upper gallery of "Bedlam," Mr. Holmes's travelling wagon rolled into
the garrison and away he went. At midnight he was changing horses at
"The Chug." The next day he was at Cheyenne and wired the major from
that point. Two days more and he was heard from at Denver, and then
there was silence.

At the end of the week Private Parsons, of Terry's Grays, who had been
carried for three or four successive mornings as "on detached service,"
then as "absent without leave," was formally accounted for as
"deserted," and it began to be whispered about the garrison that grave
and decidedly sensational reasons attended his sudden disappearance.
Dr. Bayard had a long and private interview with the commanding
officer, who showed him a letter received from Mr. Holmes, and went
home to Nellie with a dazed look on his distinguished face. The sight
of Randall McLean, seated on the front piazza, and in blithe
conversation with that young lady and her friend Miss Bruce, for an
instant caused him to halt short at his own gate, but, mastering
whatever emotion possessed him, the doctor marched straight up to that
rapidly recuperating officer, who was trying to find his feet and show
due respect to the master of the house, and, bidding him keep his seat,
bent over and took his hand and confused him more than a little by the
unexpected and really inexplicable warmth of his greeting.

McLean, who had been accustomed to constraint and coldness of manner on
the part of the post surgeon, was at a loss to account for the sudden
change. Nellie, whose sweet eyes had marked with no little uneasiness
her father's hurried coming, flushed with relief and shy delight at
this unlooked-for welcome; and Jeannie Bruce, to use her own expression
when telling of it afterward, was "all taken aback." She and Mrs.
Miller had between them planned that Mr. McLean should walk over with
the latter, early in the afternoon, just as though out for a little
airing and to try his legs after their unaccustomed rest. Nellie and
Miss Bruce were to happen out on the piazza at the moment (and the
details of this portion of the plan were left to the ingenuity of
"Bonnie Jean" herself, who well knew that it must be accomplished
without a germ of suspicion on the part of her shy and sensitive little
friend), and McLean was to be escorted in by Mrs. Miller, who was
presently to leave, promising to come back for him in a few moments.
Then, when the ice was broken and Nellie was begi