ning on his arm, she had appeared on the walk. To the
ladies there was no theory so popular as the one that she was setting
her cap for him in good earnest now that Nellie Bayard was confined to
her room; and when Mrs. Miller met him she longed to speak upon the
subject. She could well-nigh thank any woman who could draw this
formidable rival away and leave the ground to her wounded and
deeply-smitten lieutenant; but could she see him becoming entangled in
the toils of Miss Forrest, knowing what she did of that young woman's
dreadful moral affliction? There was no way in which she could warn
him. She had pledged her word to the major that not a whisper should
escape, and though Mrs. Bruce had managed to derive from a
conversation with her that Captain Forrest had been sent for, it was
accomplished by that feminine device, now so successfully imitated by
the so-called interviewers of the public press, of making assertions
and hazarding suggestions which could not be truthfully denied. The
lady longed to take Holmes into her confidence,--and could not; and
Holmes longed to ask her what allegations had been made against McLean
and how he had borne them,--yet dared not. Both to him and the Queen
of Bedlam that was the explanation of the simultaneous gathering, at
the quarters of the young officer, of the commandant, surgeon, and
adjutant. Holmes boldly inquired of the doctor what had taken place,
asserting that he was interested in McLean and wanted to help him, if
he was in trouble; and in great embarrassment the doctor had begged to
be excused from reply. He would not deny that McLean was in
trouble,--in grave trouble,--but there was nothing tangible as yet.
Nothing was to be said or done until--well, until he was much better
and able to be about.

Friday afternoon came, warm, sunshiny, and delightful. At four o'clock
the doctor's carriage--an open, easy, old-fashioned-looking
affair--rolled out of the garrison with Nellie Bayard and Jeannie Bruce
smiling on the back seat, while Bayard himself handled the reins. There
was a vacant place beside him, and, just as he possibly expected, Miss
Forrest came out on the gallery and waved her hand and smiled cordial
greeting to the two girls. Instantly he reined in his eager horses,
almost bringing them upon their haunches, and called up to her:

"This is the best piece of luck that has befallen me since I came to
Laramie. I've caught you when you could not be engaged. Do come and