimes at masculine
innocence in not recognizing that such an arrangement was perfectly
certain. She got into conversation with some elder ladies, who also had
stepped out for refreshment, and had occasion, at a certain point, to
lay her wedding-ring on the bar-counter for exhibition. So it was not
until a little after twelve that she remembered the time and fled. She
was not expecting her men home to dinner; in fact, she had wrapped up
provisions for them in fragments of the Major's _Sporting Times_ before
they had left; but it was safer to be at home. One never knew.

As she came into the room, for an instant her heart leaped into her